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Add MS 5463
- Record Id:
- 032-002029030
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002029030
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000050.0x0001e5
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100165150968.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Add MS 5463
- Title:
-
The Four Gospels (the 'Codex Beneventanus')
- Scope & Content:
-
The name 'Codex Beneventanus' has long been attached to this manuscript, mainly because of the connection to that region in the colophon of the scribe, Lupus. There are also marginal annotations (ff. 5v, 88v, 222r, 229r), as well as liturgical notes (marking the pericopes for the masses) in lead point throughout, all in 10th-century Beneventan script. This script is named after the Duchy of Benevento where it was developed in the mid-8th century, and the liturgical annotations suggest the adaptation for the use of a centre in this area as well.
The number of illuminated arches for the Eusebian Canon Tables is an unusual and odd number, consisting of seven folios, and the arrangement of the text has left the fourth space between the columns on f. 3v, and all of the available spaces on ff. 4r-4v blank. David Wright has argued that this indicates that the scribe did not know how to arrange the textual apparatus to fit within the frames. He further posits that, among other technical considerations, it is evidence that the separate quire containing the illuminated Canon Tables was in fact made substantially earlier, perhaps as much as two centuries (see Wright, ‘‘The Canon Tables of the Codex Beneventanus’ (1979)).
The manuscript also seems to have been of interest to an owner in the 15th century, since there are annotations at the top and bottom of folios (now partially cropped in the process of later rebinding) throughout the first half of the manuscript (e.g. ff. 19r, 19v, 22r, 27r, 31v, 32v, 33r, 44v) in a secretary hand of the 15th century.
Contents:
ff. 1v-4v: Canon tables.
ff. 5r-6v: St Jerome, Epistle to Pope Damasus. Incipit: ‘Beato pape Damaso’.
ff. 7r-8v: St Jerome prologue to the Gospels. Incipit: ‘Plures fuisse qui evangelia scribserunt’.
ff. 9r-9v: Prologue to St Matthew. Incipit: ‘Mattheus in Iudaea sicut in ordine.’
ff. 9v-74r: St Matthew, with capitula.
ff. 75r-75v: Prologue to St Mark. Incipit: ‘Marcus evangelista dei et Petri in baptismate’.
ff. 75v-117r: St Mark, with capitula.
ff. 118r-118v: Prologue to St Luke. Incipit: ‘Lucas syrus antiochensis arte medicus’.
ff. 118v-188v: St Luke, with capitula.
ff. 189r-189v: Prologue to St John. Incipit: ‘Johannes evangelista unus ex discipulis’.
ff. 189v-239r: St John, with capitula.
f. 239v: The colophon of the scribe Lupus, beginning: ‘Praecepto pii patris Atoni obtemperans exiguus monachus Lupus’.
f. 240r: A fragment of a commentary on the Pauline Epistles (Romans 10) in a 10th-century Caroline minuscule hand.
[f. 1r, 74v, f. 117v, 120v, 190v, 240v are blank].
Decoration:
Canon tables with decorated architectural frames in red, blue, green, and yellow ink, with bases and capitals of the columns in gold, and several columns painted to imitate marble (e.g. f. 4r). The arches above the columns are richly decorated in various floral, zigzag, and meander or key patterns.
Some explicits are separated by bands of cable pattern in brown, red and occasionally green ink (ff. 11r, 117r, 120r, 190r). Within two lines of such cable pattern there is a row of simple leaf ornament in the same brown, red and green ink (f. 117r).
Minor initials with simple pattern decoration and filled with red, green, yellow and gold ink, mark the start of each Gospel text (ff. 12r, 77r, 121r, 191r). The beginning of other sections marked with slightly enlarged initial and rubric in red.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Additional Manuscripts
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-002029030", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Add MS 5463: The Four Gospels (the 'Codex Beneventanus')" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002029030
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-002029030
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
- A parchment codex
- Digitised Content:
- http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100165150968.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 0739
- End Date:
- 0760
- Date Range:
- 739-760
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
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- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 355 x 275 mm (written area 265 x 215 mm, in two columns).
Foliation: ff. 240 (+ 1 unfoliated paper flyleaf pasted on a leather support, 1 unfoliated paper flyleaf and 2 modern parchment flyleaves at the beginning + 1 unfoliated paper flyleaf pasted on a leather support, 1 unfoliated paper flyleaf, and 1 modern parchment flyleaf at the end); 14th or 15th century foliation in arabic numerals, partially cropped, ff. 2-4; contemporary quire signatures on the verso of the last folio of the quire, consisting of a q and a roman numeral, ff. 17v-233v; 15th century, partially cropped, alternative system of quire signatures on the recto of the first folio consisting of letters a-z (ff. 5r-179r), and Roman numerals and letters in combination (ff. 187r-234r); 2 unfoliated parchment stubs between f. 15 and f. 16, and 1 unfoliated parchment stub between: f. 35 and f. 36, f. 100 and f. 101, f. 105 and f. 106, f. 140 and f. 141, f. 145 and f. 146, f. 156 and f. 157, f. 161 and f. 162, f. 164 and f. 165, f. 169 and f. 170, f. 172 and f. 173, f. 177 and f. 178, f. 180 and f. 181, f. 185 and f. 186, f. 188 and f. 189, f. 211 and f. 212, f. 219 and f. 220, f. 224 and f. 225, f. 227 and f. 228, f. 232 and f. 233; the recto of f. 1 and the verso of f. 240 entirely covered by modern parchment support; the upper margin of f. 53 and the outer margin of f. 239 have large modern parchment repairs.
Script: Uncial.
Binding: British Museum in-house: gold-tooled brown leather binding; the spine inscribed in gold at the British Museum, ‘EVANGELIA QUATUOR LATINE., LITT. UNCIALIB. SCRIPTA., MUS. BRIT. JURE EMPTIONIS.’.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Italy, S. (San Vincenzo al Volturno).
Provenance:
The Benedictine Abbey of San Vincenzo al Volturno, founded in the first half of the 8th century: according to the colophon by the monk Lupus (f. 239v), it was written at the request of abbot Ato, ‘Praecepto pii patris Atoni obtemperans exiguus monachus Lupus Beati Hieronomi labore translatum evangeliorum scribsi librum…’ (The puny monk Lupus, obeying the order of the pious Father Ato, wrote this book of the Gospels translated by the labour of Saint Jerome). This is most likely referring to the Ato who was abbot of San Vincenzo al Volturno between 739 and 760. This identification is further corroborated by the marginal annotations in 10th-century Beneventan script on ff. 5v, 88v, 222r, and 229r, since San Vincenzo al Volturno is close to the eponymous city of Benevento in the ‘Beneventan zone’ of Southern Italy (see Loew, The Beneventan Script, II (1980): Hand List of Beneventan MSS, p. 51).
The Benedictine nunnery of St Peter, Benevento: a 15th-century book inventory (f. 76), with the heading ‘[In]ventarius librorum huius ecclesie Sancti Petri moniales de Benevento’ ([In]ventory of the books of the church of the nuns of Saint Peter of Benevento).
Richard Mead (b. 1673, d. 1754), physician and collector of books and art: while in his possession, the manuscript was consulted by Richard Bentley (b. 1662, d. 1742), classical scholar and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, for his work on collating the text of the New Testament (see Bentleii Critica Sacra, ed. by Ellis (1862), p. xli). It is most likely that the marginal annotations in pencil on f. 216r and f. [242]recto are in Richard Bentley’s hand and related to his collation activity.
Anthony Askew (b. c. 1722, d. 1774), physician and book collector: purchased by John Jackson at the sale of the Askew library on 12 March 1785.
John Jackson (d. 1794), F.S.A and antiquary: his hand in faint pencil at the top of f. [ii]verso (‘I think this MS is about twelve hundred years old – and Mr Askew’s of the same opinion, which I think will be confirmed by comparing it with other MSS allowed to be so old. I bought this for 25 Guineas at the sale of Dr Askew’s MSS. John Jackson, F. S. A.’), and f. 76v; his sale by Leigh & Sotheby (now Sotheby's) on 28 April 1794, lot 373.
Purchased by the British Museum: note of purchase added by Sir Frederic Madden on f. [iii]recto.
- Information About Copies:
-
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk.manuscripts/.
- Publications:
-
Richard Bentley, Bentleii Critica Sacra. Notes on the Greek and Latin Text of the New Testament, ed. by Arthur Ayres Ellis (Cambridge: Deighton, Bell & Co, 1862).
[E. Maunde Thompson and G. F. Warner], Catalogue of Ancient Manuscripts in the British Museum, 2 vols (London: British Museum, 1881-1884), Part II: Latin, pp. 18-19, pl. 7.
Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener, A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, 4th edn, ed. by Edward Miller, 2 vols (London: George Bell & Sons, 1894), II, p. 77.
John Chapman, Notes on the Early History of the Vulgate Gospels (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1908), p. 179.
Wilhelm Köhler, 'Die Karolingischen Miniaturen', in Zweiter Bericht über die Denkmäler Deutscher Kunst, (Berlin: Georg Reimer, 1912), pp. 52-77 (p. 59).
Elias Avery Lowe, Codices Latini Antiquiores: A Palaeographical Guide to Latin Manuscripts Prior to the Ninth Century, 11 vols + supplement (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1934-1971), II (1935): Great Britain and Ireland, p. 13 (no. 162).
Carl Nordenfalk, Die spätantiken Kanontafeln: Kunstgeschichtliche Studien über die eusebianische Evangelien-Konkordanz in den vier ersten Jahrhunderten ihrer Geschichte, Bücherornamentik der Spätantike, 1 (Göteborg: O. Isacson, 1938), pp. 180-87, 218, plates 52-57.
Otto Pächt, C. R. Dodwell, and Francis Wormald, The St. Albans Psalter (Albani Psalter) (London: Warburg Institute, 1960), pp. 98, 100.
Patrick McGurk, Latin Gospel Books from A. D. 400 to A. D. 800 (Paris: Érasme, 1961), p. 15, p. 31 (no. *18).
Charlemagne: Oeuvre, rayonnement et survivances, ed. by Wolfgang Braunfels (Aix-la-Chapelle, 1965), p. 231 (no. 390) [with additional bibliography].
D. H. Wright, ‘The Canon Tables of the Codex Beneventanus and Related Decoration’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 33 (1979), 133-55.
E. A. Loew, The Beneventan Script: A History of the South Italian Minuscule, 2nd ed. by Virginia Brown, 2 vols (Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1980), I: Text, Sussidi Eruditi, 33, pp. 41-42, 75, 94-95, 109-10, 340; II: Hand List of Beneventan MSS, Sussidi Eruditi, 34, p. 51 [with additional bibiliography].
Bonifatius Fischer, Lateinische Bibelhandschriften im frühen Mittelalter, Vetus Latina, 11 (Freiburg: Herder, 1985), p. 201.
Louis Duval-Arnould, ‘Les manuscrits de San Vincenzo al Volturno’, in Una grande abbazia altomedievale nel Molise, San Vincenzo al Volturno: atti del I Convegno di studi sul Medioevo meridionale (Venafro, S. Vincenzo al Volturno, 19-22 maggio 1982), ed. by Faustino Avagliano, Miscellanea cassinese, 51 (Montecassino: Pubblicazioni cassinesi, 1985), pp. 353-80 (pp. 354-60).
Bibliografia dei manoscritti in scrittura beneventana, ed. by Francesco Bianchi, and others, 25 vols (Rome: Viella, 1993-2017), I (1993), p. 44.
Patrick McGurk, ‘The Disposition of Numbers in Latin Eusebian Canon Tables’, in Philologia Sacra I: Biblische und patristische Studien für Hermann J. Frede und Walter Thele zu ihrem siebzigsten Geburtstag, ed. by Roger Gryson (Freiburg: Herder, 1993), pp. 242-58 (p. 251).
Patrick McGurk, ‘The Oldest Manuscripts of the Latin Bible’, in The Early Medieval Bible: Its Production, Decoration and Use (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), pp. 1-23 (pp. 5, 10, 11 n. 27, 21).
Kunst und Kultur der Karolingerzeit: Karl der Grosse und Papst Leo III in Paderborn, 3 vols, ed. by Christoph Steigmann and Matthias Wemhoff (Mainz: Philipp von Zabern, 1999), II: pp. 704-06, no. X.11 [exhibition catalogue].
Carol Farr, The Book of Kells: Its Function and Audience (London: British Library, 1997), p. 120.
Christopher de Hamel, The Book: A History of the Bible (London: Phaidon, 2001), pl. 5 (p. 16).
Michelle P. Brown, The Lindisfarne Gospels: Society, Spirituality and the Scribe (London: British Library, 2003), p. 302, fig. 133.
Scot McKendrick and Kathleen Doyle, Bible Manuscripts: 1400 Years of Scribes and Scripture (London: British Library, 2007), p. 31, fig. 18.
Agnes Shaw, I libri dell'Abbazia di S. Vincenzo al Volturno nella loro storia (The Books of the Abbey of S. Vincenzo al Volturno in Their History), (Cerro al Volturno: Volturnia Edizioni, 2009), I: Gli antenati (The Ancestors), pp. 11-17 (Italian), 94-101 (English translation).
Richard Gyug, 'Early Medieval Bibles, Biblical Books, and the Monastic Liturgy in the Beneventan Region', in The Practice of the Bible in the Middle Ages, ed. by Susan Boynton and Diane J. Reilly (New York: Columbia University Press, 2011), pp. 34-60 (pp. 39, 50, n. 33).
H. A. G. Houghton, The Latin New Testament: A Guide to Its Early History, Texts, and Manuscripts (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), pp. 131, 268.
Heidi C. Gearhart, ‘From Divine Word to Human Hand: Negotiating Sacred Text in a Medieval Gospel Book’, Word & Image, 32 (2016), pp. 430-58 (pp. 430, 432, fig. 5).
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)