Exiit edictum a Caesare Augusto. Die Darstellung imperialer und kosmischer Macht in der kontinentalen volkssprachigen Bibeldichtung des frü-hen Mittelalters

Through a close reading of some passages from Liber Evangeliorum by Otfrid von Weissenburg (mainly I, 11 and V, 16) and of the Nativity part from Heliand, this paper analyzes the portrayal of the imperial authority in literature and paintings, its development in Christological epics in German vernacular and its assimilation to the figure of Christ, notably through the imagery of the “world in his hands”, expressed by the rhyme henti : woroltenti as a description, at first, of Augustus’s power, and, later on, of the crucified and resurrected Messiah.