page_title: Codex Eyckensis
section_title: History (origin to 20th century)
hierarchical_section_title: Codex Eyckensis / History (origin to 20th century)
caption_attribution_description: English: Codex Eyckensis, 8th-century manuscript of the Gospels, formerly in the library of Aldeneik Abbey, now in the church treasure of Saint Catherine's Church, Maaseik, Belgium
context_page_description: The eighth-century Codex Eyckensis is a Gospel Book based on two constituent manuscripts that were bound as a single codex from the twelfth century until 1988. The Codex Eyckensis is the oldest book in Belgium. Since the eighth century it has been kept and preserved on the territory of the present-day municipality of Maaseik, in Belgium. The book was probably produced in the scriptorium in the Abbey of Echternach. It is housed in the church of St Catherine in Maaseik.
context_section_description: The Codex dates from the eighth century and was first kept at the former Benedictine abbey of Aldeneik, which was consecrated in 728 CE. The Merovingian nobles Adelard, Lord of Denain, and his wife Grinuara founded this abbey for their daughters Harlindis and Relindis in “a small and useless wood" near the river Meuse. The convent was named Eyke (“oak”), for the oak trees that grew there. Later, as the neighbouring village of Nieuw-Eyke (“new oak”—present-day Maaseik) grew and became more important, the name of the original village became Aldeneik (“old oak”). Saint Willibrord consecrated Harlindis as the first abbess of this religious community. After her demise, Saint-Boniface consecrated her sister Relindis as her successor.
  The Codex Eyckensis was used at the convent to study and also to promulgate the teachings of Christ. Both evangelistaries that now constitute the Codex Eyckensis were presumably brought from the Abbey of Echternach to Aldeneik by Saint Willibrord.
  The two manuscripts were merged into one binding, most likely in the course of the twelfth century.
  In 1571 the abbey of Aldeneik was abandoned. From the middle of the tenth century, the Benedictine nuns had been replaced by a collegiate chapter of male canons. With the increasing threat of religious war, the canons took refuge in the walled town of Maaseik. They brought the church treasures from Aldeneik—including the Codex Eyckensis—to Saint Catherine’s church.
caption: The Codex Eyckensis displayed in the St Catherine's Church in Maaseik
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