Giant Bible of Echternach
Illustration — Opening page. The red box on the right contains information on the bible's production. • Illustration — Start of the Book of Isaiah The Giant Bible of Echternach is an illustrated giant bible that was made for Abbot Regimbert of the abbey of Echternach between 1051 and 1081. Today, it is kept in the National Library of Luxembourg as manuscript MS 264.
Also recorded as Echternach Bible
Giant Bible of Echternach

Le scribe Ruotpert et le scriptorium d'Echternach · Die Echternacher Handschriften bis zum Jahr 1628 sur Googlebooks · Public domain
- Date
- 1050
- Held by
- National Library of Luxembourg
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Illustration — Opening page. The red box on the right contains information on the bible's production. • Illustration — Start of the Book of Isaiah The Giant Bible of Echternach is an illustrated giant bible that was made for Abbot Regimbert of the abbey of Echternach between 1051 and 1081. Today, it is kept in the National Library of Luxembourg as manuscript MS 264.
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wikidata · Q23051789 · wikipedia · Giant Bible of Echternach
In this article
The object
The object
Prior to its acquisition by Luxembourg in 1951, it was in the Gotha Research Library. The bible contains 414 folios measuring 600 x. Three folios are missing. The written area of the page is 480 x. The writing, in two columns, is by a single hand. The scribe was a monk of Echternach named Ruotpert who left no other known work. Large decorated initials in red, green and purple with extensive interlace are found at the start of each biblical book and smaller ones elsewhere. The bible is bound in hardwood covered in calfskin. In its size and decoration, it was a major influence on the Giant Bible of Saint Maximin. In 1940, the bible was unbound in order to be photographed and then rebound. The original parchment pastedown was set aside, only to be identified in 2001 as an abacus board of the kind introduced by Gerbert of Aurillac (died 1003). It was probably copied much earlier than the bible, since it was considered scrap by the time the bible was bound. Besides the bible, the manuscript includes a Latin sermon, Legimus in ecclesiasticis historiis, which it attributes to Helisachar.
History of the document
Dated record
History of the document
Explore 1050–1308
The full dated record · 4 entries
1050
Giant Bible of Echternach created.
1050
Giant Bible of Echternach is recorded from 1050.
1050
Giant Bible of Echternach was established or created in 1050.
1308
Giant Bible of Echternach is recorded at coordinates 49.6097, 6.1308.
Context
Primary material
Context
The circumstances in which Giant Bible of Echternach stands. Recorded as version, edition or translation. Located at National Library of Luxembourg. Recorded at coordinates 49.6097, 6.1308. Echternach carries the. Established or created in 1050. Recorded with a height of 60. Situated in Luxembourg.
Documents and archives
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Giant Bible of Echternach”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q23051789: Giant Bible of Echternach
General reference · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Max Schmitz. The Echternach Scriptorium. Bibliothèque nationale du Luxembourg. 1 November 2024.
- 2.Nancy Marie Brown. The Abacus and the Cross: The Story of the Pope Who Brought the Light of Science to the Dark Ages. Basic Books. 79–80. 2010.
- 3.Charles Burnett. The Abacus at Echternach in ca. 1000 AD. Sciamvs. 3. 91–108. 2002.
- 4.J. Leclercq. Un nouveau manuscrit d'Echternach à Luxembourg. Scriptorium. 7. 2. 219–225. 1953.
- 5.James E. Cross. Legimus in ecclesiasticis historiis: A Sermon for All Saints, and its Use in Old English Prose. Traditio. 33. 101–135. 1977. 27831026.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 2
- Falmagne, Thomas. Les Bibles atlantiques: Le manuscrit biblique à l'époque de la réforme de l'Église du XI e siècle. Edizioni del Galluzzo. 419–469. 2016.
- Weicherding-Goergen, Blanche. Les manuscrits à peintures de la Bibliothèque nationale de Luxembourg. 24–27. 1968.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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