// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Codex Parisiensis say to its date? You're a real page-turner.
Codex Parisiensis, also known as Latin No. 653, is a manuscript of the late 4th/early 5th century Church Theologian Pelagius's Commentary on the Letters of Paul in Latin, written on parchment.[1] After the commentary on Philemon, starting from the reverse side of leaf 289, there is a Vulgate version of the Letter to the Hebrews 1:1-4:3 which contains some Old Latin readings.[1] This is labelled as v in the Beuron numbering of Old Latin manuscripts, and VL 81 in the Vetus Latina Register of Latin New Testament manuscripts.[1] Using the study of comparative writing styles (palaeography), it has been assigned to the 8th/9th century CE.[1]
Description
[edit]The manuscript is a codex (precursor to the modern book format) containing the text of Pelagius's Commentary on the Letters of Paul, written on 292 parchment folios (584 pages, sized 27cm x 18cm)[2]: 246 in black ink with one column and 23 lines per page.[1] On the first page of the manuscript is a short Poem which appears to be addressed to the Roman Emperor Charlemagne,[2]: 247 and this manuscript might have been a present to the Emperor himself.[2]: 247 On the reverse side of the first page is a table of contents,[2]: 246 with the main commentary commencing from the 7th page onwards.[2]: 247-8
At least three, possibly four copyists worked on the manuscript.[2]: 249 Biblical scholar Alexander Souter describes them all as "careful" copyists who showed "great excellence" with their spelling, but with mistakes common to copyists.[2]: 251, 255 The commentary itself is mainly that of Pelagius, however there have been expansions to the commentary taken from the writings of Jerome and Pseudo-Jerome.[2]: 255
Text
[edit]In comparing the quotations from the Pauline Letters in the manuscript to that of the Latin Vulgate, Souter noted over 200 places where the text differed from the standard Vulgate text.[2]: 260 Souter concludes that the manuscript is a very good witness to Pelagius's original commentary, though after it had been brought in partial harmony with the Vulgate, but retaining many of its Old Latin wording.[2]: 263 The value of the manuscript is therefore "very great" for the commentary's restoration.[2]: 263
History
[edit]The earliest history of the manuscript is unknown.[2] It was likely written in North Italy around 800 CE,[1][2]: 248-249 at some scriptorium in Verona,[2]: 249 or Monza near Millan.[1] Based on spelling and other peculiarities, it is likely the manuscript was copied from an examplar written in Spain.[2]: 253–254, 262 The manuscript was brought from Italy to France during the reign of Henry II of France (reigned 1547-1559), whose coat of arms is stamped on the outer binding.[2]
It has three previous shelf marks written on the reverse side of the second folia,[2]: 247 with the earliest (undated) one being DLXXXVIII (1088), second is 628 (year 1645), and the third is 3939 (year 1682).[2] It is currently housed in the National Library of France (shelf number Latin 653) in Paris.[1][2]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Houghton, Hugh A. G. (2016). The Latin New Testament: A Guide to its Early History, Texts, and Manuscripts. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 245–246. ISBN 978-0-19-874473-3.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Souter, Alexander (1922). Pelagius's Expositions of Thirteen Epistles of St. Paul: Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 245.