Otho Corpus Gospels

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Otho Corpus Gospels are a fragment of an illustrated manuscript from the 8th century in the island style . The manuscript was badly damaged in a fire in 1731, so the original appearance can only be seen in fragments. 36 sheets were in a different location and have been preserved, as well as a copy of one page.

The manuscript contained the four gospels of the New Testament in Latin ( Vulgate version ), plus full-page colored miniatures of the four evangelists and their symbols. The depiction of a lion as a symbol of Mark can be seen on a burnt sheet.

The manuscript was made in the 8th century by Irish monks on the British Isles or mainland Europe and is part of island illumination. The fragments of the damaged manuscript are now in the British Library in London (MS Cotton Otho CV), the undamaged sheets in Corpus Christi College in Cambridge (MS 197B), the copy from 1725 in the British Library.

  • The incipit page from the Gospel of Mark from the Otho-Corpus Gospels.

  • The Lion of Mark

  • Astle's copy of the prefatory material of Mark

  • The surviving fragment of the original page

Web links