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Add MS 39603
- Record Id:
- 040-002059224
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002059203
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000001215.0x0001a0
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Add MS 39603
- Title:
- Cruciform Gospel Lectionary
- Scope & Content:
-
This 12th-century lectionary, containing readings for use in the liturgy, takes a distinctive form. The entire text is written in cruciform, that is, in the shape of a cross. It was probably produced at Constantinople for a wealthy individual, possibly a member of the imperial court. The text is noted with ekphonetic neumes. Formerly PARHAM MS XXI (Greg.-Aland l 233; Scrivener evst. 235).
Contents:
ff 1r-41r: Easter to Pentecost, daily lections.
ff 42r-111v: Pentecost to the end of the year, daily lections.
ff 112r-196v: New Year to Quinquagesima Sunday, daily lections, followed by notes of the daily lections up to the first Friday in Lent, and the lesson for the Vigil of St Theodore in full. The lesson τῆς Χαναναίας is inserted after the 17th week, as κυριακὴ τῆς Χαναναίας, followed immediately by the Saturday πρὸ τῆς Ἀποκρέου (lesson Luke 15:1-10), and then Septuagesima Sunday (κυριακὴ πρὸ τῆς Ἀποκρέου).
Additions at the beginning and end relating to Curzon's ownership of the manuscript, including:
ff ii recto-verso: An imperfect page of the printed Curzon catalogue, with descriptions of the present manuscript and of Add MS 39602.
f iii recto: A letter dated 26 November, 1855, from F. H. A. Scrivener to Curzon with reference to the Curzon manuscripts collated by him.
ff iv recto-viii verso: A copy written by Scrivener's son of the portions of Scrivener's introduction to his Codex Augiensis relating to Curzon's manuscripts.
ff xi recto-verso: A custodial note by Robert Curzon.
Decoration:
3 pages with fully illuminated borders in colours and gold (ff. 1r, 42r, 112r).
Decorated initials and decorative ornaments at each angle of the cruciform text, in colours and gold throughout.
Added decoration:
Modern pen-and-ink drawings of hands and a figure (f. x recto).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Additional Manuscripts
Greek Manuscripts - Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002059203
040-002059224 - Is part of:
- Add MS 39583-39671 : PARHAM MANUSCRIPTS. These eighty-nine MSS., 39583-39671, were bequeathed, with Oriental MSS. 8729-8855, by Darea Curzon,…
Add MS 39603 : Cruciform Gospel Lectionary - Hierarchy:
- 032-002059203[0021]/040-002059224
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Add MS 39583-39671
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_39603 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Greek, Ancient
- Scripts:
- Greek
- Start Date:
- 1100
- End Date:
- 1199
- Date Range:
- 12th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
- Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Material: Parchment.
Foliation: ff x + 196.
Dimensions: 370 x 280 mm.
Ruling: 240 x 190 mm, written in cruciform, 26 lines per page.
Binding: Modern but not recent binding of wooden boards covered with blue velvet, much worn. On both covers is a cross with a patterned border, between corner-ornaments, all gilt. The cross on the front cover has the inscription "IC XC NIKA".
Decoration: Illuminated initials and finial ornaments at each angle of the cruciform text. Fully illuminated cruciform borders enclose the text on ff 1r, 42r, 112r. Tail-piece on f 196v. Neums in red, headings and rubrics in gold over red. The first two pages of text are also in gold over red.
A nearly square piece of vellum has been cut out of f. 41.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Eastern Mediterranean, Constantinople.
Provenance:
Owned by Methodios, Bishop of Herakleia (1646-1668), later Patriarch of Constantinople (1668-1671; died 1679): note in a late hand, f 1r (ἀφιερώται παρὰ τοῦ σεβασμίου γέροντος ἁγίου Ἡρακλείας κυρίου Μεθοδίου ὡς δὲ δι’ ἱστορίας ἐχομεν βασιλικῶν χειρῶν ἐργον ἐστί, Ἀλεξίου ἢ Ἐμμανοήλου τῶν Κομνηνῶν, and below in a monocondylium, Ὁ Ἡρακλείας Μεθόδιος).
Belonged to the monastery of Pantocrator on Mount Athos, where it was shown on feast days along with relics of the saints: note by Curzon, ff ix recto-verso.
Transferred to the monastery of Xenophon during the War of Independence: note by Curzon, ff ix recto-verso.
Purchased from the monastery of Xenophon by the Hon. Robert Curzon in 1837.
- Source of Acquisition:
-
Add MSS 39583-39671, along with Oriental MSS 8729-8855, were bequeathed to the British Museum by Darea Curzon, Baroness Zouche (d. 1917), having been part of the collection formed at Parham, Co. Sussex, by the Hon. Robert Curzon, afterwards 14th Baron Zouche, as the result of his travels in the Levant, etc., in 1833 and later. A copy of Robert Curzon's Catalogue of Materials for Writing, ... Rolls and other Manuscripts and Oriental Manuscript Books (1849), with manuscript additions, accompanied the gift, and is now Add MS 64098.
- Administrative Context:
- Eastern Mediterranean.
- Information About Copies:
- Complete digital coverage available for this item, see Digitised Manuscripts [http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_39603].
- Publications:
-
R. Curzon, Catalogue of Materials for Writing, Early Writings on Tablets and Stones, Rolled and other Manuscripts and Oriental Manuscript Books, in the library of the Honourable Robert Curzon, at Parham in the county of Sussex, London 1849, pp. 24-25, no. 19.
R. Curzon, Visits to Monasteries in the Levant, London 1849, pp. 408-412.
F. H. A. Scrivener, A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, vol. 1, London 1894, p. 344.
C. R. Gregory, Textkritik des Neuen Testaments, 3 vols, Leipzig 1900-1909, p. 406.
H. von Soden, Die Schriften des Neuen Testaments, in ihrer ältesten erreichbaren Textgestalt hergestellt auf Grund ihrer Textgeschichte, 4 vols, Berlin 1902-1910.
Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum, 1916-1920, London 1933, pp. 84-85.
M. Richard, Inventaire des manuscrits grecs du British Museum I, Fonds Sloane, Additional, Egerton, Cottonian et Stowe, Paris 1952, pp. 76-77.
The Christian Orient, British Library exhibition catalogue, London 1978, no. 6.
J.C. Anderson, The New York Cruciform Lectionary, Pennsylvania 1992, pp. 76-80, 87-89.
Byzantium. Treasures of Byzantine Art and Culture, British Museum exhibition catalogue, ed. D. Buckton, London 1994, pp. 163-164.
K. Aland, Kurzgefasste Liste der griechischen Handschriften des neuen Testaments (Arbeiten zur neutestamentlichen Textforschung 1), Berlin 1994, p. 232.
N. Kavrus-Hoffmann, 'Greek Manuscripts at Dumbarton Oaks: Codicological and Paleographic Description and Analysis', Dumbarton Oaks Papers 50 (1996) pp. 289-312.
G. Speake, Mount Athos: Renewal In Paradise, Yale 2004, p. 75.
Byzantium: 330-1453, Royal Academy of Arts exhibition catalogue, ed. R. Cormack and M. Vassilaki, London 2008, pp. 120-121, no. 61.
- Exhibitions:
- Greek Manuscripts, (online), 18 September 2016-
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)