Gospels of Henry the Lion 12th century
Gospels of Henry the Lion 1175; the volume is considered a masterpiece
of Romanesque book illumination of the 12th century; The manuscript,
containing 266 pages with the text of the four gospels, 50 of them full
page illustrations.
Author: Order of Saint Benedict
Sold for: USD 13.4 million
Auction house: Sotheby's in London
Sale date: December 1983
Seller: Anonymous owner
Buyer: West German consortium
From Deutsche Welle:
Henry the Lion, prince of what were then the kingdoms of Saxony and Bavaria, was one of the most powerful rulers of the Middle Ages and a member of the Guelph royal line.
Fitting with the tradition of the time, he commissioned the book in 1188 in honor of the consecration of the St. Mary's altar in the recently completed cathedral in Braunschweig.
Still wholly intact except for minor wear, the text includes all four of the Bible's Holy Gospels on 226 parchment pages. Fifty of these pages are colorful, elaborate pictures with gold leaf.
The book's high liturgical purpose was the reason for its ornate design and distinction: passages were read from it during each mass. st south of Brunswick.