The Schuttern Gospels (British Library, Add MS 47673) is an early 9th century

illuminated Illuminated may refer to: * Illuminated (song), "Illuminated" (song), by Hurts * Illuminated Film Company, a British animation house * ''Illuminated'', alternative title of Black Sheep (Nat & Alex Wolff album) * Illuminated manuscript See also

Gospel Book A Gospel Book, Evangelion, or Book of the Gospels ( Greek: , ) is a codex or bound volume containing one or more of the four Gospels of the Christian New Testament – normally all four – centering on the life of Jesus of Nazareth and the roo ...

that was produced at Schuttern Abbey in

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...

. According to a colophon on folio 206v, the manuscript was written by the

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

Liutharius, at the order of his abbot, Bertricus.

Codicology

The

vellum Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. It is often distinguished from parchment, either by being made from calfskin (rather than the skin of other animals), or simply by being of a higher quality. Vellu ...

codex The codex (: codices ) was the historical ancestor format of the modern book. Technically, the vast majority of modern books use the codex format of a stack of pages bound at one edge, along the side of the text. But the term ''codex'' is now r ...

has 211 folios that measure 300 by 215 mm. The text is written is a space measuring 232 by 155 mm. The folios are gathered into quires, most of which have eight leaves each; the first and the next to last quires have only six leaves; and the eleventh quire has seven leaves excised. The majority of the folios were ruled using a hard point. They were ruled two bifolios at a time, before the bifolios were folded. The manuscript has a mid-19th century binding of purple leather.

Text and script

The manuscript contains the text of the four

Gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the second century AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message was reported. In this sen ...

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 ...

along with the Eusebian canon tables, prefaces, summaries and capitulary. The text is written in two columns of twenty-five lines each in a

Carolingian minuscule Carolingian minuscule or Caroline minuscule is a script which developed as a calligraphic standard in the medieval European period so that the Latin alphabet of Jerome's Vulgate Bible could be easily recognized by the literate class from one ...

that has some

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from around the middle of the 5th century until Pepin the Short in 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the ...

characteristics. The texts of the canon table, the chapter tables and the colophon are in the same hand.

Decoration

The manuscript has arcaded canon tables and chapter tables. There are large initials which are decorated interlace, and beast and bird motifs, similar to those found in Insular manuscripts. Folio 19v has a large decorated

Chi Rho The Chi Rho (☧, English pronunciation ; also known as ''chrismon'') is one of the earliest forms of the Christogram, formed by superimposing the first two (capital) letters—chi (letter), chi and rho (ΧΡ)—of the Greek (Romanization of ...

monogram to mark the text of . The manuscript does not have miniatures of evangelist portraits or evangelist symbols. In their place, there are purple and indigo rectangular panels with borders on which are quotations from the

Book of Psalms The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of ...

written in uncials with white ink. The panel for the

Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells the story of who the author believes is Israel's messiah (Christ (title), Christ), Jesus, resurrection of Jesus, his res ...

has Psalm 67, verses 27 and 29 and Psalm 31 verses 1 and 2. The panel for the

Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Mark is the second of the four canonical Gospels and one of the three synoptic Gospels, synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from baptism of Jesus, his baptism by John the Baptist to his death, the Burial of Jesus, ...

has Psalm 33 verses 12–15. Luke's panel has Psalm 33, verses 9 and 10. The panel for the

Gospel of John The Gospel of John () is the fourth of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "Book of Signs, signs" culminating in the raising of Lazarus (foreshadowing the ...

is missing.

Provenance

The colophon on folio 202v reads: ''Ego Liutharius diaconus hunc biblum scripsi ob iussu bertrici abbatis, ad salutem querentibus anime vel legentibus…''. The names Liutharius and Abbot Bertricus can be found on a list of monks of Schuttern Abbey from the early 9th century which is preserved at the monastery of Reichenau. The manuscript was still at Schuttern Abbey in the 13th century when a charter dated 1269 for the abbey and the Abbot Hermannus, was recorded on folio 211. It was acquired by Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (died 1759) and included in his library at

Holkham Hall Holkham Hall ( or ) is an 18th-century English country house, country house near the village of Holkham, Norfolk, England, constructed in the Neo-Palladian style for Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (fifth creation), Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of ...

. Folio ii bears the

bookplate An , also known as a bookplate (or book-plate, as it was commonly styled until the early 20th century), is a printed or decorative label pasted into a book, often on the front endpaper, to indicate ownership. Simple typographical bookplates are ...

of Thomas William Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester of Holkham. The manuscript was acquired by the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

, along with 11 other manuscripts from

References

British Library catalogue entry

London, British Library, Additional 47673, Evangeliar
online

Codicology

Text and script

Decoration

Provenance

References

Further reading