The Echternach scriptorium

A scriptorium refers to a medieval writing room where monks copied both secular and sacred manuscripts. Such a scriptorium existed in the Benedictine abbey of Echternach no later than the 8^th century. Among the oldest witnesses of this writing school are the Thomas Gospels (Trier, Domschatz, Nr. 61) and the Stuttgart Psalter (Stuttgart, Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Cod. bibl. fol.12,a-c).

The writing style of this first scriptorium is characterised by some distinctive yet difficult-to-identify features. Three manuscripts from the early 9^th century were written in a mixed style, meaning a writing style in which features of the Carolingian minuscule are combined with the insular (originally from the British Isles) minuscule. A common characteristic here is the very pointed script (e.g. the long, narrow stems of the letters “s” and “r”).

Our main focus, however, is on the 11^th century, to which the giant Bible being presented here is dated. For the scriptorium, this century represented its peak in development. The world-renowned illuminated manuscripts produced in Echternach date from 1020–1060, a period that almost entirely coincides with the tenure of abbot Humbert (1028–1051), whose significance for the development of the school of writing and book painting cannot be underestimated.

The production of these masterpieces of book illumination was made possible by two important changes: on the one hand, emperor Otto I’s (r. 962–973) decision in 973 to re-populate the abbey with monks from the Trier reform monastery of Saint Maximin (a key reform movement of the Benedictines known as the Gorze Reform); on the other hand, under emperor Henry III (r. 1039–1056), the Echternach writing room was elevated to an imperial scriptorium, which greatly enhanced its influence. From then on, monks and artists worked in a division of labour, producing books both for the needs of their own monastery library and for elaborate, costly commissioned works. This took place after the abbey was rebuilt following the fire of 1016.

Among the scriptorium’s most famous works feature the Codex aureus written in gold ink (Nürnberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Hs 156142) with the four Gospels and 64 luxurious pages, created between 1030–1045, as well as the large-format (50.7 x 33.5 cm) Gospel Book Codex Escorialensis (El Escorial, Real Biblioteca del Monasterio de San Lorenzo, Vitrinas 17) from around 1043–1046, a commission from Henry III, presented as a significant gift to the cathedral in Speyer. Also notable are the smaller Pericopes in Bremen (Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, msb 0021) with 38 full-page miniatures, completed between 1039–1043, and the Gospel Book known as the Codex Caesareus (Uppsala, Universitetsbibliotek, C93), another imperial commission produced around 1050 and given as a gift to Goslar cathedral.

The book painters in Echternach were heavily influenced by several works of the Trier-based Registrum Gregorii Master, which served as models. The illuminators from 1030–1046 even drew on at least three picture funds (the Egbert Codex, manuscripts produced in Trier, and a mid-Byzantine source).

As a rare witness to the abbey’s own liturgy, the Echternach Sacramentary and Gradual (Darmstadt, Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek, Hs 1946) – a book containing prayers for mass, the administration of sacraments, and chants for the liturgy – was created around 1030. The neumes (early musical notation) in this work are of particular interest to musicology.

In addition to luxurious manuscripts, less elaborate works were also copied in Echternach. As early as the year 1000, several school manuscripts were produced, including texts by Boethius, known as the “Echternach classics group”.

Of particular note in this context is the fact that very close ties existed between the scriptoriums of Echternach and Saint Maximin, both in the 9^th century and later. For example, the magnificent binding of the aforementioned Codex aureus was produced in a Trier workshop. The fragments extracted from an incunable from Saint Maximin, now preserved in Trier under the call number Inc. 1102 4°, show a clear influence from Echternach. The manuscript Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 9345, containing excerpts from classical poets (Horace, Terence, Juvenal, etc.), was likely copied in Echternach in the 10^th century by a monk from Saint Maximin. The same is true for the text of Alcuin’s Vita Willibrordi (Paris, BnF, lat. 10865) from the 9^th century; the list could go on.

Today, many significant manuscripts from Echternach are scattered across Europe. Among the codices and fragments from the 11^th century still preserved in Luxembourg are a commentary on Priscian (BnL, Ms 9; 11^th/12^th century), an incomplete Bible (Ms 15; first half of the 11^th century), a Boethius manuscript (Ms 21; second half of the 11^th century), the works of John Chrysostom (Ms 101-102; second half of the 11^th century); the richly decorated and relatively understudied giant Bible (Ms 264; 1051–1081), the obituary I (Ms 369/1), and the unique abacus (Ms 770; 10^th–11^th century).

Most of the scribes remain anonymous, though in some cases, their names are known: the scribe Ruotpertus is responsible for copying no fewer than five manuscripts and several fragments. These include the aforementioned first giant Bible (here in collaboration with a certain Theodoricus), the fragmentary treatises of pope Leo I (Ms 833; 1051–1081), and likely part of the aforementioned Boethius manuscript. Volkerus is the scribe of at least two manuscripts in Paris and likely a sacramentary from which five leaves are still preserved in Luxembourg (BnL, L.P. 7192 and ANLux, A-XXIX-1217). A Paris manuscript (BnF, lat. 9666) contains the names of two other scribes: Ravangerus and Erebonus. The name of Humbert’s successor, abbot Regimbert (1051–1081), also appears as a commissioner in several manuscripts, accompanied by a book curse.

After the 11^th century, a certain decline occurred, as the Echternach scriptorium did not operate continuously in the 12^th century.