The Grimalt Codex is a

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

, now no. 397 in the

abbey library of Saint Gall The Abbey library of St Gall () is a significant medieval monastic library located in St. Gallen, Switzerland. In 1983, the library, as well as the Abbey of St Gall, were designated a World Heritage Site, as "an outstanding example of a large Caro ...

, containing poetic,

liturgical Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

, computistic, mythological, scientific and historical material, including a calendar and glossaries, in both

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and

Old High German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...

.St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek
Cod. Sang. 397
accessed 28 December 2024. It is named for its owner and probably compiler, Abbot Grimald of

Saint Gall Gall (; 550 645) according to hagiographic tradition was a disciple and one of the traditional twelve companions of Columbanus on his mission from Ireland to the continent. However, he may have originally come from the border region betwe ...

().

Creation

The Grimalt Codex contains 148

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared Tanning (leather), untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves and goats. It has been used as a writing medium in West Asia and Europe for more than two millennia. By AD 400 ...

pages in ten

quires Various measures of paper quantity have been and are in use. Although there are no S.I. units such as quires or bales, there are ISO''ISO 4046-3:2002 Paper, board, pulps and related terms – Vocabulary – Part 3: Paper-making terminology'' (20 ...

and measures . In its final form, the manuscript is the work of about forty different

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of Printing press, automatic printing. The work of scribes can involve copying manuscripts and other texts as well as ...

s. The poetic collection Codex Sangallensis 899, also from Saint Gall, marks a text copied from the codex with the words "" ('I took from Grimald's book'). Other texts copied from the codex are marked with the initial G. This at least indicates that Grimald was the onetime owner of the codex and is usually taken to indicate that he was its compiler. Grimald himself may have written some of the material. The codex was a composite at the time of its binding. The paleographer Bernhard Bischoff identified two groups of quires, labelling them A–G and I–III. The actual order of the quires is I–II–III–G–A–B–C–D–E–F with I–II and A–F forming units while III and G are "loose" quires. Bischoff dated A–F to the 830s and placed its composition at the court of

Louis the Pious Louis the Pious (; ; ; 16 April 778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair and the Debonaire, was King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor, co-emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aquitaine from 781. As the only ...

, but I–III were composed in the period 855–867. G was compiled independently. The latest dated entry in the codex is from 867. Following the obituaries of the emperors Charlemagne () and Louis the Pious (840), it notes that

Louis the German Louis the German (German language, German: ''Ludwig der Deutsche''; c. 806/810 – 28 August 876), also known as Louis II of Germany (German language, German: ''Ludwig II. von Deutschland''), was the first king of East Francia, and ruled from 8 ...

has ruled with "the imperial power in

east Francia East Francia (Latin: ) or the Kingdom of the East Franks () was a successor state of Charlemagne's empire created in 843 and ruled by the Carolingian dynasty until 911. It was established through the Treaty of Verdun (843) which divided the for ...

" for 27 years. This may be the year when it came together as a codex. It was given by Grimald to King Louis.

The nature and purpose of the Grimalt Codex are disputed. It has been seen as the surviving ''

vade mecum A handbook is a type of reference work, or other collection of instructions, that is intended to provide ready reference. The term originally applied to a small or portable book containing information useful for its owner, but the ''Oxford Eng ...

'' (personal reference handbook) of Abbot Grimald. That description may only apply to quires I–III and G, while A–F are a pedagogical textbook. Eric Goldberg sees the material as related to the functioning of the royal palace. Qires I–II contain liturgies for

Lauds Lauds is a canonical hour of the Divine office. In the Roman Rite Liturgy of the Hours it is one of the major hours, usually held after Matins, in the early morning hours (between 3:00:00 and 5:59:59). Name The name is derived from the three la ...

and

Litany Litany, in Christian worship and some forms of Jewish worship, is a form of prayer used in services and processions, and consisting of a number of petitions. The word comes through Latin ''wikt:litania, litania'' from Ancient Greek wikt:λιτα ...

; prayers of acclamation for the health and salvation of Louis, Queen Emma, their children and the army; sermons by

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

; a summary set of annals covering the years 815–867; and blessings for the ordeal of fire and boiling water. Quire III includes a hodgepodge of information, including a poem on days of the week; obituaries and annalistic notices scattered throughout; two medical recipes for curing fever; a horologium; the

Greek alphabet The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BC. It was derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and is the earliest known alphabetic script to systematically write vowels as wel ...

; two sets of Egyptian days; the

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages, a group of Low Germanic languages also commonly referred to as "Frankish" varieties * Francia, a post-Roman ...

names of the months; the names of the winds; a poem on Queen

Hildegard Hildegard is a female name derived from the Old High German ''hild'' ('war' or 'battle') and ''gard'' ('enclosure' or 'yard'), and means 'battle enclosure'. Variant spellings include: Hildegarde; the Polish, Portuguese, Slovene and Spanish Hi ...

; the treatise '' De sex cogitationibus''; the

Exultet The ''Exsultet'' (spelled in pre-1920 editions of the Roman Missal as ''Exultet''), also known as the Easter Proclamation (), is a lengthy sung proclamation delivered before the paschal candle, ideally by a deacon, during the Easter Vigil in the ...

liturgy; and chapter 19 from

Bede Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ...

's '' De temporum ratione''. Among the annals in this section are notice of a lunar eclipse and notices of Louis the German's victories in the

battle of the Ries The battle of the Ries of 13 May 841 was a major engagement of the Carolingian civil war of 840–843. King Louis the German surprised and routed the army of Count Adalbert of Metz (died 841), Adalbert of Metz on the banks of the river Wörnitz (riv ...

and

battle of Fontenoy The Battle of Fontenoy took place on 11 May 1745 during the War of the Austrian Succession, near Tournai, then in the Austrian Netherlands, now Belgium. A French army of 50,000 under Maurice, comte de Saxe, Marshal Saxe defeated a Pragmatic Ar ...

. Quire G is a grammatical and literary handbook, possibly the last part of the codex to come together on the personal initiative of Grimald. It contains poems on the transiencey of life, including an epigram of

Ausonius Decimius Magnus Ausonius (; ) was a Latin literature, Roman poet and Education in ancient Rome, teacher of classical rhetoric, rhetoric from Burdigala, Gallia Aquitania, Aquitaine (now Bordeaux, France). For a time, he was tutor to the future E ...

and his ''De rosis nascentibus''. It also contains a copy of the ancient ''

Notitia Galliarum The ''Notitia Galliarum'' (or ''Notitia provinciarum et civitatum Galliae'') is a Roman register of cities dating to the 4th–6th centuries AD., contains the text of the ''Notitia'' with a map. The Latin register is divided into two headings. ...

''., citing pp. 48–51 in the codex. The Grimalt Codex contains the oldest surviving copy of the 'official' or 'A'

recension Recension is the practice of editing or revising a text based on critical analysis. When referring to manuscripts, this may be a revision by another author. The term is derived from the Latin ("review, analysis"). In textual criticism (as is the ...

of the ''

Vita Karoli Magni ''Vita Karoli Magni'' (''Life of Charlemagne'') is a biography of Charlemagne, King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of the Romans, written by Einhard.Ogg, p. 109 The ''Life of Charlemagne'' is a 33 chapter account starting with th ...

'', a biography of Charlemagne.

References

Works cited

* * *

Creation

Contents

References

Works cited

Further reading