Millstatt Genesis and Physiologus

Millstatt Genesis and Physiologus

It is not without reason that the Millstatt Genesis and Physiologus was added to the UNESCO Memory of Austria Register in 2022: it is one of the most important examples of Early Middle High German literature and language. The rhyming version of Genesis contained therein is of utmost significance: it is the youngest surviving Early Middle High German biblical poem in rhyming couplets. But that's not all – the manuscript is also the oldest extensively illuminated book in German and is therefore of particular art historical interest.

Biblical Rhymes and Animal Allegories

The codex, of which 167 parchment leaves have been preserved, was probably created around 1200 or sometime between 1050 and 1170 in Carinthia. The manuscript was therefore written in the South Bavarian Early Middle High German spoken there at the time and contains a total of eight vernacular poems.
The first three works make up the largest part of the manuscript: the so-called Millstatt Genesis is a free rhyming adaptation of the Book of Genesis, the so-called Millstatt Exodus translates the first 15 chapters of the Book of Exodus into Early Middle High German, and the so-called Millstatt Physiologus translates the moralizing teachings of the Latin textbook on zoology into German rhymes. Here, 29 animal species are described using Christian allegories in order to impart worldly wisdoms to the readers.
This is followed by two sermons on fidelity, justice, and truthfulness, as well as Christian courtship. The manuscript closes with a confession prayer, the so-called Millstatt Lamentation of Sins, a rhymed interpretation of the Lord's Prayer, and the opening verses of the poem Das himmlische Jerusalem (The Heavenly Jerusalem), which is only fragmentarily preserved on the last page.

The Oldest Illuminated German-Language Manuscript

This second largest collection of early medieval literature is remarkably illuminated with 119 fine pen and ink drawings in red, blue, and brown ink, accompanying the Genesis and the Physiologus. While the animal images enchant with their uniqueness, the Genesis miniatures are of particular art-historical value. The cycle preserves pictorial traditions that are otherwise only found in the Cotton Genesis fragments in the British Museum, in a mosaic dome in St. Mark's in Venice, and in the Genesis frontispieces of the Carolingian Bibles produced in Tours.

A Piece of Carinthian History

The medieval history of this important manuscript remains cloudy to this day. The first trace of its whereabouts is found not until 1598. In that year, the codex passed into the possession of the Millstatt Jesuit community as part of the inventory of the Benedictine monastery in Millstatt, as documented by a 17th-century ownership note. As it is one of the most important manuscripts formerly owned by the Millstatt monastery, the codex was named after this former location. After the Jesuit Order was abolished by Pope Clement XIV in 1773, the Millstatt Genesis and Physiologus came into the hands of a Carinthian citizen in 1845 and was eventually purchased by the Association for History and Regional Studies of Carinthia. The association handed over the valuable manuscript to the Carinthian State Archives for safe keeping. Thus, it may never have left its region of origin.