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. 1879.14

Diktyon no.: Diktyon 77965

Contents

Introduction: This fragment consists of eight unbound folios of a Christian liturgical palimpsest manuscript, whose original text dates to the 10th or 11th century, and the upper text which replaced it to the 13th or 14th century. The upper text is part of a hymn-book, accompanied by musical notation. Three of the present bifolios were made from single folios of one or more previous manuscripts, rotated at right-angles; the other bears text in the same orientation as the upper text, in a different hand and probably taken from a different original manuscript. The bulk of the manuscript from which this folio comes is now St Petersburg, Rossijskaja Nacional'naja biblioteka, MS gr. 82, which is made up of palimpsest leaves from at least five different manuscripts. It is a compilation of multiple liturgical books, and this fragment straddles the junction between two of them, containing the end of a triodion (containing hymns for Lent and Easter) and the beginning of an oktoechos (containing weekly hymns organised according to eight musical modes). The original placement of this fragment in that manuscript can be established from the survival of a quire signature with the number 34, indicating that it comes last among the surviving portions of the palimpsest, as the last quire of the St Petersburg manuscript is numbered 33 (Tchernetska, 'Membra disiecta', pp. 120-124). Another fragment of the same manuscript is now MS Add. 1879.15. Dr Christopher Wright

Language(s): Greek

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment, of medium thickness and quality.
Extent: Fragment (leaves) 8 leaves. 198 × 129 mm.
Foliation: The fragment is foliated with the numbers 1-8, in Arabic numerals, in pencil, recto, upper right.

Condition

The upper and inner parts of the bifolios (in their orientation after conversion to a palimpsest) has been lost, with numerous tears and holes to the remainder. The bifolios of ff. 3-6 are separated into individual folios, and there are two small detached scraps of parchment. There is severe water damage, leaving the parchment soft and fragile, and causing extensive fading of the text.

Additions

The fragment is marked with the current classmark and the former classmark T.16.2.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

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

Bought by the University Library from Tischendorf's executors 23 February 1876.

Part 1 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 1879.14, lower text]

Contents

Language(s): Greek

1.
Unidentified

Physical Description

Form: codex

Layout

ff. 1r-2v, 4r-5v, 7r-8v A single column of 30 lines, perpendicular to the upper text. c. 208 × 155 mm. Pricking does not survive. Ruled in hardpoint. Text hangs from the lines.

ff. 3r-3v, 6r-6v A single column of 26 surviving lines, parallel to the upper text. The original dimensions can be conjectured to be equivalent to those for the folios that survive more fully: c. 208 × c. 155 mm. Pricking does not survive. Ruled in hardpoint. Text hangs from the lines.

Hand(s)

The lower text of ff. 1r-2v, 4r-5v, 7r-8v was copied by Hand A, in an upright mixed minuscule Perlschrift in brown ink, with minimal variation in letter size. Breathings are round.

The lower text of ff. 3r-3v, 6r-6v was copied by Hand B, in an upright mixed minuscule script in brown ink, with minimal variation in letter size. Breathings are round. Punctuation used includes the middle point.

History

Origin: The original manuscript from which this leaf comes was probably copied in the second half of the 10th or the 11th century, as suggested by the style of script.

Part 2 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 1879.14, upper text]

Contents

Language(s): Greek

2. f. 1r
Triodion

Fragment: begins during the penultimate hymn

Incipit: || f. 1r προς
Explicit: f. 1r τας ψυχας ημων
Final rubric: f. 1r Τέλος τοῦ τριωδίου· καὶ ἀρχὴ τῶν ὁγδοήκοντα
3. ff. 1r-8v
Oktoechos

Fragment: ends during a hymn for Sunday vespers

Rubric: f. 1r Τέλος τοῦ τριωδίου· καὶ ἀρχὴ τῶν ὁγδοήκοντα
Incipit: f. 1r Ευφρανθηται ουρανοι σαλπισατι[sic]
Explicit: f. 8v και σωζον τους δοξαζοντας ευπλανγκνε||

Physical Description

Form: codex

Collation

A quire signature in Greek numerals, in brown ink, survives in the lower right-hand corner of f. 2r, identifying the quire number as 34 (λδʹ).

Layout

A single column of 20 lines. 152 × 90 mm. There is no ruling for the upper text.

Hand(s)

The upper text was copied by Hand C, in mixed minuscule script, slanting slightly to the right, in brown ink, with minimal variation in letter size. The text is unevenly written, probably due to the lack of ruling.

Syllabic abbreviations appear througout the line. Breathings and accents are not in use. Mute iota is absent. There is decorative use of the double dot.

Iota appears in an unusual form, with a pronounced blob at the top and sometimes bent in the middle towards the right. Majuscule omega commonly appears with the loops joined by a long horizontal line at the base, sometimes slanting slightly downwards to the right. Horizontals joining letters are sometimes elongated.

Punctuation used includes the middle and upper points and full stop.

Headings are written in a similar style in red ink, with greater variation in letter size.

Musical Notation: The text is accompanied by Round notation in brown ink, with intonation signs in red ink.

Decoration

Hymns begin with minor initials in red ink.

History

Origin: The manuscript was probably converted into a palimpsest in the 13th or 14th century, as suggested by the style of script.

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

    Some Byzantine musical manuscripts at Cambridge Annual of the British School at Athens, Tillyard, H.J.W. (23, 194-205, 1918) Hand-list of the additional Greek manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge Scriptorium, Easterling, Patricia E. (16, 2, 302-323, 1962) Répertoire des bibliothèques et des catalogues de manuscrits grecs, Olivier, Jean-Marie (Turnhout, Brepols, 1995) The Tischendorf Greek palimpsests Appunti Romani di Filologia, Tchernetska, Natalie (2, 107-126, 2000) Hand-list of the Greek palimpsests in Cambridge libraries I manoscritti greci tra riflessione e dibattito: Atti del V Colloquio Internazionale di Paleografia Greca (Cremona 4-10 ottobre 1998) Papyrologica Florentina, Tchernetska, Natalie (Florence, 733-739, Edizioni Gonnelli, 2000) Membra disiecta Cantabrigiensa: two Tischendorf fragments identified Scriptorium. Revue internationale des études relatives aux manuscrits, Tchernetska, Natalie (56, 119-126, 2002) Ta cheirographa byzantines mousikes Anglia = The manuscripts of Byzantine music: England, Giannopoulos, Emmanouil St. (Athens, Institute of Byzantine Musicology, 2008)

Funding of Cataloguing

The Polonsky Foundation

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Cambridge Digital Library

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