The Carolingian class of manuscripts in this way combined many different strains of influence--native Frankish, Classical, Oriental and English, all modified by the Byzantine love for gorgeous colours, shining gold and silver, and purple-dyed vellum. A considerable number of manuscripts were written in the reign of Charles the Great in letters of gold on purple vellum like those prepared in earlier times for the Byzantine Emperors. A manuscript _Book of the Gospels_ of this magnificent class was given by Pope Leo X. to Henry VIII. of England in return for the presentation copy of his work against Luther, entitled _Assertio Septem Sacramentorum_, which the king had sent in 1521 to the Pope as a proof of his allegiance to the Catholic Faith and the Holy See. This magnificent _Textus_ afterwards came into the Hamilton collection through Mr Beckford of Fonthill, and was subsequently bought by Mr Quaritch[48]. [Illustration: Fig. 12. Miniature of Christ in Majesty from a manuscript of the school of Alcuin, written for Charles the Great.] _Carolingian Gospels._ _Gospels of Godesscalc._ As was the case with the earlier Byzantine manuscripts, the most magnificent books produced in the Carolingian period were this kind of _Evangeliaria_ or _Books of the Gospels_. Though differing in the details of their ornamentation, these later _Gospels_ are decorated with the same set of miniature subjects that occur in the Byzantine Gospels. The library of Paris possesses a fine typical example of this (_Bibl. Nat. Nouv. Acq. Lat. 1993_), a richly decorated and signed _Evangeliarium_, which was written for Charles the Great in 781 by the scribe and illuminator Godesscalc. Every page is sumptuously ornamented with large initials and a border in brilliant burnished gold, and silver, and bright colours; and there are also six full-page miniatures, the first four representing the four Evangelists enthroned in the usual way. The fifth has a painting of _Christ in Majesty_ with one hand holding a book, the other raised in blessing; see fig. 12. The sixth miniature represents the Fountain of Life. In all these paintings the backgrounds are very rich and decorative, with a greater variety and more fancifully designed ornament than is to be found in Byzantine manuscripts of a similar class, owing, of course, to the introduction of the many different elements of design which were combined with great taste and skill by the Carolingian illuminators. _Oriental influence._