Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries: Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 3049

Diktyon no.: Diktyon 12112

Introduction: This manuscript, part of which was completed in 1336 and the remainder copied around that time, contains two Byzantine theological treatises by Anastasios of Sinai and Georgios Moschampar. These had been written about six centuries apart in response to major religious disputes of their respective eras. It is unusually constructed of quires combining paper with parchment. One of the texts is the Viae dux of Anastasios of Sinai, a 7th-century monk who became abbot of the Monastery of St Catherine on Mount Sinai during the decades following the Islamic conquest. This text argues for the orthodoxy prevailing in Byzantine and western European Christianity against various views deemed heretical, but primarily against the Monophysite doctrine regarding the relationship between the human and the divine in Christ, which had been rejected at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 but remained dominant in much of the Middle East, including Egypt. The other text is a treatise by the 13th-century theologian and teacher Georgios Moschampar on the Procession of the Holy Spirit, the key theological issue of contention between Eastern and Western Churches. It was composed in 1281 and denounces the Western position and its acceptance by the Byzantine hierarchy under the Union of Lyon, the agreement of 1274 which had officially ended the schism between East and West, orchestrated by the Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos (c. 1224-1282) and the Patriarch of Constantinople Ioannes Bekkos (c. 1235-1297). Moschampar, at that time a teacher of theology at the patriarchal school in Constantinople, prudently disseminated this and other similar works anonymously, but reissued them under his own name following the death of the emperor in 1282, as his successor Andronikos II (c. 1260-1332) reversed his father's policy, ousting Bekkos from the patriarchate and repudiating the Lyon settlement. Evidently the manuscript originally contained other texts as well, since its quire signatures indicate that 16 more quires preceded those that survive, only a small part of which would have been occupied by the lost portion of the work of Moschampar, which appears first in the manuscript. There have also been losses at the end. The manuscript was copied by a number of different hands, but the bulk of it was written by a scribe named Nikolaos, who added a colophon at the end of the text of Moschampar, dating its completion to 26 April 1336. This suggests the possibility of some interruption in the process of production at this point, but the text of Anastasios evidently belonged to the same project of production, since Nikolaos remained the principal scribe and there is no break in the physical structure of the manuscript: the end of the first work and beginning of the second appear within the same quire. Nikolaos identifies himself as the son of a cleric named Gregorios and as a native of the town of Klarentza in the north-western Peloponnese, though he does not specify where he did this work. Klarentza was the principal port of the Principality of Achaia, one of the Latin lordships established from the conquests of the Fourth Crusade, at this time controlled by the French Angevin dynasty who ruled southern Italy. The manuscript displays indications of influence from the south Italian tradition of Greek manuscript production. Nikolaos's script has features often associated with southern Italy, including the addition of a vertical line doubling the left-hand curve of larger majuscule epsilon, while the wording of his colophon contains terminology typical of such notes originating from that region (Turyn, Dated Greek manuscripts, pp. 101-102). Rather than being composed entirely of either parchment or paper, each of the manuscript's quires is a combination of the two, the innermost and outermost bifolios being parchment and the intervening two being paper. The purpose was perhaps to provide greater structural strength through the use of parchment, while saving money by using the cheaper paper for half of the folios. The parchment is itself of conspicuously poor quality, though this is not unusual at this date, especially away from metropolitan centres. This mixed construction is an extremely unusual feature among Greek manuscripts. It is substantially more common in Latin ones, but seems to have become widespread only in the late 14th century (Bianchi, 'Cahiers mixtes', pp. 259-260, 265-266), so it cannot be concluded with confidence that this is evidence of Latin influence. Dr Christopher Wright

Language(s): Greek

1. ff. 49r-78v

Georgios Moschampar, Capita antirrhetica contra Ioannis Becci dogmata et scripta Κεφάλαια ἀντιρρητικὰ κατὰ τῶν τοῦ Βέκκου δογμάτων τε καὶ γραμμάτων

Defective at the beginning, with lacunas (begins, ed. Moniou, chapter 11, line 18)

Incipit: || f. 49r εἰ γὰρ οὐχ ἁπλῶς τὲ καὶ καθόλου

Explicit: f. 78r ἀπὸ πάσης ὁρατῆς τε καὶ ἀοράτου ἀπιρρείας· ἡ χάρις τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ· καὶ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς καὶ ἡ κοινωνία τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος; [sic] είη[sic] μετὰ πάντων ἡμῶν ἀμήν

Final rubric: f. 78v Δόξα Χριστῶ τῶ Θεῶ ἡμῶν τῶ δόντι ἀρχὴν καὶ τέλος

Colophon: Ἐγράφη τὸ τοιοῦτον βιβλίον διὰ χειρὸς ἁμαρτωλοῦ καὶ χωρικοῦ τάχα γραφέως· Νικολάου υἱοῦ παπὰ Γρηγορίου ἀπὸ τὴν[sic] Κλαρένθης· καὶ εὔχεσθαι δια[sic] τὸν Κύριον οἱ μέλλοντες ἀναπτεῖν καὶ θεορεῖν αὐτὸ διὰ τὸν Κύριον· καὶ μὴ καταρᾶσθαι· ὅτι χωρικὸς· εἰμὶ πολλὰ πολὰ πολὰ· σφόδρα· τοῦ νοῦ τὲ καὶ γραμμάτων·+ Ἐγράφη ἐν μηνῖ[sic] Ἀπριλλίῳ κϛʹ· ἰνδικτιώνος τετάρτης· ὥρα ἢν ὡσὰ θʹ τῆς ἡμέρας· ἡμέρα Παρασκευῆ τῆς Μεσοπεντηκοστῆς· τοῦ ἔτους ͵ϛωμδʹ· σωθείημεν ἄπαντες[sic] ἀμήν

TLG 9042.001

2. ff. 79r-128v

Anastasios of Sinai (fl. 640-700), Viae dux Ὁδηγός

Filiation: Uthemann assigns this copy of the text to his group θ and identifies it as sharing a common source with the text in Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. gr. 1967 and Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. gr. 2112, and as the source through intermediate copies of Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, MS theol. gr. 252.

Defective at the end, with lacunas (ends, ed. Uthemann, chapter 20, section 1)

Rubric: f. 79r Ἀρχὴ σὺν Θεῶ προθεωρία τῆς ὑποθέσεως· τῶν ὅρων τῆς βίβλου· ἧς, ἡ ἐπωνυμία λέγεται ὁδηγός

Incipit: f. 79r Τῆς καθημᾶς[sic] ἅπαντας βροτοὺς οὐσίας σύστασις

Explicit: f. 128v ὡς ὁμοφυὲς καὶ πνευματικὸν· καὶ ὁμοούσιον||

TLG 2896.001

CPG 7745

PG 89, coll. 36-310

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: ff. 49, 52-53, 56-57, 60-61, 64-65, 68-69, 72-73, 76-77, 80-81, 84-85, 88-89, 92-93, 96-97, 100-101, 108-109, 121, 124-125, 128 Parchment (FHHF), of medium thickness and poor quality, with frequent holes dating to the time of production, sometimes within the written area. ff. 51, 54-55, 58-59, 62-63, 66-67, 70-71, 74-75, 78-79 Western paper, folded in quarto. Watermark: Bull's head ( c. 85 × c. 48 mm. ) in the gutter, comparable but not identical to Mošin 1179-1180. These examples are dated to 1343-1344. ff. 82-83, 86-87, 90-91, 94-95, 98-99, 102-103, 106-107, 110-111 Western paper, folded in folio. Watermark: Cross ( 75 × 36 mm. ) in the centre of the folio, comparable to Briquet 5623. This example is dated to 1324-1344. ff. 122-123, 126 Western paper, folded in folio. Watermark: Shield ( 50 × 28 mm. ) in the centre of the folio, comparable to Briquet 890. This example is dated to 1322-1367.

Extent: Codex: 67 leaves. 260-270 × 168-190 mm.

Foliation: The manuscript is foliated with the numbers 49, 51-103, 106-111, 121-126, 128, in pencil, in Arabic numerals, recto, upper right. Folio numbers 1-48, 50, 104-105, 112-120, 127 have been assigned to leaves no longer present in the volume (as per historic foliation practices at Cambridge University Library). The conjectures of the foliation are clearly erroneous. It supposes the loss of five quires at the beginning of the manuscript, whereas the signatures indicate the loss of sixteen. The loss of a quire following f. 96, indicated by the extent of the lacuna in the text at this point, has not been noted, while the loss of nine folios (a single folio followed by a full quire) has been wrongly supposed after f. 111, where the extent of the lacuna indicates only the loss of a single folio.

Collation

The manuscript consists of 9 quires, all quaternia. A further 16 quires have been lost at the beginning of the manuscript, one between quires 6 and 7, and an unknown number at the end.

Each quire was constructed with two parchment bifolios, which are the outermost and innermost (forming the first, fourth, fifth and eighth folios), and two paper bifolios between them (forming the second, third, sixth and seventh folios).

Quire 1^8-1 ff. 49-56 The second folio has been lost, with loss of text.
Quires 2-6⁸ ff. 57-96
Quire 7^8-1 ff. 97-103 The last folio has been lost, with loss of text.
Quire 8^8-2 ff. 106-111 The first and last folios have been lost, with loss of text.
Quire 9^8-1 ff. 121-128 The seventh folio has been lost, with loss of text.

There are original quire signatures in Greek numerals, in brown ink, on the last folio of each quire, verso, lower right. They survive on quires 1-6 and 9 (ιζʹ-κβʹ, κϛʹ).

Condition

Most of ff. 84-85 has been torn away, leaving only a small upper part. There are tears to the edges of various folios and significant pest damage in the gutter, of which the more serious instances have been repaired with Japanese paper, most notably damage near the gutter to ff. 65-73. The parchment folios have undergone significant cockling, which has also affected the paper leaves. Both parchment and paper folios have suffered creasing in places, severely in the case of some parchment leaves (e.g. ff 68-69, 81). There is extensive water staining to ff. 49r-51v, which has caused fading of text on f. 49r, extensive but less severe water staining elsewhere, and areas of dirt. The edges of many paper folios have become softened and some parchment folios are brittle.

Layout

A single column of 40 lines. 207 × 120 mm. Pricking does not survive. The parchment folios are ruled in hardpoint, system analogous to Leroy 13 (ruled always on the verso), type Leroy 50D1sx. Text hangs from the lines. The paper folios are not ruled.

Hand(s)

The main text of ff. 49r-62r, line 25, f. 62v, f. 63v, line 37-f. 108v and ff. 109v-120v was copied by Nikolaos (Hand A) (RGK I 329; PLP 20454), in mixed minuscule script, slanting slightly to the right, in brown and black ink, with moderate variation in letter size. There are deletions by erasure. This hand also copied headings on ff. 79r-97r, in the same style in red ink.

Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings appear throughout the line. Breathings are round and mute iota is absent or subscript. There is frequent decorative use of the double dot and accentuation of all nomina sacra . Accents are sometimes joined to letters, breathings, abbreviations and nomina sacra strokes. Horizontal strokes appear over proper names. Marginal quotation marks are in use.

The modern eta, modern nu and loop epsilon are present, and there are inclusions of letters within omicron. Large majuscule eta often appears with an added vertical line.

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

The main text of f. 62r, lines 26-40, f. 63r-f. 63v, line 36 and headings for ff. 49r-78v, 97v-108v and 109v-126v were copied by Hand B, in a square and upright mixed minuscule script, with modest variation in letter size, in black ink for the main text and red ink for the headings.

Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings appear throughout the line. Breathings are round and mute iota is absent. There is frequent decorative use of the double dot and accentuation of all lengths of nomina sacra . Accents are sometimes joined to breathings and nomina sacra strokes. The double grave accent is is use.

The modern eta and modern nu are present, and there are inclusions of letters within omicron.

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

A marginal note has been added on f. 63r in epigraphic display majuscule, in red ink.

The text of f. 109r, lines 1-14 was copied by Hand C, in a square mixed minuscule script, slanting slightly to the right, in dark brown ink, with little variation in letter size.

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

Theta is always wide, with a bar on the central stroke.

Punctuation used includes the middle and upper points and middle comma.

The main text of f. 109r, lines 14-40 was copied by Hand D, in a square and upright mixed minuscule script, in brown ink, with little variation in letter size. This hand also copied the heading on this folio, in the same style, in red ink

Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings appear throughout the line. Breathings are round and mute iota is subscript. There is frequent decorative use of the double dot and nomina sacra are unaccentuated.

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

The main text of ff. 121r-126v was copied by Hand E, in mixed minuscule script, slanting slightly to the right, in brown ink, with modest variation in letter size.

The modern eta, modern nu and sigma telikon are present.

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

The main text of f. 128r-128v was copied by Hand F, in mixed minuscule script, slanting to the right, in brown ink, with moderate variation in letter size. This hand also copied the headings on this folio, in the same style, the major heading in red ink and minor ones in brown ink with red initials.

Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings appear throughout the line. Breathings are round and mute iota is absent. There is frequent decorative use of the double dot and accentuation of all nomina sacra . Accents are sometimes joined to letters and nomina sacra strokes.

The eta, modern nu and sigma telikon are present

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

Decoration

On f. 103r is a diagram illustrating the preceding text, in the form of a wheel superimposed on the cross, with the inscription ‘Θεὸς λόγος ἐν σταυρῶ καὶ ψυχὴ λογικὰ καὶ σώμα[sic] ’ around the outside of the wheel and ‘Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς νικά’ within it, together with the signs for the sun and moon.

The beginning of the text on f. 79 is preceded by a plaited headpiece, outlined in brown ink with translucent infill.

Sections on ff. 71r-78v begin with ornamented initials outlined in red ink with translucent yellow infill, often with blessing hands.

Sections elsewhere begin with simpler initials in red ink, of variable sizes and degrees of ornamentation, including an omicron in the form of a fish on f. 90r. On ff. 79r-80 minor initials appear in mid-line as well as at the beginning of lines, and loops of some letters have red infill. Minor headings on f. 128v have minor initials in red ink.

Line-fillers in red ink accompany the end of sections on ff. 86v and f. 87v.

Small pieces of marginal ornament, in red ink or outlined in brown ink with red infill, accompany headings on ff. 79v, 88r and 121v.

Additions

Various marginal annotations were made by the scribes as part of the original process of production, including a sequence of chapter numbers for the text of Georgios Moschampar (ff. 49r-78v) and a variety of subsection numbers and notes identifying questions and answers, scholia or speakers in dialogues for the text of Anastasios of Sinai (ff. 79r-128v). There are also ση(μείωσαι) and occasionally ὥρ(αιος) marks highlighting notable passages.

Notes in English, in pencil, have been added regarding lost folios, by Henry Bradshaw (1831-1886) , University Librarian 1867-1886

Binding

The manuscript is stitched but lacks boards or a cover. It retains a scrap of fabric from a spine lining and part of the tailband, sewn on a cord core. There are some surviving tie-down remnants from the headband.

Accompanying Material

The manuscript is accompanied by a series of loose notes by modern scholars regarding its content, dating and foliation.

History

Origin: The manuscript was copied by a number of hands including Nikolaos of Klarentza (RGK I 329; PLP 20454), son of the priest Gregorios , whose work was completed on 26 April 1336.

Provenance and Acquisition

Owned by C. J. Cummings of Volos.

Bought by Cambridge University Library from Cummings in 1891 through H. C. Rae of Liverpool.

Additional Information

Record Sources

Description draws on A catalogue of the Manuscripts preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge, vol. 3, (Cambridge, 1858), pp. 453-454 and unpublished notes by Patricia E. Easterling.

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)

Quelques particularités des manuscrits copiés en Crète avant le milieu du XVe siècle Πεπραγμένα τοῦ Βʹ Διεθνοῦς Κρητολογικοῦ Συνεδρίου, Irigoin, Jean (Athens, 3, Filologikos Syllogos "Ho Chrysostomos", 1968)

Dated Greek manuscripts of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in the libraries of Great Britain Dumbarton Oaks studies, Turyn, Alexander (Washington, Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies, 1980)

Anastasii Sinaitae Viae dux, , (Turnhout; Leuven, Brepols, 1981)

Eine Ergänzung zur Edition von Anastasii Sinaitae "Viae Dux": das Verzeichnis benutzer und zitierter Handschrifte Scriptorium. Revue internationale des études relatives aux manuscrits, Uthemann, Karl-Heinz (36, 130-133, 1982)

La presentazione del testo nei manoscritti tardobizantini Atti del Convegno Internazionale Il Libro e il Testo, Urbino, 20-23 settembre 1982 Pubblicazioni dell'Università di Urbino. Atti di congressi, Prato, Giancarlo (Urbino, 69-84, Università, 1984)

Manoscritti greci in Grecia Scritture, libri e testi nelle aree provinciali di Bisanzio: atti del seminario di Erice (18-25 settembre 1988) Biblioteca del Centro per il collegamento degli studi medievali e umanistici nell'Università di Perugia, Prato, Giancarlo (Spoleto, 1, 3-24, Centro italiano di studi sull'alto Medioevo, 1991)

Un recherche sur les manuscrits à cahiers mixtes Scriptorium. Revue internationale des études relatives aux manuscrits, Bianchi, Francesco (48, 259-286, 1994)

Nicolas Myrepse et une collection de manuscrits médicaux dans la première moitié du XIVe siècle. A propos d'une miniature célèbre du Parisinus gr. 2243 I testi medici greci. Tradizione e ecdotica. Atti del III Convegno Internazionale, Napoli 15-18 ottobre 1997 Collectanea, Mondrain, Brigitte (Naples, 403-418, M. D'Auria, 1999)

Un lexique botanico-médical "bilingue" dans le Parisinus gr. 2510 Lexiques bilingues dans les domaines philosophique et scientifique. Moyen Âge, Renaissance. Actes du colloque international, Paris, 1997 Textes et études du Moyen Âge, Mondrain, Brigitte (Turnhout, 123-160, Brepols, 2001)

Per l'edizione della "Disputa tra un ortodosso e une latinofrone seguace di Becco sulla processione dello Spirito Santo" di Giorgio Moschampar. Con un inedito di Bonaventura Vulcanius Medioevo greco: rivista di storia e filologia bizantina, Silvano, Luigi (14, 229-265, 2014)

Anastasios Sinaites. Byzantinisches Christentum in den ersten Jahrzehnten unter arabischer Herrschaft Arbeiten zur Kirchengeschichte Band, Uthemann, Karl-Heinz (Berlin; Boston, De Gruyter, 2015, )

Un'omelia inedita del patriarca Callisto I e l'uso dei testi conciliari foziani nella disputa contro i Latini alla metà del 14° secolo Revue des études byzantines, Fanelli, M. (74, 171-221, 2016)

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. 3049

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