Hedwig Codex

Hedwig Codex

Also known as the Codex of Lubin, the Hedwig Codex is simultaneously a splendid example of Gothic illumination from Central Europe, a rare historical source on the First Mongol Invasion of Poland (1240–41), and a hagiography. The text describes the life and works of Hedwig of Silesia, who was so pious she was named a saint less than 25 years after her death – a rare example of a sainted noblewoman. Created to celebrate and codify the canonization of St. Hedwig, the manuscript helped to establish a cult around St. Hedwig. It once has served as a substitute for the holy saint and was revered almost as though it were a relic. Coveted for its artistic, religious, and historic significance, the manuscript has a fascinating history of ownership that has taken it from medieval Silesia to modern Los Angeles.

The Life of Saint Hedwig

Born Hedwig of Andechs in 1174, the Bavarian noblewoman was twelve when she married Henry the Bearded (ca. 1165–1238), the heir to the Duke of Silesia and someone with whom she could share her piety. After they became the Duke and Duchess of Silesia in 1201, the devout couple promoted the Christian faith and cultural development of Silesia beginning with founding Trzebnica Abbey in 1202. Henry rose to High Duke of Poland in 1232 and Hedwig became Duchess consort, allowing the couple to continue their charitable work with the poor, widows, and orphans as well as building hospitals for the sick.
It is said that after 22 years of marriage, during which time they had seven children, the couple lived together in celibacy. According to legend, she walked barefoot even in winter and when her confessor admonished her to wear shoes, she carried them and is usually depicted holding shoes and a church in her hands. Hedwig moved into the convent they founded after her husband’s death. She witnessed the death of her son in the Battle of Legnica in 1241 and founded a Benedictine abbey on the site along with his widow. Hedwig died in 1243 and was buried next to her husband in Trzebnica Abbey. She was canonized in 1267 by Pope Clement IV and relics of her are preserved at Andechs Abbey in Bavaria and St. Hedwig’s Cathedral in Berlin.

A Splendid and Unique Manuscript

In 1353, Duke Louis I of Liegnitz-Brieg (ca. 1321–98) and his wife Agnes von Glogau (ca. 1321–62) commissioned a sumptuously illuminated manuscript to celebrate the life of his great-great-great-grandmother and to also serve as a family genealogy. An inscription in the codex identifies the artist who created it as Nycolaus Pruzie (Nicolaus of Prussia), who completed the commission at the Duke’s court workshop. The text is adorned by 65 magnificent miniatures, two of which depict the Battle of Lebnica and a third shows the subsequent siege of Legnica castle. A full-page portrait of Saint Hedwig flanked by the patrons of the manuscript kneeling in prayer takes the form of a standard devotional image of a saint. Other miniatures depict members of Hedwig’s family as well as her life in the convent she founded. The illustrations are designed with delicate, slender figures and slightly washed-out interior spaces, although the perspective is mostly wrong, and tempera colors are shaded to emphasize the contours of garments.

A Tumultuous Ownership History

This highly coveted manuscript has passed through various hands and lands in the 650+ years since it was created. After the Duke's death and in accordance with his wishes, the manuscript was transferred to the shrine of St. Hedwig in Brieg, where it was considered a relic of the saint. The manuscript remained in Poland for the next 250 years before coming into the possession of the royal house of Bohemia, which donated it to a monastery. When the monastery was dissolved in 1534 during the Protestant Reformation, it was moved to a local school. It was transferred to the western Bohemian town of Ostrov during the Thirty Years’ War, presumably for its protection, and was gifted to the Piarist monastery in Schlackenwerth in 1701 and was transferred to the city library when the monastery was dissolved in 1876.
In 1910, two Viennese art dealers named Gilhofer and Ranschburg acquired the manuscript and sold it to Rudolf von Gutmann. The manuscript, along with the rest of Gutmann’s collection, was confiscated by Nazi authorities and transferred to the Austrian National Library in Vienna. During the Second World War, it was evacuated to the salt mines near Alt Aussee, recovered from there after the War, and returned to its former owner in 1947. Gutmann brought it with him to Canada and sold it to H.P. Kraus around 1964, who brought it back to Europe, during which time a facsimile was made. After being acquired by the Ludwig Collection in Cologne, it was purchased in 1983 by the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, where it has been featured in 36 exhibitions and remains there today.