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XIV. Letter from Albert Way, Esq. Director, to Hudson Gurney, Esq. Vice-President, descriptive of the Tabula of Gold, presented by the Emperor Henry II. to the Cathedral of Basle
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 June 2012
Extract
One of the most remarkable existing specimens of the class of art to which, from the peculiar Oriental character which marks either the general design, or the accessary details, the distinctive name of Byzantine has been assigned, is submitted to the inspection of the Society of Antiquaries, by the obliging permission of the proprietor, Colonel Theubet, of Porrentruy, Canton of Berne. It is a golden tabula, which was presented at the commencement of the eleventh century to the Cathedral of Basle, as a votive offering for the decoration of the altar, by the Emperor Henry II. who had raised that structure from ruins, and bestowed upon it numerous rich ornaments, of which one, a precious crucifix, containing a fragment of the true cross, has recently been presented to the Cathedral of Cologne by his Majesty the King of Prussia. The tabula is formed, as it is stated, of cedar-wood, covered with a thin coating of pure gold; the design, which in some parts is in very high relief, being hammered out, or, as it is technically termed, repoussé, and worked up with the tool and burnisher. Its value has been rated in the old Chronicle of Basle at 73000 gulden, “septem aureorum millia” called by another writer “florenorum,” or gold crowns.
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- Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1844
References
page 145 note a The detailed relation of Leo Marsicanus, in his Chronicles of Cassino, lib. iii. c. 43, may be cited as the most curious account of this miracle, which occurred, as it is stated, at that monastery. The Emperor, “qui patiebatur ilii dolorem permaximum,” had entertained some doubts as to the actual existence of the relics of St. Benedict at Mount Cassino; between sleeping and waking the Saint appeared to him, and making inquiry as to the cause of his suffering, gave him the following token as an evidence that the venerated remains did in truth rest at that place. “Cum primum hodie surrexeris, in egestione urinæ tuæ tres lapillos non parvos mingere habebis, et ex tune dolore isto amplius non laborabis.” Murat. Script. Ital. iv. 366. The account given by Siffrid has been, however, adopted by other writers. “Factâ oratione, obdormiens vidit S. Benedictum dicentem sibi, Quia sperasti in Deo et in sanctis suis, ecce missus sum a Deo, ut liberem te ab infirmitate tuâ. Hoc dicens cum ferro medicinali calculo molliter evulso, hiatum vulneris sanavit, et calculum in manum Cæsaris posuit, qui evigilans, calculum in manu invenit, quern suis ostendens gratias egit Deo.” Rerum Germ. Script., Ratisb. 1731. See further Mabillon's observations on the account first cited, Ann. Ord. S. Bened., under the year 1022; the Acta Sanctorum Julii, T. iii., Martii, T. ii.; Vita S. Meinverki, Acta SS. Junii, T. i.; N. Serarius, as cited by Muratori; and the Basilea Sacra, Bruntruti, 1658, p. 143.
page 145 note b This writing does not appear to be of earlier date than the fifteenth century. It is as follows:— “Ordinatum est per Capitulum quod aurea tabula in subsequentibus festis ad summum altare, et non aliter. ¶ Item in festo Natalis. ¶ Pasce. ¶ Pentecostes. ¶ Corporis Christi. ¶ Heinrici Imperatoris. ¶ Assumpcionis Marie. ¶ In dedicacione. ¶ Omnium Sanctorum.” The feast of St. Henry, who was canonized by Pope Eugenius III. in 1152, was kept on July 13, as appears by the Proprium Sanctorum Diocesis Basiliensis, Bruntruti, 1623; a compilation in which may be seen the lectiones appointed for the occasion, which make special mention of the altare aureum, and other precious gifts bestowed by the Emperor.
page 146 note c Οὑσια is rendered essentia, suhstantia, natura, facultates, bona.—See Ducange, v. Usia.
page 147 note d Hist. Rames. Gale, Hist, Brit. Script, i. 420.
page 147 note e Anglia Sacra, i. 610.
page 147 note f Joh. Glaston. Hist. i. 151. Gul. Malmesb. de Antiqu. Glast. Eccl. ed. Hearne, i. 87.
page 147 note g Vitæ S. Albani Abbatum, 63, ed. 1640. Mem. of Abp. Cranmer, App. 24.
page 148 note i See the elaborate plates given by Ferrario, in his work on that church; and Cicognara, Storia della Scultura, iii. 115.