Dendermonde Codex

the basilica of Dendermonde Abbey.

The Dendermonde Codex or sometime called Villarenser Kodex or codex 9 of the Dendermonde Abbey,^[1] is a valuable manuscript containing the Symphonia harmoniae caelestium revelationum of Hildegard of Bingen.^[2]

History

This valuable manuscript is kept in a 19th-century monastery because, it did pass in several other Benedictine monasteries.^[3] Historians believe it was first send to the Belgian Villers Abbey, hence the name Villarensis. It then moved to Gembloux Abbey and finally it arrived in the famous Affligem Abbey, where the monks were chased out in 1796. In 1869/70, the abbey of Affligem was re-established, but the valuable collection did not return and is kept until today inside Dendermonde Abbey. The Bingen manuscript is considered the most valuable of the library, and is world-famous therefor.

the manuscript

The collection of songs inside the codex was named by Hildegard Symphonia Harmoniae Caelestium Revelationum^[4].

The current manuscript is not in a complete state, and has several folios who are missing. However it contains 183 perchment folios with 60 psalmes and Cantica in honour of Father and Son.^[5] It is dated ca. 1176 and is considered one of the major works of Hildegard.

Compositions

• 1. frondens Virga
• 2. O splendissima gemma
• 3. Ave Maria, o auctrix vite
• 4. O eterne Deus
• 5. O clarissima mater
• 6. O gloriosissimi lux
• 7. Cum processit factura digiti Die
• 8. O tu suavissima virga

See also

• Wiesbaden Codex

References