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Add MS 39627
- Record Id:
- 040-002059249
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002059203
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000001215.0x0001b8
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Add MS 39627
- Title:
- The Gospels of Tsar Ivan Alexander
- Scope & Content:
-
The Gospels of Tsar Ivan Alexander, with added Menologion:
The four Gospels, in Slavonic, with marked chapters and Ammonian sections. The chapters are not distinguished in the text, but their titles have been written in gold in the margins. Liturgical directions are inserted in red. A menology, a guide to the time and manner of the study of the Scriptures, and a synaxaria have been added at the end (fifteenth century). Copied from a Greek original by the monk Simeon for the Bulgarian Tsar, Ivan Alexander (see the colophon on ff. 274-275).
Contents:
f. 1r: Table of miniatures by H. Omont.
ff. 2v-3r: Royal portrait.
ff. 3v-86v: Gospel of St Matthew, with initial table of contents (ff. 3v-4r).
ff. 87r-134v: Gospel of St Mark, with initial table of contents (f. 87r).
ff. 135r-212r: Gospel of St Luke, with initial table of contents (ff. 135r-136r).
ff. 212v-272v: Gospel of St John, with initial table of contents (f. 212v).
f. 273v: Magic square encoding the name of Tsar Ivan Alexander.
ff. 274r-275r: Colophon of the scribe Simeon.
Decoration:
The manuscript is lavishly illustrated by several anonymous artists in the tradition of the Turnovo school, with 367 miniatures depicting 630 different scenes. Each of the Gospels includes a half-page headpiece at the opening of the Gospel text, featuring a roundel portrait of the Evangelist on a decorative floriated field. At the end of each Gospel is an image of the Evangelist presenting his text to Tsar Ivan Alexander (ff. 86v, 134v, 212v, and 272v). Miniatures within the Gospels depict scenes from the text: Matthew (104 miniatures, ff. 6r-86r), Mark (65 miniatures, ff. 88r-134v), Luke (100 miniatures, ff. 137r-212r), and John (90 miniatures, ff. 213r-272v).
Highlights of the illustration include:
f. 2v-3r: Royal portrait. On f. 2v is Constantine, the son-in-law of Ivan Alexander, flanked by three daughters of the tsar: Kerathamar (Constantine's wife), Keratsa and Desislava. On f. 3r, Ivan Alexander is represented full length in imperial garb, accompanied by his wife Theodora, his son Ivan Shishnan in imperial garb (he is mentioned as Tsar along with his father in the colophon), and another son Ivan Asen. Above, two hands emerge from a cloud, making gestures of blessing over the Tsar and his wife.
f. 6r: Headpiece of the Gospel of Matthew. Roundel portrait of the Evangelist in the center of a floriated background. Five smaller roundels are arranged around him, depicting ‘the ancient of days’ (above), two six-winged cherubim, Abraham (lower left), and Isaac (lower right).
f. 10r: The Nativity. The Magi are depicted twice: once in adoration, and a second time at their departure.
f. 88r: Headpiece of the Gospel of Mark. Roundel portrait of the Evangelist in the center of a floriated background. Three smaller roundels above depict Christ (in the center, shown as a youth), John the Baptist (left) and Isaiah (right).
f. 124r: Miniature of the Last Judgement. Includes a depiction of Tsar Ivan Alexander in conversation with Mary.
f. 137r: Headpiece of the Gospel of Luke. Roundel portrait of the Evangelist in the center of a floriated background. Two smaller roundels depict Christ (above, bearded) and Zacharaiah (below).
f. 213r: Headpiece of the Gospel of John. Roundel portrait of the Evangelist in the center of a floriated background. Three smaller roundels below each depict a member of the Trinity.
f. 273v: The 'magic square' diagram.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Additional Manuscripts
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002059203
036-002059246
040-002059249 - 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 39625-39628 : PARHAM MSS. XLIII-XLVI. For previous descriptions of these MSS. see Curzon Cat., pp. 31-33; Th. Uspenski, "o nekoto…
Add MS 39627 : The Gospels of Tsar Ivan Alexander - Hierarchy:
- 032-002059203[0043]/036-002059246[0003]/040-002059249
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Add MS 39583-39671
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
286 folios
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_39627 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Old Church Slavonic
- Scripts:
- Cyrillic
- Start Date:
- 1355
- End Date:
- 1356
- Date Range:
- 1355-1356
- 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:
-
Materials: Parchment codex.
Dimensions: 330 x 240 mm (text space: 230 x 135 mm).
Foliation: ff. i + 286. Gatherings generally of 8 leaves, with signatures, 21-23 lines of text per page.
Binding: Original. Red-stained blind-stamped leather, Greek style binding with raised spine and grooved boards. Evidence of metalwork bosses, now missing.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Bulgaria.
Provenance:
Copied between 1355 and 1356 by the monk Simeon for Tsar Ivan Alexander (r. 1331-1371): colophon, ff. 274r-275r; portrait miniatures of Tsar Ivan Alexander and his family (ff. 2v-3r); 'Magic square' word puzzle with a reference to Tsar Ivan Alexander (f. 273v).
Apparently taken into Moldavia and redeemed from pledge by Ivan Alexander, Voivode of Moldavia (perhaps to be identified with Alexander the Good, r. 1402-1432): Slavonic note (f. 5r): ‘The son of Voivod Stefan, Ivan Alexander, in Christ God faithful Voivod and ruler of the whole land of Moldavia, bought the Gospels which had been deposited in pledge. Let God have mercy upon him and grant him eternal life as well as long life here’ (Dimitrova 1994, p. 21).
The monastery of St Paul, Mt Athos, Greece: inscription (f. 286v); presented to Robert Curzon in 1837.
Robert Curzon (1810-1873), 14th Baron Zouche of Harringworth, traveller and collector of manuscripts: he recorded that the manuscript was given to him: 'If you do not care what book it is that you are so good as to give me, let me take one which pleases me: and so saying I took down the illuminated folio of the Bulgarian gospels, and I could hardly believe I was awake when the agoumenos [superior of the monastery] gave it into my hands' (Robert Curzon, Visits to the Monasteries of the Levant, 2nd edn. (London: John Murray, 1849), p. 386).
Robert Curzon, 15th Baron Zouche (1851-1914): deposited his father's collection of 218 manuscripts and 69 printed books on permanent loan to the British Museum in 1876.
Bequeathed to the British Musuem in 1917 by the 14th Baron's daughter, Darea, 16th Baroness Zouche (1860-1917).
- Information About Copies:
- Full digital coverage available for this manuscript, see Digitised Manuscripts http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/.
- Publications:
-
Robert Curzon, Catalogue of Materials for Writing (London, 1849), pp. 32-33.
Robert Scholvin. Einleitung in das Johann-Alexander Evangelium (Leipzig: 1883).
B. Filow, 'Die Miniaturen des Evangeliums Iwan Alexander's in London', Byzantion, 4 (1927-1928), 313-19.
B. Filow, Spisanie na Bulgarskata Akademiana Naukite, 38 (1928), 1-32.
British Museum: Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts 1916-1920 (London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1933).
B. Filoff, Miniaturite na Londonskoto Evangelie na Tsar Ivan Alexander/Les miniatures de l’evangile du roi Jean Alexandre a Londres (Sofia, 1934).
Byzantine Art, A European Art, (ninth exhibition held under the auspices of the Council of Europe at Zappeion Exhibition Hall) (Athens, 1964), no. 326. [exhibition catalogue]
Millard Meiss, with Kathleen Morand and Edith W. Kirsch, French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: The Boucicaut Master, National Gallery of Art Kress Foundation Studies in the History of European Art, 3 (London: Phaidon, 1968), p. 148 n. 2
Kurt Weitzmann, ‘The Study of Byzantine Book Illumination: Past, Present, and Future’, in The Place of Book Illumination in Byzantine Art (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1975), pp. 1-60 (pp. 42-43) [exhibition catalogue].
I. Spartharakis, The Portrait in Byzantine Illuminated Manuscripts (Leiden, 1976), pp. 67-70.
John Lowden, 'Two Byzantine Manuscripts dated 1285: B.L., Burney MS. 20 and Laur. Plut. 6.28' (unpublished M. A. dissertation, Courtauld Institute, London, 1977).
The Christian Orient (The British Library: London, 1978), no. 11.
A. Turyn, Dated Greek Manuscripts of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries in the Libraries of Great Britain (Dumbarton Oaks Studies, XVII), (Washington, D.C., 1980), pp. 42-44.
E. Gamillscheg and D. Harlfinger, Repertorium der griechischen Kopisten 800-1600, 1: Grossbritannien, Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Byzantinistik 3.1 (Vienna, 1981), I, no. 138.
I. Spatharakis, Corpus of Dated Illuminated Greek Manuscripts, Byzantania Neerlandica, 8 (Leiden, 1981), no. 195.
R. Cleminson, A Union Catalogue of Cyrillic Manuscripts in British and Irish Collections (London, 1988), pp. 121-23.
K. Aland, Kurzgefasste Liste der griechischen Handschriften des neuen Testaments, Arbeiten zur neutestamentlichen Textforschung, 1 (Berlin, 1994), no. 482.
Byzantium: Treasures of Byzantine Art and Culture from British Collections, ed. by David Buckton (London: British Museum, 1994), no. 207. [exhibition catalogue]
Ekaterina Dimitrova, The Gospels of Tsar Ivan Alexander (London: British Library, 1994).
Summary Catalogue of Greek Manuscripts, I (The British Library: London, 1999- ), p. 29.
Zaga Gavrilovic, 'The Gospels of Jacov of Serres (London, B.L., Add. MS 39626), the Family Brankovic and the Monastery of St Paul, Mount Athos', in Through the Looking Glass: Byzantium Through British Eyes, ed. by Robin Cormack and Elizabeth Jeffreys, Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies, 7 (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000), pp. 135-44 (p. 138)
Scot McKendrick, catalogue entry, in Byzantium: An Oecumenical Empire, Byzantine and Christian Museum (Athens: Hellenic Ministry of Culture, 2002), no. 139 [exhibition catalogue].
Scot McKendrick, catalogue entry, in Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261-1557), ed. by Helen C. Evans (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004), no. 27 [with additional bibliography].
Angeliki E. Laiou, 'Byzantium and the Neighboring Powers: Small-State Policies and Complexities', in Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261-1557): Perspectives on Late Byzantine Art and Culture, ed. by Sarah T. Brooks (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006), pp. 42-53 (pl. 39).
Deirdre Jackson, Marvellous to Behold: Miracles in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2007), pl. 49.
Sacred: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and their Sacred Texts (London: British Library, 2007), p. 81 [exhibition catalogue].
Philip Howard, The British Library: A Treasure House of Knowledge (London: Scala Publishers, 2008), no. 14.
Robin Cormack, catalogue entry, Byzantium 330-1453, ed. by Robin Cormack and Maria Vassilaki (London: Royal Academy, 2008), no. 287 [exhibition catalogue].
Chetirievangelie na t︠s︡ar Ivan Aleksandŭr, ed. by Elissaveta Moussakova and Heinz Miklas, 2 vols (Sofii︠a︡: Methodius books, 2018) [facsimile and commentary, published also in English as The gospels of Tsar Ivan Alexander].
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)