Godescalc Evangelistary [SEP] collection
Godescalc Evangelistary
The Godescalc Evangelistary, Godescalc Sacramentary, Godescalc Gospels, or Godescalc Gospel Lectionary (Paris, BNF. lat.1203) is an illuminated manuscript in Latin made by the Frankish scribe Godescalc and today kept in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. It was commissioned by the Carolingian king Charlemagne and his wife Hildegard on October 7, 781 and completed on April 30, 783. The Evangelistary is the earliest known manuscript produced at the scriptorium in Charlemagne's Court School in Aachen. The manuscript was intended to commemorate Charlemagne's march to
of replacing the Merovingian script was lasting. The Carolingian minuscule was so successful that after the year 800, most of France had adopted the new way of writing. Although the Evangelistary is named after Godescalc, the production involved a team of writers, editors, Godescalc himself (who was a poet and scribe), parchment makers, an illuminator, a painter, and a book binder. Godescalc began a trend of luxuriously decorated Bible manuscripts in the Carolingian world. His Evangelistary was a richly decorated work worthy of matching the desires