Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries: Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 1879.9

Diktyon no.: Diktyon 77959

Introduction: This fragment consists of the end of a manuscript containing selections from the collected canons of the various synods held in Carthage in the 4th and 5th centuries, for the regulation of the Church in the Roman province of Africa. The surviving portion consists of a single full quire and three folios from a half-length quire which finished the original volume, the last leaf of which was left blank and used as a protective endleaf. As the scribe recorded in an ornate colophon (f. 10v), it was completed on 3 January 1040. In asking the reader to pray for him, the scribe describes himself self-deprecatingly as the ‘ξύσαντος’, the scratcher or scribbler of the manuscript. The original proceedings were in Latin, and since this manuscript was laid out in two columns, of which the Greek text fills only the left-hand one on each page, it was evidently intended to contain also the Latin text in the right-hand column, but this was never added. Dr Christopher Wright

Language(s): Greek

Codex canonum ecclesiae Africanae

Ed. Christophe Justel, Codex canonum ecclesiae Africanae. Christophorus Iustellus ex mss. codicibus edidit, graecam versionem adiunxit, et notis illustrauit (Paris 1614)

Defective at the beginning. The fragment contains selected canons and excerpts, whose numbering usually does not correspond to that of the edition, while a few have not been identified in the edited text. The canons as numbered in the fragment are as follows, with the corresponding canon numbers in the Justel edition in brackets: 83 (83), 84 (84 (heading only)), 85 (86 (heading only)), 86 (87 (last lines only)), 87 (88), 88 (90 (opening lines only)), 89 (96), 90 (98), 101 (99), 102-104 (102-104), 105 (106), 106-109 (120-123), 120-122 (124-126), 123-127 (128-132), 128 (133 (opening lines only)). The numbers 101 and 102 are corrections from 91 and 92 respectively, the original numbers being written as usual in red ink and the corrections made in black, apparently by the original scribe.

Incipit: || f. 1r εἶ ἔστιν δυνατὸν κατὰ στρέφονται

Explicit: f. 10v ὅπερ ἀπὸ δεῖξαι, σὺν ἐλέγξαι παρ ἐτέροις οὐ δύναται

Colophon: f. 10v Ἐτελειὤθη ἠ δελτος ἄὐτη·[sic] μηνὶ Ἱαννουἀριω[sic] γʹ· ἔτος κόσμου ͵ϛφμηʹ· ἰνδικτιῶνος ηʹ· εὔχεσθε ὑπὲρ τοῦ ξύσαντος· ἀμὴν

Although it is part of the quire structure, f. 11 is an original endleaf, blank apart from some pen-trials on f. 11r

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Parchment (FHHF), of medium thickness and quality.

Extent: Fragment (quire) 11 leaves. 268 × 214 mm.

Foliation: The quire is foliated with the numbers 1-11, in Arabic numerals, in pencil, recto, upper right.

Collation

The fragment consists of 2 quires, of which one is a binion and the other a quaternion.

Quire 1⁸ ff. 1-8
Quire 8^4-1 ff. 9-11 The third folio has been cancelled, without loss of text.

Condition

There are tears to the edges of f. 11 and some holes within it. Two of these have been repaierd with stitching, which in one case is broken. Repairs have been made in the gutter with paper patches to ff. 9 and 11. At the right-hand of the fragment there are stains from a former binding, mainly from the leather turn-ins, which diminish in severity towards the left. Speckling with liquid has left stains on f. 9v.

Layout

Two columns of 28 lines each, with text only in the left-hand column. 192 × 70 mm. Pricking survives in all three margins. Ruled in hardpoint, system Leroy 1, type similar to Leroy U 32D2, but without text lines.

Hand(s)

The text was copied in a mixed minuscule script, slanting to the right in black ink. There is modest variation in letter size, and some flourishing of tails into the margin, sometimes decorated with an X-shape (f. 8v).

Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings appear only at the end of lines. Breathings are usually round but occasionally angular, and mute iota is absent. The double dot does not appear.

There is a distinctive ligature of tau-omega-nu or pi-omega-nu, with the omega elevated (e.g. f. 5v, lines 27-28).

Punctuation used includes the middle and upper points, lower and middle commas and full stop.

Headings are written in Alexandrine majuscule style, in red ink. The colophon is written in epigraphic display majuscule (f. 10v).

Decoration

Between the end of the text and the colophon is a simple vignette in black ink (f. 10v).

Additions

There is a later prayer written on f. 10r: ‘Μακἄρι ἡ ἄμο ἐν οδῶ ἡ πορεβὅμενει ἐν ὅμο Κυρίου· μακἄρι ἡ ἐξερευνῶν τη· τα μαρτίριἀ αυτοῦ· ἐν όλει καρδία ἐκζοιτί σου συν αυτόν’. There are pen-trials on ff. 9v and 11r. The current classmark and the former classmark T.7 are marked on f. 1r.

Binding

The fragment has a modern card binding reinforced with cloth inside the spine.

History

Origin: The colophon (f. 10v) indicates that the manuscript this fragment comes from was completed on 3 January 1040.

Provenance and Acquisition

Owned by the Biblical scholar Constantin von Tischendorf (1815-1874) .

Bought by the University Library from Tischendorf's executors in 1876.

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

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

Byzantium and the revival of learning Greek Scripts. An illustrated introduction, ed. by P. Easterling and C. Handley, Easterling, P. (London, 51-63, 2001)

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. 1879.9

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