The Sacramentary of Henry II, also called the Regensburg Sacramentary, is a manuscript of liturgical texts, which was created in Regensburg at the order of Emperor Henry II. It is among the most significant works of Ottonian illumination. The manuscript was gifted to Bamberg Cathedral by Henry II, was part of the Cathedral treasury until 1803 when it became part of the Bavarian State Library as a result of Secularisation. It remains there today, stored under the inventory number clm 4456. It is modelled on the Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram donated by Charles the Bald in 870.
Initial page fol. 12v: Incipit
Coronation of Henry II. (fol. 11r)
Coronation image from the Menologion of Basil II.
Henry II, enthroned (fol. 11v)
Ottonian art is a style in pre-romanesque German art, covering also some works from the Low Countries, northern Italy and eastern France. It was named by the art historian Hubert Janitschek after the Ottonian dynasty which ruled Germany and Northern Italy between 919 and 1024 under the kings Henry I, Otto I, Otto II, Otto III and Henry II. With Ottonian architecture, it is a key component of the Ottonian Renaissance. However, the style neither began nor ended to neatly coincide with the rule of the dynasty. It emerged some decades into their rule and persisted past the Ottonian emperors into the reigns of the early Salian dynasty, which lacks an artistic "style label" of its own. In the traditional scheme of art history, Ottonian art follows Carolingian art and precedes Romanesque art, though the transitions at both ends of the period are gradual rather than sudden. Like the former and unlike the latter, it was very largely a style restricted to a few of the small cities of the period, and important monasteries, as well as the court circles of the emperor and his leading vassals.
The Essen cross with large enamels with gems and large senkschmelz enamels, c. 1000
"Roma", "Gallia", "Germania" and "Sclavinia" pay homage to Otto III, from the Munich Gospels of Otto III, one of the "Liuthar group"
Otto II, by the Gregory Master
Apotheosis of Otto III. Liuthar Gospels