Introduction:
This manuscript is a Psalter in Greek, probably copied around
the 1460s. The Psalms are followed by the Odes, the sequence of hymns excerpted from
various Biblical books, also known as canticles, which in the Orthodox tradition
constitute a separate book of the Bible. The first nine of these are the basis for
the canons which are a central component of Orthodox hymnography. This manuscript
contains this basic set and three of the remaining six hymns, arranged in their most
usual order.
The manuscript has been identified from its distinctive script as the
work of a copyist named Manuel, originally from Constantinople, who produced a
number of other manuscripts and whose identity is known from his colophon on a New
Testament manuscript (Leicester, The Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland, MS 6 D
32/1), addressed to
George Neville, Archbishop of York (c.
1433-1476)
and dated 1468. The likelihood that Manuel had settled in England is
reinforced by evidence from other manuscripts that he collaborated with another
known Constantinopolitan scribe, Ioannes Serbopoulos, who lived and worked in
Reading, producing dated manuscripts between 1484 and 1500. Although he was able to
find work as a copyist, it seems likely that Manuel had not been professionally
trained as a scribe. His hand is not very elegant and somewhat unconventional, and
his accentuation is erroneous, using acute accents wherever a grave accent should
appear. He was perhaps a refugee from the Ottoman conquest who adopted a new trade
after settling in the West, taking advantage of the potential market value of a
basic level of Greek literacy in England, where such skills were rare.
Another indication that Manuel produced this manuscript in England is
the presence of Latin annotations by a 15th-century hand, whose style suggests an
English origin, who added occasional glosses of words and identified most of the
Psalms by number and by the incipit of their Latin
translation. These may well be the work of the manuscript's original patron, as they
are absent from the first quire, whose text is in Manuel's hand but in slightly
larger script than the rest. This suggests that this quire may have been a
replacement produced to remedy damage to the original first quire, soon enough after
the book's production for the original scribe to be commissioned to do the work, but
after the Latin annotations had been added, and that those lost with the removal of
the original quire were never replicated in the substitute.
The manuscript retains an early binding, which has been identified as
the work of a London craftsman active from the 1450s until the 1480s, known from one
of the decorative motifs he used as the "Scales Binder". This was one of the
earliest English binders to produce bindings with their leather covers decorated
with tooling. The design includes the name ‘Bhale’, probably
that of the owner for whom the book was bound. Study of the different decorative
tools employed by the binder at different times suggests that this binding was
produced in the years around 1470 and must therefore have been done not long after
the copying of the manuscript. However, if the current first quire is indeed a
replacement, this may nonetheless be a rebinding. This would also be suggested by
the presence of stains from leather turn-ins on f. [ii] but not on f. [i], suggesting that the present second endleaf was previously the
first.
In the light of this, it is peculiar that the manuscript bears no
less than four sets of quire or leaf signatures, which would normally suggest that
it had been rebound on multiple occasions and its quires relabelled for the purpose.
One of these signature sequences numbers the quires only, in Arabic numerals, while
the other three also number the bifolios within each quire. Two of these leaf
signature sequences use Latin letters for quires and Roman numerals for bifolios,
one of which has been identified as the work of the Scales Binder. The other is
written in Greek, apparently in Manuel's own hand. While the use of quire signatures
was a normal feature of Greek manuscripts, leaf signatures were not usual in the
Byzantine tradition. Manuel's adoption of this practice may be a further reflection
of his residence in western Europe, and perhaps of his lack of formal scribal
training, leaving him to learn aspects of his trade in the West rather than
retaining habits acquired in Constantinople.
Dr Christopher Wright
Language(s): Greek
1. ff. 1r-137r, line 2
Psalms
Incipit:
f. 1r Μακάριος ἀνήρ, ὅς οὐκ ἐπορεύθην ἐν βουλῆ
ἀσεβῶν
Explicit:
f. 137r καί ἦρα ὄνειδος ἐξ υἱῶν
Ἰσραήλ
TLG 0527.027
2. f. 137r, line 3-f. 151r
Odes
Contains Odes 1-10, 12-13 in that order
Incipit:
f. 137r Ἄσωμεν τῶ Κυρίω ἐνδόξως γάρ
δεδόξασται
Explicit:
f. 151r καί σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ δόξα εἰς τούς αἰῶνας
ἀμήν
TLG 0527.028
ff. 151v-152v are blank
Form: codex
Support:
Parchment (FHHF), of medium thickness
and quality, with a somewhat hairy texture. There are some holes and flaws
originating in the process of production, occasionally in the written area, but
the coloration is pale and consistent, with little trace of
follicles.
Extent:
Codex:
3 + 151 + 2 leaves.
285 × 218 mm.
Foliation: The manuscript is foliated with the numbers [i-iii] + 1-152 + [iv-v] in
Arabic numerals, in pencil, recto, upper right.
Collation
The manuscript consists of 19 quires, all quaternia.
There are early leaf signatures in Greek
numerals, in brown ink, on the first folio of each bifolio, recto, lower right,
probably original to the production of the manusript. On the first leaf of each
quire only the quire number appears, on the rest both quire and leaf numbers on
some quires, on others only leaf numbers. They survive on all quires (αʹ-ιθʹ),
but a few have been partially lost to cropping or damage.
There is also a later sequence of leaf
signatures in Latin letters and Arabic numerals, in brown ink, on the first
folio of each bifolio, recto, lower right. Some have been wholly or partially
lost to cropping or damage. These have been identified as the work of the Scales
Binder (Barker, 'Scales Binder', p. 373).
A third sequence of leaf signatures
appears, in Latin letters and Roman numerals, in red crayon, on the first folio
of each bifolio, recto, lower right or lower centre. They survive on all quires,
but some are severely faded.
There are also quire signatures in Arabic numerals, in
brown ink, on the first folio of each quire, recto, lower centre. Some have been
wholly or partially lost to cropping.
There are catchwords on the last folio of each quire, verso, lower
right, by the original copyist.
Condition
A hole in f. 23 and a flaw in f. 22, formed in the process of production, were
formerly repaired with stitching, since removed. A hole of similar origin at the
edge of f. 152 has been repaired with a
parchment patch. There is slight cockling and occasional creasing, and some areas
of dirt.
Layout
A single column of 19 lines.
195 × 145 mm.
Verses often, but not always, begin with a new line. Text has often been
added beneath the last full line of a page to complete a verse before the page
transition
Hand(s)
The main text was copied by Manuel of Constantinople (Hand A) (RGK I 115, II 147)
in mixed minuscule script, slanting to the right, in
brown ink, with modest 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 breathings
and nomina sacra strokes. Grave accents do not
appear, acute accents being used instead. Circumflexes take the form of a
horizontal stroke, sometimes with a diagonal upturn at the right-hand end, except
when joined to nomina sacra strokes.
The sigma telikon is present. Beta
takes a highly unusual form, like a long-bowed majuscule beta without its upper loop, resembling a curved Latin lower-case letter
b.
Punctuation used includes the middle and upper points, lower comma, question mark
and full stop. The question mark appears in an unusual form, the dot being roughly
level with the top of the curved mark and to its left, rather than directly above
it (e.g f. 67r, lines 10-12, 14-15).
Decoration
Each Psalm or Ode begins with an enlarged initial in red ink,
usually ornamented, somewhat crude and sometimes overlapping with the text. Verses
begin with normal letters in red ink.
Additions
From f. 9r onwards the number and Latin incipit of each Psalm has been written alongside its beginning,
in red ink, by a late
15th-century hand. The same hand has added occasional interlinear Latin
glosses (e.g. f. 9v).
There are notes added in the margins by Patrick Young, in Greek and Latin, in black
ink, on ff. 1r-17r, giving collations with another
manuscript and various editions, commentaries and catenae. Young has added a note
on
f. [i] verso, listing the
abbreviations used for the various texts cited in these annotations. Another hand
has added a note regarding a further manuscript beneath this list (‘Codex Ravii in
Ps. 18’), and written another note on this folio: ‘In hoc codice absunt Psalmorum
tituli universi’.
The present classmark and the former classmarks No. 339, H.25 and O.10.29 have been
marked on f. [ii] recto. The former
classmark No. 1255 has been marked on f. 1r.
Binding
Full leather binding over wooden boards, with plain pastedowns, bound by the
"Scales binder" around 1470. The boards are decorated with blind tooling, using
stamps and cutwork. Motifs including the fleur de lys, a
crowned lion and a dolphin. As part of this design, the inscription ‘Bhale’ was incised
in the centre of the right board. There are
two metal catches on the right board and corresponding sets of three pegs on the
left board, surviving from fastenings whose clasps are now lost.
302 × 223 × 64 mm.
The binding has been rebacked. There is some damage to the lower outer
corners of the boards, where some of the leather covering has been
lost.
Accompanying Material
The endleaves and pastedowns are of parchment.
Origin: The copyist has been identified from the script as
Manuel of Constantinople
(RGK I 115, II 147; PLP 6030), who was active in the second half of the 15th
century, producing a dated manuscript in
1468. The binding has been identified as the work of the "Scales binder",
who worked in
London, and dated by the
tools in use to
around
1470. This suggests that the manuscript was copied in the
third quarter of the 15th
century, most probably in the 1460s. It was probably copied in ;
England, in the light of evidence from other
manuscripts copied by Manuel for an English patron and in collaboration with a scribe
known to have worked in England, his use here of leaf signatures, the presence of
early Latin annotations by an apparently English hand, and the fact that this
manuscript was bound in London at such an early date.
Provenance and Acquisition
Probably owned around 1470 by a person named ‘Bhale’, as
suggested by the text incised into the binding. It has been suggested that this
could have been the Carmelite friar
Robert Bale (d. 1503)
(Barker, 'Scales Binder', p. 365).
Owned by the Biblical scholar and royal librarian
Patrick Young (1584-1652)
.
Acquired after his death by the antiquary
Thomas Gale (c. 1635-1702)
, Fellow of Trinity and Dean of York, along with many of Young's other
manuscripts.
Donated to Trinity College by Thomas's
son, the antiquary
Roger Gale (1672-1744)
, in 1738.
