page_title: Godescalc Evangelistary
section_title: The Fountain of Life, fons vitae
hierarchical_section_title: Godescalc Evangelistary / Miniatures / The Fountain of Life, fons vitae
caption_attribution_description: Two folios from the en:Godescalc Evangelistary. en:Category:Illuminated manuscript images
context_page_description: The Godescalc Evangelistary, Godescalc Sacramentary, Godescalc Gospels, or Godescalc Gospel Lectionary is an illuminated manuscript in Latin made by the Frankish scribe Godescalc and today kept in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. It was commissioned by the Carolingian king Charlemagne and his wife Hildegard on October 7, 781 and completed on April 30, 783. The Evangelistary is the earliest known manuscript produced at the scriptorium in Charlemagne's Court School in Aachen. The manuscript was intended to commemorate Charlemagne's march to Italy, his meeting with Pope Adrian I, and the baptism of his son Pepin. The crediting of the work to Godescalc and the details of Charlemagne's march are contained in the manuscript's dedication poem.
context_section_description: The origin of the image of the Fountain of Life is much older than the Godescalc Evangelistary. Earlier examples come from Eastern manuscripts, where the fons vitae was a symbol of the Gospels as “the font of eternal life”. The meaning was modified in the Evangelistary and because of its placement and heading; the miniature refers to Christ's birth as the Fountain of Life. The Fountain of Life takes up a full page in the Evangelistary and is significantly located on the verso with Christ in a garden. The miniature contains a depiction of a shrine that is topped by a cross.  The shrine's circular form with a conical roof is a reference to the Holy Sephulchre from the Crucifixion miniature in the Rabula Gospels. The shrine is a lively representation of the baptistery of the Lateran church in Rome. The heavenly image of the birds and plants employs the fountain “as the source of the four rivers of paradise”, which evokes the four Gospels. The peacocks are a symbol of immortality and the birds around them are waterfowls. The waterfowls are identified in Eastern theological commentaries as “symbols of the apostles—“fishers of men”— who look back at the cocks symbolizing the Old Testament prophets in whose sayings the coming of Christ was foretold.” The deer is a hart, an animal traditionally linked to the baptismal ritual from the passage in Psalm 42:1 (quoted below from the King James version). It is symbolic of a human thirsting for salvation.
  As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
  On the facing page to the Fountain of Life lies the Initial Page to the Vigil for Christmas. Presented in contrast to each other, the Fountain of Life offers colorful images while the lines of the periscope of the Vigil of Nativity  provide a beautiful image of silver(now oxidized to black) and golden letters on a purple background, reading In illo tempore (Matt. 1:18-21). The golden letters and the golden words show a promise of a golden kingdom. Precious materials like gold were believed to be gifts of God in the Middle Ages and Godescalc uses golden letters in his poem to emulate eternal life. The image of the Fountain of Life and the gold script on the facing page show the perceptions of eternal life in the Carolingian kingdom.
caption: The Fountain of Life (left), commemorating the baptism of Charlemagne's son Pepin faced by the Initial page to the Vigil for Christmas (right).
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