Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries: Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 1024

Diktyon no.: Diktyon 12056

Introduction: The manuscript is a little Greek Canonical and theological miscellany, elegantly written by the scribe Konstantinos Paleocappas, who worked at the royal library at Fontainebleau in the middle of the 16th century. The scribe copied the manuscript in 1554 for a certain Lancelot, probably to be identified with the French scholar and diplomat Lancelot de Carle, to whom he addresses a verse dedication (f. 2v). Dr Erika Elia

Language(s): Greek

1. f. 2v

Colophon

2. ff. 4r-34v l. 10

Photius I, Saint, Patriarch of Constantinople, approximately 820-approximately 891 , Epistula 1, excerptum (De septem Synodis Oecumenicis)

Rubric: f. 4r Φωτίου πατριάρχου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως ἐκ τῆς πρὸς Μιχαὴλ τὸν ἄρχοντα Βουλγαρίας ἐπιστολῆς περὶ τῶν ἑπτὰ οἰκουμενικῶν συνόδων παράτιτλος

Incipit: f. 4r Ἡ πρώτη καὶ οἰκουμενικὴ ἁγία σύνοδος

Explicit: f. 34v καὶ ἐναγλαίζεσθαι παντὶ τῷ τῶν πιστῶν πληρώματι παρεσκεύασεν.

The Councils are numbered in the margins from α΄(1) to ζ΄(7)

The text is an excerpt concerning the seven Ecumenical Councils, from Photius' Epistle 1 ( B. Laourdas, L.G. Westerink [eds.], Photii patriarchae Constantinopolitani Epistulae et Amphilochia, I, Leipzig 1983, pp. 4,63-16,468; PG 102, 632 A11-656 A12, TLG 4040.009)

3. ff. 34v l. 11-35v

List of the seven Ecumenical Councils

Incipit: f. 34v Ἰστέον ὅτι ἡ πρώτη σύνοδος γέγονε κατὰ τὸ ͵εωιϛ΄ ἔτος

Explicit: f. 35v ἀπὸ δὲ Χριστοῦ ψνϛ΄.

4. ff. 36r-42v

Explicatio Fidei Orthodoxae

Rubric: f. 36r Ἀναστασίου πατριάρχου Θεουπόλεως, καὶ Κυρίλλου Ἀλεξανδρείας ἔκθεσις σύντομος τῆς ὀρθοδόξου πίστεως

Incipit: f. 36r Ποίας θρησκείας εἶ ἄνθρωπε

Explicit: f. 42v διαιροῦνται δὲ κατὰ τὰς ὑποστάσεις, ἤτοι τὰ πρόσωπα.

The text is attributed to Anastasius I Antiochenus , but it is in reality a compilation from various authors (see CPG 6969)

PG 89, 1400-1404; CPG 6969

5. f. 43r

⟨Leōn Choirosphaktēs, -approximately 919⟩ , Chiliostichos theologia, ll. 22-27 (Epigram)

Rubric: f. 43r Εἰς τὴν θεότητα

Incipit: f. 43r Θεὸς τὸ διττὸν οὐκ ἔχει τῶν πνευμάτων

Explicit: f. 43r φέρει τὸ σεπτὸν τῆς ἀρίστης ἑπτάδος.

Ed. I. Vassis, Chiliostichos theologia: editio princeps, Berlin 2002, pp. 74-75

6. ff. 43v-55v

Gennadius II, Patriarch of Constantinople, approximately 1405-approximately 1472 , De Christianorum recta et vera fide

Rubric: f. 43v Γενναδίου τοῦ σχολαρίου πατριάρχου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως ἀπολογία πρὸς τὸν ἀμηρὰν Μεχμέτην, ἐρωτήσαντα περὶ τῆς τῶν Χριστιανῶν ἁγίας καὶ ἱερᾶς πίστεως

Incipit: f. 43v Πιστεύομεν ὅτι ἔστι Θεός, δημιουργὸς πάντων ὅσα εἰσίν

Explicit: f. 55v καὶ εἰ μὴ ἦν ἡ πίστις ἡμῶν αὕτη ἐκ θελήματος τοῦ Θεοῦ, διελύθη ἂν εὐκόλως.

TLG 3195.082

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: ff. 1r-56v Western paper, folded in duodecimo, without watermarks.

Extent: Codex: 55 leaves., 137 × 100 mm.

Foliation: The leaves are foliated 1-56 in modern pencil in Arabic numerals, in the top right hand corner recto. Folio number 3 has been assigned to a leaf no longer present in the volume (as per historic foliation practices at Cambridge University Library).

Collation

The first quire is a binion, which includes the left pastedown and which has lost the last leaf (f. 3), without loss of text. The manuscript thereafter consists of 6 quaternions, a binion and a final bifolium comprising f. 56 and the right pastedown.

Quire 1^4-1 ff. left pastedown-2
Quires 2-7⁸ ff. 4-51
Quire 8 ⁴ ff. 52-55
Quire 9 ² ff. 56-right pastedown

Modern pencil signatures in Arabic numerals on the first folio recto of each quire, lower right, from 2 (f. 4r) to 8 (f. 52r).

Condition

The codex is in good condition. On the leaves there are a few signs of humidity (see e.g. ff. left pastedown, 15v, and 1r) and brown stains ( f. 2r). On ff. 16v-17r there are ink stains. f. 1r has been cut vertically. The binding is damaged on the spine, which is cracked close to the left board; there is a small crack also close to the right board.

Layout

ff. 4r-55v One single column, 14 lines. 90 × 70 mm.

Hand(s)

Hand A: the texts have been written entirely by Konstantinos Paleokappas (16th c.) (Κωνσταντῖνος Παλαιόκαππας, RGK I, 225. See also RGK II, 316; RGK III, 364).

The text is written in black ink; titles and initials in red.

Decoration

Small friezes in red ink are present at the beginning of the texts: on f. 4r scrollworks frieze with a vegetal motif with vine leaves; on f. 36r scrollworks with a vegetal motif; on f. 43v rope motif with vine leaves.

Initials in ekthesis in red ink are decorated with vegetal motifs, see e.g. ff. 4r, 15v , 36r, 43v.

Additions

On ff. 34v l. 11-35v, where there is a list of the seven Ecumenical Councils, a later hand added in the margin a transcription of the councils' dates in Arabic numerals both according to the Byzantine and Gregorian calendar.

On f. 2r there are various notes by later hands: the names of the previous owners, ‘M Lort’ and, below, ‘A. Askew’; on the upper part of the leaf is written the present shelfmark of the manuscript; in the centre of the leaf there is a brief description of the manuscript's content and format, ‘Photii Epistola de Septem Oecumenicis Conciliis graece 12°’. In the lower part of the leaf there is a stamp of Cambridge University Library with the date of 15 July 1978.

On the left pastedown there are modern pencil annotations, presumably by a librarian.

Binding

French 16th-century binding à entrelacs , original to the production of the manuscript. Full leather over couched-laminate boards, with gold tooling with an arabesque motif in a frame. Tooled borders, and spine. Golden edges. A later hand wrote on the left pastedown that it is a Lyonese binding. The manuscript is stored in a box, by J.S. Wilson and Son, as written in the inner part, with a loose modern insert, discussing the foliation.

145 × 106 × 24 mm.

History

Origin:

The manuscript was copied by Konstantinos Paleokappas in 1554 for a certain Lancelot, who can be probably identified (see Easterling 1962, p. 315, and Pietrobelli 2015, p. 369 note 23) as Lancelot de Carle (1508-1568) , Bishop of Riez, French scholar and diplomat.

Provenance and Acquisition

The codex was subsequently owned by the book collector Anthony Askew (1722-1774) , whose name is written on f. 2r.

Sold by G. Leigh and J. Sotheby in the auction of Askew's library in 1785 (lot 590).

Then owned by the clergyman and academic Michael Lort (1725-1790) , who was for a brief period Regius Professor of Greek at Cambridge (from 1759); his name is also written on f. 2r.

The manuscript was bought for Cambridge University Library in 1872 from the firm Reeves and Turner (Easterling 1962, p. 315; McKitterick 1986, p. 718).

Additional Information

Record Sources

Description (2020) partly draws on P. Easterling, "Hand-list of the additional Greek manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge", Scriptorium 16, 1962, pp. 302-323: 315.

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

Hand-list of the additional Greek manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge Scriptorium, Easterling, Patricia E. (16, 2, 302-323, 1962)

Scribes grecs de la Renaissance Scriptorium, Meyier, K. A. de (18.2, 258-266, 1964)

Repertorium der griechischen Kopisten, 800-1600. I. Grossbritannien Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Byzantinistik, Gamillscheg, ErnstHarlfinger, Dieter (Wien, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1981)

Cambridge University Library : a history [2], The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, McKitterick, David (Cambridge, vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, 1986)

Chiliostichos theologia: editio princeps : Einleitung, kritischer Text, Übersetzung, Kommentar, Indices / Leon Magistros Choirosphaktes ; besorgt von Ioannis Vassis. Supplementa Byzantina, Choirosphaktēs, Leon (Berlin, Walter de Gruyter, 2002)

Iter Psellianum: a detailed listing of manuscript sources for all works attributed to Michael Psellos, including a comprehensive bibliography Subsidia mediaevalia, Moore, Paul (Toronto, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2005)

El copista cretense Constantino Paleocapa: un estado de la cuestion Estudios Bizantinos, García Bueno, C. (1, 198-218, 2014)

Le cardinal et le faussaire Un prélat français de la Renaissance: le cardinal de Lorraine entre Reims et l'Europe Travaux d'humanisme et Renaissance, Pietrobelli, A. (Genève, 363-383, Droz, 2015)

Funding of Cataloguing

The Polonsky Foundation

Digital Images

Cambridge Digital Library

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 1024

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