Tassilo chalice

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The chalice during an exhibition in Aachen 2014

As Tassilo chalice is called an in Kremsmünster preserved chalice , possibly around 780 by the Bavarian Duke Tassilo and his wife Luitpirga was donated, possibly at the founding Kremsmünster 777. The cup itself is kept in the treasury of the pen.

history

The exact history of its origins is unclear. Since the inscription on the foot presupposes the wedding of Tassilo, only an origin after 768/69 comes into question. A Salzburg workshop is presumed to be the place of origin, but the rest of Bavaria or northern Italy cannot be completely ruled out. The braided band and animal ornaments, worked out in the insular style of continental stamping, led to the assumption that the chalice might even have been made in England.

The Tassilo chalice is approx. 25.5 cm high, weighs 3.05 kg, holds approx. 1.75 liters and is made of copper , with the cup and knob each being made individually. Silver medallions are soldered onto the partially gilded chalice, with the five large half-length portraits on the cup of Christ with the initials IS (Jesus Salvator) surrounded by the four evangelists , the smaller ones at the foot with St. Mary and John the Baptist and, according to an uncertain interpretation, the Lombard Queen Show Theodolinde (a relative of Tassilos) and Saint Theoto. The chalice is also decorated with ornaments in different styles and techniques, such as animal ornaments in the insular style of continental embossing, plant ornaments and geometric motifs.

Due to the size and rich decoration of the chalice, it is probably a so-called donation chalice (calix ministerialis), which was given to the guests of the abbot at the founder festival, but which was used liturgically for the first time since abbot Albert Bruckmayr († 1982): at the services on Chalice communion has been served since then on Founder Day and Maundy Thursday . Pope Benedict XVI. used the chalice at the celebration of Holy Mass in Mariazell on September 8, 2007, as Pope John Paul II did before in 1983 and 1998 during his trips to Austria.

The inscription on the foot reads: "TASSILO DVX FORTIS + LIVTPIRC VIRGA REGALIS", translated: "Tassilo, brave Duke + Liutpirg, royal offspring". Based on this inscription, it is also assumed that it could be the wedding chalice of Tassilo.

The goblet was brought from Austria for the first time since 1946 for an exhibition at the Center Charlemagne in Aachen in 2014.

Re-examination of the calyx

From 2014 to 2019, the chalice was thoroughly re-examined in the workshops of the Roman-Germanic Central Museum in Mainz as part of an interdisciplinary research project led by the Archaeological Museum in Frankfurt . The results were edited by Egon Wamers in 2019 under the title "The Tassilo-Liutpirc-Chalice in Kremsmünster Abbey" (see literature).

The investigations not only deepen the current state of knowledge about goldsmithing technology and the iconography of the chalice as well as the history of Tassilo and comparable works of art, but also lead to interpretations of the inscription and iconography that contradict previous opinions. The most important of them:

Based on geometric observations on the chalice and the inscription at the base of the chalice, P. Altman Pötsch comes to the conclusion that the chalice was intended from the outset as a liturgical vessel for the cathedral of Salzburg and was dedicated to St. Rupert . Tassilo and Liutpirc appear in this interpretation as the donors of the chalice, Virgil of Salzburg as the theologian of the chalice program. The main image thus represents Christ as king and high priest after the order of Melchizedek is

For P. Altman Pötsch, the inscription is an anagram, behind which the words SALUTARIS / CALIX FIT S / RODPERGTO / VIRGILIUS are hidden. In addition, a chronogram in the same inscription may indicate the year 781 as the time when the chalice was made.

According to this interpretation, the medallions at the base of the chalice do not represent Mary and John the Baptist, not Theodolinde and Theoto (see above), but the apostles Thomas and Peter.

Egon Wamers interprets the latticework on the chalice as "a schematic architecture of a presumably two-story building (...) in which the upper and lower floors (or altar and parish room) are separated from each other by a barrier system". This architecture "should (...) simulate paradise, which is also reinforced by the 'roof landscape' of the Heavenly Jerusalem on the lip of the chalice." The chalice is therefore "the visualization of the urbs caelestis , the city of heaven."

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Tassilo chalice on a “trip abroad”. Kremsmünster Abbey , July 8, 2014, accessed on July 22, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Sarvenaz Ayooghi, Frank Pohle, Peter van den Brink (ed.): Charlemagne. Charlemagne. Short guide , Sandstein Dresden 2014, ISBN 978-3-95498-116-8 , pp. 118f.
  3. ↑ http://www.hsozkult.de/exhibitionreview/id/rezausstellungen-190
  4. ^ Altman Pötsch: Rota in medio rotae. On the theology of the Tassilo Liutpirc chalice. In: Egon Wamer (ed.): The Tassilo-Liutpirc-Chalice in Kremsmünster Abbey. History, archeology, art (Regensburg 2019), pp. 336–376 (summary p. 373)
  5. ↑ ibid. P. 346
  6. ↑ D = 500, C = 100, L = 50 (3x), X = 10, V = 5 (3x), I = 1 (6x), total 781. - Ibid. P. 347
  7. ↑ ibid. Pp. 350–351
  8. ^ Egon Wamers: Urbs caelestis. The image structure of the Tassilo Liutpirc chalice. In: Egon Wamer (ed.): The Tassilo-Liutpirc-Chalice in Kremsmünster Abbey. History, archeology, art (Regensburg 2019), pp. 451–487, there pp. 484–485

literature

  • Romuald Bauerreiß : The Tassilokelch von Kremsmünster and its inscriptions , in: Bayerische Benediktinerakademie (Hrsg.), Studies and Communications on the History of the Benedictine Order and its Branches , Volume 50 1932, pp. 408-415. available online
  • Günther Haseloff: The Tassilokelch (Munich contributions to prehistory and early history; 1). Beck, Munich 1951 (a standard work)
  • Günther Haseloff: On the state of research on the Tassilo chalice . In: Gunter Dimt (Hrsg.): Baiernzeit in Upper Austria. From Severin to Tassilo . Upper Austrian State Museum, Linz 1977 (catalog for the exhibition of the same name).
  • Volker Bierbrauer : Liturgical implements from Bavaria and its neighboring regions in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages . In: Hermann Dannheimer (ed.): The Bajuwaren. From Severin to Tassilo 488-788 . Prehistoric State Collection, Munich 1988.
  • Renate Prochno: The Tassilo Goblet. Notes on the history of research . In: Lothar Kolmer, Christian Rohr (eds.): Tassilo III. of Bavaria: great power and powerlessness in the 8th century . Regensburg 2005
  • P. Klaudius Wintz: Tassilo chalice . In: Peter van den Brink, Sarvenaz Ayooghi (ed.): Charlemagne - Charlemagne. Karl's art. Catalog of the special exhibition Karls Kunst from June 20 to September 21, 2014 in the Center Charlemagne , Aachen. Sandstein, Dresden 2014, ISBN 978-3-95498-093-2 , pp. 196-197 (with lit.).
  • Egon Wamers (ed.): The Tassilo-Liutpirc-Chalice in Kremsmünster Abbey. History, archeology, art , Regensburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-7954-3187-7 .

Web links

Commons : Tassilokelch  - Collection of images, videos and audio files