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Carmen Paschale by Sedulius (860 AD)

The oldest manuscript in the Museum Plantin-Moretus is a 9th-century gem by the author Caulius Sedulius. This manuscript was created in around 860 in a Liège scriptorium. Christophe Plantin inherited it in 1581.

Carolingian manuscript

The oldest manuscript in the Museum Plantin-Moretus is the 9th-century manuscript containing the Carmen Paschale of Caelius Sedulius and the Epigrammata of Prosperus. This is one of the relatively few surviving Carolingian illuminated manuscripts.
 

Biblical scenes

The scenes depicted from the Old and New Testaments still betray the style of Late Antiquity. Anglo-Saxon and High German glosses (explanations or translations, written between the lines or in the margin) are added to the text, sometimes in cryptographic script. The manuscript was produced in a Liège scriptorium.
 

Bequest

The Carmen Paschale is an Easter song written around 425 by Caelius Sedulius. This copy of it  was made in around 860 and decorated in a Liège scriptorium. It was intended for the local Cathedral of St Lambert. Christophe Plantin inherited the work in 1581 from the humanist Theodoor Poelman, along with other Latin manuscripts. Poelman added annotations to the texts, but others before him had already added notes in Anglo-Saxon and Old High German.
 

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detail van een oude drukpers

Highlights

In the Museum Plantin-Moretus, the oldest printing presses in the world are not the only things to discover. The original lead type of fonts such as Garamond, the Gutenberg Bible and ancient manuscripts tell the story of how writing evolved into the art of printing. Portraits by Peter Paul Rubens hang on the walls and the house is beautifully furnished. Check out the indispensable highlights here.

Manuscripts

The museum’s collection includes 638 manuscripts, ranging from the ninth to the eighteenth century. The basis of the collection was laid by Christophe Plantin himself: he bought manuscripts that he could use to make book editions of Greek and Roman authors and church fathers. Plantin was also given manuscripts.

Froissart's Chronicles

Jean Froissart was an historian of the 14th century who wrote in French. This copy of his Chronicles is a fine example of Flemish miniature art in the Middle Ages. The Chronicles are an important source of information about the Hundred Years War.

Museum Plantin-Moretus

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