Theft of medieval art from Quedlinburg
Encyclopedia
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
Lieutenant Joe T. Meador in the days prior to the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Precious church objects stored near Quedlinburg
Quedlinburg
Quedlinburg is a town located north of the Harz mountains, in the district of Harz in the west of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. In 1994 the medieval court and the old town was set on the UNESCO world heritage list....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
were found by the U.S. Army. They were placed under guard, but eight extremely valuable objects went missing, including a ninth century illuminated manuscript
Illuminated manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders and miniature illustrations...
gospel book
Gospel Book
The Gospel Book, Evangelion, or Book of the Gospels is a codex or bound volume containing one or more of the four Gospels of the Christian New Testament...
, the "Samuhel Gospels", (Samuhel Evangeliar in German), a printed evangeliary (book of gospel readings for services) dating to 1513 (the Evangelistar aus St. Wiperti), both with jeweled book-covers, as well as reliquaries
Reliquary
A reliquary is a container for relics. These may be the physical remains of saints, such as bones, pieces of clothing, or some object associated with saints or other religious figures...
, an ivory
Ivory
Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...
liturgical comb and other objects. The most famous illuminated manuscript associated with the town, the 5th century Quedlinburg Itala fragment
Quedlinburg Itala fragment
The Quedlinburg Itala fragment is a fragment of six folios from a large 5th century illuminated manuscript of an Old Latin translation of the Bible...
, once in the church, had been moved to a museum in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
and was not stolen.
The missing artifacts started resurfacing in 1987. After various lawsuits against and negotiations with the heirs of the by-then deceased Meador, they were restored to their rightful owners.
Theft
Quedlinburg AbbeyQuedlinburg Abbey
Quedlinburg Abbey was a house of secular canonesses in Quedlinburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was founded in 936 on the initiative of Saint Mathilda, the widow of Henry the Fowler, as his memorial...
was founded as a proprietary church
Proprietary church
During the Middle Ages, the proprietary church was a church, abbey or cloister built on private ground by a feudal lord, over which he retained proprietary interests, especially the right of what in English law is "advowson", that of nominating the ecclesiastic personnel...
of the Ottonian Imperial family by Emperor Otto the Great
Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor
Otto I the Great , son of Henry I the Fowler and Matilda of Ringelheim, was Duke of Saxony, King of Germany, King of Italy, and "the first of the Germans to be called the emperor of Italy" according to Arnulf of Milan...
in 936 as a memorial to his father. Over the following centuries, it accumulated a rich collection of treasures donated by the Imperial family. At the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
, it was converted into the Lutheran Church of St. Servatius.
During World War II, the treasure was moved for security to a mineshaft southwest of the town. On April 19, 1945, the cache was found by a unit of the advancing U.S. Army, the 87th Armored Field Infantry Battalion, and placed under guard. In June, church authorities complained that eight precious objects were missing. However, investigations proved futile and the matter was dropped in 1949 because, by then, Quedlinburg was part of East Germany.
First Lieutenant Meador was a member of the 87th. Before the war, in 1938, Meador had received a bachelor's degree from North Texas State University, majoring in art, so he would have had a better appreciation than most of the value of the find. Several of his fellow soldiers reported seeing him entering the mine and leaving with bundles. Letters he wrote to his family indicate he mailed at least several of the objects home to Whitewright, Texas
Whitewright, Texas
Whitewright is a town in Fannin and Grayson counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 1,740 at the 2000 census.The Grayson County portion of Whitewright is part of the Sherman–Denison Metropolitan Statistical Area, while the Fannin County portion is part of the Bonham...
.
Sale and lawsuits
Although Meador occasionally showed the art to his co-workers, he made no attempt to sell it. Upon his death of cancer on February 1, 1980, his will made no mention of the artwork.Jane Meador Cook and Jack Meador, Joe's sister and brother, sold the Samuhel Gospel to the Cultural Foundation of the States, an organization based in Berlin and dedicated to repatriating lost German art, for $3 million. The transaction was finalized on May 9, 1990.
However, news of the sale resulted in a civil lawsuit brought in U.S. District Court on behalf of the Quedlinburg church on June 18, 1990. Negotiations led to an agreement that the Meador family would be paid either $2.75 million (less the 1990 payments) or $1 million for the return of all the artifacts.
The U.S. government chose to press charges. On January 4, 1996, Jack Meador, Jane Cook, and their lawyer, John Torigian, were indicted for "conspiring to receive, possess, conceal, store, barter, sell and dispose of stolen goods and for receiving, possessing, concealing, storing, bartering, selling and disposing of stolen goods." However, on October 22, 1996, the charges were dismissed by the District Court because they had been brought too late under the statute of limitations
Statute of limitations
A statute of limitations is an enactment in a common law legal system that sets the maximum time after an event that legal proceedings based on that event may be initiated...
.
Afterward, the Internal Revenue Service
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
investigated and sought over $50 million in taxes, penalties, and interest. On April 20, 2000, the IRS and the Meador family settled for $135,000.