From Matter to Spirit: The Front Cover of the Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram

This article investigates the front cover of the Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram (Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 14000), a luxury Gospel book produced in 870 for Charles the Bald, king of West Francia (r. 843–77) and Holy Roman Emperor (r. 875–77). It argues that the cover’s pictorial program and meaning conform to the Neoplatonic theology of John Scotus, known as Eriugena (ca. 810–ca. 877), the master of the Palatine School and the author of the miniatures’ captions inside the manuscript. The article then analyzes the message of the treasury binding and its relationship to the two full-page miniatures near the beginning of the book, which represent the enthroned Charles the Bald facing the Twenty-Four Elders adoring the Lamb (fols. 5v–6r). The luxurious three-dimensional binding is an extension of the pictorial program inside the manuscript. It simulates Christ’s physical presence in the Gospel book’s materiality and stresses the scripture’s sacramental meaning. It constitutes a threshold, allowing Charles the Bald to access a sacred space, be it the manuscript’s text block, which is a virtual extension of Christ’s body; the Aachen Palatine Chapel; or, ultimately, the Heavenly Jerusalem. The article thus demonstrates that the cover introduces the king to the salvific effect of the Gospels, purifying his sense of sight, which was blinded by sin, and allowing him to make spiritual communion with God. In this scenario, together with the illuminations inside the book, the cover’s imagery points Charles toward an anagogical contemplation to be accomplished through the materiality of the Codex Aureus, whose ultimate goal is the edification of the king’s soul, allowing him to anticipate the spiritual rewards of the future.