Freising Gospels

Freising, Bavaria · c. 875 · Latin · W.4

A small Latin Gospel book written in the diocese of Freising around 875, in Caroline minuscule — the clear script of the Carolingian age that later printers took as the model for lower-case letters. The Evangelists are painted with quick, restless brushwork in the manner of the school of Reims; the canon tables, with interlace in their columns, follow another tradition. The book is complete, with Jerome’s prefaces and the readings for the church year.

All pages of the manuscript at OPenn

7 pages

Pages

fol. 24r · The first canon table: «Canon I, in which the four…» — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John — with the numbers of the passages all four share, in coloured columns under arches crowned with leaves.Walters Art Museum · W.4 · CC0
fol. 31r · Canon tables VII, VIII and IX on one page: passages shared only by Matthew and John, by Luke and Mark, and by Luke and John. The numbers are written in red Roman numerals.Walters Art Museum · W.4 · CC0
fol. 33v · Matthew, pen ready, looks up at his symbol, the winged man, against swirling red clouds; his book rests on a lectern shaped like an animal. The name MATTHEUS is written above the frame.Walters Art Museum · W.4 · CC0
fol. 34r · «Incipit evangelium secundum Matthaeum» — here begins the Gospel according to Matthew — and in red capitals the first words, «Liber generationis Iesu Christi», followed by the list of names.Walters Art Museum · W.4 · CC0
Matt 1:1This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham:
fol. 90v · Mark at a heavy desk dips his pen in the ink, the open book on his knee; his symbol, the lion, looks down from the top corner.Walters Art Museum · W.4 · CC0
fol. 126v · Luke in a mauve robe and sandals, a book open on his lap, with a tall lampstand beside him and his symbol, the ox, above.Walters Art Museum · W.4 · CC0
fol. 178v · John on a folding stool writes on a long scroll, his eagle above him. Like the other three, he is drawn from the old model of a seated classical author.Walters Art Museum · W.4 · CC0