Leiden Wigalois

Leiden Wigalois

Two magnificent, full-page miniatures introduce the precious Leiden Wigalois Manuscript. The first page shows a gold-decorated, multicolored tree of life with a cross-shaped growth, around which numerous animals frolic. Turning the page reveals a full-page depiction of the famous Round Table on the reverse. Shiny gold and purple shades dominate the color palette of this royal scene.
Opposite, the verse novel begins with its remarkable prologue, in which the author lets the book speak to the reader: “What excellent person has opened me? / If it is someone who can read and understand me, / then let him treat me kindly, even if there is something to criticize about me, / and spare me from slander: this will honor him...”

Chivalrous Adventures and Courtly Love

The book then takes readers on the fantastical adventures of the knight Wigalois. He first arrives at the court of King Arthur to search for his father Gawain. There he undergoes knightly training, for which he must pass numerous knightly challenges that take him to foreign lands, a demonic otherworld, and to his great love. Again and again, he has to fight a whole bunch of enemies – from unfair rulers to giants and a scary dragon.

One of the Most Popular Arthurian Novels

The Nuremberg poet Wirnt von Grafenberg created this captivating tale in the form of a Middle High German courtly verse novel, probably between 1210 and 1220. The work quickly became a literary bestseller and, alongside Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, was one of the most popular poems from the body of work based on the legendary world of King Arthur and his legendary Round Table. Of the 38 surviving manuscripts from the 13th to 15th centuries, only two have been illuminated. Of these, the Leiden Wigalois is without question the most magnificent.

One of Only Two Illuminated Manuscripts

This wonderful copy was commissioned by Count Albrecht I of Brunswick-Grubenhagen (c. 1339–1383) in the scriptorium of the Lower Saxony Cistercian monastery of Amelungsborn and completed on January 6, 1372 by the scribe Jan von Braunschweig (Jan van Brunswik), as the colophon at the end of the manuscript remarkably reveals. It is not entirely clear whether he was also responsible for the 49 colorful miniatures. If so, the last page of the precious manuscript shows a self-portrait of the artist – an absolute rarity in the Middle Ages! The portrait shows Jan in his traditional Cistercian habit at a writing desk, creating a lavishly illuminated page.

A Kaleidoscope of Colors, Patterns, and Gold

The striking miniatures captivate with their impressive colors and lavish gold decorations. The rather flat and reduced conception of the figures is accompanied by almost hypnotic and recurring patterns, which make castles look like structures made of colorful building blocks and give the miniatures in their entirety a kaleidoscopic effect. This makes them as captivating and wild as Wigalois' adventures, which they translate into images. Nevertheless, the knight in training is clearly recognizable throughout. He usually wears a helmet with a golden wheel as a crest, which also adorns his shield. The golden wheel of fortune is one of three mysterious, magical objects (wheel, magic belt, and stone of virtue) that accompany Wigalois on his adventures as lucky charms, but also as moral compasses. They also serve as symbols of his knightly virtues.

On the Trail of the Leiden Wigalois

This precious manuscript was initially owned by its patron, Count Albrecht I. In the 16th century, it probably came into the hands of the Protestant theologian Cyracius Spangenberg (1528–1604). He was the court preacher of the Counts of Mansfeld, in whose library the codex apparently ended up next through this connection. It is believed that Peter Ernst I of Mansfeld (1517–1604) took it with him to his residence in Luxembourg when he became governor there. The manuscript next appears in an inventory of the library of the Luxembourg scholar Alexander Wiltheim (1604–1684). Before 1789, it passed into the hands of Zacharias Henric Alewijn of Amsterdam, who bequeathed it that year to the Society for Dutch Literature (Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde), which ultimately transferred the codex to the Leiden University Library on long-term loan.