Language
Origin
Constantinople, 14th century, mid (c. 1360)
Physical description
Format: Non digital + Digital, reformatted digital
- Script: The manuscript was copied by two contemporary scribes, scribe A wrote ff. 1-161, scribe B ff. 162-297. Only on f. 191v a third hand seems to appear. None of them are as yet identified. No subscription is preserved, since the final leaves are lost. The script of the first part of the manuscript is clear and regular, slightly inclined to the left. A prominent feature of the script is the forceful pen strokes at the base of the letters ξ and ζ ending in a NW-SE-diagonal, which is also taken up by χ , λ , and δ. Note also the shorthand και linked to next letter, further the rather conspicuous - ος ligatures as in πρò at the end of lines (cf. f. 102r). Though coming from a skilled hand the style gives rather an uncouth impression. Blackish-brown and mild orange-red ink in good preservation.
The second part of the manuscript (ff. 162-297) shows more of a scholar's hand. It is upright or very slightly inclined to the right. Brown and light red ink, the latter in a strongly faded condition. The large thetas and omegas dominate the script together with other overdimensioned circular forms in e.g. α, ο, and φ ('Fettaugenmode'). At the end of lines the punctuation marks are sometimes inscribed within the spacious C-sigma, omicron or upsilon.
- Collation: 38 quires: I: 7 (ff. 1-7, one leaf has been cut out after f. 5 with resulting loss of text); II: (ff. 8-15); III: 8 (ff. 16-23); IV: 8 (ff. 24-31); V: 8 (ff. 32-39); VI: 8 (ff. 40-47); VII: 8 (ff. 48-55); VIII: 8 (ff. 56-63); IX: 8 (ff. 64-71); X: 8 (ff. 72-79); XI: 8 (ff. 80-87); XII: 8 (ff. 88-95); XIII: 8 (ff. 96-103); XIV: 7 (ff. 104-110, there is a guard from a cut out leaf after f. 109, but the text is intact); XV: 7 (ff. 111-117, one torn out leaf after f. 116 with resulting loss of text); XVI: 8 (ff. 118-125); XVII: 8 (ff. 126-133); XVIII: 8 (ff. 134-141); XIX: 4 (ff. 142-145, after f. 143 there are 4 leaves missing with resulting loss of text); XX: 8 (ff. 146-153); XXI: 8 (ff. 154-161); XXII: 8 (ff. 162-169); XXIII: 8 (ff. 170-177); XXIV: 8 (ff. 178-185); XXV: 8 (ff. 186-193); XXVI: 8 (ff. 194-201); XXVII: 8 (ff. 202-209); XXVIII: 8 (ff. 210-217); XXIX: 8 (ff. 218-225); XXX: 8 (ff. 226-233); XXXI: 8 (ff. 234-241); XXXII: 8 (ff. 242-249); XXXIII: 8 (ff. 250-257); XXXIV: 8 (ff. 258-265); XXXV: 8 (ff. 266-273); XXXVI: 8 (ff. 274-281); XXXVII: 8 (ff. 282-289); XXXVIII: 8 (ff. 290-297). Beside the modern flyleaves there is one parchment leaf ('A') preceding the actual synaxarion. The parchment is now very dark and wrinkled but seems to have been of good quality originally. Probably 12th century. Writing area 205/210 x 145 mm. Ruling type Sautel 22D1 (or possibly 22C1, it is difficult to see, due to cutting of the inner margin). Dark brown ink, mixed minuscule script pendent from ruled lines. The text comes from another synaxarion and gives part of the text for May 9 and 10, mentioning the saints Χρηστοφόρος , Ἐπίμαχος καὶ Γορδιανός , Κόδρας , Τρυφαίνη , Τιμόθεος ὁ πατριάρχης , Σίμων ὁ ζηλωτής , Ἀλφιός , Φιλάδελφος καὶ Κυρῖνος . The wording of the narrative on Kodras suggests that the fragment could be related to the ms D (Codex bibliothecae Nationalis Parisiensis 1587) of H. Delehaye's study in Synaxarium Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae, Bruxelles 1902 (Acta Sanctorum, Propylaeum ad Acta SS. Novembris). The ms is mutilated at the end, giving just two entries on the 27th of February and none for the 28th. Quire numbering is made in Greek numerals in two sets successively: quires 1-21 and 22-38. The signatures are generally written (by the main scribes, it seems, or at least in the same ink as the rest of the text) in the lower righthand corners of first recto and last verso for quires no. 2 - 21, in the middle of or the outer corners of lower margin for quires no. 22 - 37. Some signatures are missing altogether, a few of them probably trimmed away or lost due to ripping of the page. Although originally made up of quaterniones the bookblock is now bound together in much larger units. To prevent the well used book from falling apart one has at rebinding taken some 18-20 leaves at a time, overcasting them tightly at the spine. Thus the binding threads which are visible inside these units cannot be taken as proof of an irregular quire organisation, and accordingly the old quire signatures are still valid.
- Foliation: Foliated in pencil by modern cataloguer in upper right corner.
- Columns: 2
- Lines: 30-33
Abstract
Notes
Literature
Devos, P.: Commémoraisons de martyrs persans dans le synaxaire de Lund Analecta Bollandiana 1963. 81 pp. 143-158.
Rudberg, S. Y.: Le synaxaire grec de Lund Analecta Bollandiana 1963. 81 pp. 117-141.
Rudberg, S. Y.: Les manuscrits grecs de la Bibliothèque universitaire de Lund, Eranos 1969. 67 pp. 54-61.
Book binding
Binding: Blind-tooled dark brown goatskin binding, preserved covers of Byzantine binding; Greece, contemporary with the manuscript. Rebinding, 20th century. Size: 310 x 225 x 95 mm.
Dark brown goatskin binding over thick, grooved, square edged wooden boards with rounded inner face at the spine (type a and k, cfr. Szirmai 1999, p. 75; type 19.5 and 20.3, cfr. Frederici and Houlis 1988 p. 28). Rebinding with upper cover and back of black calfskin and with lower cover from former binding. Dark brown covering material of upper board and back from former binding preserved, but partly missing on the new covering. Small white paper label with the number 793 at the centre of the upper cover. Two fastenings at fore-edge missing (holes at lower cover fore-edge type 32.4, cfr. Frederici and Houlis 1988, p. 39). Rounded spine with lining of blue grey cloth. Tight back. Blind-tooled white library cloth label at the top of the back. Natural coloured primary endbands embroidered on double supports extending over the boards. The endbands are attached by the sewing thread by several holes on the inner face of each board (fig. 6.10, cfr. Szirmai 1999, p. 77; fig. 26.3, cfr. Frederici and Houlis 1988, p. 35). The endbands are restored and partly damaged. Former edge trimming preserved. No squares. One plain paper flyleaf, 20th century, mounted on the first and last manuscript page of the bookblock. Upper board with a half paper pastedown; on the inside of the upper board in black ink: Cυναξάριν ςʹ μην(ων) | σεπτεμβ(ριος) ε(ως) φεβ(ρουαριου) and on the inside of the lower board, rather coarsely: πε μα ‚αφ ασπρ(ων) | ͵ςσο ασπρ(ων) | χρεω | τό λγθετϊ. The original (most likely link-stitch) sewing on three sewing stations is repaired by assembling and oversewing leaves into thick gatherings of 18 to 20 leaves each. The original sewing thread is broken at joints but remains in holes of the boards and in centrefolds of the gatherings. The covers are blind-tooled to a frame of double fillets containing two rows of a repeated rectangular stamp with heart-shaped forms (cfr. Vat. gr. 1297, cfr. Frederici and Houlis 1988, p. 56). The central panel is divided into four compartments each divided by fillets into a saltire. (fig. 37.6, cfr. Federici and Houlis 1988, p. 66). The fillets of the compartments are stamped with a small four-petal flower and the concurrences of the fillets with a tool of concentric circles. The compartments of the lower cover are decorated with a symmetric trapeze-shaped tool showing a lily on a blind bottom and the upper cover compartments with a circular tool possibly of a two-headed eagle. The back is blind-tooled with a double fillet to a fishbone pattern with concentric circles at the top of each superposed and inversed V-form.
Decoration
Head pieces, tituli and most of the other decorative elements are in faded red ink - some linefillers and elaborate initials combine black and red ink. The headpieces for September, October, and November, height 30-40 mm, are in Laubsägestil; the rectangular frame contains a billowy arabesque with halfpalmettes and knobs, lily- or palmette shaped corner decorations, and, in the middle of the top border, a threefold loop or Dreierschlinge (fully worked out in the September piece, only suggested in the following two). The red ink is used for contouring but also for filling up the background (Aussparungstechnik). The headpieces for the following three months show a Flechtband-construction in the form of a ribbon interlacedly crossing itself while passing through ribbon ovals. The ends of the ribbon are shaped as lilies. At the end of each day in the synaxarion we find a delimiting linefiller, the design of which in the first half of the book (=scribe A) varies considerably, while in the second half scribe B has kept to a more restricted set of rather simple geometrical/vegetal ornaments. This contrast between the two scribes is reflected also in the design of the initials. Elaborate red (occasionally red and black) initials project into the margin and in the space between the two columns at the outset of all narratives. On ff. 1-161 the oblong initials, 20-45 mm. in size, show two basic structures: the unfilled Laubsäge/Palmetten type and the filled silhouette/bead-and-reel type with additional embellishments of beads and strokes. There are some examples of zoomorphic initials and linefillers, chiefly single or double snakes (ff. 19r , 29v , 34v , 61v , 68v , 108v , 112v , 120v , 142v , 159v ). Two fish-initials (omicron), on f. 78r and f. 89v . >From f. 162 onwards the initials are quite plain and of lesser dimensions (height 10-20mm). The elaboration is often just a couple of swellings and a small beaded tendril at the base. Rubrication is also used for the commemoration of each saint, i.e. for the opening remark which sometimes stands alone but mostly precedes the ensuing verse(s) and the narrative of the saint. Furthermore, all iambic or hexametral lines are indicated by small majuscule or minuscule initials in red.
Contact
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Location
Lund University LibraryHelgonabackenBox 3
221 00 Lund
St. Laurentius Digital Manuscript Library
- Shelfmark: Medeltidshandskrift 57
- Previous shelfmark: Kyrkohist.
Identifiers (general)
urn:nbn:se:alvin:portal:record-14717 (nbn)
Identifiers (local)
alvin-record:14717 (alvin)
Licensing of the work
Public Domain Mark (No Known Copyright)