ROSWITHA THE NUN 



Rome. This displacement of the political 

 centre was naturally followed by a complete 

 displacement of artistic centres. Both these 

 sides of life were fostered by Otho with a keen 

 personal interest the building up of his empire 

 and the encouragement of art going hand in 

 hand. Moreover, owing to his close ties with 

 Italy and the East, and the element of classic 

 tradition inevitably induced by such ties, art 

 received an added stimulus and grace. Oriental 

 monks were to be found in the monasteries. 

 Learned men and artists were summoned from 

 Italy and Constantinople. The number and 

 influence of these were increased when Otho's 

 son, afterwards Otho the Second, married 

 Theophano, a Greek princess, who, bringing 

 many compatriots in her train, sought to reflect 

 in her German home something of the learning 

 and splendour of the Byzantine Court. The 

 ivory, shown in illustration, commemorating 

 this marriage, is an example of the work of 

 some Byzantine craftsman in her employ, whilst 

 the jewelled and gold-wrought cover of the 

 Gospels of St. Emmeran (now at Munich) 

 shows to how high a level the goldsmith's art 

 of the time had been raised by the influences 

 alluded to. 



Perhaps the one place which retains in the 

 most varied and concentrated form the traces 

 of this wave of artistic development then 

 passing over Germany, is Hildesheim. This is 

 of interest here because the bishops of Hildesheim 



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