Codex Aureus of Lorsch (also known as the Lorsch Gospels) was written between 778-820 during the period of Charlemagne. It was located for the first time in Lorsch Abbey (Germany), where it was mentioned as Evangelium scriptum cum auro pictum habens tabulas eburneas in the catalogue of the Lorsch Abbey library, compiled in 830 under Abbot Adelung. Considering gold letters in the manuscript and its location at Lorsch it was named the Codex Aureus Laurensius. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, the library of Lorsch was the one of the best libraries of the world.
In the 16th century the manuscript was taken to Heidelberg (Otto Heinrich removed the contents of the library to Heidelberg forming the famous "Palatina" just prior to Lorsch's dissolution in 1563), from were it was stolen in 1622 during the Thirty Years' War; in order to be an easy sell, the codex was broken in two, and the covers torn off. The richly ilustrated first half reached the Migazzi Library and after that was sold to Bishop Batthyani. This half is now in Alba Julia, Romania and belongs to Batthyaneum Library . The second half is in Vatican library. One cover is at the British Museum in London and the other one in the Museum Sacro of Rome.
Images of Codex Aureus
Notes
The Lorsch Gospels was officially catalogued as Pal.lat.50 in the Biblioteca Vaticano.
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