Gospels of Henry the Lion

The Gospels of Henry the Lion (Evangeliar Heinrichs des Löwen) was illuminated at Helmarshausen Abbey for Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony (1142-1195), cousin of Frederick Barbarossa. It contains 226 folios with the four gospels in Latin. It is illustrated with 50 full-page miniatures, 84 large and c. 1500 small initials.

The lower section of the dedication picture shows Henry the Lion and his wife Matilda with the patron saints of Brunswick, St Blasius and St Giles (known in Germany by his Latin name, Aegidius), who are leading them towards the Madonna enthroned above. Henry, in a sumptuous robe and ermine-lined mantle, presents her with the gospel book he has commissioned.

In the upper section of the painting, the enthroned Mother of God is being blessed by the infant Jesus, who is encircled by a roundel. Mary is accompanied by St John the Baptist, dressed in animal skin, and St Bartholomew, carrying a crosier.

The manuscript went to Prague in the late fourteenth century in the reign of Emperor Charles IV, where in 1594 it was given a new cover. In 1983 the manuscript was acquired at auction from Sotheby's for £ 7,4 million by two German national libraries. Since then it has been kept alternately in the Herzog-August-Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel, and the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich.