Introduction:
This manuscript, copied in the late 16th or early 17th
century, contains 61 of the Letters of Theophylact of
Ohrid, Metropolitan of Bulgaria in the late 11th and
early 12th centuries. Originally from the Greek island of Euboia,
Theophylact was appointed in 1078 to the see of Ohrid,
which covered the whole of the former Bulgarian Empire conquered by
Byzantium earlier in the century. His letters, addressed to a
variety of other clerics, imperial officials and members of the
imperial family, are a major source for the history of Bulgaria
under Byzantine rule. He was also the author of a range of religious
texts, including homilies, biblical commentaries and
hagiography.
This manuscript was copied from a 14th-century
manuscript in the Vatican, which belongs to a group of copies
derived from a single exemplar and containing the same set of 64
letters, ending incompletely. Three of the letters from this set are
not included here, due to the loss of much of a folio from the
Vatican manuscript.
Language(s): Greek
[1]r-[24]r
Theophylact of Ohrid (c. 1055-c.
1126),
Letters
Filiation: This manuscript was copied from Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
MS Vat. gr. 509. It was the basis of a mid-17th-century
Latin translation, contained in MS LC II.233.1.
The manuscript contains (according to the sequence of the edition
of Paul Gautier, Théophylacte d'Achrida
Lettres (Thessalonike 1986)) Letters 4-18,
22-60, 71-72, 74 and 79-81, in the order:
- 4-18 (1-15 here)
- 22-23 (16-17)
- 24 (unnumbered)
- 25-28 (18-21)
- 75 (22)
- 29-55 (23-49)
- 71 (50)
- 56 (51)
- 72 (52)
- 57 (53)
- 74 (54)
- 58-60 (55-57)
- 79-81 (58-60)
This is the same selection and sequence found in the
exemplar, which follows the consistent norm of Gautier's Group B.
The end of Letter 18 (15 here), the whole of letters 19-21 and the
beginning of Letter 22 (16 here) are omitted due to losses from the
exemplar (Letter 18 ends at line 40; Letter 22 begins at line 11).
Letter 81 (60 here) ends incomplete (at line 61), as do the exemplar
and all other manuscripts of Group B. This manuscript was not among
those consulted in the preparation of Gautier's edition
Rubric:
f. [1]r Ἐπιστολαὶ τοῦ
μακαριωτάτου ἐπισκόπου Βουλγαριίας κυροῦ Θεοφυλάκτου
Incipit:
f. [1]r Δέσποινά μου ἁγία
πολλοῖς μὲν ἐν τοῖς λυπηροῖς
Explicit:
f. [24]r
ἐκπεριουσίας γε προσκυνεῖ, καὶ διὰ σοῦ τὸν κράτιστον ἡμῶν βασιλέα
τίδε||
TLG 3219.010
PG 126, coll. 307-558
ff. [i] recto-[ii]
verso, 6v-[7]r and [24]v are blank.
Form: codex
Support:
Western paper, folded in folio. Watermark: Crook (
90 × 38 mm.
), in the
centre of the folio, similar but not
identical to Briquet 1298. This example is
dated to 1589-1604.
Extent:
Codex:
2 +
24 leaves.
334 × 210 mm.
Foliation: The manuscript is foliated with the
numbers [i-ii] + [1-3], 4-6, [7], 8, [9], 10-13, [14-24] in
brown ink, in Arabic numerals, recto, lower right. Many numbers
have been lost due to damage.
Collation
The manuscript consists of two quires, of which one is a
binion and the other is of 22 folios.
- Quire 14
ff.
[i]-2
f. [ii] is the stub of a
folio which has been cancelled, without loss of
text
- Quire 222
ff. [3-24]
Condition
There are extensive losses from the edge of f. [i] and less
extensive ones elsewhere, many of which have been repaired with
Japanese paper. There is creasing to some folios, and some
ink-blots and areas of dirt.
Layout
A
single column of 41-46 lines.
252-268 × 150 mm.
The edges of the written area are ruled in
hardpoint, on the recto.
Hand(s)
The manuscript was copied in a western European mixed minuscule script, slanting to
the
right, in brown ink, with little variation in letter size.
Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings are not in
use. Breathings are round and mute iota
is subscript. Use of the double dot is functional only, and
there is accentuation of all nomina
sacra .
Punctuation used includes the middle and upper points, lower
comma, question mark and full stop.
Additions
The letters have been numbered in a continuous sequence, 1-60, with
some errors and corrections (Letter 24 (ff.
[7]v-8r has also been left unnumbered, an error which was
not detected). There are marginal corrections by the scribe, and
frequent marginal corrections and annotations in Greek and Latin by
other hands, including expansions of contracted nomina sacra , on occasion incorrect
(f. 12v, line 25, Χριστός for
Κύριος). These notes include collations with another manuscript
(e.g. ff. [1]v, [14]v, ff.
[19]v-[23]v). Since the variations in question generally
involve errors made in the copying of this manuscript rather than
the reading in the exemplar, it is unclear which manuscript this
was. A note on f. [7]v explains the
incomplete beginning of Letter 22, numbered 16 here and 17 in the
exemplar: ‘Epistola 17 in codice Vaticano, sed
truncata capite. Titulus in Vaticano ad filium
sebastocratoris’. A note by another hand on f. [24]r records the number of letters in the
Meursius edition of 1617: ‘Meursius numerat 75
epistolas’.
Binding
Unbound; the two quires are stitched together.
Accompanying Material
Housed along with a photocopy from a previous housing with the label
‘Epistulae Theophylacti Archiepiscopi Bulgariae MS.
Gr. Eaedem Latine redditae’.
Origin: While no exact match to the watermark has been identified, the
dating of similar types suggests that the manuscript was produced in the
last quarter of the
16th century or first quarter of the 17th. The style of script suggests
that it is more likely to date from the latter part of this
period.
