[gothic-l] Lars Munkhammar Three

Sun Jun 3 10:07:52 UTC 2001

Terry,

Wulfila's bible is an amazing treasure and we are proud
to have it in Sweden . It was also amazing that it survived
for posterity.

Gothically

Bertil

One is the theory of the early separation, which means, that the 
Haffner leaf was taken away from the rest of the manuscript in the 
early Middle Ages. Representatives for this theory are Piergiuseppe 
Scardigli in Italy, and Jan-Olof Tjaeder in Sweden. Tjaeder, for instance, 
thinks that the Silver Bible went southwards in Italy as a part of the Gothic 
Crown Treasury, when the Gothic empire was falling, and that it found its 
way to Formia. There the Haffner leaf was separated from the rest of the 
manuscript, and put together with the relics of the Holy Erasmus. It went 
with the relics on roundabout ways to Werden, and the rest of the manuscript 
was found in Italy by the Holy Liudger, who brought it to Werden, to the 
monastery that he founded in 799. 

A representative for the theory of the late separation is Margarete 
Andersson-Schmitt in Sweden. She argues, that the Haffner leaf v
ery well could have been together with the rest of the manuscript on 
its way to Werden. If the Silver Bible was rebound in the late eight 
century or in the early ninth century, which Tjaeder thinks that it was, 
it is very unlikely, that it should have been so roughly cut, she maintains. 
The marigins of the Haffner leaf are about two centimeters wider than the 
margins of the Uppsala leaves. During the Carolingian Renaissance, 
the book bindery was not on such a barbaric level. Andersson-Schmitt thinks, 
and so had also Frans Haffner thought, that the Haffner leaf was still left in 
the manuscript in Werden. But from Werden it was probably sent to Mainz 
in the early sexteenth century. Perhaps they wanted in Werden to get an 
expert statement concerning the nature of the manuscript. Perhaps they 
wanted to sell the manuscript to Mainz, and sent the leaf as a sample. 
After some years, the leaf in Mainz was forgotten, and the manuscript in 
Werden got a simple binding and was put back on its shelf. 

Tjaeder had thought, that the Silver Bible hardly could have been bound 
in Werden in the early sixteenth century, because Arnold Mercator some 
decades later found the manuscript there in a miserable condition. But 
Andersson-Schmitt means, that it very well could have been in a 
miserable condition, even if it was rebound some decades before. 
The Haffner leaf was probably put together with the relics of Erasmus, 
she suggests, when archbishop Albrecht's property was put in order after 
his death in 1545. 

A carbon 14 analysis, made of some binding-threads from the Silver Bible 
last spring, shows that the manuscript has been bound at least once during 
the sixteenth century. This does not prove Andersson-Schmitt's theory, and 
it does not disprove Tjaeder's. But it shows that the theory of the early separation 
is unnecessary to explain the difference in format for the Haffner leaf and the 
Uppsala leaves. 

A third theory about the Silver Bible wanderings during the Thousand 
Years is that of Lars Hermodsson in Sweden. This theory does not deal 
with the separation of the Haffner leaf from the others. Hermodsson thinks, 
that the Silver Bible was still in Ravenna when Charlemagne visited the city. 
Charlemagne was very fascinated by Ravenna and Theodoric the Great. 
Hermodsson means, that the Silver Bible was brought together with other 
manuscripts from Ravenna to Aachen by Charlemagne. And from Aachen 
the way was short to Werden. 

These three theories are the main explanations of the Thousand Years 
Mystery. I have my own theory, of course. Why shouldn't I? Everyone must. 
I shall not develop it here. I tell about it in my book about the Silver Bible, 
which comes this autumn. 

>From Werden in the late sixteenth century, before 1600, the Silver Bible 
was taken to Prague, to the castle of Rudolf II. We do not know if Rudolf 
borrowed the manuscript or bought it, or perhaps just took it. However, 
the manuscript came to be a part of the emperor's gorgeous and enormous 
collection of art, books, curiosities, and just anything. In the castle was 
even a magic book collection, and perhaps the Silver Bible looked magic 
enough to get its place there. As I told earlier, the Silver Bible became a 
piece of Swedish war-booty, when Prague was captured in 1648. 
The manuscript went to Queen Christina's library in Stockholm, where 
it lived quite a retired life, so to say. Isaac Vossius got it from Christina. 
Franciscus Junius, uncle of Vossius, made the editio princeps of the codex, 
printed in 1665. But Vossius himself, who was a great lover of manuscripts, 
was not interested in barbarian books, only in classical manuscripts, 
especially Greek ones. So he sold the Silver Bible to De la Gardie, who 
made it a gift to Uppsala University. And there in the library it has been ever since. 

When De la Gardie bought the manuscript, he did so through the Swedish 
minister Peter Trotzig here in Amsterdam. In order to get the book to Sweden 
Trotzig put it in an oakwood box or case. The case was sent with the ship S:t J
oris from Amsterdam on the 28th of July, 1662. But a tempest broke out and 
S:t Joris stroke the ground by Zuiderzee. Trotzig is badly frightened. He sends 
a boat to the ship to fetch the book case. The case is intact and Trotzig praises 
God in Heaven. He makes a new try. He puts the oak case in a lead case, 
which he seals with solder, and sends it with the ship Phoenix on the 12th of 
September. This time he is successful. The Silver Bible comes to Sweden, 
and De la Gardie gets it. 

Why is the Silver Bible so attractive? For many reasons, as we can see. 
But are not the mysteries around this book important parts of the answer? 
Rumours, adventures, and exciting stories surround this book. What is 
true and what is myth? Gothic treasures, hidden relics, magic libraries, 
war-booties, shipwreck, and robbery, all this has real basis. But further. 
It is told, that when the old librarian Schröder died in the nineteenth 
century, two leaves from the Silver Bible were found in his bed. It is told, 
that what you can see of the Silver Bible in Carolina, is not the entire 
manuscript, and that what you cannot see is kept in a secret place, 
known to very few persons. It is told that this place is somewhere under 
the Swedish mountains. And many other things are told. What is true? 
Of course, the mystifications are effective parts of the security measures 
around the Silver Bible. But do they not have their own value? The hidden 
is tempting! 

SUMMARY

The article is a general presentation of the Codex argenteus. 
The manuscript is a Gothic Gospel book made for Theodoric the 
Great in Ravenna in the early 6th century Today it is kept in Uppsala 
University Library. Beside its philological interest, its attraction seems 
very much to be connected with its wanderings, and the hidden parts 
of its history. What happened between Ravenna and the monastery 
Werden in the 16th century? That is the Thousand Years Mystery. 
Different theories about this period are described. Adventures and 
rumours surround the codex. What is true and what is fiction? 

LITERATURE
ANDERSSON-SCHMITT, Margarete, Anmerkungen zur Bedeutung des 
Haffner Blattes für die Geschichte des Codex argenteus. (Nordisk 
tidskrift för bok och biblioteksväsen 62-63: 1975-76, pp. 16-21.) 

CAVALLO, Guglielmo, The Purple Codex of Rossano. (Codex 
Purpureus Rossanensis. Museo dell'arcivescovado. Rossano 
Calabro. Commentarium a cura di / by Guiglielmo Cavallo, 
Jean Gribomont, William C. Loerke. Roma - Graz, 1987, pp. 23-41.) 

FRIESEN, Otto von och GRAPE, Anders, Om Codex Argenteus. 
Dess tid, hem och öden. (Skrifter utgivna av Svenska litteratursällskapet, 27.) 
Uppsala, 1928. 

HAFFNER, Franz, Fragment der Ulfilas-Bibel in Speyer. (Pfälzer Heimat, 22:1971, 
H. 1, 31. März, pp. 1-5.) 

HAFFNER, Franz, Herkunft des Fragmentes der Ulfilas-Bibel in Speyer. 
(Pfälzer Heimat, 22:1971, H. 3/4, 17. Dezember, pp. 110-118.) 

HERMODSSON, Lars, Silverbibelns väg till Werden 
[with a summary in English]. (Kungl. Humanistiska Vetenskaps-Samfundet i 
Uppsala. Årsbok 1986, pp. 5-32.) 

KLEBERG, Tönnes, Codex Argenteus. The Silver Bible at Uppsala. 6 ed. 
Uppsala, 1984. 

SCARDIGLI, Piergiuseppe, Die Goten. Sprache und Kultur. München, 1973. 

SCARDIGLI, Piergiuseppe, Unum Redivivum Folium. (Studi germanici, 
nuova serie, IX 1-2, 1971, pp. 5-19.) 

TJÄDER, Jan-Olof, Silverbibeln och dess väg till Sverige. (Religion och bibel. 
Nathan Söderblom-sällskapets årsbok, 34:1975, pp. 70-86.) 

TJÄDER, Jan-Olof, Studier till Codex Argenteus' historia [mit einer 
Zusammenfassung auf Deutsch]. (Nordisk tidskrift för bokoch biblioteksväsen, 
61:1974, pp. 51-99.) 

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