- The Codex Aureus of Lorsch, a Gospel book, is sometimes also called the Lorsch Codex.
The Lorsch Codex (Chronicon Laureshamense, Lorscher Codex, Codex Laureshamensis) is an important historical document created between about 1175 to 1195 A.D. in the Monastery of Saint Nazarius in Lorsch, Germany. It consists of 460 pages in large format containing more than 3800 entries. It is important because it details the gifts given to the monastery and the possessions belonging to it, which thus gives some of the first mention of cities of the Middle Ages in central Germany, and in particular in the Rhein-Neckar region. Over one thousand places are named.
No original of the Lorsch codex is known; however, the Bavarian State Archive is nowadays where the codex is housed. The codex as it exists now is handwritten in Carolingian minuscule, and there is an illuminated drop capital – a huge "D" – on the first page.
Literature
- Codex Laureshamensis. Das Urkundenbuch des ehemaligen Reichsklosters Lorch, Neustadt/Aisch 2003 (Bavarian State Archive 1 special publication) ISBN 3-921635-71-3 facsimile edition
- Karl Josef Minst: Lorscher Codex deutsch. Urkundenbuch der ehemaligen Fürstabtei Lorsch, 5 Bde., Lorsch 1966/72 Lorsch (translation)
- Karl Glöckner: Codex Laureshamensis
See also
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- Lorsch Codex redirects here. For the 12th-century monastery catalogue, see Lorsch codex.
The Codex Aureus of Lorsch (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 50, and Alba Iulia, Biblioteca Documenta Batthyaneum, s.n., also known as the Lorsch Gospels) is an illuminated Gospel Book written between 778-820, roughly coinciding with the period of Charlemagne's rule over the Frankish Empire.
It was located for the first time in Lorsch Abbey (Germany), 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 the 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 an easy 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 Batthyani. This section is now in Alba Iulia, Romania, and belongs to Batthyaneum Library. The second half is in the Vatican Library. The front cover is held by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the back cover by the Vatican Museums of Rome.
References
- Walther, Ingo F. and Norbert Wolf. Codices Illustres: The world's most famous illuminated manuscripts, 400 to 1600. Köln, TASCHEN, 2005.
Gallery
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
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