Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries: Cambridge, University Library, MS Ii.4.16

Diktyon no.: Diktyon 12198

Introduction: This manuscript, produced in 1476 or 1479, contains the Introduction to Grammar, by Theodore Gazes, or Gaza. The author was a Byzantine scholar from Thessalonike, who had served as secretary to the Emperor John VIII Palaiologos (1392-1448, r. 1425-1448) before travelling to Italy to study Latin language and rhetoric in the 1430s. He became one of the leading figures in Greek studies in Renaissance Italy, working as a teacher and translator. His grammar was one of a number of such works written by Byzantine scholars teaching in Italy in this period. They were useful to western European scholars seeking to refine their understanding of Greek, but since they were typically written entirely in Greek, as this one was, they required a reasonable knowledge of the language to begin with. Gazes served as Professor of Greek at the University of Ferrara in 1440-1449, and wrote this textbook for the use of his students, drawing on a number of works by earlier authors. It became the most highly-regarded Greek grammar of the Renaissance. Though commonplace in its purpose, the manuscript was a high-quality production, written on parchment in an era when cheaper paper was the norm, especially for secular texts, copied by a skilled calligrapher and ornamented. Its history is relatively well-attested, thanks to its scribal colophon and a number of notes left by its various owners. It was copied in Rome by Ioannes Rhosos, a native of Venetian-ruled Crete who had settled in Italy. There he found regular employment as a professional scribe, moving frequently between the various centres of Greek studies and producing books for some of the most important scholars and dignitaries of the Italian Renaissance. His colophon (f. 159r) dates the manuscript's completion to 10 November 1479. Oddly, however, its earliest ownership note (f. 159v ) dates its copying and purchase to 1476. The purchaser who added this note was John Shirwood, Bishop of Durham (d. 1494), who spent a considerable part of his career in Rome and amassed a substantial library including a collection of Greek books. While Shirwood's Latin books ultimately entered the library of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, this is one of two Greek works identified as having belonged to him (the other is Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson G. 93). Another ownership note (f. 160r), in a 16th-century hand, records the book's ownership by Walter Harton, son of Richard Harton. It may previously have belonged to his father, as another note, which survives only in part (f. 1v), may be reconstructed as the name Richard Harton. A subsequent owner, Gabriel Applebie, left two more notes at the front and back of the volume (ff. 1v, 160r), the latter dated to 1614. It subsequently belonged to the classical scholar Meric Casaubon (1599-1671), son of Isaac Casaubon, and was bought for the University Library in the sale of his effects after his death. Dr Christopher Wright

Language(s): Greek

ff. 3r-159r

Theodore Gazes, Introduction to Grammar Γραμματικῆς Εἰσαγωγή

Rubric: f. 3r Θεορώρου Γραμματικῆς Εἰσαγωγῆς

Incipit: f. 3r Τῶν τεσσάρων καὶ εἴκοσι γραμμάτων

Explicit: f. 158v κατὰ τὴν ἐκτεθεῖσαν τήνδε ἡμῖν μέθοδον, λέγομεν

Final rubric: f. 158v Τέλος σὺν Θεῶ ἁγίω

Ed. Theodori grammatices libri IIII. De mensibus liber eiusdem. Georgii Lecapeni de constructione verborum. Emmanuelis moschopuli de constructione nominum et verborum. Eiusdem de accentibus (Venice 1525), ff. 1-144

ff. 1r-2v, 159v-160v are blank apart from various ownership notes.

1.1. ff. 3r-21v

Book 1

f. 22r-22v is blank.

1.2. ff. 23r-60r

Book 2

f. 60v is blank.

1.3. ff. 61r-112v

Book 3

f. 112r-112v is blank.

1.4. ff. 113r-158v

Book 4

f. 22r-22v is blank.

Colophon: f. 159r Μετεγράφη ἡ παροῦσα γραμματικὴ· τοῦ σοφωτάτου Κυροῦ Θεοδώρου· διὰ χειρὸς ἐμοῦ Ἰωάννου πρεσβυτέρου Ῥώσης τοῦ Κρητός· Ἔτη ἀπὸ τῆς Χριστοῦ γεννήσεως· χιλιοστῶ· τετρακοσιοστῶ· ἑβδομικοστῶ, ἐνάτω· μηνὸς, Νοεμβρίο· δεκάτη· ἐν Ῥώμη

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Parchment (FHHF), of medium thickness and quite good quality.

Extent: Codex: i + 2 + 151 + 1 + i leaves. 237 × 175 mm.

Foliation: The manuscript is foliated with the numbers [i] + 1-2 + 3-84, 91-159 + 160 + [ii], in pencil, in Arabic numerals, recto, upper right. Folio numbers 85-90 have been assigned to leaves no longer present in the volume (as per historic foliation practices at Cambridge University Library).

Collation

The manuscript consists of 18 quires, of which one is a binion, eight are quaternia and nine are quinia.

Quires 1-5¹⁰ ff. 3-52
Quire 6⁸ ff. 53-60
Quires 7-8¹⁰ ff. 61-80
Quire 9^10-6 ff. 81-84 The fifth-tenth folios have been lost, with loss of text
Quire 10¹⁰ ff. 91-100
Quire 11⁸ ff. 101-108
Quire 12⁴ ff. 109-112
Quires 13-17⁸ ff. 113-152
Quire 18^8-1 ff. 153-159 The last folio has been cancelled, without loss of text.

There are original quire signatures in Greek numerals, in black ink, on the first folio of each quire, recto, lower centre, and the last folio of each quire, verso, lower centre. They survive on all quires (αʹ-ιθʹ). There is a modern sequence of leaf signatures in Arabic numerals, in black ink, recto, lower right. Most have been wholly or partially lost to cropping.

Condition

There are small holes in ff. 158-159 and a cut in f. 159. Lines of brown stains and associated small holes appear on the outermost folios (ff. 1r-2r, 259v-260v). There is some discoloration to the outer folios and occasional areas of black dirt.

Layout

A single column of 25-27 lines. 152 × 90 mm. Pricking does not survive. Ruled in hardpoint, system Leroy 1, type Leroy 21D1a. Text hangs from the lines. The ruling is very faint. The end of a word or last words before a punctuation mark may be added below the last line of a recto folio to avoid crossing the turn of the page.

Hand(s)

The text has been copied by Ioannes Rhosos, in a Hodegon-style mixed minuscule script, slanting slightly to the right, in black ink, with modest variation in letter size.

Syllabic abbreviations appear only at the end of lines, while superscript word endings appear throughout the line, but only where there is no text directly above. Breathings are round and mute iota is absent. There is frequent decorative use of the double dot. Accents are sometimes joined to letters and breathings.

The sigma telikon is present, and there are inclusions of letters within omicron.

Punctuation used includes the lower, middle and upper points, lower comma and full stop. Punctuation points and full stops are often followed by another point in red ink.

The same hand has added the rubric in red ink, in the same script but with greater use of majuscule forms, and headings for books in epigraphic display majuscule.

Decoration

The beginning of the text is preceded by a rectangular headpiece in red ink, with plaited ornament (f. 3r).

The beginning of each subsequent book is preceded by a large and elegant vignette in the same style:-

f. 23r Book 2
61r Book 3
113r Book 4

Each book begins with a large and elaborate major initial in red ink:-

f. 3r Book 1
f. 23r Book 2
f. 61r Book 3
f. 113r Book 4

Minor initials in red ink, with simple ornament, begin each sub-section, while the initial letters of important words are also often in red ink. Minor initials and rounded letters at the beginning of sub-sections frequently have infill in translucent yellow wash.

Shorter lines are frequently completed with simple line-fillers in red ink.

The end of books and the colophon are accompanied by rosettes and sometimes by patterns of scrolling ornament in red ink:-

f. 21r Book 1
f. 60r Book 2
f. 111v Book 3
ff. 158v-159r Book 4

Additions

The text is accompanied by annotations by the copyist in red ink indicating the content of the adjacent sub-section. There are occasional annotations by later hands. There are a number of notes on the endleaves regarding ownership and donation:-

f. 1v ⟨Rich⟩ard Har⟨t⟩onum
f. 1v Gabriel App⟨lebie⟩
f. 2v ‘Thomas Gale pecuniis Haketianis redemit ex reliquii Merici Casauboni’
f. 159v ‘Liber Iohannis Shirwod Sedis Apostolice protonotarii etc. scriptus emptusque Rome anno Domini 1476’
f. 160r ‘Iste Liber pertinet ad me Walterum Hartonum filium Richardi Hartoni etc.’
f. 160v ‘Gabriel Applebie me nunc possidet Anno 1614’

A bookplate inside the front board records the manuscript's acquisition through the Hacket bequest.

Notes of the former classmark 274 appear inside the left board and on f. 1r.

Binding

Rebound in 1961 by J.P. Gray and Son of Cambridge, according to a note inside the left board. Brown quarter leather and patterned paper covering over millboards, with plain pastedowns. The classmark and the title ‘Theodori Grammatica’ are tooled in gold on the spine. Labels from a previous binding bearing the classmark are pasted inside the front board.

254 × 190 × 47 mm.

Accompanying Material

Two parchment endleaves have been bound in at the front (ff. 1-2) of the manuscript and one at the back (f. 260). They are slightly smaller than the folios of the main body of the manuscript, and of lower-quality parchment.

History

Origin: Copied in Rome; by Ioannes Rhosos of Crete (PLP 24571; RGK I 178, II 237, III 398). It was completed on 10 November 1479 according to his colophon, but the ownership note of John Shirwood states that he purchased it in 1476.

Provenance and Acquisition

Bought in Rome in 1476 or 1479 by John Shirwood (d. 1494) , bishop of Durham and papal protonotary.

Owned by Richard Harton and then by his son Walter Harton .

Owned by Gabriel Applebie in 1614.

Owned by Meric Casaubon (1599-1671) .

Bought for the University Library by Thomas Gale after Cassaubon's death from the sale of his effects, with money from the bequest of John Hacket (1592-1670), Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry.

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

A catalogue of the manuscripts preserved in the library of the University of Cambridge, (Cambridge, 3, Cambridge University Press, 1858)

Bishop Shirwood of Durham and his Library The English Historical Review, Allen, P. S. (25, 99, 445-456, 1910)

Scribes grecs de la Renaissance Scriptorium. Revue internationale des études relatives aux manuscrits, Meyier, K. A. de (18.2, 258-266, 1964)

Humanism in England during the fifteenth century Medium ævum monographs, Weiss, Roberto (Oxford, Blackwell, 1967)

Richard III: [catalogue of an exhibition held at the] National Portrait Gallery, 27 June-7 October 1973 Richard III, Tudor-Craig, Pamela (London, National Portrait Gallery,, 1977)

Un fragment non identifié de Philostrate dans un manuscrit de Londres (~~Harleianus~~ 5658, folio 260) Revue d'histoire des textes, Follet, Simone (8, 1978, 277-279, 1979)

Repertorium der griechischen Kopisten, 800-1600. I. Grossbritannien Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Byzantinistik, Gamillscheg, ErnstHarlfinger, Dieter (Wien, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1981)

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

The Greek Grammar of Theodore Gaza (d. 1475/6) in early Tudor Wales The Bodleian library record, Breeze, Andrew (16, 3, 281-284, 1998)

Greek scribes in England: the evidence of episcopal registers Through the looking glass: Byzantium through British eyes: papers from the twenty-ninth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, London, March 1995 Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies publications, Harris, Jonathan (Aldershot, 121-26, Ashgate, 2000)

À propos d'un catalogue récent: Remarques philologiques et historiques sur quelques manuscrits grecs conservés à la Bibliothèque de la Bourgeoisie de Berne ou ayant appartenu à Jacques Bongars Scriptorium. Revue internationale des études relatives aux manuscrits, Augustin, P. (63, 121-141, 2009)

A descriptive catalogue of the medieval manuscripts of Corpus Christi College Oxford, Thomson, Rodney M. (Cambridge, Published for Corpus Christi College Oxford [by] D.S. Brewer, 2011)

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 Ii.4.16

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