Codex Aureus of Lorsch

Lorsch Codex redirects here. For the 12th-century monastery catalogue, see Lorsch codex.

Folio 72 verso of the Codex Aureus of Lorsch contains an illumination of Christ in Majesty

The Codex Aureus of Lorsch or Lorsch Gospels (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 50, and Alba Iulia, Biblioteca Documenta Batthyaneum, s.n.) is an illuminated Gospel Book written between 778 and 820, roughly coinciding with the period of Charlemagne's rule over the Frankish Empire.

It was first recorded in Lorsch Abbey (Germany), for which it was presumably written, and where it was mentioned as Evangelium scriptum cum auro pictum habens tabulas eburneas in the catalogue of the Abbey's library, compiled in 830 under Abbot Adelung. Considering gold letters in the manuscript and its location at Lorsch, it was named the Codex Aureus Laurensius. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, the library of Lorsch was one of the best libraries of the world.

In the 16th century the manuscript was taken to Heidelberg (Otto Heinrich removed the contents of the library to Heidelberg, creating the famous Bibliotheca Palatina, just prior to Lorsch's dissolution in 1563), from whence it was stolen in 1622 during the Thirty Years' War; in order to be easy to sell, the codex was broken in two and the covers torn off. The richly illustrated first half reached the Migazzi Library and after that was sold to Bishop Ignac Batthany. This section is now in Alba Iulia, Romania, and belongs to Batthyaneum Library. The second half is in the Vatican Library. The front cover, with famous ivory reliefs in a classicising style of Christ treading on the beasts and archangels, is in the Vatican Museums, and the back cover, with the Virgin and Child with saints, angels and a Nativity of Christ below, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.^[1]

A facsimile of the codex was presented as a gift to Queen Elizabeth II by Pope Benedict XVI on 16 September 2010, who in turn received a series of Hans Holbein prints from the royal collection.^[2]

Notes

1. ^ Illustration; Herbert Schultz, p. 283, The Carolingians in Central Europe, their history, arts, and architecture: a cultural history of Central Europe, 750-900, BRILL, 2004, ISBN 9004131493, 9789004131491
2. ^ Pope's visit: Benedict arrives in UK, The Guardian, 16 September 2010

References

• Walther, Ingo F. and Norbert Wolf. Codices Illustres: The world's most famous illuminated manuscripts, 400 to 1600. Köln, TASCHEN, 2005.

Gallery

For more pictures see:

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  Front cover

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  Ivory back cover

External links

• German description
• 1 (fol 13-14)
• 2 (matthieu)
• 3 (fol 72v)
• 4 (ivoire - christ)
• 5 (reliure ivoire Marie détail)
• 6 (reliure ivoire Marie)
• 7 (Das Lorscher Evangeliar)