Ottonian book illumination

Ottonian miniature or Ottonian book illumination is the art of decorating books that developed in Germany and northern Italy from the mid- 10th century with the accession of Otto I of the Holy Roman Empire in the mid- 11th century and the end of the reign of Henry III. Direct heir of the Carolingian miniature and sensitive to the influences of the Byzantine miniature, due to the link between the German dynasty and the Greek imperial one, the book production of the time developed an original style that flowed with founding tones into the immediately following Romanesque miniature.Disappeared to give way to Romanesque illumination during the 11th century.

Ottonian book art did not refer directly to the models of Antiquity (with very rare exceptions), as did Carolingian art, but rather relied on Carolingian miniatures while developing an autonomous and homogeneous language through them. An epigone of this artistic movement was the Master of the Registrum Gregorii whose work produced statuesque figurative subjects, framed in stratified spaces supported by realistic architecture and furniture, in a calm classicising balance of full and empty spaces. The colours were chosen in such a way as to blend together pleasantly, with ample use of highlights to highlight the volumes. However, other artists of the time did not always know how to evolve the language of this master, often repeating it with mere academicism that transformed the classicising imprint into fixity. 

The Carolingian influence is visible above all in the first phase of Ottonian production: e.g. in the Hiero Evangelistary and in the group of manuscripts connected to it, deriving from the Lorsch Evangelistary, commissioned by Charlemagne. The influence of the books of Charles the Bald was very important, which, in addition to being the closest chronologically, corresponded to a political action similar in some aspects to that of the Ottonians. Even the Franco-Saxon style, of the last years of Charles the Bald, was taken from the Ottonian miniature, as demonstrated by the gospels donated by the imperial family to the Abbey of Quedlinburg and those today preserved almost entirely in Reims. 

Unlike the Carolingians, the Ottonians and the Salicians did not promote the foundation of Scholae and Scritporia within the court, relying on monastic workshops, often already Carolingian or pre-Carolingian (as in the case of Cologne) among which Reichenau, Cologne, Mainz and Regensburg stood out. All « ateliers in which original compositional methods were developed and always of a very refined culture.» 

As with the Carolingian miniature, the Ottonian miniature is also the only valid example of the vitality and cultural trends prevalent in the pictorial arts of the empire in those years, since the contemporary mural painting has largely been lost.

Origins and patronage

First of all, a reform movement took place in several Benedictine monasteries in the Holy Roman Empire: first of all the Abbey of Gorze, near Metz, reformed in 933, and then the Abbey of St. Maximin (Trier), reformed in 934. The reform, promoted by Archbishop Adalberon I of Metz and known as the Gorze Reform, gradually spread throughout Germany, involving about 200 monasteries, creating a network of affiliated houses connected to each other in a very elastic way (with pre-eminent centers in the abbeys of Fulda, Niederaltaich, Einsiedeln and St. Emmeram) subjected to a lay lordship that had the task of guaranteeing the economic well-being of the structures. This was the humus that stimulated the development of specialized scriptoria, since the German Benedictines could now dedicate themselves to the art of bookmaking, their livelihood being guaranteed. 

The Ottonian dynasty, which came to rule the Empire in 936, supported the Gorze Reformation to create an alliance between this network of Benedictine monasteries and the new temporal power, making it an instrument for a cultural renovatio which took the name of Ottonian Renaissance. The sovereigns were, not by chance, the first to order works from the abbeys. They thus sought to assert themselves as the protectors of Christianity, the miniatures multiplying the symbolic representations of this power. These manuscripts, which often contain the portrait of the emperor, were then intended for the offices which took place at court, or even offered to the greatest sanctuaries of the Empire. Otto I (r. 962-973) surrounded himself with scholars. Otto II (r. 967-983) continued his father's political choices and his marriage to the Byzantine princess Theophano also had important cultural implications: she was herself well educated and was accompanied to Germany by Greek clerics and artists who gave a fundamental contribution to the development of Ottonian art. The education of the future emperor Otto III (r. 966-1002) was entrusted to the archbishop Willigis of Mainz, to Bernhard of Hildesheim (future bishop of Hildesheim) and John Philagathus (chaplain of Theophano and future archbishop of Piacenza) who taught him Greek and to Gerbert of Aurillac who taught him arithmetic, music and philosophy. 

The Ottonian library was particularly rich, as we know from the list of books donated by Henry II the Saint (r. 1014-1024). The latter donated various manuscripts by Boethius (De arithmetica which belonged to Charles the Bald), Livy, Seneca, Justinian (Institutes), Isidore of Seville (De natura rerum), Cassiodorus (Institutions), as well as the Historia of Richerius of Reims (offered to the emperor by Gerbert). The Ottonians were also the financiers of luxury manuscripts, but they do not seem to have gathered artists at court: such manuscripts were produced at the abbey of Corvey, Fulda and above all at Reichenau, where comes the Evangeliary of Otto III and the Evangeliary of Liutario, imperial representations of great value for their care and for their political sense. 

If we exclude the contribution of the Ottonian emperors (and their wives/mothers), the support of the cultural life of the time by patrons was, ultimately, a very rare phenomenon, with Germany being the most active region in this sense thanks to the commitment of the high ecclesiastics. The monastic and episcopal houses, already mentioned for their schools, were often in fact also centres of artistic as well as architectural production. 

Influences

Ottonian miniature, like all Ottonian art in general, was massively influenced by Carolingian art, fundamentally with a view to renovatio imperii, and, as anticipated, by Byzantine art, especially thanks to the marriage between Otto II and Theophano which guaranteed the Saxons a blood bond with the crown and the culture of New Rome.

The book production of the new German dynasty was obviously inspired by the book production of the first German imperial dynasty, the Carolingians. The scriptoria founded and sponsored by the first Frankish emperors in Germany, particularly in the Alps, had in fact continued to produce manuscripts fully attributable to Carolingian illumination until the first half of the 10th century, regardless of the political collapse that had affected the ancient empire of Charlemagne (r. 768-814). Several Carolingian manuscripts still preserved today were present in the main Ottonian scriptoria and obviously served as models there: e.g. the Golden Codex of St. Emmeram commissioned by Charles the Bald (r. 840-877) which, in the Ottonian era, reached the Abbey of St. Emmeram in Regensburg. However, even if the manuscripts of the previous century served as models, there was a renewal in the typologies of the manuscripts produced as well as in the decorative motifs.

In this period we also often see the restoration of Carolingian codices with the addition of new scenes. A typical example is the Registrum Gregorii, a collection of the epistles of Gregory the Great which was integrated with two full-page miniatures in 983 by the Archbishop of Trier Egbert from an unknown Italian master, the so-called "Master of the Registrum Gregorii " (see below). These two miniatures depict Otto on the throne surrounded by the provinces of the Empire and Saint Gregory inspired by the dove while dictating to the scribe. In the first there is the solemn frontality of the emperor which is enlivened by the background architecture which, intuitively, creates a play of solids and voids with a calm classical balance. In the second scene the figures are also framed by architecture, with naturalness and measure. In both figures they possess a realistic physicality, and the colours are chosen in such a way as to blend together pleasantly (in the first the red tones prevail, in the second the blue ones), with ample use of highlights to highlight the volumes. 

The other great source of Ottonian miniatures was precisely Byzantine miniatures, which in turn had various and profound influences depending on the place (and period) of production, as much as ancient Roman miniatures. In fact, some pieces present in German scriptoria belonged to this latter typology: e.g. the Fragment of the Itala of Quedlinburg. The presence at court, in Theophano's entourage, of Byzantine men of letters and artists guaranteed the Ottonian workshops the availability (admittedly limited) of competent and purely "Greek" workers. 

Characteristics

Palaeography

Paleographically, Ottonian manuscripts continue to use the Carolingian minuscule that will remain in use in Europe until it is eliminated by the Gothic script. Specifically, German minuscule tends to be oval in shape, very slender and slanted to the right. It also has uncial characteristics, such as the ascender of the letter ⟨d⟩ slanted to the left and vertical initial strokes of ⟨m⟩ and ⟨n⟩.

Types of Manuscripts Produced

The types of manuscripts relating to Ottonian miniatures are considerably reduced compared to the Carolingian or Insular manuscripts of this period. First of all, the manuscripts of texts by ancient authors almost completely disappear. Even in the religious field the typologies of books are reduced: the large Bibles and Psalters are almost totally abandoned. 

Two types of manuscripts are privileged:

first of all the diplomatic documents produced by the Ottonian power. Thus the Privilegium Othonis of 962, considered «the birth certificate of the Ottonian miniature», presents a foliage decoration on a purple background. Similarly, the marriage certificate of the empress Theophano, dated 972, presents the same purple background dotted with medallions decorated with representations of animals inspired by Byzantine silks. «The reason for the purple colour is not indifferent: purple, like porphyry which is the 'purple marble', is a symbolic sign of the Byzantine imperial power, after having been Roman: it then also became the Ottonian power.» The inspiration, in these documents, founding the power of the new dynasty, is therefore more ancient Roman than Greek; 

the other type of manuscript is large sacred texts intended for religious office: evangeliaries, books of pericopes or lectionaries and sacramentaries. 

Decorative styles

Drop cap

Many Ottonian manuscripts feature large initials, sometimes occupying an entire page, decorated with vines, spirals and tracery on green, purple or blue backgrounds. These ornaments are inspired by Carolingian miniatures, in particular the production of the Abbey of St. Gall (Switzerland), and developed for the first time in the scriptorium of the Abbey of Reichenau. The first manuscripts are grouped under the name of "Annon/Eburnant Group", from the name of a copyist of one of these manuscripts currently preserved in Solothurn (Switzerland). This style spread to many manuscripts produced in Germany, as well as in Italy and France. 

Another style of initial letter, also originating from Reichenau but ten years later than the previous one, develops with denser and more squat letters, without spirals, with budding stems, dense interweavings and branches that form lightning bolts. This style is found for example in the Egbert Psalter and in other manuscripts collected under the name of the "Ruodprecht Group" (see below), here too from the name of the copyist involved in the work. 

Illuminated subjects

Compared to the Carolingian period, Ottonian miniatures favour the New Testament as a subject rather than the Old Testament. In New Testament representations, German artists further distanced themselves from the previous model by leaving out the portraits of the evangelists in favour of scenes from the life of Christ. The various local schools were thus free to demonstrate a certain creativity in the choice of scenes and in the ways of representing them. On the contrary, there are almost no secular scenes, apart from some rare calendar scenes, inspired by Carolingian manuscripts. 

The Master of the Registrum Gregorii

It was the so-called "Master of the Registrum Gregorii ", "perhaps the highest exponent of Ottonian courtly miniature", who developed a truly original style in Ottonian miniature. He had in fact a decisive influence on the formation of the style and formal repertoire of miniatures from Trier, Reichenau, Cologne, the Meuse region and above all Echternach. Installed in a workshop at the service of Archbishop Egbert of Trier (950-993) but also active on behalf of Emperor Otto III, this anonymous artist (perhaps to be identified with the " Iohannes Italus " who, according to some sources, painted, on commission from Otto III, some walls of the Palatine Chapel of Charlemagne in Aachen) renewed the style of miniatures of his time, undoubtedly accessing models dating back to Antiquity. Many of his manuscripts are therefore influenced by the Quedlinburg Itala or the Vatican Virgil, two of the few late antique manuscripts then (and today) still preserved. The artist nevertheless also drew motifs and iconography from several Carolingian manuscripts. 

His work is generally figurative and characterised by large statuesque figures wrapped in highly stylised draperies that suggest a volumetric body underneath. Shading is achieved by lightening with white and darkening with deeper tones of the same colour. The heads of the figures tend to be proportionally small, yet the faces are particularly well rendered, with an attention to individual details that suggests portraiture. Space is represented by successive planes, superimposed on each other in a veritable stratification. The forms are very clearly delimited and by harmonious curves. The search for naturalism, especially in the rendering of the details of the furniture, is evident. The colours present both light shades and soft shades, with the lighter shade above and the darker one below. It is in particular the colour blue that is used in this way on numerous occasions. The coloured backgrounds are very airy and sometimes entirely covered with gold, as in the Evangeliary of the Sainte-Chapelle. It is the first time in the miniature of the High Middle Ages that this process is used. 

The main production centers

The Saxon scriptoria

The Duchy of Saxony was the homeland of the Ottonian dynasty and the first centre of production of the new Ottonian art. The first manuscripts of this style appear around the 550s in Corvey Abbey. These are Gospels with purely ornamental decorations, in gold, silver and purple, produced without doubt by royal order and intended for Quedlinburg Abbey. They take up the Hiberno-Anglo-Saxon style decoration from the Franco-Saxon school and in particular from a manuscript from Reims dated 870-890 and then preserved in Corvey (now in Prague). These include a so-called Wernigerode Gospel Book (now in the Morgan Library & Museum), a small Gospel now in Essen Cathedral, a fragment of a Gospel Book now in London and another manuscript shared between Reims and the Walters Art Museum. Another group of manuscripts from the same monastery recalls the Anglo-Saxon miniature of this period, with miniatures drawn in pen, representing evangelists or scenes from the life of Christ: e.g. a sacramentary (Library of the University of Leipzig) or the Abingdhof Gospels.

After the year 1000, the school of the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption (Hildesheim) took over from Corvey. This new centre owed its dynamism to the aforementioned bishop Bernhard of Hildesheim (960-1022), appointed in 993 after having been at the court of the empress Theophano and in the entourage of the archbishop Willigis of Mainz. He commissioned several works in a new style. The first is the Evangeliary of Bernhard, dated around 1011, influenced by the Lorsch Evangeliary, then a sacramentary, dated between 1014 and 1022, a Bible and a Gospel Book made by the deacon Guntbald dated after 1015 and containing a portrait of Bernhard himself. The Hildesheim school of painting, however, did not reach the high artistic level of the great Ottonian production centres (Reichenau, Trier, Regensburg and Cologne). 

Reichenau

The book art of the aforementioned monastery on the island of Reichenau on Lake Constance, a scriptorium already active in the Carolingian era, underwent an upward trend during the 10th century. First of all, precious manuscripts from the Abbey of St. Gall were transferred to Reichenau in the first half of the century, when the monastery of St. Gall was threatened by the Magyars: the copies (not all of which were later returned) provided models and inspiration for the artists of the host monastery. Subsequently, thanks to the impetus of the abbots Roudmann and Witigowo, Reichenau became one of the largest scriptoria in Europe around the year 1000, as well as the most important in Ottonian production. A very high number of sumptuous manuscripts were produced there, dedicated to the emperors: the already mentioned Evangeliary of Otto III and Evangeliary of Liutario, the Apocalypse of Bamberg (the only example of an Apocalypse of Ottonian production), etc. Other manuscripts were destined for export. The Master of the Registrum Gregorii exercised a direct influence there and may have even worked there: five miniatures of a famous manuscript produced there, the Codex Egberti, again commissioned by the aforementioned Egbert of Trier, are in fact by his hand.  

The individual works produced in Reichenau have been grouped together in groups which each time take the name of monks (copyists and not illuminators!) remembered or depicted in some codices. First of all the "Hanno/Eburnant Group" from the 970s (Evangelistary of Hiero, Sacramentary of Petershausen and Sacramentary of Hornbach), of Carolingian-Palatine inspiration and with references to the decorations of the Swiss Abbey of St. Gall; then the "Ruodprecht Group" from the 980s (Egbert Psalter, Poussay Evangeliary, etc.) with an ornament of tendrils with bulbous leaves, extensive use of purple and a gold frame, with which the Master of the Registrum Gregorii collaborated; finally the "Luthier Group" of the year 1000 (Evangelicals of Otto III, Evangeliary of the Luthier, Book of the pericope of Henry II) with which the Reichenau miniature reached its maximum splendor. The miniaturists of the "Luthier Group" developed a different style from that of the Master of the Registrum Gregorii: the characters, reduced to an expression and a gesture, are represented on empty backgrounds using golden, cold or light colors. 

«Many of these luxury codices, whose figures made with pasty colours are sometimes found on a gold background, were commissioned by the emperor for himself or as gifts to monasteries and cathedrals, as also testified by the images of the sovereigns, of the greatest interest alongside the usual Christological cycles: in the Liuthar [Liuthario] Gospel Book (f. 16r) Otto III is enthroned, raised from the ground in a halo high above the dignitaries of his empire, represented by two archbishops, soldiers and kings, at half height with respect to the emperor, in the act of paying him homage; the hand of God does not limit itself to holding the crown on the emperor's head, as in the late antique and Byzantine representations, but actually places it directly on his head and the symbols of the evangelists, with a scroll, are suspended around his figure and allude to his integration into the gospel.»

(Meier 1998)

With the Salian dynasty, which succeeded the Ottonians in 1024, the Reichenau scriptorium reached its peak; its codices were in great demand and even the first Salian emperor, Conrad II (r. 1024-1039), commissioned a Gospel Book for the monastery of Limburg an der Haardt which he had founded, the Illinus Gospel Book, etc. This insular workshop later lost importance, giving way to other scriptoria, such as those of Regensburg and especially of Echternach, which obtained the favour of the imperial patrons, and around the middle of the 11th century the art of illuminating codices disappeared there.

Colony

Already a centre of book production in the pre-Carolingian era, affected by Merovingian and insular contaminations and hybridisations, Cologne was involved in the Ottonian renaissance from its very beginning. In fact, the Darmstadt Evangelistary was created there for Hiero of Cologne (900-976), court chaplain of Otto I and later archbishop of the city, by the aforementioned Master of the Registrum Gregorii. 

An original school of miniatures gravitating around the entourage of Archbishop Heribert (970-1021), a close advisor to Otto III, developed in the various city workshops at the beginning of the 11th century, almost coming to oppose the artistic primacy of the Reichenau school. The Cologne miniature was characterised by sumptuous book formulas (purple parchment, chrysography, etc.) worthy of Emperor Otto III whose commission is linked to the Gospel of Saint Hieron and the Sacramentary for the same church, both datable around 996. The scriptorium was particularly influenced by Byzantine miniatures and the presence of a Greek manuscript from the 10th century is attested there. The style plays specifically on colour, on the diversity of colours and on their plastic rendering. Among the manuscripts produced, the code of the abbess Hitda of Meschede, known as the " Hitda Gospel Book ", stands out, an excellent example of reinterpretation of the Carolingian and late Carolingian style: architectural backgrounds, pictorial plasticity, etc.  

In the following decades, the Carolingian imprint faded, with rigid signatures and poor decorative systems, and there was a revival of pre-Carolingian zoomorphic modes and an ornamental language that was now vegetal. Another style developed from the 1020s under the influence of two twin illuminators, Purchardus and Chuonradus, who came from Reichenau, mixing the styles of the two places and producing in particular two gospel books: the Morgan Library & Museum M.651 and the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (BSB) Bibl. 94. 

Mainz

The book-making tradition of Mainz boasts a centuries-old connection with the Abbey of Fulda and therefore with Irish monasticism and its miniatures, the style of which persisted in the scriptorium of the city cathedral even in the 9th century, certainly due to the presence there of Fulda manuscripts. Fundamental to the "Ottonian" developments of the local book-making art, promoted at the time no longer by the cathedral but by the scriptorium of the Abbey of St. Alban, was the aforementioned archbishop Willigis of Mainz (940-1011), advisor to Otto I, probable creator of two diplomas founding the Saxon hegemony over the Empire: the Privilegium Othonis and the Marriage Act of the Empress Theophano. The decorative features of this document, a purple parchment entirely covered in gold and enriched with motifs inspired by Byzantine fabrics, can be compared to a small number of luxury codices, produced in the scriptorium between the end of the 10th and the beginning of the 11th century, among which the Book of Hours of Otto III stands out, a particularly interesting piece because, together with the Book of Hours of Charles the Bald it is the only example of an early medieval book of hours that has reached us. The Ottonian prayer booklet, due to some peculiarities of the iconographic cycle (e.g. the characteristic proskýnesis of the sovereign depicted while paying homage to Christ Pantocrator in cc. 20v-21r and the Déesis which occupies the upper part of the frontispiece), evokes the influence of contemporary Byzantine painting. This could derive from the cultural climate created by the regency of Theophano (983-991), in which Wilgisus collaborated, who could have supervised the creation of the golden book for the young Otto III. 

Regensburg

The decorated book production of Regensburg is closely linked to the history of the Benedictine abbey of Sant'Emmerano, an active Carolingian scriptorium but in whose initial production, as in Mainz, the insular imprint was strong, in the script and in the sober forms of the decoration. In the Ottonian era, Sant'Emmerano acquired the precious Golden Code of Sant'Emmerano, a manuscript commissioned by Charles the Bald, restored and integrated by the illuminator Adalpertus by order of the abbot Ramuoldo (975-1001), then used as a model for subsequent production. 

«The large central rhombus with the portrait of the abbot prefigures the complicated geometric structures that articulate the page, isolating donors and titular saints. The decorative opulence of the large Carolingian model inspires the antiquarian accents and the bright, saturated palette of the added sheet. The dedicatory inscription, stretched like a ribbon, within the decorative band that encloses the portrait of the abbot, is also a prelude to a characteristic feature of the school.»

(Special 1998)

The accession of Henry II to the Holy Roman Imperial throne in 1014 shifted court patronage towards the production centres of the sovereign's home region, Bavaria and Regensburg in particular, marking the definitive change of direction for the fortunes of local miniature painting. Emperor Henry II thus ordered a luxurious sacramentary ("Sacramentary of Henry II") in which he had himself represented in two miniatures which follow the model of the portrait of Charles the Bald in the Golden Codex. Around 1022 he donated another book of Gospels, the so-called "Evangeliary of Henry II" today in the Vatican, to the territorial Abbey of Montecassino. A third famous manuscript produced by the same centre, the Uta Codex, an evangeliary whose miniatures follow the precepts of the scholastic teaching of Hartwic of St. Emmeram. 

Salzburg

St. Peter's Abbey (Salzburg) was one of the most important centres of the late Ottonian period, during the reign of Henry II. Very close to the Regensburg style, it was particularly influenced by Byzantine miniature and anticipated some features of Romanesque miniature. The Byzantine influence that characterises the Salzburg school was not only mediated by Regensburg but also came in part from nearby Venice. Among the famous manuscripts of this school are the Salzburg Pericopes, and the works of the miniaturist Bertold/Pertholt, author of the St. Peter's Gospel Book (Salzburg) and of a lectionary in whose colophon he signed himself and which well testifies to the capacity to elaborate the various Byzantine and Rhenish influences that converged in Salzburg.

Echternach

The Abbey of Echternach (now Luxembourg) continued the legacy of the Master of the Registrum Gregorii, in particular through the Gospel Book of the Sainte-Chapelle preserved for a time in the monastery. The proximity of Trier also had great influence: manuscripts preserved there, e.g. the Codex Egberti, served as inspiration for the scriptorium. The revival of miniature painting in this abbey followed its reform by Humbert from 1028 and the protection provided by the Salian Emperor Henry III (r. 1046–1056). Among the most famous manuscripts produced by the abbey are the Golden Codex of Echternach (1030-1050), closely linked to the style of the Master of the Registrum Gregorii, then the Pericope of Henry III (c. 1039) and the Golden Codex of Speyer (c. 1045) for the cathedral of Speyer (Germany), a work in which one can usually read the hand of an itinerant Greek artist, so strong is Byzantine classicism, although linked to classical art and the work of the Master of the Registrum Gregorii. The last significant manuscript is the Goslar Gospel Book, donated by the emperor to the cathedral of this city around 1051-1056.

Influence and recognition

In 2003, the Bavarian State Library (BSB) proposed that ten manuscripts from the Reichenau scriptorium dating back to the Ottonian period be included in UNESCO's "Memory of the World" register, and in the same year UNESCO confirmed the registration because "the absolute superiority of German miniature painting in Europe first asserted itself during the Ottonian period." These manuscripts include:

The Evangeliary of Luther or Otto III (Aachen)

The Apocalypse of Bamberg (Bamberg)

The Bamberg Commentary on the Song of Songs (Bamberg) 

The Psalter of Egberto (Cividale del Friuli)

The Hiero Code (Darmstadt) 

The Book of the Pericope of Henry II (Munich)

The Gospel Book of Otto III (Munich)

The Gospel Book of the Bamberg Cathedral (Munich) 

The Gospel of Poussay (Paris)

The Egberti Codex (Trier)

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