Content
It was written out by the monks Liuthard and Beringer. Seven full-page miniatures show the four evangelists, Charles the Bald enthroned, the Adoration of the Lamb and a Christ in Majesty. It also includes twelve canon tables, ten illuminated initials and incipits. The text is written in golden uncial letters, with each page framed. It measures 420 mm by 330 mm and has 126 vellum folios.
The cover is handmade of gold, and decorated with precious gemstones, sapphires, emeralds, and pearls. At the centre of the cover appears Christ in Majesty, in repoussè relief, seated on the globe of the world and holding on his knee a book inscribed with the words
| “ | I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me. | ” |
The inclusion of this inscription again identifies the Gospel Book with Christ. The verse makes equal sense if we read the speaker as Christ or as the Gospel Book. Surrounding Christ outside a frame are four seated evangelist portraits, above or below each of which is a scene from their Gospel. Reading from top left, clockwise, these are: Christ and the Adulterous Woman, the Expulsion of the Money-lenders from the Temple, Healing of the Blind Man, Healing of the Leper.
During the Carolingian era, King Charlemagne believed in the spiritual powers of gemstones and minerals, and their magical connection to heaven. He believed sapphires symbolized an image of heaven, heavenly virtues, and eternal life. Charlemagne passed down his interest in the spiritual qualities of gemstones to his grandson, Charles the Bald, who ordered the Codex Aureus and Lindau Gospels to be written in 870. The artisans created the covers with emeralds, sapphires, rubies, garnets, agate, and pearls. The standard of the work is extremely refined, with each of the gems in a setting that rises up from the plane of the cover and is decorated with fine detail. The "claws" holding the gems in place are minutely formed as acanthus leaves; earlier jewelled metalwork usually used plain "claw"-type settings.
According to the Book of Exodus in the Bible, God was in heaven standing on a street paved with sapphires, “And they saw the God of Israel; and there was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness.” (Exodus 24: 9-10) The elaborate and costly decoration of the cover is meant to glorify the Word of God.
Read more about this topic: Codex Aureus Of St. Emmeram
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