Pericopes of Henry II (Perikopenbuch Heinrichs II.)
Perikopenbuch Heinrichs II. (BSB Clm 4452)
Liber generationis Iesu Christi filii David filii Abraham.
Our renderingThe book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.
What it is
The Pericopes of Henry II is among the finest products of the Liuthar scriptorium at Reichenau, commissioned by the last Ottonian emperor Henry II and his consort Cunigunde as a gift for the consecration of Bamberg Cathedral in 1012 — now in the Bavarian State Library (Clm 4452) with UNESCO Memory of the World status (inscribed 2003). It contains the Gospel readings for the entire liturgical year, written in gold on purple strips, accompanied by 28 full-page miniatures. The selection and ordering of pericopes structured the court chapel's annual worship, forming the emperor's engagement with Scripture through the rhythm of feasts and fasts. Henry II's lavish donation was described by scholars as a material self-portrait of his and Cunigunde's piety, contributing to their eventual canonization; strictly it is an Evangelistar (Gospel lectionary) rather than an office or hymn book.
Why it still matters
The lectionary cycle of Gospel pericopes this book preserves is still the backbone of the Roman Rite and many Protestant liturgical calendars; Christians who follow the liturgical year today are praying through the same sequence Henry II commissioned. The full manuscript is freely digitized at the Bavarian State Library and on Europeana.
Kept alongside
Laudes Regiae (Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat)
Laudes Regiae
The Laudes Regiae are liturgical acclamations in the form of a litany, characteristically opening with the tricolon 'Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat,' chanted at the coronation of emperors and on major feast days throughout the Ottonian, Salian, and Hohenstaufen courts. Ernst Kantorowicz's foundational 1946 study documented their use as the defining act of sacred imperial acclamation, showing how the chant interweaves royal acclaim with petitions to saints to locate earthly rulers within a cosmic divine order. The earliest notated sources survive from tenth-century Ottonian manuscripts, though the formula likely predates 800 in its Frankish antecedents, and the form was continuously adapted across each imperial dynasty. Because the chant was performed in cathedral and court contexts with an assembled congregation, it occupied a semi-public register between private liturgy and civic ceremony.
Penitential Psalms and Litany of Saints (as compiled in Ottonian royal use)
Psalmi poenitentiales cum litania sanctorum
The seven Penitential Psalms (Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143) combined with the Litany of Saints form the core private prayer structure documented directly in the Prayerbook of Otto III (BSB Clm 30111), where Archbishop Bernward of Hildesheim employed them in the young emperor's spiritual formation. This pairing — penitential self-examination before God followed by intercession from the whole company of heaven — was used by Christian teachers as early as Origen and Augustine, ordered for Lenten use by Pope Innocent III, and embedded in the Use of Sarum and successive Books of Common Prayer. Its place in the weekly devotional rhythm of the Salian and Hohenstaufen courts via their breviary traditions makes it the single most broadly transmitted prayer form in this dataset, extending across all dynasties and centuries. The sequence remains structurally unchanged in the Roman Rite today.
Prayerbook of Otto III (Gebetbuch Ottos III.)
Gebetbuch Ottos III.
One of only two royal prayer books from the early Middle Ages to survive intact, made for the personal devotion of the boy-king Otto III and probably commissioned by his mother Empress Theophanu and Archbishop Willigis of Mainz between 983 and 996. Written entirely in gold ink on purple-stained parchment, it contains the seven Penitential Psalms, a litany of saints, morning prayers, and prayers for entering and leaving church. Its miniatures depict the young prince praying between Saints Peter and Paul and kneeling before the enthroned Christ — a programmatic image of what a Christian emperor ought to be. Scholars have identified the book as functioning simultaneously as a personal devotional and a mirror for princes, embedding a monastic ideal of sovereignty into the young ruler's daily prayer.