Tyniec Sacramentarium

The Tyniec Sacramentary is an Ottonian illuminated manuscript written in c. 1072–1075, probably near Cologne.^[3]

Tyniec Sacramentary
National Library of Poland
Maiestas Domini (leaf 32)
Also known as	Sacramentarium Tinecense[1]
Type	codex, sacramentary
Date	c. 1072–1075
Place of origin	Cologne
Language	Latin[1]
Material	parchment
Size	28.5 cm × 22 cm (11.2 in × 8.7 in), 237 leaves [1][2]
Accession	Rps BOZ 8[1]

History

It is one of the oldest surviving codices in Poland, where it first arrived during the Middle Ages, kept in Poland for almost 1,000 years.^[3] It was transcribed and decorated with illuminations in Cologne, probably at the Monastery of St Pantaleon around 1072–75.^[3] Shortly afterwards or in the 12th century it was offered to the Benedictine Abbey in Tyniec near Kraków.^[3] It was stolen during the Swedish invasion in the 17th century.^[2] Repurchased in Kraków, it returned to Tyniec.^[2] In 1814 the manuscript was bought from the monks by Stanisław Kostka Zamoyski and included in the library of the Zamoyski family in the Blue Palace in Warsaw.^[2][3]

During World War II the Nazis tried to take the manuscript to Berlin, but thanks to the endeavours of librarians, scholars and diplomats, they left it in the Zamoyski Library.^[2] After the Warsaw Uprising the manuscript was secretly evacuated and hidden in the collegiate church at Łowicz.^[2] After the war in 1946, Jan Zamoyski, the final owner of the Zamoyski family fee tail, deposited the family library with the National Library of Poland.^[3][2] Since May 2024, the manuscript has been exhibited at the permanent exhibition in the Palace of the Commonwealth in Warsaw.^[4][3]

Description

The Sacramentary contains prayers for the priest celebrating Mass.^[2] Magnificently decorated, it is one of the most precious artefacts of the Ottonian manuscript painting school.^[2][3][5] The sumptuous form of The Sacramentary indicates that the codex belonged to the so-called king’s manuscripts, which reflected the monarchy’s splendour.^[2]

The manuscript consists of 470 pages.^[2] 38 of them is written in gold and silver on purple-stained parchment pages.^[3][2] Pages 7–30 contains a calendar.^[1] The manuscript contains 13 decorated initials (two full-page plaited initials) and two fullpage miniatures – the Crucifixion and the Maiestas Domini.^[2][3] It also contains the oldest musical notation in Poland in chironomic form.^[2]