bavarikon4UDescription
This manuscript of the homilies on the Gospels by Pope Gregory I (also known as Saint Gregory the Great, circa 540-604) was written in about 800 in the Alsatian monastery of Murbach, one of the most important cultural centers of the Carolingian Empire at that time. The monastery maintained a close relationship with the monasteries of Reichenau and Saint Gallen, located on Lake Constance, and their highly innovative scriptoria. The Carolingian minuscule in this manuscript bears some distinctive traits of the Alemannic script that was typically used in these monasteries. The writing and illumination of the codex are influenced by the Insular style, which was brought to the continent by Irish and Anglo-Saxon missionaries in the Early Middle Ages. Saint Gregory's homilies served as examples for priests, were used for instruction in Latin in monastery schools, or were privately read for personal edification. The manuscript most likely was acquired by Abbot Ramwold for the monastery library of Saint Emmeram in Ratisbon (present-day Regensburg) at the end of the tenth century. It was brought to the court library in Munich following the dissolution of the monastery in 1811-12.