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Add MS 11856
- Record Id:
- 040-002041559
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002041530
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000451.0x00006e
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100145776571.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Add MS 11856
- Title:
- Gospels
- Scope & Content:
-
A beautiful codex with colorful and golden illustrations of the four evangelists and floral patterns. It belongs to the so-called Alexandrian or Egyptian Vulgate recension, which became the most wide spread version of the Gospels in the Coptic and other communities from the thirteenth century onwards. This copy was presented to the Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa and includes, besides the Gospel texts, short summaries of each book. The multilingualism of Christian communities in the Middle East become apparent in this codex not only in the fact that Greek, Syriac, and Coptic Vorlagen were all consulted in the creation of this popular version, but also that three different calculation system (Coptic, Epact numbers, and Syriac) are used in the margins.
Contents:
Fols. 1r-2r-v: illustrations
fol. 3r-v: A praise to God and a note that it is intended for the Patriarch (no specific one) and includes an interpretation of the Holy Gospels in the beginning.
fols. 4r-v-5r-v: Short introduction and sum of the 68 chapters of Matthew.
fols. 6r-58r Matthew fol. 58r: colophon
fol. 59r-v: illustrations
fol. 60r-v: Short introduction and sum of the 48 chapters of Marc
fols. 61r-94v Marc
fol. 94v: colophon
fol. 95r-v: illustrations
fol. 96r-v-97r-v: Short introduction and sum of the 83 chapters of Luke
fols. 98r-156r Luke
fol. 156v: colophon
fol. 157r-v: illustrations
fol. 158r-v: Short introduction and sum of the 20 chapters of John
fols. 159r-203r John
fol. 203r: colophon
fol. 203v: a note in a different hand
fol. 204r: colophon of the entire work
fol. 204v: a note in yet a different hand
fol. 205r: colophon of the entire work continues
A final colophon is found on fol. 204r (date); 205r (scribe implores for payers). For transcriptions, see Cureton and Rieu, Catalogus, pp. 12-13.
The dating of the manuscript is complicated by the presence of two dates, somewhat differing, on f. 204r:
1) Friday 29 Ṭūbi 1053 Anno Martyrum = 1 February 1337 CE
2) 20 Jumāda al-awwal 737 AH (25 December 1336 CE).
- Collection Area:
- Oriental Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Additional Manuscripts
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002041530
040-002041559 - Is part of:
- Add MS 11828-12117 : Collection belonging to the late Right Rev. Samuel Butler, D.D., Lord Bishop of Lichfield.
Add MS 11856 : Gospels - Hierarchy:
- 032-002041530[0029]/040-002041559
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Add MS 11828-12117
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
Codex; ff. 205
- Digitised Content:
- http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100145776571.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Arabic
- Scripts:
- Arabic
- Start Date:
- 1336
- End Date:
- 1337
- Date Range:
- 1336-1337
- Calendar:
- Gregorian
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Material: Paper
Dimensions: ca 270 mm x 220 mm leaf [ ca 220 mm x 140 mm written]
Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil
Lines per page: ca 14 lines
Script: Naskh in large letters; the scribe is the deacon Yūsuf bn [wālin al-dawla] Mīkhāʾil [al-ʿAlam] bn Faḍl Allāh (fols. 58v; 94v; 156v; 205r).
Ink: Black ink, with rubricated headings and text dividing dots in red
Decoration: Large floral patterns and illustrations of the evangelists, richly colored, including gold, on fols. 1v; 2r-v; 59r-v; 95r-v; 157r-v; colored stamps and/or golden frames on fols. 3r; 4r; 58r; 60r; 96r; 156v; 158r; 203r; 204r; 205r. The outer edges of the folios are colored in gold.
Binding: British Museum binding
Condition: Waterstains, wormholes, etc: Good condition.
Marginalia: Reading instructions in Arabic and foliation systems in Coptic, Zimām, and Syriac. References to Old Testament prophecies are marked.
- Custodial History:
- Donated from the Bibliothecae Collegii Urbani de Propaganda Fide to a certain D. Petri Bogdan, ‘Archiepiscopi Scuporum’.
- Source of Acquisition:
-
Purchased by the British Museum from Samuel Butler.
- Finding Aids:
- Cureton, William and Charles Rieu, Catalogus Codicum Manuscriptorum Orientalium: Codices Arabici: Supplementum, (London, The British Museum, 1846-71), pp. 11-13.
- Exhibitions:
- Jerusalem 1000-1400: Every People under Heaven, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 26 September 2016 - 8 January 2017
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)