Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

A catalogue of Western manuscripts and papyri at Cambridge University Library, the Fitzwilliam Museum and selected Cambridge colleges

Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 679

Diktyon no.: Diktyon 12054

Contents

Introduction: This lectionary manuscript, produced in the 12th or 13th century, is notable in that it contains both Gospel lections and those of the Pauline Epistles, whereas lectionaries usually contained either the cycle of readings from the Gospels or that from the Acts and Epistles. It is also unusual in that it contains only the lections for weekdays of the synaxarion, the cycle of readings of the movable calendar, beginning from Easter. Greek lectionary manuscripts generally contained either the lections for the whole week (typically produced for use in monasteries, where the liturgy was performed daily), or those for Saturday and Sunday only (typically for use in non-monastic churches). This suggests that it was created to supplement an existing combined lectionary of the Saturday-Sunday type, or more probably two separate Saturday-Sunday lectionaries, one for the Gospels and one for the Acts and Epistles. Between them, these would have included the lections of the menologion (the cycle of readings of the fixed calendar, beginning from 1 September) and the synaxarion lections of Acts as well as the Saturday and Sunday synaxarion lections of the Gospels and Epistles. This division of content between Gospels and Epistles is reflected in the physical structure of the manuscript, which is composed of two separate parts which were clearly not originally bound together in their present position. The first contains the lections of the Epistles, the latter those of the Gospels. Both parts are incomplete, as the first few folios of the Gospel lectionary are missing, while that of the Epistles breaks off at the end. The fact that the definite losses from each part occur where the two parts meet one another in middle of the manuscript, rather than the outer end, is an indication that they were not previously arranged as they are now. This is confirmed by other physical features of the second part. The corners of the folios are curved inwards, whereas one would expect any such curvature to bend them outwards. The corners of the earlier folios of this part are also heavily worn, indicating that they were exposed at the extremities of a book rather than being towards the middle of it, as at present. On the first folio of this part (Part II, f. 6r), there are marks from the turn-ins of a binding, indicating that at some point it was located at the end of a volume, evidently after the loss of its first few folios. However, the consistency of material, script, ornament and layout between the two parts, as well as their unusual weekday lection content, indicates that these are not portions of two unrelated manuscripts which have been bound together, but were produced as parts of the same programme of work. They may have been originally bound together as a single volume, in which the present order of the two parts would have been reversed, or formed two separate volumes. The parchment of which the manuscript is composed is of notably poor quality, its folios containing numerous holes created during the stretching process in the course of their production, including some within the written area. Such leaves would usually have been rejected for use in a manuscript produced in the mainstream of the Byzantine world. It suggests at least a provincial origin, and perhaps one in a peripheral area of the Greek-speaking world, such as southern Italy or the Levant, though there are no specific indications of production in either region. The scribe's unusual practice of using small crosses as routine punctuation marks is another peculiarity suggesting a possible origin outside the core of the Byzantine world. Aspects of the scribe's technique or tools also seem to have been at fault on occasion. There are folios where the pen has repeatedly broken through the parchment during copying, leaving an ink-blot on the far side. This could have been due to weak parchment, too sharp a pen, or the scribe pressing it too hard. On one occasion (Part I, f. 70r) this happened so many times while copying the lower part of the recto folio that the scribe left the lower, blotted part of the verso blank and continued the text on the next folio. Dr Christopher Wright

Language(s): Greek

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment (FHHF), of thin or medium thickness and poor quality. There are numerous holes dating from the time of production, occasionally in the written surface (e.g. Part I, ff. 54 67, Part II, f. 23).
Extent: Codex: i + 266 + i leaves. 255 × 202 mm.
Foliation: The manuscript is foliated with the numbers ii + 1-49, 51-85, 87-88, 91-94, 96-97, 99-102, 6-25, 27-70, 72-157, 160-180 + iii, in pencil, in Arabic and Roman numerals, recto, upper right. Folio numbers 50, 86, 89-90, 95, 97-98, 103-104 in Part I and 1-5, 26, 71, 158-159 in Part II have been assigned to leaves no longer present in the volume (as per historic foliation practices at Cambridge University Library). Folio numbers i and iv have been marked on the left and right pastedowns.

Collation

Part I consists of 13 quires, Part II of 22: 1-68, 78-1, 8-108, 118-1, 128-3, 138-3, 148-3, 15-168, 178-1, 18-218, 228-1, 23-328, 338-2, 348, 3512.

Additions

There are notes regarding the collation of the manuscript, by Henry Bradshaw (1831-1886) , University Librarian 1867-1886, on f. ii recto, and regarding its purchase on the right pastedown.

Binding

Rebound by Grey in Cambridge in 1966. Dark brown full leather covering over millboards, reused from a previous binding, with plain parchment pastedowns. There is decorative blind tooling on the boards, and the classmark and the title ‘Greek Lectionary’ are tooled in gold on the spine.

276 × 245 × 110 mm.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

The manuscript was purchased for Cambridge University Library on 9 February 1870 from the bookseller Frederick S. Ellis , with money from the fund established by Tobias Rustat (d. 1694) . This is indicated by a note on the right pastedown and the crest applied to books bought using the Rustat fund on f. ii recto.

Part 1 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 679, ff. 1:1-1:102]

Contents

Language(s): Greek

1. ff. 1:1r-1:102v
Epistles lectionary synaxarion (weekdays)

Defective at the end. Ends during the lection for Friday of the 33rd week after Pentecost (2 Thes 2:1)

Gregory-Aland l 176; Scrivener Apost. 79

Rubric: f. 1:1r Ἐνταῦθα οἱ καθημερινοὶ ἀπόστολοι τοῦ χύματος ἐκ τῶν ἐπιστολῶν τοῦ ἁγίου καὶ πανευφήμου ἀποστόλου Παύλου ἀναγνώσματα καθημερινὰ τοῦ ἀποστόλου
Incipit: f. 1:1r Παῦλος δοῦλος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ κλητὸς ἀπόστολος ἀφορισμένος[sic] εἰς εὐαγγέλιον
Explicit: f. 1:102v κατὰ τὴν χάριν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν καὶ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ+ ἐρω⟨τῶμεν⟩ ||

Physical Description

Form: codex

Collation

The first part of the manuscript consists of 13 quires, all quaternia.

  • Quires 1-68 ff. 1:1-1:48
  • Quire 78-1 ff. 1:49-1:56 The second folio has been lost, with loss of text.
  • Quires 8-108 ff. 1:57-1:80
  • Quire 118-1 ff. 1:81-1:88 The sixth folio has been lost, with loss of text.
  • Quire 128-3 ff. 1:91-1:96 The first, second and seventh folios have been lost, with loss of text.
  • Quire 138-3 ff. 1:97-1:102 The second, seventh and eighth folios have been lost, with loss of text.

Modern quire signatures in lower-case Latin letters, in pencil, have been added to the first folio of each quire, recto, lower right. This sequence covers only the first part of the manuscript.

Another modern sequence of signatures in Arabic numerals, in pencil, have been added to the first folio of each quire, recto, lower left, by a different hand. These form a single sequence through the whole manuscript.

 Leaf numbers in pencil, recto, lower right, have been added to the incomplete quires by the same hand as the letter sequence of quire signatures, to identify the original numbering of the surviving folios. These sometimes cover the whole quire, in other cases only for enough folios to indicate which folios have been lost.

Condition

Some folios have been attached to paper stubs. The outer margin of f. 1:70 has been cut away, with slight loss of text. The lower margin of f. 1:78 has also been cut away. There are small tears to the edges of some folios, mainly among the last few (ff. 1:96-1:102). The parchment has torn around the text in part of f. 1:76 There is occasional discoloration of the hair side of a bifolio, perhaps due to poor preparation of the parchment (e.g. ff. 1:4r and 5v). There is also discoloration of some openings (e.g. ff. 1:65v-1:66r). There are areas of serious brown water staining (e.g. ff. 1:11v-1:26r, 1:71r-1:78r), and milder water damage elsewhere. There are also some ink-blots and areas of dirt. During the copying of the lower part of f. 1:70r, the pen frequently pierced the folio, leaving holes and ink-blots on f. 1:70v, and as a result the scribe left the lower part of the verso blank. The same problem has occurred in a less severe form elsewhere (e.g. f. 1:66). Some folios are creased. The text is significantly faded in places, and faded areas have sometimes been overwritten with black or bright red ink.

Layout

Two columns of 18-19 lines. 158-168 × 130 mm. Pricking survives in the lower margin, but has mostly been lost to cropping. Ruled in hardpoint, system Leroy 1, type Leroy 54D1x. Text hangs from the lines.

Hand(s)

The main text has been copied by Hand A, in an upright mixed minuscule script, in brown ink. There is modest variation in letter size, and tails are sometimes flourished into the margin (e.g. ff. 1:9v-1:11r).

Syllabic abbreviations are very rarely used, while superscript word endings are also quite rare, and both appear only at the ends of lines. Breathings are usually round but sometimes angular, and mute iota is absent. The double dot is used only functionally, and there is accentuation of all nomina sacra . Accents are sometimes joined to nomina sacra strokes. The double grave accent is in use.

Punctuation used includes the upper point, lower comma, question mark and full stop, while a cross in the position of an upper point is routinely used as a normal punctuation mark.

Headings for lections are in the same hand and style, in red ink.

f. 1:1r The headings at the beginning of the text have been copied by Hand B, in orange-red ink. The first line of the main heading is in epigraphic display majuscule, while the remainder of this heading and the heading for the first lection are in mixed minuscule script.

Decoration

The beginning of the text (f. 1:1r) is preceded by a rectagular headpiece in orange-red ink, with vegetative ornament. Two early lections (ff. 1:3v, 1:6r) are preceded by rectangular headpieces in a different style, in red ink with small areas of blue infill, the latter perhaps a later addition.

The text of each lection begins with a major initial, sometimes ornamented, in red ink. The one on f. 1:1r is in the same orange-red ink as the rubric and headpiece on this page, the others in a different style and in the same style as the rubric and ornament in the remainder of the manuscript.

The end of another early lection (f. 1:8r) is accompanied by a line-filler in red ink.

Additions

The scribe has placed the notes identifying the occasion of lections in the margins, while the identification of the book appears as a heading in the main text.

There are occasional marginal annotations in Greek by different hands, including one (f. 11r) by a hand who also made notes in Part II.

Notes in English regarding lost and cancelled folios have been added by Henry Bradshaw , in pencil.

History

Origin: The characteristics of the script suggest that the manuscript was probably produced in the 12th or 13th century. The poor quality of the parchment and unconventional punctuation practice suggest a provincial origin.

Part 2 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 679, ff. 2:6-2:180]

Contents

Language(s): Greek

2. ff. 2:6-2:180v
Gospel lectionary synaxarion (weekdays, not including Lent)

Lections for Saturday and Sunday are also present for the 6th and 17th weeks of Matthew. Defective at the beginning (begins during the lection for Friday of the first week after Pentecost.)

Gregory-Aland l 305; Scrivener Evst. 291

Filiation: This manuscript was used in the production of the UBS and Huck-Greeven editions of the New Testament.
Incipit: || f. 2:6r ⟨αἰ⟩τήση μὴ ὄφιν ἐπιδώσει αὐτῶ (Mt 7:10)
Explicit: f. 2:180v καὶ τὸ μὲν Σάββατον ἡσύχασαν κατὰ τὴν ἐντολὴν (Lk 23:56)
Final rubric: f. 2:180v Ὦδε τὸ τέλος τοῦ τοιούτου θείου καὶ προσκυνήτου ἁγίου εὐαγγελίου· τοῦ μεγάλου Θεοῦ καὶ Σωτηρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ ἀντιφωνητοῦ
2.1. ff. 2:6r-2:80v
Lections for the weeks of Matthew
2.2. ff. 2:80v-2:180v
Lections for the weeks of Luke

Physical Description

Form: codex

Collation

The second part of the manuscript consists of 22 quires, of which one consists of twelve folios and the rest are quaternia.

  • Quire 148-3 ff. 2:6-2:8 The first five folios have been lost, with loss of text.
  • Quires 15-168 ff. 2:9-2:24
  • Quire 178-1 ff. 2:25-2:32 The second folio has been lost, with loss of text.
  • Quires 18-218 ff. 2:33-2:64
  • Quire 228-1 ff. 2:65-2:72 The seventh folio has been lost, with loss of text.
  • Quires 23-328 ff. 2:72-2:152
  • Quire 338-2 ff. 2:153-2:160 The sixth and seventh folios have been lost, with loss of text.
  • Quire 348 ff. 2:160-2:168
  • Quire 3514-2 ff. 2:169-2:180 The last two folios have been lost or cancelled.

Modern quire signatures in capital Latin letters, in pencil, have been added to the first folio of each quire, recto, lower right. This sequence covers only this part of the manuscript, beginning again from A.

The sequence of signatures in Arabic numerals, in pencil, on the first folio of each quire, recto, lower right, continues from the first part.

 Leaf numbers in pencil, recto, lower right, have been added to letter the incomplete quires by the same hand as the letter sequence of quire signatures, to identify the original numbering of the surviving folios. These sometimes cover the whole quire, in other cases only for enough folios to indicate which folios have been lost.

Condition

Some folios have been attached to paper stubs. Most of the lower margin of ff. 2:131 and 2:160 has been cut away. A tear to f. 2:175 has been repaied with stitching. There are small tears to the edges of some leaves, and substantial areas of wear to both outer corners in the earlier portion of this part (ff. 2:6-2:122), which was evidently inflicted before it was bound together with Part I in its present position. Some folios are creased. There are brown stains to the edges of f. 2:6r from the turn-ins of a previous binding, prior to the addition of Part I in its present position. There is discoloration of some folios, very severe in the case of ff. 2:95v-2:96r, perhaps due to heat. There is occasional slight water staining and some ink-blots and areas of dirt. The text is significantly faded in places, and faded areas have sometimes been overwritten with black ink.

Layout

Two columns of 18 lines. 158 × 130 mm. Pricking survives in the lower margin, but has mostly been lost to cropping. Ruled in hardpoint, system Leroy 1, type Leroy 54D1x. Text hangs from the lines.

Hand(s)

This part of the manuscript was also copied by Hand A.

Decoration

The end of the Gospel lectionary text (f. 2:180v is marked by a simple vignette in red ink.

The text of each lection begins with a major initial, sometimes ornamented, in red ink, in the same style as those in Part I. These are occasionally very elongated (ff. 2:153r, 2:167v, 2:173r). Occasionally they, along with the rubric on the same page, appear in a much brighter red ink than usual (e.g. ff. 2:55v 2:56v)

Additions

The scribe has placed the notes identifying the occasion of lections in the margins, while the identification of the book appears as a heading in the main text.

There are occasional marginal annotations in Greek by different hands, including some (ff. 2:24v-2:25r, 2:169r, 2:171r) by a hand who also made notes in Part 1.

Notes in English regarding lost and cancelled folios have been added by Henry Bradshaw (1831-1886) , in pencil.

History

Origin: The commonality of material, script, ornament and subject matter indicate that this part of the manuscript was produced together with Part I, either as part of the same manuscript or as two volumes. That they have been together from an early date is also suggested by the presence of the same annotating hand in both. However, the inward curvature of the folios suggests that Part II was originally placed before Part I, and the marks of a former binding on f. 2:6r indicate that even after the loss of its initial folios subsequently, this part appeared at the front.

Additional Information

Availability

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card. For information on eligibility and admissions procedures, see Joining the Library). For further enquiries, and to confirm the availability of the manuscript, please contact the Special Collections Reading Room.

Bibliography

    Textkritik des Neuen Testamentes C.R Gregory Leipzig J. C. Hinrichs 1900 Hand-list of the additional Greek manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge Patricia E. Easterling Scriptorium 16 2 302-323 1962 The greek new testament Barbara Aland ; Kurt Aland ; Johannes Karavidopoulos ; Carlo M Martini ; Bruce M. Metzger Fifth Revised edition prepared by the Institute for New Testament Textual Research, Munster/Westphalia under the direction of Holger Strutwolf. Stuttgart Deutsche Bibel Gesellschaft, American Biblbe Society, United Bible Societies 2014 Synopsis of the first three Gospels, with the addition of the Johannine parallels Heinrich Greeven (editor) Albert Huck Tubingen Mohr 1981 Novum Testamentum Graece: ad antiquissimos testes denuo recensuit apparatum criticum apposuit Constantinus Tischendorf Constantin von Tischendorf (editor) Ezra Abbot (editor) Caspar René Gregory (editor) Caspar René Gregory 8th ed. Leipzig 3: Prolegomena J.C. Hinrichs 1894

Funding of Cataloguing

The Polonsky Foundation

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Cambridge Digital Library

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