Chronicle of the World and History of Charlemagne

This manuscript in the Berliner Staatsbibliothek contains part of one of the most popular books of the Middle Ages. Originating from a royal commission, the work by the poet Rudolf von Ems is considered to be one of the first historical works written in the German language. The fragmented work was appended in the manuscript by the Stricker’s epic Charlemagne. Both these distinguished works of medieval literature are artfully illustrated.

Two Significant Literary Works of the Middle Ages

Rudolf von Ems, who came from Vorarlberg, completed his World Chronicle ca. 1255 at the behest of King Conrad IV son of the Hohenstaufen King Frederick II. The literary work relied on various sources and dealt with events from the Bible up to the present, already enjoying great popularity in the author’s lifetime. Recorded in German with skillful verses, it depicts tales in the Old Testament from Genesis to Solomon as historical events and deals with them similarly to ancient history and contemporary events. The literarily significant work survives today in 100+ manuscripts and fragments, which further corroborates its wide circulation and great popularity. The second, considerably smaller part of the Berlin manuscript consists of a fragment by the epic Charlemagne, which the largely unresearched poem named Stricker composed ca. 1220. The 778 campaign against the Saracens makes up the background that the tales plays out in front of. Stricker composed his epic about Charlemagne in the tradition of the 12th century heroic epic, which were also largely dedicated to the figure of Charlemagne.

Entertaining Miniature Pages in Luminous Colors

The 23 pages altogether of the Berlin manuscript mostly assembles illustrations from both texts, with the text on the backside of the respective page. It was probably because of their high artistic quality that the consistently full-page image pages were removed from their original manuscripts and stored separately. The illustrations in the first half can be stylistically dated to the 14th century. The miniatures have been matched with the circle of the Codex Manesse, but the identity of the participating artists remains a mystery to this day. The historical and biblical events, set in the contemporary court life of the 13th century with knights, crowned heads, and noble ladies, are depicted in powerfully luminous colors. An additionally interesting aspect bound up with the Berlin manuscript is the provenance of the book. Both manuscript fragments (probably already bound together) were acquired in 1826 by the famous German poet August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben. They left his collection in 1850 after being sold to Berlin’s Royal Library.