Roger of Helmarshausen was a well-known goldsmith

Goldsmith

A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Since ancient times the techniques of a goldsmith have evolved very little in order to produce items of jewelry of quality standards. In modern times actual goldsmiths are rare...

 and metalwork artist, and also a Benedictine monk.

Artistic career

Roger is first heard of in connection with Stavelot Abbey

Stavelot

Stavelot is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège. On January 1, 2006, Stavelot had a total population of 6,671. The total area is 85.07 km² which gives a population density of 78 inhabitants per km².-History:...

 in the Meuse

Meuse River

The Maas or Meuse is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea...

 valley, a centre of Mosan art

Mosan art

Mosan art is a regional style of art from the valley of the Meuse in present-day Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. Although the term applies to art from this region from all periods, it generally refers to Romanesque art, with Mosan Romanesque architecture, stone carving, metalwork, enamelling...

, and especially goldsmith's work. He worked between 1100 and 1107 in St. Pantaleon's church in Cologne

Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

. At least two portable altar

Altar

An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...

s made by him are in the treasury of Paderborn Cathedral

Paderborn Cathedral

Paderborn Cathedral is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paderborn. It is located in the city centre of Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The cathedral is dedicated to Saint Mary, Saint Kilian and Saint Liborius....

. In 1107 he moved to Helmarshausen Abbey

Helmarshausen Abbey

Helmarshausen Abbey was a Benedictine monastery situated in the small town of Helmarshausen, now part of Bad Karlshafen in Hesse, Germany.-History:...

, where he established a goldsmith's workshop. In conjunction with the scriptorium

Scriptorium

Scriptorium, literally "a place for writing", is commonly used to refer to a room in medieval European monasteries devoted to the copying of manuscripts by monastic scribes...

 he produced several important works in the Romanesque

Romanesque art

Romanesque art refers to the art of Western Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 13th century, or later, depending on region. The preceding period is increasingly known as the Pre-Romanesque...

 style, including various illuminated codices, above all the Gospels of Henry the Lion

Gospels of Henry the Lion

The Gospels of Henry the Lion were intended by Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, for the altar of the Virgin Mary in the church of St. Blaise's Abbey, Brunswick, better known as Brunswick Cathedral. The volume is considered a masterpiece of Romanesque book illumination of the 12th century.The gospel...

, as well as many pieces of jewellery.

De diversis artibus

It has been suggested, principally by the German academic Eckhard Freise, that Roger is identical with Theophilus Presbyter

Theophilus Presbyter

Theophilus Presbyter is the pseudonymous author or compiler ofa Latin text containing detailed descriptions of various medieval arts, a text commonly known as the Schedula diversarum artium or De diversis artibus , probably first compiled between 1100 and 1120...

, author of the medieval treatise De diversis artibus (also Schedula diversarum artium) on applied arts and in particular, metalwork. This identification is not universally accepted.