Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries: Cambridge, University Library, MS Ee.6.35

Diktyon no.: Diktyon 12176

Introduction: This manuscript, produced in the late 15th or early 16th century, contains the Chiliades and other works of Ioannes Tzetzes, the 12th-century Byzantine scholar and teacher. The bulk of it is occupied by the Chiliades, the author's principal work, a primarily historical miscellany of brief passages in verse concerning matters of sacred and secular history, mythology, literature, and occasionally language and theology, drawn from a very wide range of sources. This is followed by a series of other brief works by Tzetzes, including poems and letters relating to the main text, which were also associated with it in other manuscripts. It is preceded by a contents list, the numbering of which does not correspond to that used in the body of the manuscript. The manuscript was copied by at least a dozen different hands. Most of these copied only a short portion of the text, often only a handful of lines, and their work is interspersed with that of the copyists responsible for the bulk of the manuscript. The standard of handwriting of the more minor hands is sometimes rather poor, and their involvement may reflect brief passages being assigned to novice copyists. Dr Christopher Wright

Language(s): Greek

1. ff. 2r-3r

Contents list to the Chiliades

Rubric: || f. 2r τροπαιοῦχοι· βασιλεῖς ἀεισέβαστοι· πιστοὶ αὔγουστοι

Incipit: f. 2r αʹ περὶ Κροΐσου

Explicit: f. 3r ρλβʹ περὶ Κλειτάρχου· Νεμείου Λέοντος· καὶ Κάπρου Καιϋδῶνος

ff. 3v-4v are blank.

2. ff. 5r-286v, line 9

Tzetzes, John, active 12th century, Chiliades Χιλιάδες Variarum historiarum

Filiation: Leone assigns this manuscript to the second recension of the text, and identifies its text of the Chiliades as being derived from the same exemplar as Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, MS gr. 338. He also identifies it as the exemplar for Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, MS gr. 316 (Qu 18). It was used in the preparation of the Kiessling and Leone editions. The same is true of the other texts following.

Rubric: f. 5r Ἀκριβεστάτως ἐκμαθεῖν φίλτατε κεχρημένος μιᾶς ἐμῆς ἐπιστολῆς σύμπασαν ἱστορίαν, εὐκρινημένως μάνθανε πρῶτον, ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Κροίσου

Incipit: f. 5r Κροῖσος ὁ Ἁλυάττεω Λυδῶν ἦν βασιλεύων

Explicit: f. 286v σφραγῖδα καὶ συμπέρασμα ταύτης ἡμῶν τῆς βίβλου

Final rubric: f. 286v Τέλος, βίβλου ἱστορικοῦ· Ἰωάννου τοῦ Τζέτζου, τῆς διαστίχων πολιτικῶν· ἄλφα δὲ καλουμένης· ὧν στίχων πολιτικῶν τὸ ποσὸν, μυριὰς μία· καὶ δυσχίλιοι ἑπτακόσιοι πεντηκονταεννέα

f. 94r-94v is blank.

TLG 9022.001

2.1. ff. 5r-80r, line 21

Part I

2.2. f. 80r, line 22-f. 86v

Letter to Lachanas

2.3. ff. 86v-96r, line 17

Part II

2.4. f. 96r, line 18-f. 286v, line 8

Part III

3. f. 286v, line 9-f. 287v, line 6

Tzetzes, John, active 12th century, Iambic verse

Rubric: f. 286v Τοῦ αὐτοῦ Ἰωάννου τοῦ Τζέτζου, στίχοι ἰαμβικοί

Incipit: f. 286v Μούσης μέτρα φέρουσα, τῆς ἀγυρτίδος

Explicit: f. 287v ὅπη δὲ τινὰ, καὶ ἑτέρων ἰδεῶν

4. f. 287v, line 7-f. 293r, line 13

Tzetzes, John, active 12th century, On the education of children

Rubric: f. 287v Παίδων ἀγωγὴ: συντελῆς, τῶ νῦν βίω

Incipit: f. 287v Σύμπας πατὴρ, ἄκουε τῶν Τζέτζου λόγων

Explicit: f. 293r τὰ δ'ἄλλα, κωφὰ· καὶ πλατὺς ἐστὶ γέλως

5. f. 293r, line 14-f. 293v, line 7

Tzetzes, John, active 12th century, Heroic verse

Rubric: f. 293r Τοῦ αὐτοῦ στίχοι ἡρωϊκοὶ

Incipit: f. 293r Τζέτζου ῥητορίης ἀδαήμονος ἥδέ γε βίβλος

Explicit: f. 293v ὀλλυμίην σοφίην συγκλήτου κλαύσατ'ἐρανῆς

6. f. 293v, line 8-f. 294v

Tzetzes, John, active 12th century, Iambic verse

Rubric: f. 293v Στίχοι ἰαμβικοὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἀμαθοῦς καὶ ἀρρητορεύτου ὥσπερ φασὶν οἱ θειάζοντες οἷα ῥήτορα, οἵους Ἡρόδοτος λέγει, βαρβαρωδεστέρους, ἐθνέων ἁπάντων

Incipit: f. 293v Ὦ τὰς βεβήλους καὶ πεφυρμένας φύσεις

Explicit: f. 294v τοιαῦθ'ἁμαρτάνουσιν ἐν λόγοις ἔπη

Final rubric: f. 294v ⟨Ὡ⟩ς ἀντεβλήθη ταύτα τοῖς πρωτογράφοις ταῦτα δ'ἐφευρέθησαν ἰσχύϊ λόγων, Τζέτζου κατεστρώθησαν ἐν τῶ σεκρέτω· ὑπογραφήν δ'ἔσχηκεν ἥν τινα βλέπεις· + Τζέτζης λογιστὴς, τῶν παλαιῶν καὶ νέων:· + ἀγαθῇ τύχῃ

f. 295r is blank.

7. ff. 295v-296v

Tzetzes, John, active 12th century, Letters 15-18

Defective at the end (ed. Leone, p. 32).

Rubric: f. 295v Τζέτζου ἐπιστολαὶ διὰ ἱστοριῶν τινῶν τῶν προγεγραμμένων

Incipit: f. 295v Ἀτρανῆ μὲν καὶ ἄκομψον περὶ τὸ γράφειν τὴν γλῶτταν

Explicit: f. 296v Δευκαλίωνα δὲ μετὰ τὸν Βούραιον ἐκεῖνον κατακλυσμὸν||

TLG 9022.005

f. 298r-298v is blank.

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Western paper, folded in folio. Watermark: Scales ( 60 × 35 mm. ) in the gutter, similar to Briquet 2542; Harlfinger Balance 35. These examples are dated to 1489-1514.

Extent: Codex: iii + 301 + ii leaves. 194 × 145 mm.

Foliation: The manuscript is foliated with the numbers [i-iii] + [1], 2-74, [74a], 75-79, [79a], 80-94, [94a], 95-296, [297], 298 + [iv-vi], in pencil, in Arabic numerals, recto, upper right. The numbers f. [1] and f. [297] have been assigned to leaves no longer present in the volume (as per historic foliation practices at Cambridge University Library), now substituted by unnumbered stubs; ff. [i], [74a], [79a] verso, [94a], and [vi] are unnumbered stubs not included in the foliation sequence.

Collation

The manuscript consists of 37 quires, of which one consisted of ten folios and the rest are quaternia.

Quire 1^8-1 ff. 2-8 The first folio has been cancelled or lost, without loss of text.
Quires 2-36⁸ ff. 9-288
Quire 37^10-1 ff. 289-298 The ninth folio has been cancelled or lost, probably without loss of text. (The text ends incompletely here, but the closely-related Munich manuscript breaks off at the same point, suggesting that their shared exemplar was incomplete at this point.)

There is a modern sequence of leaf signatures in Latin letters (lower case for Quires 1-23 and then upper case) for quires and Roman numerals for bifolios, in pencil, recto, lower right.

Condition

There is the stub of an additional endleaf that has been largely cut away at the beginning and end of the volume. There are occasional small tears to the edges of folios (e.g. ff. [i], 32, 293). Extensive brown stains appear on ff. 5r-7v, ink-blots on f. [i] recto, and occasional small stains elsewhere. There is slight discoloration to the outermost folios.

Layout

ff. 2r-3r Two columns of 27-37 lines. 162-187 × 120-130 mm.

ff. 5r-296v A single column of 24 lines. 145 × 90 mm.

Hand(s)

ff. 2r-3r The contents list has been copied by Hand A (who has also added a heading, originally omitted, on f. 95r, and occasional marginal notes, e.g. f. 66r), in a mixed minuscule script, upright or slanting slightly to the right, with modest variation in letter size. The abbreviation of περὶ is accompanied by a double dot.

ff. 5r-8v, 16r, line 5-f. 38v, f. 39r, line 13-f. 42v, line 3, f. 42v, line 11-f. 72v, ff. 75r-93v, 95r-152v, 264v-287r, line 10, f. 287v, line 7-f. 294v were copied by Hand B: a mixed minuscule script, with variable slant, in brown ink, with modest variation in letter size.

Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings appear throughout the line. Breathings are round and mute iota is absent. There is decorative use of the double dot and accentuation of all nomina sacra . Accents are sometimes joined to letters. The double grave accent is in use. Breathings are often shifted well to the right of the letter they accompany. Marginal quotation marks are used, and the hyphen is used to combine words. Horizontal strokes appear above proper names.

The modern nu and sigma telikon are present. The epsilon-upsilon ligature appears in a distinctive form in which the upper part forms a closed loop. Minuscule gamma often appears in a distinctive inward-curving form and majuscule lambda is positioned low and often with long descenders.

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

This hand has added headings in the same style in red ink, as have the other copyists below

ff. 9r, 9v, line 5-16r, line 4 were copied by Hand C, similar in most respects to Hand B, but without its more distinctive letter-forms. Mute iota is occasionally present, in subscript form. Accents are sometimes joined to letters, nomina sacra strokes and abbreviations (including an unusual joining of a circumflex with the abbreviation of eta-sigma, e.g. f. 9r, line 21).

f. 9v, lines 1-4 were copied by Hand D in a rather stilted mixed minuscule with variable slant. Lambda takes the same form as in Hand B.

f. 39r, lines 1-12 were copied by Hand E in an untidy mixed minuscule, slanting to the right. There is frequent use of majuscule nu, while mu and majuscule omega take angular forms resembling the Latin letters M and W.

f. 42v, lines 4-10 were copied by Hand F in a small, rather untidy mixed minuscule with variable slant, with a similar range of unusual letter-forms to Hand E.

ff. 73r-74v were copied by Hand G in a slightly inelegant mixed minuscule script, upright or slanting slightly to the right.

ff. 153r-160r, line 14were copied by Hand H, similar to Hand C, with variable slant. Accents are sometimes joined to breathings and nomina sacra strokes. This hand uses two unusual types of full stop, comprising two dots followed by a horizontal stroke which turns downwards with a loop, the other two dots followed by a cross, the right-hand line of which becomes a curved downward line resembling an open-backed rho

f. 160r, line 15-f. 160v were copied by Hand I in a small script similar to Hand H.

ff. 161r-189r, line 16 were copied by Hand J, similar to Hands H and I, using one of the same distinctive types of full stop as Hand H.

f. 189r, line 17-f. 189v, line 4 were copied by Hand K in a slightly inelegant mixed minuscule script, slanting to the right.

f. 189v, line 5-f. 264v, f. 287r, line 9-f. 287v, line 6, ff. 295v-296v were copied by Hand L, similar to Hand C, slanting to the right. Double pi often appears as a minuscule followed by a majuscule letter. Mute iota occasionally appears, in subscript form. Accents are occasionally joined to breathings, including an unusual form with a circumflex placed wholly below a rough breathing (e.g. f. 193r, line 18).).

Decoration

The beginning of the text is preceded by a rather crude vignette in red ink (f. 5r).

One section of the text, on f. 9r, begins with an ornamented major initial in red.

Minor initials in red ink, with simple ornament, begin each section.

The colophon is accompanied by a crude rosette in brown ink (294v).

Additions

There are occasional brief marginal annotations by the scribes.

A note on f. 3r records the manuscript's donation by Cuthbert Tunstall: ‘Cuthebertus Londoniensis episcopus studiosis dono dedit’.

There is a note dated 21 March 1862 on f. [iv] recto, regarding extent, collation and missing and blank folios, by Henry Bradshaw (1831-1886), University Librarian 1867-1886.

A note of the former classmark 433 appears inside the left board.

Binding

Early modern binding, repaired and rebacked in 1966 by J.P. Gray and Son in Cambridge, according to a note on the left pastedown, retaining the existing boards. Brown full leather binding over couched-laminate boards, with printed waste pastedowns (from Pablo de Santa Maria, Bishop of Burgos, Dialogus Pauli et Sauli contra Judæos, sive Scrutinium scripturarum). There is a blind-tooled border on the boards. The classmark and the title ‘Tzetzae Chiliades, &c.’ are tooled in gold on the spine. The edges have been painted black. A label from a previous binding bearing the title ‘Poemata Graeca’ tooled in gold is pasted inside the left board.

208 × 169 × 55 mm.

History

Origin: The watermark of the paper used indicates that the manuscript was produced in the late 15th or early 16th century, a dating consistent with the style of script.

Provenance and Acquisition

Presented to the University Library by Cuthbert Tunstall (b. 1474, d. 1559), Bishop of London in 1529.

Additional Information

Record Sources

Description draws on A catalogue of the Manuscripts preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge, vol. 1, (Cambridge, 1856), pp. 273-274 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

Lykophronos Alexandra, to skoteinon poiēma ... = Lycophronis Chalcidensis Alexandra, siue Cassandra : poema quidem obscurum ... / eruditissimis Isacii Tzetzis grammatici commentarijs ... illustratum ... Adiectus quoque est Ioannis Tzetzae Variarum historiarum liber, versibus politicis ab eodem Graece conscriptus, & Pauli Lacisii Veronensis opera ad verbum Latine conuersus ..., , (Basle, Ex officina Ioannis Oporini, 1546)

Tzetzes: Historiae, Tzetzes, John (Napoli, 1968)

Ioannis Tzetzae epistvlae, Tzetzes, John (Leipzig, Teubner, 1972)

Cambridge University Library : a history. [1], From the beginnings to the Copyright Act of Queen Anne, Oates, J. C. T. (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1986)

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 Ee.6.35

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