Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries: Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 1839

Diktyon no.: Diktyon 12062

Introduction: This Gospel lectionary manuscript, dating to the 13th century, belongs to the briefer of the two main types, the "Saturday-Sunday" lectionary, giving the lections for Saturdays and Sundays only, except for Holy Week and the period from Easter to Pentecost, for which weekdays are also included. Much of it has been lost, including its beginning and end, but it retains most of the latter part of the synaxarion (readings of the mobile calendar, beginning from Easter) and the first few months of the menologion (readings of the fixed calendar, beginning from 1 September). The book shows signs of being a product of the Greek communities of southern Italy. A substantial Greek-speaking population existed in this region while it was under Byzantine rule in the early Middle Ages, and although the empire was expelled from Sicily by the Arabs in the 10th century and from the mainland by the Normans in the 11th, Greek language and culture persisted there for centuries. Worship in Greek according to the Byzantine rite continued, for which liturgical books continued to be produced. One of the characteristic features found in this manuscript is the poor quality of its parchment, which displays numerous holes created during the stretching and drying of the skin. When making a high-grade manuscript, any sheet in which such holes appeared would have been rejected, while even in more humble products of the Byzantine mainstream they would usually only be used if the holes were positioned where they could be kept to the margins, rather than impairing the writing surface itself. In peripheral regions such as southern Italy standards were often lower, leading to the appearance of manuscripts such as this one, in which the text is frequently interrupted by holes in the material, appearing right in the midst of the written area. That these are original to the process of production, rather than the product of later damage, is clearly visible from the fact that none of the text has been lost to them. Instead it skips over them, with the beginning of a word often appearing on one side of a hole and the remainder on the other side. Another feature suggestive of an origin in southern Italy is the manuscript's coloured decoration. Its ornamented initial letters and headpieces often feature a pale, translucent yellow wash, common in decoration from this region but not elsewhere in the Greek-speaking world. This pale yellow has also been used to highlight headings, a characteristic south Italian feature, though one that is also found in manuscripts from neighbouring Epiros in western Greece. The text is competently formed, though not with any particular elegance, and includes some distinctive and inventive flourished letter and abbreviation forms. However, the scribe shows a somewhat eccentric approach to the placement of diacritic marks, especially breathings. Compound words in which the stem is preceded by a prefix have often been treated as though these were two separate words, with a breathing appearing on the initial vowel or diphthong of the stem, as at the beginning of a new word. Rather than merely showing ignorance or carelessness, this displays some understanding of the structure of the words in use, but a lack of familiarity with standard orthographic practice. There are also more commonplace errors such as the omission of accents or the use of the wrong type of breathing. This haphazard grasp of orthography shows deficiencies in the scribe's training which would also seem consistent with an origin in a region somewhat detached from the mainstream of Greek-speaking culture. This manuscript has been variously dated to the 12th and to the 13th century. For the most part its features are consistent with the second half of the 12th century, but a form of abbreviation of the word καὶ used by the scribe is not generally found before the latter period, and it can therefore be assigned to the 13th century. It should also be noted that one consequence of the remoteness of southern Italy's Greek culture from the heartland of Greek book production was that the styles of script in use there at times lagged behind developments in areas more closely connected with metropolitan fashions. Dr Christopher Wright

Language(s): Greek

Gospel lectionary (Saturdays and Sundays)

Defective at the beginning and end, with lacunas. Begins during the lection for the 6th Sunday of Luke (Lk 8:39), ends during the lection for 26 December (Mt 2:17)

Gregory-Aland l 307; Scrivener Evst. 293

Incipit: || f. 78r σοι ὁ Θεὸς· καὶ ἀπῆλθε καθ ὅλην τὴν πόλιν

Explicit: f. 192v κατὰ τὸν χρόνον ὃν ἠκρίβωσαι παρὰ τῶν μάγων· ἐπληρώθη τὸ ρηθὲν[sic] ὑπὸ Ἱερεμίου τοῦ προφήτου||

1.1. ff. 78r-106r

Synaxarion: Lections for the weeks of Luke

1.2. ff. 106r-119r

Synaxarion: Lections for the weeks of Mark (Lent)

1.3. ff. 119r-171v

Synaxarion: Lections of Holy Week

1.4. ff. 171v-180r

Menologion: Lections for September

1.5. ff. 180r-181v

Menologion: Lections for October

1.6. ff. 182r-183r

Menologion: Lections for November

1.7. ff. 183r-192v

Menologion: Lections for December

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Parchment (FHHF), of variable thickness and poor quality, with numerous holes dating from the time of production, often well within the written area.

Extent: Codex: i + 104 + i leaves. 256 × 192 mm.

Foliation: The manuscript is foliated with the numbers i + 78-93, 95-107, 113-132, 137-152, 154-192 + 193, in pencil, in Arabic and Roman numerals, recto, upper right. Folio numbers 1-77, 94, 133-136, 153 have been assigned to leaves no longer present in the volume (as per historic foliation practices at Cambridge University Library). Five stubs between f. 107 and f. 113 have been numbered as ff. 108-112.

Foliation: There is an earlier foliation in black ink, in Arabic numerals, recto, upper right or upper centre. This foliation was added since the loss of ff. 108-112, as the small surviving portions of these folios have been numbered, but prior to rebinding, as the majority of numbers have been entirely lost to cropping and others partially so.

Foliation: Occasional foliation appears in black ink, in Arabic numerals in a different hand, recto, upper centre, perhaps intended to replace the previous ink foliation where this has been lost, since the two do not appear together.

Foliation: Occasional foliation appears in pencil, recto, top right, in a different hand from the main foliation and added later.

Collation

The manuscript consists of 15 quires, all quaternia. Nine more quires have been lost at the beginning of the text, as have an unknown number of quires at the end.

Quire 1^8-5 ff. 78-80 The first two folios have been lost, with loss of text; the last three were written but then cancelled, and the text continues uninterrupted with the following quire.
Quire 2⁸ ff. 81-88
Quire 3^8-1 ff. 89-96 The sixth folio was cancelled, with no loss of text.
Quire 4⁸ ff. 97-104
Quire 5^8-5 ff. 105-107 The fourth-seventh folios have been cut out and the last torn out, with loss of text.
Quires 6-7⁸ ff. 113-128
Quire 8^8-4 ff. 129-132 The last four folios have been cut out, with loss of text.
Quires 9-10⁸ ff. 137-152
Quire 11^8-1 ff. 153-160 The first folio has been lost, with loss of text.
Quires 12-15⁸ ff. 161-192

Early quire signatures in Greek numerals, in brown ink, on the last folio of each quire, verso, lower right, probably original to the production of the manuscript. Many have been lost to cropping. They survive on Quires 1-3 (ιʹ-ιβʹ), 6-7 (ιεʹ-ιϛʹ), 9-10 (ιηʹ-ιθʹ) and 12-15 (καʹ-κδʹ). There is one signature of this type on the first folio of a quire, recto, upper right (f. 81r).

Condition

One folio (f. 132) is loose. The majority of f. 187 has been torn away, and the damage repaired with paper. The upper outer corners of most folios have been cut away and repaired with paper patches at the time of rebinding, as have some of the lower outer corners (e.g. ff. 130, 132). On occasional folios some of the outer margin has been cut away (e.g. ff. 116-117). There are occasional holes through folios (e.g. f. 95). There is slight wear to the lower outer corner throughout. The leaves are slightly cockled. There is significant discoloration and some water damage (e.g. ff. 147v-148r, 154r ) and black dirt (e.g. ff. 170v-176r). The ink of the main text has occasionally smudged onto the opposite page (e.g. 140v-141r). There are occasional drops of wax (e.g. f. 145r).

Layout

Two columns of 16-18 lines each. 177 × 129 mm. Pricking survives in all three margins. Ruled in hardpoint, system Leroy 1, type Leroy 20C2. Text hangs from the lines. For the first five surviving quires the full 17 text lines of each folio are pricked and ruled, but from the beginning of Quire 6 onwards (ff. 113r-192v) alternate text lines are omitted from the pricking and ruling, with the exception of the first and last three lines of the folio (i.e. lines 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 are omitted), The scribe has written these lines of text freehand. In the latter part of the manuscript (ff. 161v-192v) an additional freehand line of text has been written below the last ruled line, bringing the total number of text lines for this portion of the manuscript to 18. Rather than split a word across a page turn, the end of a word on the last line of the second column of a recto folio is sometimes placed below the lower line of text (e.g. ff. 97r, 105r ).

Hand(s)

The main text has been copied in an upright mixed minuscule script, in brown ink. There is only slight variation in letter size, apart from enlarged and flourished tau in the top line of text. Other letters occasionally have tails flourished into the margins, notably minuscule nu (e.g. f. 80v, col. a, lines 11, 13) and abbreviations of καὶ (e.g. f. 86r, col. b, line 14). There are deletions by erasure.

Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings appear only at the end of lines. Breathings are curved and mute iota is absent, with decorative use of the double dot and accentuation of all nomina sacra .

There are significant irregularities in the use of breathings. In compound words where the main part of the word after the prefix begins with a vowel, breathings are often placed on this (e.g. ‘ἐἂν’, f. 92v, col. b, line 5; ‘εἰσἐλθὼν’, f. 130r, col. a, line 3). Other words sometimes appear with two breathings, smooth followed by rough, on the opening vowel or diphthong (e.g. ὦτα, f. 83v, col. b, line 1; ὑμῶν, f. 93r, col. a, line 16; οὖν, f. 146r, col. a, line 17), but this practice is not consistently applied. Diacritics are occasionally omitted, or smooth breathings used in place of rough ones. The scribe also made quite frequent spelling mistakes involving itacism and other confusions of sounds (e.g. ‘ἔτη’ for ἔτι, f. 80v, col. b, line 16; ‘σισμὸν’ for σεισμὸν f. 158v, col. b, line 2.

Punctuation used includes the middle and upper point, middle and upper comma, and full stop. Normal middle and upper points are rare; instead, the scribe has usually placed two points in a horizontal line, which have subsequently been covered with a red cross, or a red vertical line forming a cross in combination with the flanking points.

Headings for lections are by the same hand, in Alexandrine majuscule script, in brown ink. The heading for the start of the menologion (f. 171v) is written in epigraphic display majuscule, also in brown ink.

Decoration

The beginning of the lections of the Passion (f. 131v) is marked by a rectangular headpiece, and the beginning of the menologion (f. 171v) by a plaited one. These are outlined in brown ink, with infill in yellow, red and green paint.

The text of each lection begins with an enlarged ornamental initial, usually simple and either in red or in brown ink with a translucent yellow wash. Some initials are more ornate, with a brown ink outline and multi-coloured infill, in yellow, red and/or green paint (e.g. ff. f. 107v, 115r, 120v, 123r, 192r ). The initial beta on f. 186r includes the form of a snake. That on f. 131v, marking the start of the lections of the Passion, features a blassing hand. The pigment used, especially the green, has sometimes soaked through multiple leaves (eg. ff. 105r-108v).

Headings for lections sometimes begin with a minor initial in red, and are highlighted by a line of translucent yellow wash across them.

The heading on f. 106r, marking the first lection of Lent, is accompanied by an ornamental line filler, in brown ink filled with red and green paint, as well as a simple ink cross with green paint dots in the corners. Simpler line-fillers with coloured terminals mark the transitions between months in the menologion (ff. 171v, 180r, 181v, 183r).

Additions

Later hands have added occasional brief notes in Greek regarding lections, including cross-references (e.g. ff. 83v, 122r, 174v ). A number of other hands have added occasional liturgical specifications such as numbers for the echos of the eothina (e.g. ff. 90r, 96r ), or numbers for the lections of the Hours (eg. ff. 152v, 158v ). Later hands have also made a few corrections (e.g. f. 112v, col. a, line 8, f. 152v, col. a, line 4 ).

Notes in English, in pencil, have been added regarding lost and cancelled folios, by Henry Bradshaw (1831-1886) , University Librarian 1867-1886. On the left pastedown there is a note asserting the manuscript to be of the 12th rather than the 13th century.

Binding

19th-century binding with brown full leather covering over couched-laminate boards, with plain pastedowns. There is decorative gold tooling on the spine, along with the title ‘Lectionarium Graece MS. sec. XIII’. The fore-edges are gilded.

269 × 214 × 45 mm.

History

Origin: The low quality of parchment and the use of translucent yellow paint, including for the highlighting of headings, suggest that the manuscript was produced in southern Italy; . The erratic use of diacritics would also be consistent with this. The characteristics of the script suggest that it was probably produced during the 13th century. It has also been dated on occasion to the 12th century, but the abbreviation of καὶ appears in a form (e.g. f. 85r, col. a, line 4 f. 89r, col. a, line 4 f. 93r, col. b, line 13) which is not generally seen before the 13th, and its other characteristics are compatible with that dating.

Provenance and Acquisition

Bought by the University Library from the London bookseller Bernard Quaritch on 7 April 1876, with money from the Rustat Fund.

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

Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, Scrivener, Frederick Henry Ambrose (Cambridge, 1, Deighton, Bell, 1874)

Novum Testamentum Graece: ad antiquissimos testes denuo recensuit apparatum criticum apposuit Constantinus Tischendorf, Gregory, Caspar René (Leipzig, 3: Prolegomena, J.C. Hinrichs, 1894)

Textkritik des Neuen Testamentes, Gregory, Caspar René (Leipzig, J. C. Hinrichs, 1900)

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

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. 1839

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