Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Showing posts with label Emperor Henry II. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Emperor Henry II. Show all posts

Tuesday, 14 July 2015

St Henry


Yesterday, July 13th, was the feast day of St Henry, who was Holy Emperor as Henry II from 1014-24, having been born in 973 and was Duke of Bavaria. There is an online account of his life and reign at Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor. He was the founder of the see of Bamberg, and there is an introduction to the history and architecture of the cathedral at the online article Bamberg Cathedral, and in German and in more detail and with more illustrations at Bamberger Dom

The Emperor and his wife St Kunigunde are buried in the cathedral

John Dillon posted on the Medieval Religion discussion group an impressive set of medieval images of the Saint-Emperor, pointing to the popularity of devotion to him over succeeding centuries in the Empire. They also provide an insight into the riches of medieval German ecclesiastical art.

I am not certain that all the unopened images will open satisfactorily - the computer I am using is being a bit awkward with some of them, although they do open on my mobile phone.

a) Henry as depicted in a full-length portrait in an early eleventh-century copy of the Gospels (ca. 1007-1012) donated to the cathedral of Bamberg by Eberhard I, the new see's first bishop (Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek, Msc.Bibl.95, fol. 7v):

http://bsbsbb.bsb.lrz-muenchen.de/~db/0000/sbb00000056/images/sbb00000056_00016.jpg


b and c) Henry, supported by Sts. Ulrich and Emmeram, Henry being crowned King of the Germans as depicted in a full-page miniature in the early eleventh-century Sacramentary of Henry II (betw. 1002 and 1014; Munich, BSB, Clm 4456, fol. 11r):

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Kronung_Heinrich_II.jpg



d) Henry (upper register, just left of center; just right of centre, Empress Kunigunde) being crowned King of the Germans as depicted in a full-page miniature in the early eleventh-century Gospel Pericopes of Henry II (betw. 1007 and 1014; Munich, BSB, Clm 4452, fol. 2r):

e) Henry (at right) and Empress St. Kunigunde as portrayed, in recent replacement copies (mounted, 2002), in statues on Bamberg cathedral's Adamspforte (Adam's Portal; variously dated to ca. 1225 or to ca. 1237; the original statues are now in the archdiocesan museum):
The original statues are now in the diocesan museum. A view of thestatue of Henry may be seen here:




f) Henry (at right; at left, Empress St. Kunigunde) as portrayed in statues from ca. 1290 on Basel's ex-cathedral, the Basler Münster, whose rebuilding Henry initiated and which later medieval tradition in Basel held had been consecrated in the couple's presence in 1019:
Detail view of Henry:

g) Henry and Kunigunde as portrayed in high relief as founders on the fourteenth-century tomb (1340) of bishop St. Otto of Bamberg (d. 1139) in the crypt of Bamberg's St. Michelskirche:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Ottograb_NO%2C_klD.jpg


Detail view:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Heinrich_und_Kunigunde_Michelsberg_Bamberg.jpg


h) Henry as depicted in a panel of a mid-fourteenth-century window (ca. 1340-1350) formerly in the Stadtpfarrkirche zum Hl. Leonhard in Bad Sankt Leonhard im Lavanttal in Austria's Land Kärnten and now in the Cloisters Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York:

http://www.burgenseite.com/glas/st_leonhart_heinrichII_glas.jpg


i) Henry (at left) and Kunigunde (at right) as depicted in the upper register of an originally early fifteenth-century window (ca. 1414) from the Andreaskapelle in the cloister of Bamberg's cathedral, now in the diocesan museum: http://tinyurl.com/nbdgnjo

j) Henry and Kunigunde as portrayed in early fifteenth-century statues formerly on the west pediment of the Basler Münster and now on display in the Museum Kleines Klingental in Basel:
Seen here overseeing preparations for a reception:

k) Kunigunde and Henry between St. Lawrence and Jesus as depicted as founders in the earlier fifteenth-century Ehenheim Epitaph (after 1438) in the St. Lorenzkirche in Nürnberg (since 1015 part of the diocese of Bamberg):

l) Henry and Kunigunde as founders as depicted in a hand-coloured woodcut in an unidentified copy of the Bamberg breviary of 1484 (the arms at right are those of prince bishop Philipp von Henneberg):

m) Henry (at upper left) as portrayed in relief on the late fifteenth-century bronze armorial plaque (ca. 1489) of Merseburg's bishop Thilo of Trotha on the castle of Merseburg:

n) Henry and Kunigunde as founders as depicted in a hand-coloured woodcut in the Staatsbibliothek Bamberg's copy of the Bamberg missal of 1507 (the arms at right are those of prince bishop Georg III. Schenk von Limburg):

o) Henry and Kunigunde as founders as depicted in a hand-coloured woodcut in the Beloit College copy of Hartmann Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle (1493) at fol. CLXXXVIr:

p) Henry and Kunigunde as founders (each holding a different half of the cathedral) as portrayed in relief on a pair of late fifteenth- or early sixteenth-century wooden panels now in the diocesan museum in Bamberg:

q) Henry and Kunigunde as portrayed flanking the BVM in modern replacements of their earlier sixteenth-century statues (ca. 1511) above the clock on the facade of Basel's city hall:
The originals inside the city hall (the BVM was refashioned in 1609 as Justitia):

r) Henry and Kunigunde as portrayed in relief by Tilman Riemenschneider and workshop on the imperial couple's present tomb in the cathedral of Bamberg (contracted for in 1499, completed in 1513):
On the side of the tomb chest the relief shows Henry (at left) and Kunigunde (at far right) and depicts an incident from Kunigunde's Vita in which she is said to have defended herself successfully, by walking barefoot over red-hot ploughshares, against an accusation of adultery.

s) Henry (at right) and St. Castulus flanking the BVM and Christ Child as portrayed in statues on the earlier sixteenth-century altarpiece (1514) of the Münster St. Kastulus in Moosburg an der Isar:

t) Henry and Kunigunde as portrayed in relief on earlier sixteenth-century stall ends (1519) in the cathedral of Merseburg:
Henry:
Kunigunde:

u) Henry and Kunigunde as depicted (bottom register at right) on the cross of a chasuble from 1519 in the cathedral museum in Salzburg:

http://tarvos.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/server/images/7003054.JPG


v) Henry (at right) as depicted in an earlier sixteenth-century window (1520) in the Saal des Regierungsrates in Basel's city hall:

w) Henry (at centre) as portrayed in an earlier sixteenth-century statue (ca. 1520-1525) on Bamberg cathedral's so-called Riemenschneider Altar (the statue of St. Sebastian has been attributed to Tilman Riemenschneider), with a perhaps slightly earlier founders' portrait of Henry and Kunigunde on the predella of this confection put together in 1926 from several previously unrelated pieces:

File:Riemenschneider altar.jpg



Sunday, 13 July 2014

St Henry


Were today not a Sunday it would be the feast day of St Henry, the Holy Roman Emperor Henry II, who died in 1024. This then is the 990th anniversary of the death of the last Ottonian Emperor, who was canonised in 1146.

There is an online account of his life and reign, including his camapignes in Italy and Poland as well as his extensive patromage of the Church at Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor.

The see of Bamberg, which he founded and in whose cathedral he is buried and a city with which he is always associated through that fact and the survival of relics of him there is also covered here.

The artistic survivals from his reign are an indicator of the lavish, cultivated and beautiful Imperial and ecclesiastical court culture of the age.

                         Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor,  ca. 1010, from the Imperial Sacramentary,  Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, München

  Holy Roman Emperor Henry IIcirca 1010, from the Imperial Sacramentary,  Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich

Image:portraittimeline.com

German dalmatic Henry ll

German coronation dalmatic of Emperor Henry II preserved at Bamberg

Image:pinterest.com

 

From the website Historical Needlework Resources there is something about another surviving textile from the Emperor's ceremonial wardrobe:

This is the Sternenmantel of Heinrich II (or Star Mantle of Henry II) The Sternenmantel was presented to Henry by Duke Ismahel of Bari. It was donated to Bamberg Cathedral by either Henry II or his wife, St Kunigunde, and it was subsequently was used as a cope). The mantle is currently housed in the Bamberg Cathedral Treasury.



Sternenmantel of Heinrich II


The Sternenmantel of Emperor Henry II

It was created using the stitches and techniques of surface couching, applied pearls and applique

The mantle is approx. 3m wide and 1.5m high. The embroidery depicts scenes from the Life of Christ as well as celestial bodies. There are fourteen medallions containing figures. The design elements are worked in fine couched gold thread on violet silk twill. There is some coloured silk work (white, red, blue and green). Some of the figures have elements worked in stem stitch. The mantle is believed to be of Southern German manufacture.[I am not sure how that coheres with assertion that it was the gift of the Duke of Bari - JRPW]

In 1503 the embroidered elements were cut away and remounted on the current Italian silk damask. Therefore, the original placement of the motifs on the mantle is unknown. There are futher links at

Detail of cuff from Blue Dalmatic

Detail of applique motif from the Sternenmantel of Emperor Henry II

Images :medieval.webcom.net.au

 

Later in date, but linked to the canonised Emperor, is the later medieval so-called Crown of St Henry II. This is a reliquary crown, which belonged to the reliquary of the Emperor in Bamberg cathedral. This was presumably like that of Charlemagne at Aarchen or the one in Prague of St Weneslas  which was topped off with the surviving Crown of St Wenceslas. After the process of German Mediatisation  Bamberg passed into the Kingdom of Bavaria and  the new ru[ers took the crown to the treasury of the Munich Residenz, where it still can be seen. 

This lily crown consists of six plates which are joined together by hinges fixed with pins. Each of the plates carries a large fleur-de-lis. The pins are surmounted by praying angels standing on acanthus leaves. Four of the segments and all of the fleur-de-lis are adorned with precious stones while two carry antique cameos. The decoration of the frame with foliage work seems to be of later date than the frame itself. Due to fitting slots on the front and back segments it is possible to add an imperial arch and cross to the frame. One theory is that the crown was made for the reliquary in the fourteenth century but it may also be a crown of the Emperor Frederick II (d.1250) which came into the possession of Bamberg cathedral through the Emperors Henry VII and Louis IV the Bavarian.


Tuesday, 13 July 2010

St Henry

Today is the feast of St Henry, the Holy Roman Emperor Henry II, who died in 1024. The illustrated Wikipedia article about him is here.

Last year the New Liturgical movement had some splendid articles about Bamberg, which is particularly associated with Henry. From amongst these I would recommend this article on the cathedral, which as it stands to day is one of the triumphs of late twelfth and early thirteenth century German architecture and another on the contents of the treasury. This includes the burial vestments of Pope Clement II and imperial mantles, including one that belonged to St Henry himself. Not only are such survivals precious in themselves, but they are a wonderful indication of the splendour of eleventh century liturgy and monarchy - even if they have suffered depredations over the centuries.

Quite enough to make one want to go on holiday to Bavaria.