Uta Codex

Dedication picture: Abbess Uta (bottom left) hands out the Codex of the Mother of God Maria (Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 13601, fol. 2 ^r ) .

The Uta Codex , also called Uta Evangelistar , is an 11th century evangelist . The handwriting is as a result of secularization since 1811 in the Bavarian State Library in Munich ( Signature Clm 13601 ).

The codex and its splendid book case were commissioned by Abbess Uta von Niedermünster for the canonical monastery of Niedermünster in Regensburg around 1020/25, maybe later.

The parchment manuscript consists of 119 sheets of 38 × 27 cm. The book decoration consists of eight full-page miniatures with inscriptions. There are four miniatures at the beginning of the codex: the hand of God (fol. 1v), the Madonna with the donor Uta (fol. 2r), fol. 2v and 3r are empty, on fol. 3v is shown Christ wearing a priestly stole , on the cross with Vita and Mors , Ecclesia and synagogue , on the opposite side 4r St. Erhard , the patron saint of Niedermünster, with a deacon at the sacrifice of the Mass. The other miniatures represent the evangelists . In contrast to the usual arrangement, the pericopes are not arranged according to the church year , but are grouped together with the respective gospel . The principle of their arrangement has not yet been clarified.

The manuscript is kept in a goldsmith's book case which was probably originally intended for this manuscript - this cannot be proven for certain, there is also no dendrochronological examination. On this book case there is a sheet of gold with a very three-dimensionally embossed Christ Pantocrator, which probably came to this book case from a different context. This sheet of gold was nailed on with two circular gold sheets, the shape of which corresponds exactly to that of the settings of most of the precious stones on this book case. The book case has been restored over and over again, as early as the 12th century when the sides were covered with embossed silver sheets, then in the 13th century when the four evangelist symbols were added. Various gemstone settings probably even date from the 18th century.

The codex itself is today bound in a modern wooden cover from 1962.

The rule book of Niedermünster ( Bamberg State Library , Msc. Lit. 142 ), the creation of which is estimated to be around 990 , is also associated with Abbess Uta .

literature

Karl Felix Halm (Ed.): Catalogus codicum manu scriptorum Bibliothecae Regiae Monacensis. Vol. IV Catalogus codicum latinorum. Part II: Clm 11001-15028. Munich 1876.

Bavaria's Church in the Middle Ages. Manuscripts and documents from the Bavarian state property . Hirmer, Munich 1960, p. 23 No. 96 (book case); No. 97 (Uta Evangelistary).

Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Ed.): Thesaurus librorum. 425 years of the Bavarian State Library. Exhibition catalog of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. Wiesbaden 1983, pp. 72-75 No. 22.

Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Ed.): Regensburg book painting. From early Carolingian times to the end of the Middle Ages. Exhibition catalog of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. Munich 1987, pp. 33-34 No. 17, plates 9-12, 96.

Ada S. Cohen: The Uta Codex. Art, philosophy, and reform in eleventh-century Germany. Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, Pa. 2000, ISBN 0-271-01959-X .

Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Ed.): Magnificent bindings 870–1685. Treasures from the holdings of the Bavarian State Library in Munich. Exhibition catalog of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. Munich 2001, pp. 21-22 No. 7.

Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Ed.): Living book heritage. Secularization, mediatization and the Bavarian State Library. Exhibition catalog of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. Munich 2003, pp. 184-185 No. 64.

Splendor on parchment. Book illumination treasures from 780 to 1180. (Exhibition catalogs of the Bavarian State Library, No. 86). Hirmer, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-7774-5391-0 , pp. 194-197.

Karl-Georg Pfändtner, Brigitte Gullath : The Uta Codex. Early Regensburg illumination in perfection. The manuscript Clm 13601 of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. Luzern, Quaternio Verlag 2012, 159 pages, with a facsimile addition, ISBN 978-3-905924-14-5 .

Web links

Commons : Uta Codex - collection of images, videos and audio files

Fully digitized for the exhibition Splendor on Parchment. Treasures of book illumination from 780 to 1180 (October 19, 2012 to January 13, 2013, Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung Munich)
Website of the Bavarian State Library on the Uta Codex
Publications on the Uta Codex in the Opac of the Regesta Imperii
Quattuor Evangelia - Uta-Evangelistar (Uta-Codex) - BSB Clm 13601 - high-resolution digitized version in the culture portal bavarikon

Remarks

^ Karl-Georg Pfändtner: First art-historical findings of the binding project . In: binding research. Information sheet of the working group for the collection, indexing and preservation of historical book covers . tape 39 . Berlin 2016, p. 12-25, especially 15-19 .
^ Karl-Georg Pfändtner: Book case and binding . In: Karl-Georg Pfändtner, Brigitte Gullath (Ed.): The Uta Codex. Early Regensburg illumination in perfection. The manuscript Clm 13601 of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek . 1st edition. Quaternio Verlag Luzern, Luzern 2012, ISBN 978-3-905924-14-5 , pp. 103-105 .
^ Gude Suckale-Redlefsen: The manuscripts of the 8th to 11th centuries of the Bamberg State Library. Part 1: Texts. (Catalog of the illuminated manuscripts of the Bamberg State Library, Volume 1, 1). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-447-05117-5 , p. 103.

[1] Karl-Georg Pfändtner: First art-historical findings of the binding project . In: binding research. Information sheet of the working group for the collection, indexing and preservation of historical book covers . tape 39 . Berlin 2016, p. 12-25, especially 15-19 .

[2] Karl-Georg Pfändtner: Book case and binding . In: Karl-Georg Pfändtner, Brigitte Gullath (Ed.): The Uta Codex. Early Regensburg illumination in perfection. The manuscript Clm 13601 of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek . 1st edition. Quaternio Verlag Luzern, Luzern 2012, ISBN 978-3-905924-14-5 , pp. 103-105 .

[3] Gude Suckale-Redlefsen: The manuscripts of the 8th to 11th centuries of the Bamberg State Library. Part 1: Texts. (Catalog of the illuminated manuscripts of the Bamberg State Library, Volume 1, 1). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-447-05117-5 , p. 103.