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Codex Aureus of Echternach, 1030-1050AD
Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, Germany

Register 3 of folio 18v. Herod the Great Receives the Magi.



The Codex Aureus of Echternach (Codex aureus Epternacensis) is an 11th-century illuminated Gospel Book, created in the approximate period 1030-1050, with a re-used front cover from around the 980s. It is now in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, Germany.
Buchmalerei, Schule von Reichenau unter Abt Humbert von Echternach (1028-1051).
Illumination, school of Reichenau under Abbot Humbert of Echternach (1028-1051AD).
Manuscript Hs. 156142
Dimensions: 446 x 310 mm



Referenced on p169, Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350, Western Europe and the Crusader States by David Nicolle.
416 'Herod's Guards', Golden Gospels of Echternach, Lower Lotharingia, c.1040
(Germanisches National Museum, Nuremberg, Germany)

This famous manuscript betrays a number of Byzantine influences, which are particularly apparent in helmets which seem to have aventails. The sword, spear and large kite-shaped shield are, however, more western. The short-hemmed, short-sleeved mail hauberk might have a slit at the side, although this slit actually appears to be over one hip. Hauberks slit at the sides were originally an infantry rather than cavalry style but they seem to have persisted in the Empire for longer than in, for example, France. It is worth noting that the Byzantines, when recruiting western mercenaries in the late 11th and early 12th centuries, considered Germans to excel as infantry, Frenchmen as cavalry.

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Back to Codex Aureus of Echternach with Ottonian Soldiers, in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, Germany



Ottonian Heavy Infantry in Armies of the Dark Ages 600-1066 by Ian Heath, based on the Codex Aureus of Echternach in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, Germany.