From the Frankish Empire to Prague: Evangeliary Cim 2 in the Library of the Prague Metropolitan Chapter

Abstract

The late-Carolingian Evangeliary Cim 2 (in the library of the Prague Metropolitan Chapter) was created around 875 in one of the monastic scriptoria in northern France – probably the Abbey of St. Vaast. It may have served as a devotional gift from a member of the Frankish ruling dynasty to the Saxon abbey of Corvey. Perhaps as a votive offering from Duchess Emma, it seems to have been deposited in the Treasury of St. Vitus Cathedral as early as the tenth century. It is certain, however, that in the fourteenth century, Evangeliary Cim 2 was one of the most important and certainly most valued codices in the cathedral library. After the Hussite Wars, its importance and quality were explicitly appreciated by the canons of St. Vitus Cathedral, who, in the second half of the fifteenth century, had its cover repaired.