Codex Balduini Trevirensis

Henry VII crosses the Alps. Baldwin himself is depicted with a red cap, under the banners of the Electorate of Trier and of Luxemburg, riding between king Henry (riding under the eagle standard) and queen Margaret of Brabant. Also shown are the banners of Blankenheim, Savoy and Austria (on the ascent), and of the Teutonic Knights and of Henry of Flanders (on the descent).[1]

Codex Balduini Trevirensis (also known as the Balduineum, or as Codex Balduineus), is an illustrated chronicle made c. 1340 for Baldwin of Luxemburg, archbishop of Trier and brother of the late emperor Henry VII.

It covers Henry's Italian campaign of 1310–1313, in which Baldwin himself had been a participant. In this campaign, Henry sought papal coronation as emperor. He successfully brought Northern Italy under imperial control and was crowned King of Italy in Milan. He entered Rome by force, but as St Peters Basilica remained in the hands of his enemies he was crowned emperor at the Lateran on 29 June 1312 by three cardinals of Pope Clement V (who was himself in exile at Avignon). Henry died from malaria a year later, still on campaign.

The codex consists of 37 parchment folia with large illustrations and short annotations describing the main events of Henry's campaign. It also contains the oldest illustration of the College of Prince-electors. It is kept in the state archive of Rhineland-Palatinate at Koblenz (MS 1 C 1).

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Codex Balduini Trevirensis.
  1. ^ Irmer (1881), p. 37.
  • Georg Irmer, Die Romfahrt Kaiser Heinrich's VII im Bildercyclus des Codex Balduini Trevirensis (1881) (archive.org).
  • Wolfgang Schmid, Kaiser Heinrichs Romfahrt. Zur Inszenierung von Politik in einer Trierer Bilderhandschrift des 14. Jahrhunderts, Mittelrheinische Hefte 21 (2000).
  • Michel Margue, Michel Pauly, Wolfgang Schmid (eds.) (2009),: Der Weg zur Kaiserkrone. Der Romzug Heinrichs VII. in der Darstellung Erzbischof Balduins von Trier, Publications du CLUDEM 24,) Kliomedia, Trier (2009).
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