Emperors, Empresses, and the Law in Carolingian Italy: The Illustrations of Vercelli, Biblioteca Capitolare, MS CLXV
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Celia Chazelle
Abstract
Vercelli, Biblioteca Capitolare, Ms CLXV is a compendium of canon law and related texts that Bernhard Bischoff assigned to northern Italy and dated to the second quarter of the ninth century.1 The artistic feature that makes this manuscript most deserving of study in a Festschrift for Lawrence Nees is its prefatory series of seven fullpage drawings. Three openings depict a Christian Roman Emperor with his ecumenical synod, and Empress Helena is also twice represented. In this essay, I briefly describe the legal collection - a full list of its contents is presented in an Appendix - before focusing on the illustrations. After consideration of their artistic antecedents and analogues, I explore the possibility that the manuscript was intended as a gift for Emperor Lothar I (d. 855) and his wife, Ermengard (d. 851). The illustrations would have served to celebrate Christian imperial authority during a period - the mid-830s - when Lothar faced major challenges to his political position in the Carolingian Empire.
Abstract
Vercelli, Biblioteca Capitolare, Ms CLXV is a compendium of canon law and related texts that Bernhard Bischoff assigned to northern Italy and dated to the second quarter of the ninth century.1 The artistic feature that makes this manuscript most deserving of study in a Festschrift for Lawrence Nees is its prefatory series of seven fullpage drawings. Three openings depict a Christian Roman Emperor with his ecumenical synod, and Empress Helena is also twice represented. In this essay, I briefly describe the legal collection - a full list of its contents is presented in an Appendix - before focusing on the illustrations. After consideration of their artistic antecedents and analogues, I explore the possibility that the manuscript was intended as a gift for Emperor Lothar I (d. 855) and his wife, Ermengard (d. 851). The illustrations would have served to celebrate Christian imperial authority during a period - the mid-830s - when Lothar faced major challenges to his political position in the Carolingian Empire.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgments IX
- Contents XI
- Contributors XIII
- Abbreviations XV
- Foreword XVII
- Introduction 1
-
I Establishing Identity
- Of Colophons and Cryptographs 15
- The Ottonian Book Artist and the Case of the Uta Codex 37
- Idols in Ottonian Fulda? 61
- A Singular Combat: Anchises among the Kings of France 73
- A “Purely Jewish Style”: Celebrating Jewish Culture and Combating Antisemitism through Art and Architecture in Southeast Texas in the 1920s 89
-
II Patronage and Politics
- Emperors, Empresses, and the Law in Carolingian Italy: The Illustrations of Vercelli, Biblioteca Capitolare, MS CLXV 117
- Boundaries Revisited: High Crosses as Liminal Markers and Protective Monuments 147
- The Cross of Dysert O’Dea Revisited 179
- Pope Calixtus and the Madonna della Clemenza 199
- Before 1297? St. Louis and Questions of Devotional Manuscript Dating 221
-
III Beyond the Canon
- An Ode to Epic Hair: Uncovering the Exegesis of a Green-Bearded Christ 245
- The Emancipation of Early Medieval Artists 269
- The Salaberga Psalter 291
- Book Satchels and a Case for Relics: The House-Shaped Form in the Book of Deer 309
- Lawrence Nees Publications 333
- General Index 341
- Index of Manuscripts 351
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgments IX
- Contents XI
- Contributors XIII
- Abbreviations XV
- Foreword XVII
- Introduction 1
-
I Establishing Identity
- Of Colophons and Cryptographs 15
- The Ottonian Book Artist and the Case of the Uta Codex 37
- Idols in Ottonian Fulda? 61
- A Singular Combat: Anchises among the Kings of France 73
- A “Purely Jewish Style”: Celebrating Jewish Culture and Combating Antisemitism through Art and Architecture in Southeast Texas in the 1920s 89
-
II Patronage and Politics
- Emperors, Empresses, and the Law in Carolingian Italy: The Illustrations of Vercelli, Biblioteca Capitolare, MS CLXV 117
- Boundaries Revisited: High Crosses as Liminal Markers and Protective Monuments 147
- The Cross of Dysert O’Dea Revisited 179
- Pope Calixtus and the Madonna della Clemenza 199
- Before 1297? St. Louis and Questions of Devotional Manuscript Dating 221
-
III Beyond the Canon
- An Ode to Epic Hair: Uncovering the Exegesis of a Green-Bearded Christ 245
- The Emancipation of Early Medieval Artists 269
- The Salaberga Psalter 291
- Book Satchels and a Case for Relics: The House-Shaped Form in the Book of Deer 309
- Lawrence Nees Publications 333
- General Index 341
- Index of Manuscripts 351
