Sacramentary of Henry II
It is followed by a well-known image of Henry enthroned, which is modelled on the depiction of Charles the Bald in the Codex Aureus of St Emmeram, and a miniature of Gregory the Great.
The king wears a calf-length tunic with a belt set with gemstones and cross-patterned appliqués and a blue cloak which is held shut by a gem-studded golden brooch.
Two of these are angels, who fly down from heaven to present the king with the Holy Lance and the Imperial Sword which they hold reverently in veiled hands.
Instead, the Holy Lance, which is highlighted by its position to the right of Christ, is marked out as the Tree of Life by the small crucifix atop a golden globe which crowns it and by budding branches on its shaft.
In addition to the angels there are two bishops in pontifical vestments who support the ruler's arms: One, whose grey hair marks him as the older of the two, is identified as St. Ulrich, the converter of Augsburg in 993 who had been canonised only ten years before the completion of the sacramentary.
In this image the king is depicted facing the viewer, sitting on a box-shaped, golden throne studded with gems under a massive Ciborium which is supported by four pillars and should be understood as a metaphor for heaven.
The king's clothing is even more luxuriantly decorated than in the coronation image, with large appliqués; the crown however lacks a hoop.
After the two images of Henry comes a miniature depicting St Gregory the Great dressed as Pope wearing pontifical robes and a golden maniple over his left arm.
As appropriate for the author of the Sacramentarium Gregorianum, Gregory is depicted facing to the right holding a quill and a scraping knife for erasing as signs of his authorship of the sacramentary, whose text he composed under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, which is symbolised by a white dove flying overhead from the right.
[3] The simple border made from a sheet of gold derives from a subsequent restoration and reworking of the cover in Bamberg, probably in the 18th century.
Three angels with their heads behind a band of cloud appear on either side of the centre line, as do the Sun and the Moon (which signify the cosmological significance of the scene), Mary and John, Longinus with the lance and Stephaton with the vinegar sponge, and finally the blessed who rise from sarcophagi in pairs.
In the scene below the cross the angel mediates between the empty tomb on the left with two sleeping guards next to it and the three women approaching with anointing vessels at right.
Gregory is depicted here not as an author but as an editor, who removes faulty readings in the text with a scraper at the direction of an angel.
[4] The sacramentary contains numerous references to the St. Emmeram's Abbey in Regensburg where it was created and to Henry II who paid for its production.
