Cambridge, Trinity College, MS B.8.3
Diktyon no.: Diktyon 11917
Contents
Language(s): Greek
Physical Description
Collation
Additions
There is a note of ownership of the Monastery of the Pantakrator on Mount Athos, dated 1517/8, on f. i verso: ‘Βιβλίον τοὺ[sic] Παντοκράτορος Χριστοῦ τὴν ἐν τῶ ἁγἰω ὄρει ἔτους ͵ζκϛʹ ἰνδικτιῶνος ϛʹ’.
There is a largely illegible note in Greek onf. i recto and some scribbles and pen-trials.
Binding
18th-century full leather binding over couched-laminate boards, with plain pastedowns. There is decorative blind tooling on the edges of the boards and gold tooling on the spine. The title ‘Vitae Sanctorum MS’ is tooled in gold on a red label on the spine, and the classmark appears on patches.
322 × 260 × 85 mm.
Both outer joints are partially split. Both endcaps are damaged and the tailband is partially detached.
Accompanying Material
There is a single paper endleaf at each end, belonging to the current binding, ff. [a] and [b], within which at the left-hand end is a parchment endleaf f. i). This was in place by 1518, when a dated note was added to f. i verso, but probably does not date to the original production of the manuscript, as this leaf does not bear pest damage corresponding to that of the following original endleaf f. ii, which bears the contents list.
Inserted loose between ff. 165 and 166 is a small fragment of Western paper containing part of a note in vernacular Greek addressed to the skeuophylax Avakoum.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Owned by the Pantokratoros Monastery on Mount Athos in 1517/8.
Purchased from the Abbot of the Pantokrator by Richard Bentley (1662-1742) , Master of Trinity.
Bequeathed to Trinity College by Bentley , after his death.
Part 1 [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS B.8.3, ff. ii, 1-197]
Contents
Language(s): Greek
Each item in the list includes the incipit of the text.
1 November
TLG 3115.074
BHG 374
2 November
TLG 3115.20
BHG 23
PG 116 coll. 9-36
3 November
TLG 3115.019
BHG 20
PG 116 coll. 832-860
4 November
TLG 3115.075
BHG 937
PG 116 coll. 36-92
5 November
TLG 3115.076
BHG 666
PG 116 coll. 93-108
6 November
TLG 3115.077
BHG 1473
PG 116 coll. 884-896
7 November
TLG 3115.078
BHG 750
PG 116 coll. 109-120
8 November
TLG 3115.079
BHG 1222
PG 116 coll. 920-954
10 November
TLG 3115.080
BHG 1725
11 November
TLG 3115.081
BHG 1250
12 November
TLG 3115.082
BHG 888
PG 114 coll. 896-965
13 November
TLG 5159.002
BHG 875
PG 114, coll. 1045-1209
14 November
TLG 3115.083
BHG 1527
PG 115 coll. 188-197
15 November
TLG 3115.011
BHG 736-738
PG 116 coll. 128-161
Homily 6
8 November
TLG 2062.498
CPG 4417
BHG 124
PG 56 coll. 135-412
8 November
BHG 128
1 November
Defective at the end: ends ed. G. Van Hoof, 'Vita SS. Cosmae et Damiani', Analecta Bollandiana 1 (1882), pp. 586-596 at section 4
TLG 3115.074
BHG 374
Physical Description
Collation
This part consists of 25 quires, of which one is a binion and the rest are quaternia.
- Quire 18-1+1 ff. 1-8 The original first folio has become detached (it is now f. 197) and later replaced by another (f. 1).
- Quires 2-248 ff. 9-192 Quire 13 (ff. 97-104) is bound upside-down.
- Quire 254-2+3 ff. 193-197 The original second and third folios have been lost, and later replaced by others; the detached original first folio of Quire 1 has been bound in here as the last folio.
Condition
Layout
ff. 2r-194v and 197r-197v Two columns of 33 lines each. 214 × 170 mm. Pricking sometimes survives in the lower and upper margins, but much has been lost to cropping. Ruled in hardpoint, system Leroy 1, type 30C2. Text hangs from the lines.
Hand(s)
ff. ii rect-ii verso, 2r-194v and 197r-197v were copied by Hand A in an upright mixed minuscule script, in brown ink, with modest variation in letter size. Tails are sometimes flourished into the lower margin, especially that of the abbreviation of καί, and are sometimes looped (e.g. ff. 134v-135v).
Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings appear only at the end of lines. Breathings are both angular and round, and mute iota is absent. Use of the double dot is functional only. Nomina sacra are abbreviated only when more than two letters long or with enclitics. Circumflexes appear above breathings, but are not enlarged when they do so. The double grave accent is in use.
When the abbreviation of καί appears in the bottom line, it tends to take the form of a single diagonal stroke continuing into a long flourished tail below (e.g. ff. 123v-125v.
Punctuation used includes the middle and upper points, lower and middle commas, question mark and full stop.
Headings are written in Alexandrine majuscule script with some minuscule forms, in red ink.
Decoration
The beginning of each text is preceded by a small rectangular headpiece in red ink.
The beginnings of sections are marked by simple minor initials in red ink.
The beginning of the contents list on f. ii recto is preceded by a simple vignette in brown and red ink.
Before some texts space has been left for the headpiece but this has never been added, e.g. ff. 42v, 79r.
Additions
There is an note in Greek on f. ii verso, possibly recording ownership which is much abraded, perhaps due to deliberate erasure. Another note near the foot of f. ii verso has been almost entirely erased. There are other occasional brief annotations in Greek by various hands.
A later hand, possibly Hand B, has erased and replaced some text on f. ii recto. Another hand has erased and replaced text on f. 50r.
History
Part 2 [Cambridge, Trinity College, MS B.8.3, ff. 1, 196-197]
Physical Description
Collation
This part consists of three replacement folios, ff. 1 and 195-196.
Condition
Layout
ff. 1r-1v and 195r-196v Two columns of 34 lines. 210 × 160 mm. Pricking survives in all three margins, but some has been lost to cropping. Ruled in hardpoint, type 00C2. Text hangs from the lines.
Hand(s)
ff. 1r-1v and 195r-196v were copied by Hand B in mixed minuscule script, slanting slightly to the right, in brown ink, with moderate variation in letter size.
Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings appear throughout the line. Breathings are round and mute iota is absent. There is decorative use of the double dot, and accentuation of all lengths of nomina sacra . Accents are sometimes joined to letters and abbreviations. Circumflexes appear enlarged above breathings.
Punctuation used includes the middle and upper points, lower comma, question mark and full stop.
Decoration
The beginnings of sections are marked by simple minor initials is red ink. The text on f. 1r begins with a larger, more ornate initial in red ink.
Additions
History
Additional Information
Availability
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Bibliography
-
The western manuscripts in the library of
Trinity College: a descriptive catalogue, James, M.R. (Cambridge, 1, Cambridge University Press, 1900)
Catalogus codicum hagiographicorum graecorum
Germaniae, Belgii, Angliae, van de
Vorst, CharlesDelehaye, Hippolyte (Brussels, Société des Bollandistes, 1913)
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)
Codices Chrysostomici Graeci I Codices
Britanniae et Hiberniae, Aubineau, Michel (Paris, CNRS éditions, 1968)
Codices Chrysostomici Graeci VIII: I: Codices
Ancyrae et Constantinopolis II: Addenda et Corrigenda ad
volumina I-IV, Barone, Francesca
P.Voicu, Sever
J. (Paris, CNRS éditions, 2018)
Funding of Cataloguing
The Polonsky Foundation
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
