Strahov Gospels

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Strahov Gospels, fol. 69v: Mark the Evangelist

The Strahov Gospels ( Strahovský evangeliář in Czech ) is a medieval manuscript that is one of the main works of Ottonian book illumination . The manuscript is kept under the signature Strahov Monastery, Ms. DF III 3 in Strahov Monastery in Prague . The art-historical significance of this Gospel is made up of the book decoration that it received around 980 from the so-called Master of the Registrum Gregorii .

history

The manuscript originated in Tours in the 9th century. In the 10th century it was located in Trier , as evidenced by an ownership note from the Abbey of St. Martin , where the master of the Registrum Gregorii mainly worked. The manuscript came to Strahov via the Steinfeld Monastery in 1143.

description

The handwriting

Strahov Gospels, fol. 68r, purple page with explicit of the Gospel of Matthew

The manuscript measures 26.7 × 16.9 cm and comprises 222 sheets of parchment. It is bound in a red velvet binding from the 17th century, to which older parts such as cast, gilded figures have been attached. The text of the Gospel is written in uncials and was originally only given explicit and incipit titles. On fol. 2r is the ownership notice of the Abbey of St. Martin si quis eum abstulerit, anathematisatus sit (if someone should steal it, then the anathem should strike him). The master of the Registrum Gregorii, an illuminator working under Bishop Egbert , revised the handwriting, partially scraping off the existing script. He gilded initials, chapter numbers and holy names and laid out purple pages, some of which are written in gold. In detail he added on fol. 4 for the words Item Prologus in red Capitalis rustica , fol. 9r added a decorative incipit page, rewrote three lines on 65v, added fol. 68r in uncials with gold and purple ground, created an incipit page for the Gospel of Mark on 70r, painted over on fol. 71v the first line with purple and rewritten it with gold ink. On the same sheet of paper he rewrote the following line. Fol. 108r and fol. 108v are newly created decorative pages for the Gospel of Luke. On fol. In 109r he overwritten the old decorative script in golden uncials on a purple background. However, this revision only extends to fol. 178r, almost the entire Gospel of John remained unchanged. The added title pages are designed with purple and green color stripes and labeled with gold letters. The most important additions made by the master of the Registrum Gregorii were the four images of the evangelists on a purple background (fol. The evangelist pictures have in common that the picture field is divided by a horizontal stripe with an explanatory inscription, so that the evangelist and the symbol are in two separate fields; they are based on models from Tours. The inscriptions in the crossbars also appear in pictures of the Evangelists from Touronia. In the Strahov Gospels, in addition to the inscription on the horizontal stripe, there are two other Latin inscriptions on the Matthew picture, one in the field of the evangelist and one in the area of ​​his symbol.

The evangelist pictures

Evangelist John, fol. 176v of the Strahov Gospel
Strahov Gospels, fol. 8v: The Evangelist Matthew

The evangelist Matthew sits with his back bent sideways and apparently lost in concentration on a box throne that seems to float freely on the background like footstools and writing desk. The quill is still in the inkwell while the scribe is pulling the parchment close with one hand. While the name of the symbol is on the horizontal stripe in the case of the other three evangelists, in the case of Matthew it is placed in the upper field: HAEC HOMINIS S [AN] C [TU] M DESIGNAT FORMA MATHAEUM ( The figure of man denotes Saint Matthew ). In the purple crossbar between the winged man and the evangelist, HOC EUANGELIUM QUOD PONITUR ORDINE PRIMUM is written in gold ( this is the gospel that comes first in the series ). Next to the evangelist's head is written: MATHEUS HAEBRAICO SCRIPTITAT ELOQUIO ( Matthew writes in Hebrew ).

Markus is sitting half frontally on a box throne, his head tilted towards the desk to his left, from which he draws a scroll with his left hand. On it is the beginning of the Gospel of Mark in a shorthand typical of the master of the Registrum Gregorii. To the right of the scribe is a desk with an inkwell in which Markus dips his pen. The writing under the lion reads MARCUM TERRIBILIS DESIGNAT FORMA LEONIS ( Den Markus denotes the figure of a terrifying lion ).

Lukas is sitting turned to the left on a folding chair in front of a massive writing desk with an integrated compartment for scrolls. Both feet rest on the footstool. Luke holds a rolled scroll in his right hand, the left supports the chin of the reflective evangelist. The inscription LUCAS AETHEREI SPECIEM TENET ORE IUUENCI ( Luke has the appearance of a heavenly bull ) is written in the crossbar below the bull .

John is shown frontally. He is sitting on a padded box throne, next to which is a massive writing desk, on which there are two rolled up scrolls and the inkwell with the quill inside. John holds his Gospel in the form of a bound codex in his left hand, whereby the beginning of the text can be read in the shorthand typical of the Gregor Master. Johannes holds a quill in his right hand. The saying in the crossbar between the evangelist and his symbol reads EST AQUILA ALTA PETENS NARRANS DIUINA IOHANNES ( John is an eagle that soars up and reports heavenly things ).

Art historical findings

Insights into handwriting

The uncial manuscript was originally written in Tours in the early 9th century, Ulrich Kuder dates it to around 860. Arthur Haseloff , who discovered the master of the Registrum Gregorii, attributed the evangelist images to him, although he only knew the Strahov Gospels from illustrations. The revision can be dated around 980. The evangelist symbols of the gospel show great similarities to those on the Andreas portable altar of Bishop Egberts. The Strahov Gospels is thus one of the early works of the master of Registrum Gregorii, which also gives it its provisional names giving Gregor sheet and the enthroned Emperor in Chantilly belong. For the Strahov Gospel Book, the master of the Registrum Gregorii developed a new type of evangelist representation by adding the evangelist symbols and inscriptions. He followed up on Touronic models, the plasticity of the figures shows the influence of late antique models. Hartmut Hoffmann praises the "natural vitality" of the animal figures.

Technical aspects also speak in favor of starting the Strahov Gospels early in the work of the master of the Registrum Gregorii: While it was customary in book illumination to completely leave out the space for the representation when painting the background, the representation in the Strahov Gospel is only partially left out , so that parts were painted on the relatively thick background, which could break when the pages were turned over.

Relationships with other manuscripts

Luke, fol. 107v of the Strahov Gospel, as a model for the Berlin Gospel Luke, fol. 88v of the Gospel from St. Maximin
Luke, fol. 107v of the Strahov Gospel, as a model for the Berlin Gospel
Luke, fol. 88v of the Gospel from St. Maximin

Of the manuscripts of the master of the Registrum Gregorii, the evangelist images of the Gospel of the Sainte Chapelle are closest to the Strahov Gospels, especially in the case of the evangelist symbols. The single sheet with the evangelist Mark of the St. Peter's seminary in the Black Forest follows exactly the image type of Mark of the Strahov Gospel, but it is disputed whether the sheet is to be ascribed to the master of the Registrum Gregorii himself or to a student.

The image structure of the Strahov Gospel is also found in a simplified form in a Gospel from St. Maximin, which is signed under the signature Ms. theol. lat. fol. 283 is kept in the Berlin State Library . In both manuscripts there is an upright rectangular image field with the evangelist, which is sharply demarcated from a transverse rectangular image field above it with the evangelist symbol. In the attitude of the evangelists, the painter of the Berlin Gospel, who was presumably a pupil of the Gregor Master, went back to the model of the Strahov Gospel.

Another manuscript with references to the Strahov Gospels is in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence (Acq e Doni 91). This manuscript, which was created in Italy in the 12th century, shows four evangelist images and one image of the Ascension which are based on German models. The evangelists are located in rectangular fields in front of simply colored graduated backgrounds under rectangular fields with the evangelist symbols, which can be recognized as an imitation of the master of the Registrum Gregorii. The types of images used by the Evangelists are varied: The Florentine Matthew corresponds in posture to Luke from the Strahov Gospel, which is combined with the writing desk in Strahov Matthew. The evangelist Mark of the Florentine Gospel takes on the posture of Matthew from Strahov, who, however, sits on a folding chair that corresponds to that of Strahov-Luke. On the basis of these variations, Hoffmann assumed that the model of the Florentine manuscript was a lost manuscript of the Gregor Master, in which the latter had further developed the formal language of the Strahov Gospel.

literature

  • Pavel Brodský, Jan Pařez: Catalog iluminovoných rukopisů Strahovské Knihovny. = Catalog of the illuminated manuscripts of the Strahov Library. Masarykův ústad a Archive Akademie věd České republiky, Praha 2008, ISBN 978-80-86404-22-6 , pp. 121–123, no. 50 ( Study o rukopisech. Monographia 13 = Bibliotheca Strahoviensis. Series Monographica 3).
  • Hartmut Hoffmann : Book art and royalty in the Ottonian and early Salian empires. 2 volumes. Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-7772-8640-0 ( writings from Monumenta Germaniae Historica 30).
  • Ulrich Kuder: Strahov Gospels. In: Michael Brandt, Arne Eggebrecht (ed.): Bernward von Hildesheim and the age of the Ottonians. Volume 2. Catalog of the exhibition Hildesheim 1993. Bernward-Verlag et al., Hildesheim et al. 1993, ISBN 3-87065-736-7 , catalog no. IV-30.
  • Carl Nordenfalk: The Master of the Registrum Gregorii . In: Munich Yearbook of Fine Arts . 3rd episode, Vol. 1, 1950, ISSN  0077-1899 , pp. 61-77.
  • Franz J. Ronig (Ed.): Egbert, Archbishop of Trier 977–993. Commemorative writing of the Diocese of Trier on the 1000th anniversary of death. Volume 1: Catalog and plate volume. Self-published by the Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Trier 1993, ISBN 3-923319-27-4 , catalog no. 5 ( Trier magazine for the history and art of the Trier region and its neighboring areas. Supplement 18).
  • Evermod Gejza Šidlovský, including: facsimile Strahovského Gospels: doprovodná publikace k facsimile rukopisu uloženého v knihovně Královské Canonry premonstrátů na Strahově v Praze pod signaturou DF III 3. Tempus Libri, Praha 2012, ISBN 978-80-904277-3-0 .

Web links

Commons : Strahov, Ms DF III 3  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Evermod Gejza Šidlovský, including: Gospels facsimile Strahovského , S. 212th
  2. ↑ Hartmut Hoffmann, Further Ottonian manuscripts from Trier . In: Egbert - Archbishop of Trier 977–993. Commemorative writing of the Diocese of Trier on the 1000th anniversary of death. , Vol. 2, p. 90.
  3. ↑ a b c d Ulrich Kuder, Strahov Gospels . In: Bernward von Hildesheim and the age of the Ottonians , Vol. 2, pp. 184-186, 186
  4. ↑ Evermod Gejza Šidlovský, including: Facsimile Strahovského evangeliáře , p. 217.
  5. ↑ Evermod Gejza Šidlovský, including: Gospels facsimile Strahovského , S. 218th
  6. ^ Ulrich Kuder, Strahov Gospels . In: Bernward von Hildesheim and the age of the Ottonians , Vol. 2, pp. 184-186, 184.
  7. ↑ Arthur Haseloff / Heinrich Volbert Sauerland: The Psalter Archbishop Egberts von Trier, Codex Gertrudianus, in Cividale. Historical-critical investigation. Festschrift of the Society for Useful Research in Trier to celebrate its centenary. Trier 1901, here: p. 148.
  8. ^ Egbert - Archbishop of Trier 977-993. Commemorative writing of the Diocese of Trier on the 1000th anniversary of death . Vol. 1, p. 21.
  9. ↑ Hartmut Hoffmann, Book Art and Kingship in the Ottonian and Early Salian Empire , p. 108.
  10. ↑ Doris Oltrogge, "Materia" and "Ingenium" - observations on the creation of the Egbert Codex . In: Egbert. Archbishop of Trier 977–993, p. 131.
  11. ^ Egbert - Archbishop of Trier 977-993. Commemorative writing of the Diocese of Trier on the 1000th anniversary of death . Vol. 1, p. 31.
  12. ↑ Hartmut Hoffmann, Book Art and Kings in the Ottonian and Early Salian Empire , p. 121.