Cambridge, Trinity College, MS B.7.1
Diktyon no.: Diktyon 11910
Contents
Language(s): Greek
In the title, the text is attributed to John Chrysostom : the catena contains excerpts from his homilies
The sections are numbered in red ink in the margins up to ΤΝΘ΄ (359)
CPG C 110.1
Only one question; question and solutions are not coupled in the printed edition: PG 22, 937 A ll. 1-3, 940 C l. 8-944 D l. 4
TLG 2018.029; CPG 3470
TLG 2741.003; CPG 5557
PG 78, 652 A l. 11-653
PG 78, 258 C l. 8-260 B l. 12
Only one question; question and solutions are not coupled in the printed edition: PG 22, 989 D l. 10-992 A l. 6, 952 D l. 10-956 A l. 12
TLG 2018.029; CPG 3470
In the title, the text is attributed to John Chrysostom
CPG C 140.1
In the title, the text is attributed to John Chrysostom
There is a lacuna between ff. 294v-295r due to the loss of a leaf: μᾶλλον καὶ σωτηρίαν ἡμῶν … ἡμερῶν τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἰδεῖν. The text is incomplete
CPG C 130
ff. [iv] recto-[iv] verso are blank
Physical Description
Modern foliation in ink, in Arabic numerals, in the right upper margin, from 1 to 295; the number 42 is repeated twice, ff. 42 and 42A. Four modern paper endleaves at the beginning and at the end of the manuscript are unnumbered (ff. [i]-[iii], [iv]): [i]-[iv] + 1-42, 42A, 43-295 + [v]-[viii].
Collation
Before conservation took place, the remaining leaves of the first two quires, ff. 1-11, were unbound; their order was changed before the foliation was made. Quire 1 is defective, only two leaves remain, ff. 1-2, which are today unbound; f. 2, as indicated by the signature α΄ (=1) on it, was originally the last leaf of the first quire of the manuscript. The original structure of the second quire was: ff. 3-7-5-6 | 9-10-8-11. F. 4 was originally part of quire 4, and was placed after f. 26; the original structure of quire 4 was therefore: ff. 20-21-22-23 | 24-25-26-4. It is not clear why the final signature δ΄ (=4) is placed on f. 26v. Quire 38 lost two leaves: one between ff. 294-295, and one after f. 285 (a remaining slip is still visible).
- 4 modern parchment endleaves ff. [i]-[iv] (21th c.)
- Quires 1-2ff. 1-3, 5-11
- Quire 38 ff. 12-19
- Quire 48-1 ff. 20-26( the 8th leaf is missing, it is now f. 4)
- Quires 5-378 ff. 27-42, 42A-289
- Quire 388-2 ff. 290-295( 6th and 8th leaves missing, with loss of text)
- 4 modern parchment endleaves ff. [v]-[viii] (21th c.)
Greek quire signatures, original to the production of the manuscript, in the right upper margin of the first leaf recto of the quires, not always visible due to the condition of the leaves: Γ΄ ( f. 12r)- Ε΄ ( f. 27r), Ζ΄ ( f. 42Α rectο)- ΙΒ΄ ( f. 82r), ΙΔ΄ ( f. 98r)- ΛΗ΄ ( f. 290r).
Greek quire signatures, in minuscule letters, not by the scribe (they are a later addition), in the lower margin, centre, of the last leaf of the quires, α΄ ( f. 2v)- β΄ ( f. 3r), ϛ΄ (6, f. 42v)- ιη΄ ( f. 137v), κ΄ ( f. 153v)- λζ΄ ( f. 289v).
Condition
Layout
A single column of 30 lines. ca. 165 × ca. 110 mm. Pricking sometimes survives in all three margins, but some has been lost to cropping. Ruled in hardpoint, system Leroy 1, type 20B1. Text hangs from the lines.
Hand(s)
ff.1r-295v Hand A: the texts have been written in a mixed minuscule square script (some letters are written in majuscule form, as lambda, alpha, kappa, delta), characterized by the presence of ornamental hooks at the end of uprights, with a tendency to cursiveness (it can be compared with examples of the so-called minuscule Baanes, see E. Follieri, 'La minuscola libraria dei secoli IX e X', in: La Paléographie grecque et byzantine (Colloque internation du CNRS, Paris, 21-25 octobre 1974), 1977, p. 139-165); the size is regular; the script hangs from the ruled lines; breathings are angular. The script can be dated to the 10th century.
The text is written in brown ink; the section numbers of the text in red.
For the verses of the Gospels the scribe used a selective majuscule.
Hand a: A later hand wrote conspicous annotations about John Chrysostom in the margins throughout (see e.g. ff. 194r-195v), in an early cursive script, possibly datable to the 11th century.
The ink is light brown.
Decoration
Small linear friezes in brown ink formed by recurring motifs are placed over and below the final rubric on f. 144v.
Additions
On the left pastedown and in the upper margin of f. 1r is written the present shelfmark ‘B.7.1’.
Passim, in the margins or in blank spaces, a later hand (perhaps 16th century) wrote a few annotations and traced some ornament and decorated initials, see f. 30v, and f. 144v.
In the margins are present a few annotations in black ink by a low skilled hand (see e.g. f. 19v).
Binding
Modern binding made in Cambridge University Library in 2021. Full red leather cover, wooden boards. Greek-style projecting endbands; grooves are cut into the edges of the boards; on the fore-edge of the left board two metal pins; on the right board are laced two triple interlaced straps attached to ring clasps. 240-250 × 160 × ca. 110 mm.
The boards and spine of the previous binding, as well as four later paper endleaves which came with it, are preserved in the box with the manuscript. It was a western modern full leather binding, with couched-laminate boards. On the spine are glued three paper labels with the shelfmark and there is a golden tooled title, ‘ Chrysostomus Eusebius M.S.’ 250 × 160 mm.
Accompanying Material
On the previous binding's left pastedown is pasted a paper leaf, on which has been written a table of contents of the manuscript. In James' catalogue it is hypothesized that it was written by Bentley. 145 × 185 mm.
In the box containing the manuscript are preserved also plastic envelopes containing parts of the binding, or paper and parchment repairs from the manuscript:
- Tail band
- Head band
- Sewing thread
- Sewing supports
- Repair from f. 292 head (parchment with Greek handwriting)
- Guard removed from f. 290 (parchment with Greek handwriting)
- Repair from f. 23r (paper)
- Repair from tail f. 292 (parchment with Greek handwriting)
- Removed from f. 12r (parchment with Greek handwriting)
- Removed from f. 295v (parchment with Greek handwriting)
- Spine
History
The characteristics of the script suggest that the manuscript was copied in the 10th century, probably in the second half.
Provenance and Acquisition
The manuscript was kept in the Pantokratoros Monastery on Mount Athos, as is indicated by a possession note in the upper margin of f. 1v: ‘ Βιβλίον μονῆς τοῦ Παντοκράτορος κατὰ Ματθαῖον ἐξηγημένον Ἰωάννου τοῦ Χρυσοστόμου’ (the note was not indicated in James' catalogue).
Like other manuscripts from the Pantokratoros Monastery now in Trinity College, it was probably bequeathed to the college by Richard Bentley (1662-1742) , Master of Trinity. In the catalogue by James (1900), the manuscript is indicated as a donation by Bentley in the list of donors on p. xxii; however, in the manuscript's description, the provenance from Bentley's collection is considered dubious (on this see also Duplacy 1967, pp. 115-116). On f. 2r, in the lower margin, is pasted a Trinity College bookplate.
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
Visitors to Trinity College who wish to consult Special Collections material are required to apply to the Library in advance of their visit. For information on eligibility and admission procedures see: Trinity College: Information for Readers.
Bibliography
-
The western manuscripts in the library of
Trinity College: a descriptive catalogue, James, M. R. (Cambridge, 1, Cambridge University Press, 1900)
La provenance athonite des manuscrits grecs
legues par R. Bentley a Trinity College, Cambridge et en
particulier de l'oncial 0131 du Nouveau Testament Studies in the history and text
of the New
Testament in honor of Kenneth Willis Clark, Duplacy, Jean (Salt Lake City, 113-126, University of Utah Press, 1967)
Catena manuscripts of the Greek New Testament: a catalogue, Parpulov, Georgi (Piscataway, NJ, Gorgias Press, 2021)
Funding of Cataloguing
The Polonsky Foundation
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
