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This manuscript of 61 folios contains the acrostic poem De Laudibus Sanctae Crucis (In Praise of the Holy Cross) by Hrabanus Maurus, abbot of Fulda (822-842) and archbishop of Mainz (847-856). The original, presented to Louis the Pious by the Fulda abbot, is lost. The Rome copy is the most precious of those from the 9th century, with its acrostics - wordplay which goes back to late antiquity.
The manuscript is illustrated with 7 miniatures. That on folio 4v depicts Emperor Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne. The significance of this miniature is that it is the oldest surviving portrait of a Carolingian ruler, here portrayed as a Christian victor.
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