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 Dd.4.42

Diktyon no.: Diktyon 12155

Contents

Introduction: This fragmentary manuscript, probably copied in the later 13th or 14th century, is a Menaion , a liturgical book containing the components of services particular to individual days of the year, divided into volumes for each month. This volume covers the month of December. The manuscript was copied on parchment, a material that was becoming unusual at this time due to the widespread availability of the cheaper paper. With the parchment market and production much diminished, such as was produced was often of poor quality. That is conspicuously the case with this manuscript, which is marred by numerous holes that had appeared during the production process, sometimes large and found within the written area. There is a later note in Arabic on f. 134v recording the purchase of the manuscript by a priest named Yūḥannā (John), son of the priest Ibrāhīm. Thus it clearly came into the possession of an Arab Christian community, perhaps still using Greek for liturgical purposes, and may indeed have been produced for the use of such a community. Dr Christopher Wright

Language(s): Greek

Menaion for December

Defective at the beginning: begins during the entry for 6 December

Incipit: || f. 23r ψυχε· καὶ ἔμπνους εἰκῶν· ὡς θεῖον γὰρ θησαυρόν σε
Explicit: f. 196v σπαργανωθεὶς ἀνεκλήθη λύον [.] αρας εγκλημάτων[sic]

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment (FHHF), thick and of bad quality, with very numerous holes formed during the production of the parchment, often within the written area.
Extent: Codex: i + 167 + i leaves. 230 × 180 mm.
Foliation: The manuscript is foliated with the numbers i + 23-44, 46, 45, 46[bis], 47-90, 92-94, 96-154, 156-172, 174-178, 180-196 + ii, in Arabic and Roman numerals, in pencil, recto, upper right. Folio numbers 1-22, 91, 95, 155, 173, 179 have been assigned to leaves no longer present in the volume (as per historic foliation practices at Cambridge University Library).

Collation

This part consists of 22 quires, of which three are quinia and the rest are quaternia.

  • Quire 18-2 ff. 23-24 A number of folios, probably the first six, have been lost, with loss of text.
  • Quires 2-98 ff. 25-87
  • Quire 108-2 ff. 88-95 The third and seventh folios have been cancelled, without loss of text.
  • Quires 11-178 ff. 98-153
  • Quire 1810-2 ff. 154-162 The second and eighth folios have been cancelled, without loss of text.
  • Quire 198 ff. 163-170
  • Quire 2010-2 ff. 171-180 The third and ninth folios have been cancelled, without loss of text.
  • Quires 21-228 ff. 181-196

There are quire signatures in Greek numerals, in brown ink, on the last folio of each quire, verso, lower right. They survive on Quires 4-15, 17-22 (ϛʹ-ιζʹ, ιθʹ-κδʹ), and traces on Quire 16. There are later quire signatures in Greek numerals, in pencil, on the first folio of each quire, recto, lower left. They begin on Quire 2 with the number 4 and survive on Quires 2-22 (δʹ-κδʹ). They also appear on the last folio of each quire, verso, lower right, on Quires 2-3 (δʹ-εʹ).

Condition

There are tears and losses to the edges of various folios (e.g. ff. 73-74). Some of this damage has been repaired with paper patches (e.g. f. 146). Some pest damage is present in the outermost folios. There is creasing, cockling, water staining and areas of dirt, and widespread fading and abrasion of text, sometimes as a result of water damage. There appears to have been a deliberate attempt to erase the text by Hand B on f. 160v.

Layout

A single column of 32 lines. 165 × 135 mm. Pricking sometimes survives in all three margins. Ruled in hardpoint, system Leroy 1, type 10C1. Text sometimes hangs from the lines, but does not always follow them.

Hand(s)

ff. 23r-160v, line 12, 161v-196v were copied by Hand A in mixed minuscule script, with variable slant, in black ink, with significant variation in letter size and some flourishing of tails into the margin.

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

The flat-bottomed omega is in use.

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

f. 160v, line 18-f. 161r were copied by Hand B in a crude mixed minuscule script , with variable slant, in black ink, with modest variation in letter size.

Breathings and accents are not used.

Punctuation used include the lower and upper points and full stop, but it is largely absent.

Decoration

The beginnings of sections are marked by minor initials in red ink, sometimes ornamented. Guide letters written in the outer margin to indicate which initials should be added survive on the edge of some folios (e.g. ff. 102v-103v).

Divisions between texts are marked by line-fillers or vignettes in brown and red ink.

Additions

There are occasional brief marginal notes and pen-trials in Greek by various hands (e.g. ff. 80r, 107r, 130r).

There is a note in Arabic on f. 134v, recording the purchase of the manuscript by the priest Yūḥannā, son of the priest Ibrāhīm.

Binding

Modern conservation binding, Cambridge University Library 2021, with red full leather covering over wooden boards.

239 × 198 × 85 mm.

The pieces of the former binding have been retained and are housed alongside the manuscript. This is an 18th-century full leather binding over couched-laminate boards, with plain pastedowns. There is decorative blind tooling on the edges of the boards and gold tooling on the spine. The title ‘Vitae Sanctorum MSS’ is tooled in gold on a red label on the spine, and the classmark appears on patches.

384 × 276 × 62 mm.

History

Origin: The manuscript was probably copied in the second half of the 13th or 14th century, as suggested by the characteristics of the script.

Provenance and Acquisition

Owned by the priest Yūḥannā (John), son of the priest Ibrāhīm , as indicated by his note on f. 134v.

Possibly presented in 1715 by George I , as part of the collection of John Moore (b. 1646, d. 1714), bishop of Ely . This is suggested by the presence inside the left board of the bookplate used for this collection. However, this bookplate was sometimes incorrectly placed in manuscripts which did not belong to this collection, and this manuscript is not recorded as part of it in Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ (1697), nor in the handwritten supplementary list of Moore’s manuscripts, now MS Oo.7.50(2), compiled by Thomas Tanner .

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

    A catalogue of the manuscripts preserved in the library of the University of Cambridge Catalogue of manuscripts (Dd), (Cambridge, 1: Dd, Cambridge University Press, 1856) Überlieferung und Bestand der hagiographischen und homiletischen Literatur der griechischen Kirche: von den Anfängen bis zum Ende des 16. Jahrhunderts Überlieferung und Bestand der hagiographischen und homiletischen Literatur der griechischen Kirche Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur, Ehrhard, Albert (Leipzig, 3, 1937)

Funding of Cataloguing

The Polonsky Foundation

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Cambridge Digital Library

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