Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 10070
Diktyon no.: Diktyon 77770
Contents
Language(s): Greek
Defective at the end. Ends during the tenth eothina lection
Gregory-Aland l 1951
f. 202v is blank apart from some later notes on lections.
Physical Description
Collation
The manuscript consists of 37 quires, of which one is a single bifolio and the rest are quaternia.
- Quire 18-1+1 ff. 1-8 The first folio has been cancelled, with loss of text, and replaced by another.
- Quires 2-258 ff. 9-200
- Quire 262 ff. 201-202
- Quires 27-368 ff. 203-282
- Quire 378-2 ff. 105-107 The last two folios lost, with loss of text.
Condition
Layout
ff. 1r-1v, 161r-202r, 251r-288v Two columns of 20 lines each. 200 × 150 mm. Pricking survives to all three edges, but much has been lost to cropping. Ruled in hardpoint, system Leroy 1, type Leroy 44C2. Text hangs from the lines.
ff. 2r-56v, 203r-250v Two columns of 20-21 lines each (only 55r-56v have 21 lines). 200 × 150 mm. Pricking survives to all three edges, but much has been lost to cropping. Ruled in hardpoint, system Leroy 1, type Leroy C-K 44C2. Text sometimes hangs from the lines and is sometimes written along them.
ff. 57r-160v Two columns of 20 lines each. 200 × 150 mm. Pricking survives to all three edges, but much has been lost to cropping. Ruled in hardpoint, system Leroy 1, type Leroy 20C2. Text hangs from the lines.
Hand(s)
ff. 1r-1v, 161r-202v, 251r-288v were copied by Hand A in a blocky mixed minuscule script, slanting slightly to the right, in pale brown ink, with consistent letter size.
Syllabic abbreviations appear rarely and only at the end of lines, while superscript word endings are not in use. Breathings are angular and mute iota is absent. Use of the double dot is functional only, and there is accentuation of all lengths of nomina sacra . The double grave accent is in use. Circumflexes above breathings are sometimes expanded.
The only punctuation used is the upper point.
Headings for lections and cross-references are by the same hand, in Alexandrine majuscule script, in red ink. The heading for the eothina lections is written in epigraphic display majuscule in red ink.
At the beginning of each quire copied by this hand, the scribe has placed a cross in the centre of the upper margin, using the same colour of ink as that used for copying the first text on the folio. A cross has also been placed on f. 266v, the last folio of Quire 34.
ff. 2r-56v, 203r-250v were copied by Hand B in an upright mixed minuscule script, in black ink. There is modest variation in letter size and occasional flourishing of tails into the lower margin, sometimes decorated with horizontal strokes. There are corrections by erasure.
Syllabic abbreviations appear rarely and only at the end of lines, while superscript word endings are not in use. Breathings are angular and mute iota is usually absent but sometimes adscript. Use of the double dot is functional only, and there is accentuation of all lengths of nomina sacra , though they are often unaccentuated. Nomina sacra strokes are sometimes decorated with an X-shape. The double grave accent is in use. Circumflexes are small, even when placed above breathings. The apostrophe takes the form of an angular smooth breathing.
Notable letter-forms include enlarged tau decorated with a short horizontal stroke on the vertical (e.g. f. 41v, col. b, line 1).
Punctuation used includes the middle and upper points and full stop.
Headings for lections and cross-references are by the same hand, in Alexandrine majuscule script, in red ink.
ff. 57r-160v were copied by Hand C in an upright mixed minuscule script, in black ink, with modest variation in letter size and frequent flourishing of tails into the margin.
Syllabic abbreviations appear rarely and only at the end of lines, while superscript word endings are not in use. Breathings are angular and mute iota is usually adscript but sometimes absent. Use of the double dot is functional only, and there is accentuation of all lengths of nomina sacra , though they are often unaccentuated. Nomina sacra strokes are sometimes decorated with an X-shape. The double grave accent is in use. Circumflexes above breathings are sometimes expanded.
Notable letter forms include two forms of alpha at the end of lines: minuscule, with a pronounced downward tail (e.g. f. 92v, col. a, lines 10, 20), and majuscule, with a downward diagonal extension with a kinked end (e.g. f. 131v, col. b, lines 9, 14, 16).
Punctuation used includes the middle and upper points and question mark.
Headings for lections are by the same hand, in Alexandrine majuscule script, in red ink.
Decoration
The beginning of the text (f. 1r) is preceded by a pyle, outlined in brown ink, with infill in red, blue and green paint and gold. The beginning of the menologion (f. 203r) is preceded by another pyle in a somewhat different style, outlined in red ink, with infill in red, blue and green paint. A horizontal interlace headpiece, in red ink with red, green and blue paint infill, precedes the eothina lections (f. 284r). Simple horizontal headpieces in red ink mark the beginning of the lections of the Passion (f. 169r) and of the Hours (f. 194v).
The text begins with a major initial in the same style as the pyle (f. 1r).
The text of each lection begins with a sizeable ornamented minor initial in red ink. In the sections copied by Hand A (ff. 1r-1v, 161r-202v, 251r-288v), smaller initials appear at the beginning of some lines within the lection text. These are also occasionally present elsewhere (e.g. ff. ff. 9r-11r, 139r, 155r-160v)
Small minor initials in normal ink also occasionally appear within the lection text (e.g. ff. 144v-152r).
The heading for the first lection of the manuscript (f. 1r) is written in epigraphic display majuscule in brown ink and gilded, though the gold has largely worn away. The small initials on ff. 9r-10r, a lection heading on f. 9v, and the initial letters of lection headings and cross-references on ff. 207v-209r have also been gilded.
Sections of the menologion are preceded by vignettes in red ink (e.g. ff. 214v, 227v, 263r, 275r). Simple vignettes occasionally precede lections in the synaxarion (f. 60v, the first Saturday after Pentecost, in red ink; f. 86v, the beginning of the new year, in black ink).
Additions
Later hands have added occasional brief notes in Greek regarding lections (e.g. ff. 42r, 45r, 169v, 227r), and numbers for the lections of the Hours (eg. ff. 191r, 242r-243r). The principal hand responsible for lection notes has added more extensive notes on the blank f. 202v.
A note on the left pastedown gives the previous classmark of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and another the name ‘I. Lowndes’, that of the agent who acquired it on their behalf.
Binding
Medieval Greek binding. Sewn in unsupported loop stitch, with three sewing stations prepared as v-notches.
Primary endbands are in the classic Greek style, wound with a cream thread and extending approximately one-fifth of the way onto the boards. The lower core is wound diagonally and the upper vertically. Remnants of yellow and blue threads that would have created a decorative secondary endband remain.
Textile transverse continuous spine lining can be seen, which extends at least a quarter of the way onto the boards.
There are pastedowns of plain paper. The left pastedown is integral, with sewing passing through a fold suggesting that the pastedown is a bifolio where both elements (at least one a full leaf) have been pasted down. The right pastedown may have had the same construction but in its present condition it cannot be determined whether the sewing passed through a fold or if there is a second leaf which can therefore be described as a separate pastedown.
The board attachment is bridling, the thread first passes through the outer face of the board, from which point a lacing path cannot be confirmed.
The boards are wooden, with grooved edges. The outer spine edge is rounded to meet the shoulder of the textblock.
There is full covering in dark brown leather with remnants of a red velvet secondary covering over the top. Over the boards there is faint blind tooling which is partially obscured by the secondary velvet covering. The edges of the boards are tooled with a double fillet boarder. Repetition of a diamond-shaped tool containing a double-headed eagle creates a border inside the double fillet. Inside this is a border of decorative lacing. Within the lacing there is a final double fillet border within which double fillets are used to create an undetermined intersecting pattern. At the intersections small roundels are used. Within the panels created by the pattern the double-headed eagle and decorative lacing are used again. There is no tooling on the spine.
Two metal pins are located at the foredge of the left board. Remains of braided leather straps can be found on the inside of the right board, two sets each passing through three holes in the board. Various holes can be seen on both boards, some containing remnants of metal furniture. A particular pattern cannot be determined.
The edges of the folios have been painted red.
296 × 243 × 130 mm.
History
The characteristics of the scripts suggest that the manuscript was produced during the latter three-quarters of the 11th century. The consistency of layout and style of ornament between the portions copied by the different hands suggests that they worked as part of a single production project, despite the use of a different ruling pattern on each scribe's quires.
However, Hand A does appear to have replaced a lost or cancelled folio originally copied by Hand B (f. 1r). The transition from Hand B to Hand C (ff. 56v-57r), occurring in mid-word, might suggest that C worked later than B. However, the fact that each page of the last two folios of Hand B's work (ff. 55r-56v) is ruled and written with an extra line suggests that this scribe may have adjusted to squeeze in the right amount of text before the existing beginning of Hand C's work.
Falivene identifies the scripts as belonging to the minuscule bouletée style prevalent during much of the 10th century. However, while features of this style are present on occasion, including pronounced knobs at the end of strokes, short ascenders and vertical ascenders on delta, their presence is far from ubiquitous. Other features including the expansion of circumflexes above breathings and the accentuation of short nomina sacra are indicative of a date no earlier than the mid-11th century.Provenance and Acquisition
Owned by the British and Foreign Bible Society , having been acquired by Isaac Lowndes (c. 1790-1873) , appointed as agent for the Society in the Mediterranean in 1845.
Sold by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 2014 to the Museum of the Bible. Held on deposit at Cambridge University Library.
Additional Information
Record Sources
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
-
Historical catalogue of the manuscripts of
Bible House Library, Falivene, M. Rosaria (London, British and Foreign Bible Society, 1982)
Funding of Cataloguing
The Polonsky Foundation
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
