04 June 2015
Charles Burney and his Manuscript Collection
In the first of an occasional series, we take a look at an important named collection of manuscripts at the British Library. One of the most significant gatherings of classical material in the British Library is to be found in the Burney collection of manuscripts. This collection, comprising 525 volumes, was assembled by Charles Burney (b. 1757, d. 1817), classicist and bibliophile. Son of the famous historian of music Charles Burney and brother of the novelist Fanny Burney, he was also an avid collector of printed books, newspapers, and playbills, all of which were purchased by the British Museum after his death.
Contents of the Burney collection of manuscripts
While the Burney manuscripts are best known for the fine classical manuscripts to be contained therein, this is only a small part of the collection. Burney also collected important manuscripts of the Bible and of the Greek and Latin Church Fathers, as well as a wide range of papers and letters belonging to classical scholars.
Highlights of the collection
The Townley Homer is one of the most important manuscripts of Homer’s Iliad. Written in Constantinople, probably in 1059, it contains extensive annotations and marginalia (known as scholia) explaining and interpreting Homer’s poem. Burney purchased this manuscript for £620 at an auction in 1814.
Hellenistic and Byzantine treatises on warfare saw a resurgence in popularity in the Renaissance, when they were copied, along with detailed diagrams, in Western Europe. This manuscript is one of the finest examples of the genre, with many coloured drawings throughout.
Statius, Thebaid and Achilleid
This richly-illuminated manuscript of Statius’ Thebaid and Achilleid is the work of several illuminators active in France at the beginning of the 15th century. It is testimony to the ongoing popularity of an author who has been (until very recently) somewhat neglected by modern critics and readers.
A French translation of Curtius Rufus’ History of Alexander the Great
Tales of Alexander the Great have had enduring appeal since antiquity. The History written by the Latin author Curtius Rufus proved particularly popular in the Renaissance, and was translated into French by Vasco da Lucena as Les faize d'Alexandre. This manuscript is to be attributed to the illuminator known as the Master of the Vienna Chroniques d'Angleterre, and an assistant, perhaps the Master of the Harley Froissart.
Catalogues and access to the Burney manuscripts
A printed catalogue (in Latin) of the Burney manuscripts was published in 1840:
- Catalogue of Manuscripts in the British Museum, New Series, vol. I, part 2. The Burney Manuscripts (London, 1840). Bound and indexed jointly with the Arundel MSS.
The Greek manuscripts were catalogued more recently in
- The British Library Summary Catalogue of Greek Manuscripts, vol. I (London, 1999).
The majority of Burney’s Greek manuscripts have been digitised in full, and can be viewed on Digitised Manuscripts. Selected images for many of the Greek and Latin manuscripts can be viewed on the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts. An ongoing project is updating the catalogue entries for the remaining items in the main British Library Archives and Manuscripts catalogue.
Further information about Burney and his manuscripts
A more detailed guide to Burney, his life, and his manuscripts, can be found in a virtual exhibition on the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts website.
- Cillian O'Hogan
26 March 2015
Greek Manuscripts Digitisation Project: The final seventy-five manuscripts go online
The third phase of the Greek Manuscripts Digitisation Project has now drawn to a close. In this update, we give details of the last manuscripts to be digitised in this phase. In the coming weeks, a number of additional posts will provide guides to specific themes and topics within the collection, and further outreach projects relating to the Greek manuscripts will be developed over the next year. We are most grateful to the generous benefactors who have supported the project, especially the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and also many others, including the A. G. Leventis Foundation, Sam Fogg, the Sylvia Ioannou Foundation, the Thriplow Charitable Trust, and the Friends of the British Library.
We would also like to thank the many colleagues in the Library who contributed to this phase, especially Ann Tomalak, from Conservation; Neil McCowlen, Kristin Phelps, and Alex White, from Imaging Services; and Sarah J. Biggs and James Freeman, from Ancient, Medieval, and Early Modern Manuscripts. Their hard work (outlined in blogs here, here, and here) was essential to the timely completion of the project.
Add MS 34060, Collections of canons, with theological, liturgical, and historical pieces, and a few letters bearing on the relations between the Eastern and Western Churches. 12th and 15th centuries.
Add MS 39584, Parchment roll containing Ἀκολουθία τῶν Ἐγκαινίων: Office for the dedication of a church, with connected or similar offices. 14th century.
Add MS 39613, John Chrysostom, Divine Liturgy, in a Latin translation, ff 2r-29v, followed by the Greek original, ff 30r-59r. The Latin text differs from that in printed editions. France, probably Paris, between 1502 and 1506. Illuminated initials (ff 2r, 30r) and border (f 2r) of late French style. 16th century binding of light brown leather, blind-tooled, the panel formed by fillets alternating with four rows of impressions of a stamp of interlaced arcs of lattice work, five dots within the interlacement. The border is formed of lozenges enclosing roses. Brass clasps (one broken). Gilt and gauffred edges. The boards are from 16th century printed books: a Latin grammar with examples in French, a Latin servicebook, and another book in French.
Add MS 40755, The Divine Liturgies. Illuminated headpieces on ff 2r, 21r, and 46r, containing figures of Saints John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, and Gregory, standing under arches surrounded by a decorative border. An unfinished miniature of St Basil occurs on f 61r. Historiated initials on ff 9v, 14v, 19r, 27v, 28r, 31r, 44r, and numerous initials in gold and colours throughout. Written by the scribe Michael at the request of the patriarch Macarius in 1600, at the monastery of the Virgin at Demitrash, near Brusa. The former (17th-century) binding of crimson velvet over millboard with striped linen beneath, is kept separately.
Add MS 41660, Works by Ephraem the Syrian. 11th-12th century. A former 17th-18th century binding of yellow-brown blind-stamped leather over wooden boards is preserved separately under Add MS 41660/1.
Add MS 82951, Justin Martyr, Opera. Created in Venice in 1541, probably at the request of Guillaume Pelicier.
Add MS 82952, Maximus the Confessor, Preface to Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite; Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, De caelesti hierarchia and De divinis nominibus; David the Invincible, Prolegomena Philosophiae. Italy, 16th century.
Add MS 82953, Pseudo-Gregentius, Dialexis, and a collection of extracts from the Old Testament. 16th century.
Arundel MS 529, Theological extracts and letters, many relating to the Ecumenical Councils. Palimpsest, re-using at least five older manuscripts. Italy, S. (Salento, perhaps Otranto or Gallipoli). Dated 7 June 1111.
Arundel MS 539, Eusebius of Caesarea, Historia Ecclesiastica. Decorated headpieces in red and black ink (ff 2r, 164r). Small simple black initials highlighted in red. 1st half of the 16th century.
Arundel MS 542, Works of St John Chrysostom (some now attributed to Severianus Gabalensis). 10th century. Large foliate, geometric, or decorated headpieces in colours and gold with enclosed titles in red majuscules, and large coloured initials below at the beginning of texts. Simple headpiece with titles in red uncials, and large decorated initials in colour. Simple endpieces. Small initials in brown. Marginal drawing of a cross (f 223r). The old Arundel binding is kept separately as Arundel MS 542/1.
Arundel MS 543, St John Chrysostom, In Matthaeum homiliae. 11th century. 3 pink foliate headpieces and large decorated pink initials (ff 138v, 180v, and 187v) added in the 13th century as replacement folios. Original simple brown headpieces, and small simple pink or brown initials.
Arundel MS 550, Notebook of Johannes Cuno, containing a number of extracts from Greek and Latin authors, notes on grammar and metre, and other items. Italy, N. (Padua), c. 1506-1508.
Burney MS 34, Catena on the Octateuch (Rahlfs 424), and additional theological texts. Italy, N. E. (Veneto?), mid-16th century.
Burney MS 35, Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Interpretatio in Psalmos. Italy, Central. Written during Lent 1548.
Burney MS 44, Lives of martyrs celebrated from 4 to 31 Dec, in two volumes, Burney MS 44/1 and Burney MS 44/2. All except that for St John of Damascus are in the versions attributed to Symeon Metaphrastes. Completed in July 1184. Foliage headpiece, in red and brown (volume I, f 1r). Other simple headpieces. Large red initials, some decorated with foliate shapes. Small red or gold initials.
Burney MS 46, Works of Athanasius of Alexandria, in two volumes, Burney MS 46/1 and Burney MS 46/2. 2nd half of the 11th century-1st half of the 12th century.
Burney MS 47, St John Chrysostom, In Joannem (homiliae 1-45). Illuminated headpieces at the beginning of homilies 1-17. 11th century.
Burney MS 48, Commentaries of St John Chrysostom on the Pauline letters, followed by the Catholic Epistles (Gregory-Aland 643; Scrivener act 225; von Soden α 1402, X40), in two volumes, Burney MS 48/1 and Burney MS 48/2. 11th-12th century.
Burney MS 49, Homilies of St John Chrysostom on selected Pauline Epistles. Eastern Mediterranean (Corfu), 1430.
Burney MS 50, Apophthegmata Patrum (Collectio alphabetica), in two volumes, Burney MS 50/1 and Burney MS 50/2. Eastern Mediterranean (Crete) 1361-1362.
Burney MS 51, Two fragments of the works of St Gregory of Nazianzus, the first dating from the late 10th or 11th century, the second dating from the 14th century. Fragment I possibly from Constantinople.
Burney MS 52, Homilies and sermons of St Gregory of Nyssa. 12th-13th century.
Burney MS 53, Patristic miscellany, containing texts by Origen, Eustathius, Gregory of Nyssa, and the emperor Zeno. Italy, S. (Naples) or Central (Rome), c. 1580.
Burney MS 54, Collection of liturgical readings, prayers, verses, and tables. Includes the Liturgies of John Chrysostom and Basil of Caesarea. Eastern Mediterranean (Ephesus?) 1573. 7 diagrams, including the palms of hands relating to the cycles of the sun and the moon, stylised crosses, and geometric shapes (ff 2v, 4r, 5v, 6r, 49r, 49v, 51r). 6 architectural frames of a rounded arch framing a blank space (ff 16v, 18v, 20v, 24v (unfinished), 29v, 36v). Foliate headpieces in colours with birds and plants on gold grounds (ff 54r, 80r). Other foliate, woven, or geometric headpieces (ff 12r, 16r, 18r, 20r, 24r, 117v, 119r, 133v, 148r) in colours. Large zoomorphic initials, usually of birds in blue and red, or blue, red, and green. Large red or brown initials, many of or with foliate forms, some with other colours. Small red or brown initials. Knotted decorative forms.
Burney MS 73, Demetrius Cydones, Homily on St Lawrence (BHG3 978), followed by notes on the history of Jerusalem in Latin. Italy, N.?, 4th quarter of the 15th century.
Burney MS 76, Theodore Gaza, Introductio grammatica, Book I. Paris, 2nd half of the 15th century.
Burney MS 80, Heraclides Lembus' extracts from Aristotle, Politeia, extracts from Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, and Aelian, De natura animalium, and Epictetus, Enchiridion. 2nd half of the 16th century.
Burney MS 81, Heron of Alexandria, Pneumatica, with extensive Latin marginal annotations and many pen diagrams. Italy, mid-16th century.
Burney MS 87, Isocrates, Ad Nicoclem (TLG 0010.013), imperfect, with interlinear Latin translation. Italy, Central (Rome), 4th quarter of the 16th century-1st quarter of the 17th century.
Burney MS 94, Grammatical and medical treatises, including works by Manuel Moschopoulos, Thomas Magister, Rufus of Ephesus, and Oribasius of Pergamon. Italy, N. E. (Venice), 2nd half of the 15th century.
Burney MS 99, Greek compositions by Sir Ralph Winwood (b. 1562/3, d. 1617). England (Oxford), written between 1578 and 1589.
Burney MS 104. Commentary on and introduction to Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos. Written in 1543, possibly in Paris.
Burney MS 105, Pappas of Alexandria, Synagoge, imperfect, including extracts from the Mechanica of Heron of Alexandria. Italy, 2nd half of the 16th century.
Burney MS 112, 113, and 114, Religious texts copied by Matthew, Metropolites of Ephesus, in three volumes. Eastern Mediterranean (Ephesus), 2nd quarter of the 14th century.
Burney MS 127, Nicolas Floyd of Winchester College, Ραψῳδία βιβλικὰ. Passages from the Bible converted into Greek and Latin parallel verses. Winchester, 1652.
Burney MS 402, Collection of Greek and Latin inscriptions copied by Anthony Askew, M.D., in the Levant and Greece, with notes on their situation, size, state of preservation, etc. Completed on 24 January 1748.
Burney MS 408, Palimpsest, the upper (14th-century) text being homilies of St John Chrysostom on Matthew and John, and the lower fragments of a 10th century Gospel lectionary (Gregory-Aland l 338).
Egerton MS 265, Collection of novellae and other legal texts by Emperors Leo VI the Wise, Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, Nicephorus II Phocas, Cosmas Magister and Eustathius Romaeus. 15th century.
Egerton MS 266, Michael Attaliates, Πόνημα νομικὸν ἤτοι σύνοψις πραγματική (TLG 3079.002). The text from f 45r onwards differs from that in the TLG. The copyist writes on f 56r that the prototype was imperfect: 'τοῦτο περισσὸν ἦν, ἔλιπε δὲ τὸ τέλος'. Marginal comments (mainly in Greek, and a few in Latin) have been added throughout the text by at least two later hands. 15th century.
Egerton MS 622, Poems by Gregory of Nazianzus with interlinear glosses in the form of a mathematarion, and a dictionary copied and compiled by Basileios Μοσκοβόρρωτος. 16th century, incorporating parts of book printed in 1727.
Egerton MS 2339, Patristic florilegium; Thekaras, Horologion and hymns; prayers, imperfect. 16th century.
Egerton MS 2474, Collection of various texts from Pseudo-Plutarch, Synesius of Cyrene, Amphilochius of Iconium, Gregory of Nazianzus, Nicetas David and John Zonaras, with interlinear glosses and marginal scholia. Italy?, 17th century.
Egerton MS 2610, Four Gospels (Gregory-Aland 700). Canon tables in architectural frames in gold and colours (ff 3v-4r, 5v-6r, 7v-8r, 9v-10r). 4 miniatures of Evangelist portraits in colours on gold grounds (ff 12v, 91v, 144v, 230v). Large headpieces in colours and gold, with foliate patterns and birds (f 13r), and 4 large initials in colours and gold, at the beginning of the Gospels (ff 13r, 92r, 145r, 231r). Initials in gold. Simple head- and tailpieces in gold. Chrysography. 11th century.
Egerton MS 2626, Sozomen, Historia ecclesiastica (TLG 2048.001); Evagrius Scholasticus, Historia ecclesiastica (TLG 2733.001). Italy, Central (Rome), 1524.
Egerton MS 2707, Collection of ecclesiastical canons and other related texts. 13th century.
Egerton MS 2783, Four Gospels, imperfect (Gregory-Aland 714). 12th-13th century. 7 full-page miniatures in colours on gold grounds of the symbols of the Evangelists and Evangelist portraits (lacking a portrait of Luke) (ff 13r, 13v, 106r, 106v, 166v, 264r, 264v). Canon tables in red in frames, with foliate decoration (ff 5r-9v). Large headpieces in red with foliate patterns. Large initials in red with penwork decoration. Small initials in red. Simple headpieces in red. Text and rubrics in red. 18th century binding of brown stamped leather, with blind tooling and gold edges. On the inside of each cover there is a portion of a 13th-century manuscript of the Sententiæ of Peter Lombard.
Egerton MS 3155, Leitourgikon, containing the Liturgies of St John Chrysostom (ff 3r-21r), St Basil the Great (ff 22r-48r), and the Presanctified (ff 49r-58v). Eastern Mediterranean (Constantinople), 1644.
Egerton MS 3157, Nicephorus Callistus Xanthopulus, Synaxaria; Ephraem the Syrian, Sermo in pulcherrimum Ioseph, imperfect. 4th quarter of the 14th century. 33 drawings in ink and watercolours. Headpieces in brown and red, some with braided decoration. Headpiece and large decorated initial in watercolours (f 96r). Simple endpieces in red or brown. Initials in red, some with penwork decoration. Rubrics in red. The former contemporary binding of wooden boards and tooled leather, with metal bosses on each side kept separately as Egerton MS 3157/1.
Harley MS 5785, Gospel Lectionary (Gregory-Aland l 151), with ecphonetic notation. 12th century. 3 evangelist portraits in colours and gold of Matthew, Mark, and Luke (ff 66v, 143v, 187v). 18 headpieces in colours and gold with animals, birds, and/or floral and foliate motifs (ff 1r, 67r, 104r, 144r, 202v, 234r, 246r, 274r, 281r, 298v, 313r, 320v, 325v, 328v, 332r, 340r, 344r, 353r). 1 very large initial in colours and gold (f 289v). Major initials in colours and gold, some with anthropomorphic designs (e.g. 3v). Titles in gold capitals written over red. Marginal notations in red.
Harley MS 5796, New Testament (Gregory-Aland 444; Scrivener evan. 444, Act. 153, Paul 240; von Soden δ 551). 1st half of the 15th century. Headpieces with geometric and foliate decoration and initials with foliate decoration in gold and/or colours (ff 2r, 44r, 73r, 121r, 163r). Titles in display capitals in gold or red (ff 2r, 44r, 73r, 121r, 163r). Rubrics, decorated initials and scholia in red.
Harley MS 7509, Collection of copies of Greek inscriptions made in Asia Minor by William Sherard (1659-1728), Consul for the Turkey Company at Smyrna. 1st quarter of the 18th century.
Lansdowne MS 355, Miscellaneous letters of Greek patriarchs, metropolitans, etc., together with letters to John Covel, D.D. and his copies and drafts. 1652-1701.
Royal MS 1 B II, Old Testament: Major and Minor Prophets of the Septuagint version (Rahlfs 22). 1st quarter of the 12th century. Headpieces, initials and titles in carmine ink.
Royal MS 2 A VI, Psalter (Rahlfs 175). 12th century. Illuminated headpieces at the start of Psalms 1 and 77 (ff 22r, 154r).
Royal MS 16 C XI, Galen, De diebus decretoriis libri III. Italy, 1st quarter of the 16th century.
Royal MS 16 C XII,Astronomical works. 1544-3rd quarter of the 16th century.
Royal MS 16 C XIII, Photius, Bibliotheca Codex 239, and [Andronicus], De Passionibus. 2nd half of the 16th century.
Royal MS 16 C XV, Two works attributed to Gregory of Nyssa, with marginal notes by Isaac Casaubon and Patrick Young. 3rd quarter of the 16th century. Also digitised is the old Royal binding of this manuscript, now held as Royal MS 16 C XV/1.
Royal MS 16 C XVI, Artemidorus Capito, De urinis, and Hippocrates, Prognosticon, preceded by medical notes, mostly in Latin. 1st quarter of the 16th century, Germany?
Royal MS 16 D I, Works by or attributed to St Gregory of Nyssa. 13th century.
Royal MS 16 D III A and B, John Tzetzes, Antehomerica, with an imperfect Latin translation by Petrus Morellus. 4th quarter of the 16th century, France (Loches). Formerly owned by Isaac Casaubon.
Royal MS 16 D IV, Indices to the scholia of Tzetzes on Lycophron. Italy, 4th quarter of the 16th century.
Royal MS 16 D V, St Gregory of Nazianzus, Contra Julianum imperatorem 1-2 (Orationes 4-5). Italy, Central (Rome), 2nd half of the 16th century.
Royal MS 16 D VI, St Gregory of Nazianzus, Orationes 7, 8, 18, and 34, with the commentary of Elias of Crete. Italy, Central (Rome), 2nd half of the 16th century.
Royal MS 16 D VIII, Acts of the First Council of Nicaea, compiled by Gelasius of Cyzicus, followed by two works by Athanasius. Italy, 4th quarter of the 16th century.
Royal MS 16 D XI, St Gregory of Nyssa, selected works. Italy, N. (Venice or Trento), 2nd half of the 16th century.
Royal MS 16 D XV, Acts of the Second Council of Nicaea. Italy, N. (Venice or Trento), 3rd quarter of the 16th century.
Royal MS 16 D XVII, Clement of Alexandria, Paedagogus, Hymnus Christi servatoris, and an anonymous iambic hymn. 1st half of the 16th century.
Royal MS 16 D XVIII, Eustathius Macrembolites, Hysmene et Hysmenias; Achilles Tatius, Leucippe et Clitophon; and [Eustathius Antiochenus], Commentarius in hexaemeron. The works are from three separate manuscripts, bound together at some point after 1697. 1st half of the 16th century.
Sloane MS 324, Michael Apostolis, Oratio ad Discipulos Suos, autograph copy. Eastern Mediterranean (Crete), 1460?
Sloane MS 745, Hippiatrica or Horse Medicine. 13th century.
Sloane MS 1835, Extracts from Evagrius Scholasticus, Historia Ecclesiastica (TLG 2733.001; CPG 7500), with Latin translations by Petrus Joannes Olivarius, preceded by his dedication to Henry VIII. England?, 2nd quarter of the 16th century.
- Cillian O’Hogan
29 January 2015
Greek Manuscripts Digitisation Project: Another 30 Manuscripts Go Online!
In our penultimate Greek Manuscripts Digitisation Project update, we are very glad to announce that another 30 manuscripts have been digitised. There are great riches to be found in this month’s update, particularly for those with interests in theological treatises. Pride of place this month must go to a very fine 11th-century copy of the Orationes of Gregory of Nazianzus, which also incorporates some of the scholia on Gregory attributed to Nonnus. Byzantine learning is well represented by a 15th-century copy of Manuel Moschopoulos’ grammatical treatise, the Erotemata, written by the prolific scribe George Baiophoros in Constantinople, which is preserved in a contemporary binding. More of the many classical manuscripts collected by Charles Burney are also included in this month’s group of uploads, with Burney 75 being a particularly important collection of classical and Byzantine epistolography. Additionally, another group of Biblical manuscripts are to be found in the list below. Finally, perhaps the most curious item of the month is Harley MS 952. Titled Ilias in nuce, (“The Iliad in a nutshell”) or Homeri φληάς (“The Flead”), it is a late 17th-century mock epic poem written in Homeric Greek on the subject of fleas in Glamorgan.
This project has been generously funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and many others, including the A. G. Leventis Foundation, Sam Fogg, the Sylvia Ioannou Foundation, the Thriplow Charitable Trust, and the Friends of the British Library.
Add MS 27359, John Zonaras, Commentary on the Canons from the Octoechos (in its longer version), imperfect at the beginning and at the end. Completed in 1252, this is one of the earliest dated Greek manuscripts written on Western paper.
Add MS 27865, Sticherarion, imperfect and badly mutilated. 2nd half of the 13th century, Ioannina.
Add MS 32011, Euchologion. 13th century.
Add MS 36589, Lives of Saints for the month of February, and patristic texts. 12th century.
Add MS 39588, Canticles and other Services, imperfect (Rahlfs 1091). According to Rahlfs, this manuscript and Add MS 39587 (Parham MS V) were originally a single manuscript. ff 41-49 are fragments not part of the original manuscript. Initials and decorated headpieces in red. Two rough drawings on f 40v. 12th century.
Add MS 39605, Sermons on the Gospels of John and Matthew, possibly by Metrophanes of Smyrna. Early 10th century.
Add MS 39606, Gregory of Nazianzus, Orationes, followed by extracts from Pseudo-Nonnus, Scholia mythologica. Illuminated head-pieces and initials, paragraph initials in gold. On f 1v is a full-page miniature, much-rubbed, of Gregory seated on Christ's right, each with a book. 11th century.
Add MS 39611, Heirmologion, with musical notation, arranged according to ἤχοι or modes. Four quires, containing the first ἤχος and the first ἤχος πλάγιος, are lost.
Add MS 39618, Theological and religious works, including [Athanasius], Quaestiones ad Antiochum ducem (a longer version of Quaestio 1 than that printed in the Patrologia Graeca), John Climacus Scala Paradisi, and other texts. 16th century. Also digitised is the former (19th-century) binding.
Add MS 40726, Manual of Byzantine ecclesiastical painting, similar to that written by Dionysius of Fourna, Ἑρμηνεία τῆς ζωγραφικῆς τέχνης (edited by Papadopoulos-Kerameus 1909). Two distinct manuscripts (the division is at f 68), in different hands and with different original pagination, are bound together to form the present volume. 18th century.
Add MS 41180, Stichera and Canons on the weekdays, followed by two consecutive leaves from an earlier Gospel book (Gregory-Aland 2485). 12th-13th century.
Add MS 43790 A, Fragment of a Menaion for 13-29 November, imperfect. 13th century.
Add MS 43790 B, Fragments of Greek liturgical manuscripts, including Gregory-Aland l 2373, 2374, and 2375. 11th-14th centuries.
Add MS 64797, Manuel Moschopoulos, Erotemata. Palimpsest, the undertext dating from 11th-12th cent. and presrving fragments of lives of the saints. f 63r contains fragments from the life of Stephen the Younger by Stephen the Deacon (PG 100:1069-1186), specifically 1108C. 1st half of the 15th century, copied at the Monastery of Prodromos Petra in Constantinople by Georgios Baiophoros. In a contemporary binding of blind-stamped leather over wooden boards with raised spine.
Add MS 82954, Nikolaos Malaxos, Services in Honour of St Luke the Evangelist. Illuminated headpieces and rubricated initials. 16th century.
Arundel MS 527, John Koukouzeles and others, Anagrammatismoi for the principal feasts, and hymns, tropes, and other theological miscellanea. Musical notation (with neumes). 3rd quarter of the 15th century.
Burney MS 21, Four Gospels (Gregory-Aland 484; Scrivener evan. 571; von Soden ε 322), adapted for liturgical use. Illuminated headpieces and initials (ff 9r, 76r, 121r, 197r). Written in 1291-92 by the scribe Θεόδωρος ῾Αγιοπετρίτης for the monk Gerasimos, grand sceuophylax of the monastery τοῦ Φιλοκάλου in Thessalonica.
Burney MS 22, Gospel Lectionary (Gregory-Aland l 184; Scrivener evst. 259). Written on Cyprus in 1319.
Burney MS 23, Four Gospels adapted for liturgical use (Gregory-Aland 485; Scrivener evan. 572; von Soden ε 247), imperfect. Coloured headpieces and initials (ff 22r, 99r, 149r, 207r). 12th century.
Burney MS 45, Homilies on the Gospels for each Sunday of the ecclesiastical year collected by Philotheos Kokkinos, Patriarch of Constantinople. Italy, N. E. (Venice) or Eastern Mediterranean (Crete), 3rd quarter of the 16th century.
Burney MS 55, Manuel Malaxos, Nomocanon, and other texts. 2nd half of the 16th century.
Burney MS 60, Apparatus Bellicus. 4th quarter of the 16th century.
Burney MS 72, Manuel Chrysoloras, Erotemata, with Latin interlinear and marginal glosses, followed by a Latin commentary on the work, and other short works. 4th quarter of the 15th century.
Burney MS 75, Letters by or attributed to classical and Byzantine figures, including Libanius, Nicholas Cabasilas, Brutus, Demetrius Cydones, Gregory of Nazianzus, and others. Written in part by the scribe Δημήτριος Ραοὺλ Καβάκης (ff 138r-144v, 177r-178v); formerly erroneously ascribed to Ἰωάσαφ. Greece (Mistra) or Italy, Central (Rome), mid-15th century.
Burney MS 78, Aphthonius and Hermogenes, with prologues and scholia by Maximus Planudes. Italy, N. E. (Venice) or Eastern Mediterranean, 4th quarter of the 14th century-1st quarter of the 15th century.
Burney MS 84, Proclus of Athens, In Platonis Alcibiadem I (TLG 4036.007), imperfect. Italy, N.? 4th quarter of the 16th century.
Burney MS 93, Manuel Moschopoulos, Erotemata, imperfect. Italy, Central or N., 4th quarter of the 15th century.
Egerton MS 2163, Gospel Lectionary with ekphonetic notation (Gregory-Aland l 339; Scrivener evst. 59). 1 full-page miniature of Christ and the four Evangelists in colours on a gold ground (f 1v). 5 headpieces in colours and gold (ff 2r, 32r, 82r, 147r, 200v). Large initials in gold, or in gold and colours. Simple endpieces in gold. Chrysography. Accents in red. 2nd half of the 12th century, possibly produced at Constantinople.
Egerton MS 3046, Gospel Lectionary (Gregory-Aland l 238; Scrivener evst. 254), with extensive notes dated 1875 by John Ruskin mostly relating to the script, imperfect and misbound. Small headpieces in gold. Large initials in colours and gold in decorated forms. Initials in gold over red. Accents in red. Writing in gold. Excised headpiece (f 2r, the offset on f 155v). Late 11th-early 12th century.
Harley MS 952, Ilias in Nuce sive Homeri φληάς vel skipsodia, a parodic epic poem in Homeric Greek about fleas in Glamorgan. Wales (Glamorgan?), c. 1670.
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- Cillian O’Hogan
03 January 2015
Cicero's Map to the Stars
Marcus Tullius Cicero, born on 3 January 106 BC, bestrides Latin literature like a colossus. The combination of an immense output of writings and a strong afterlife in the schools of late antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance, means that more manuscripts of Cicero’s work survive than of any other classical Latin author. Only Augustine of Hippo can claim a more fertile manuscript tradition.
Cicero’s popularity should come as no surprise. His speeches and rhetorical treatises (together with the anonymous Rhetorica ad Herennium, erroneously attributed to Cicero) were the cornerstone of Latin education for generations. Ciceronian style became the benchmark against which other Latin prose was measured. During the Renaissance, the extent to which Cicero should be followed as a model was a matter of fierce debate.
In addition to his rhetorical works, Cicero’s letters give a great insight into the world of the late Roman Republic – both the public world, in which he was of course actively involved, and everyday private life. Finally, there is Cicero’s great output of philosophical literature. Not only did this have the virtue of contributing greatly to the development of a Latin vocabulary for philosophical terms, it also constitutes a serious advancement in philosophical learning in itself. Indeed, Cicero’s philosophical works were probably the most popular of his works during the Middle Ages, and provided important points of entry into Greek philosophy for medieval scholars without any knowledge of Greek.
One part of Cicero’s output that has traditionally been less highly valued has been his poetry. Partly because of one notorious verse, o fortunam natam me consule Romam (“Happy Rome, born when I was consul”), and partly because he was eclipsed by the astonishing virtuosity achieved by the poets of the next generation (especially Catullus and Lucretius), it is only recently that scholars have begun to turn a more sympathetic eye to Cicero’s verse.
The situation was different in the Middle Ages, however, and one of Cicero’s most popular works was a translation of the Phaenomena of the Hellenistic poet Aratus. This poem, which describes the constellations, was hugely popular in antiquity, and was repeatedly translated into Latin - by Cicero, Germanicus (grand-nephew of Augustus and father of Caligula), and Varro of Atax in the first century BC alone. Cicero prepared his version of the poem in the 80s BC, when he was in his late teens or early 20s.
Astronomical treatises continued to be hugely popular in the Middle Ages, and are frequently to be found in miscellaneous manuscripts. We are fortunate at the British Library to have two particularly fine decorated manuscripts of Cicero’s Aratea: Harley MS 647, and Harley MS 2506.
The Ciceronian section of Harley 647 was created in Northern France, around 820. The manuscript is a marvel: Cicero’s text is presented at the bottom of each page, accompanied by a drawing of the relevant constellation. Yet these drawings are formed out of words, taken from the relevant passages of the Astronomica of Hyginus. (You can read more about such text-pictures in a recent blog post by Erik Kwakkel). The manuscript later travelled to the Abbey of Saint Augustine at Canterbury. Three descendants of this manuscript are also now in the British Library: Cotton MS Tiberius C I, Cotton MS Tiberius B V, and Harley 2506.
Harley 2506 is laid out a little differently, however. Here, the drawings are rather more traditional, and the text of Hyginus is kept separate (at the beginning of the volume). Attributed to one of the artists of the Ramsey Psalter, it was created at Fleury probably in around the 990s, before being brought to England. It would be interesting to know what Cicero would have made of the fact that, of all of his works, it was the Aratea that inspired the greatest creativity in medieval scribes and illuminators.
Cillian O’Hogan
06 November 2014
Greek Digitisation Project update: 40 manuscripts newly uploaded
We have now passed the half-way point of this phase of the Greek Manuscripts Digitisation Project, generously funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and many others, including the A. G. Leventis Foundation, Sam Fogg, the Sylvia Ioannou Foundation, the Thriplow Charitable Trust, and the Friends of the British Library. What treasures are in store for you this month? To begin with, there are quite a few interesting 17th- and 18th-century items to look at, including two very fine 18th-century charters, with seals intact, an iconographic sketch-book (Add MS 43868), and a fascinating Greek translation of an account of the siege of Vienna in 1683 (Add MS 38890). We continue to upload some really exciting Greek bindings – of particular note here are Add MS 24372 and Add MS 36823. A number of scrolls have also been uploaded, mostly containing the Liturgy of Basil of Caesarea. A number of Biblical manuscripts are included, too, but this month two manuscripts of classical authors take pride of place: Harley MS 5600, a stunning manuscript of the Iliad from 15th-century Florence, and Burney MS 111, a lavishly decorated copy of Ptolemy’s Geographia.
Add Ch 76659, Confirmations by the Patriarch of Constantinople of the stavropegiacal rights of the Monastery of Theotokos Chrysopodariotissa near Kalanos, in the province of Patras in the Peloponnese, December 1786.
Add Ch 76660, Confirmations by the Patriarch of Constantinople of the stavropegiacal rights of the Monastery of Theotokos Chrysopodariotissa near Kalanos, in the province of Patras in the Peloponnese, March 1798.
Add MS 22749, Basil of Caesarea, Divine Liturgy, on a parchment scroll. 12th century.
Add MS 24372, Gregory of Nazianzus, Orationes; with additional leaves inserted in the 12th century taken from Symeon Metaphrastes, Passio S. Clementis Admirabilis et S. Agathangeli (BHG 353), imperfect. 11th century. Illuminated head-pieces, gilt titles and initials. Stamped leather on wooden sides and bosses, possibly the original binding, but rebacked in the 19th century, at which time the inner boards were overlaid with goatskin.
Add MS 24381, Gregory of Nazianzus, Orationes, most being imperfect at the beginning, owing to miniatures which have been torn out. Three miniatures remain on ff 2r, 41v, and 52r. One wooden board from an earlier (15th-century?) binding survives and is kept separately as Add MS 24381/1. Written in 1079 or 1088, probably at Constantinople: the hand has been identified as that of Michael, a monk at the monastery of Christ Panoikteirmon in Constantinople.
Add MS 27563, Basil of Caesarea, Divine Liturgy, on a parchment scroll. 14th century.
Add MS 27564, Basil of Caesarea, Divine Liturgy, on a parchment scroll. 14th century.
Add MS 28823, John Zonaras, Commentary on the Canons of the Apostles, of the ecumenical and local councils and of the Fathers, and related texts. 4th quarter of the 14th century.
Add MS 28825, Greek translation of Ephraem the Syrian, Homilies, imperfect, and other patristic texts, including Isaiah of Gaza, Asceticon, Neilos of Ankara, Epistola ad Diaconum Achillium. Marcian of Bethlehem, and John of Lycopolis. 12th century.
Add MS 33318, Menaion for the month of September, imperfect. f 1 should follow f 185. The text varies considerably from that of modern printed editions. 4th quarter of the 14th century.
Add MS 34554, Lives of saints and theological discourses, imperfect. 16th century.
Add MS 34820, Divine Liturgy of St Basil, imperfect at beginning and end. inc. θυσιαστήριον εἰς ὁσμὴν εὐωδίας, expl. Πλήρωμα Πνεύματος ἁγίου. With a wooden roller attached. 14th century.
Add MS 35212, John Chrysostom, In Genesim homiliae 10-17, imperfect. 11th century.
Add MS 36635, Lives of Saints, for 9-17 January, mostly by Symeon Metaphrastes. 12th century. Illuminated headpieces and initials.
Add MS 36636, Lives of Saints, for 3-13 November, mostly by Symeon Metaphrastes. 11th century. Historiated initials and decorated headpieces.
Add MS 36654, Lives of Saints for the month of October, mostly by Symeon Metaphrastes. The manuscript ends with the text set out in cruciform with the letters of the Victorious Cross set in the angles. An inscription on f 215v records that it was brought to the Euergetis Monastery in Constantinople in 1103, and was probably created around the same time.
Add MS 36669, Apophthegmata Patrum: a compilation of the Greek Church Fathers, bearing the title Λειμὼν ἐνθάδε καρπῶν πεπληρωμένος. 14th century. In a 17th-century binding of boards covered with leather with gilt ornament, the centrepiece representing on the upper cover the Crucifixion, on the lower cover David and the angel of the Lord.
Add MS 36754, Collection of homilies by Basil of Caesarea and John Chrysostom, imperfect and mutilated. 11th century.
Add MS 36821, Works of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, with the marginal commentary of Maximus the Confessor, and additional texts relating to Pseudo-Dionysius. 1st half of the 10th century, possibly copied from an uncial manuscript of Pseudo-Dionysius written by Methodius, future Patriarch of Constantinople, at Rome.
Add MS 36823, Menaion for the months of November and December, imperfect, partly palimpsest. 15th century, Selymbria: donated to the Diocese of Selymbria by the copyist John Chortasmenus. Bound with bare oak wooden boards, with a 19th-century leather spine. Traces of previous leather covering on back board and nail holes from clasps or furniture.
Add MS 38890, Siege of Vienna, Ἀποκλεισμὸς τῆς Βιέννης, an account of the siege by Turks in 1683, translated from Italian into Modern Greek by Jeremias Cacavelas. Written by the priest Nicolas at Bucharest in December 1686, at the request of Constantin Brâncoveanu (b. 1654, d. 1714), later Prince of Wallachia.
Add MS 39608, John Chrysostom, In Genesim homiliae 1-133. 13th century.
Add MS 43868, Iconographic sketch-book, relating mostly to religious subjects. Also included are recipes, biblical quotations and church accounts. Pen and ink sketches, with some colour washes. 18th century.
Burney MS 24, Collation of the Codex Ephesinus (Lambeth Palace Library MS 528, Gregory-Aland 71) by Philip Traherne. c 1679.
Burney MS 56, Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, 2nd half of the 16th century.
Burney MS 57, Liturgy of St Basil of Caesarea, 2nd half of the 16th century.
Burney MS 58, Ioannes Sphaciotas, letters and offices. Corcyra, 17th century.
Burney MS 100, Works of Aristotle, preceded by Porphyrius, Isagoge. Italy, N? 1st half of the 15th century.
Burney MS 111, Ptolemy, Geographia, with many diagrams and coloured maps, all except that on f 1v being later fifteenth-century replacements on inserted leaves. 4th quarter of the 14th century-1st quarter of the 15th century.
Egerton MS 2743, Menaion, imperfect, from the middle of 16 March until 14 August, with Gospel Lections (Gregory-Aland l 940). Decorated headpieces and initials. 13th century.
Egerton MS 2744, Menaion for the months June, July and August. Imperfect at the beginning and end, some leaves are missing from the body of the volume. 12th century, written at Epirus.
Egerton MS 2745, Gospel Lectionary (Gregory-Aland l 941), imperfect, with ekphonetic notation in some lections: ff 1v-23v, 60r-61r, 62v-66r, 67v-68r, 69v-70r, 71r-121r. 12th century.
Egerton MS 2785, Four Gospels (Gregory-Aland 715; Scrivener evan. 564; von Soden ε 364). Decorated headpieces and initials. 13th century.
Harley MS 5600, Homer, Iliad, with prefatory material. Florence, completed on 16 May 1466. With a full-page frontispiece in colours and gold on f 15v; a full white vine border in colours and gold on f 16r; 25 white vine initials in colours and gold.
Harley MS 5620, New Testament: Acts and Epistles (Gregory-Aland 322; Scrivener act. 27; von Soden α 550). Decorated headpieces. 16th century.
Kings MS 16, Homer, Iliad. Italy, 1431.
Royal MS 1 B I, New Testament: Acts and Epistles (Gregory-Aland 308; Scrivener Paul. 25, Act. 20; von Soden α 456), with Euthalian prefaces to the Catholic Epistles, imperfect, being partly damaged throughout. 14th century.
Royal MS 12 A VIII, Complimentary verses to Elizabeth I on her Accession Day, 17 Nov., by Robert Twist, alumnus of Westminster School, in Latin and Greek. 1597.
Royal MS 12 A XXVIII, Complimentary verses inviting a visit from Henry, Prince of Wales, by members of Winchester College. Winchester, c 1603-1612.
Royal MS 12 A XLVII, Complimentary addresses in prose and verse to Elizabeth I on her visit to Woodstock and Oxford, 31 August 1566, by members of Oxford University. Oxford, 1566.
Cillian O'Hogan
14 October 2014
Another Greek update: Forty-six more manuscripts online!
It’s time for a monthly progress report on our Greek Manuscripts Digitisation Project, generously funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and many others, including the A. G. Leventis Foundation, Sam Fogg, the Sylvia Ioannou Foundation, the Thriplow Charitable Trust, and the Friends of the British Library. There are some very exciting items in this batch, most notably the famous Codex Crippsianus(Burney MS 95), the most important manuscript for the text of the Minor Attic Orators; Egerton MS 942, a very fine copy of Demosthenes; a 19th-century poem and prose narrative on the Greek Revolution (Add MS 35072); a number of collections of 16th- and 17th-century complimentary verses in Greek and Latin dedicated to members of the Royal Family; and an exciting array of classical and patristic texts.
Add MS 24371, John Chrysostom, Fragments of Homiliae in Matthaeum (58, 70-75, 78-79, 81-83) (TLG 2062.152). 11th century.
Add MS 28824, John Chrysostom, In Genesim homiliae 11-31 (TLG 2062.112), imperfect and mutilated at beginning and end. 12th century.
Add MS 28826, John Climacus, Scala paradisi (TLG 2907.001), imperfect, and Liber ad Pastorem, imperfect. 12th century.
Add MS 28827, Modern Greek paraphrase of Pseudo–Gregentius, Dialexis (TLG 2833.003), imperfect. 16th century.
Add MS 30518, John Chrysostom, In Genesim homiliae 1-11, 21-33 (TLG 2062.112), imperfect. Written about the year 1121.
Add MS 32643, Patristic miscellany, partly palimpsest, with occasional marginal scholia. Includes works by Anastasius of Sinai, Epiphanius of Salamis, Gregory of Nazianzus, Anastasius I of Antioch, John Chrysostom, Hesychius of Jerusalem, and Christopher of Alexandria, as well as Gospel lections (Gregory-Aland l 1234). 12th-14th century.
Add MS 34654, Gregory of Nazianzus, Orationes. 11th century.
Add MS 35072, Prose narrative and poem on the Greek Revolution, by John Laganes of Athens. Wallachia, 1821.
Add MS 36750, John Chrysostom, Ad populum Antiochenum homiliae (TLG 2062.024), imperfect, and Ad illuminandos catecheses 2 (TLG 2062.025), imperfect. 11th century.
Add MS 36753, Florilegium of ancient Greek and patristic authors, entitled Ἀναγνωστικόν. Written in 1198.
Add MS 40749, Offices for St Demetrius Myroblytes and the Great Earthquake, from the Menaion (October 26th). 15th-18th century.
Burney MS 62, Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica, with scholia, vitae, and epigrams. Italy, end of the 15th century, written by the scribe known as the Anonymus Harvardianus.
Burney MS 66, Commentaries on Aristotle by John Philoponus and others. 1st half of the 16th century.
Burney MS 82, Hesiod, Works and Days (TLG 0020.002). Italy, end of the 15th century.
Burney MS 85, Speeches by Isocrates and Lysias, and gnomic literature. Italy, c 1500.
Burney MS 95, Codex Crippsianus, containing speeches by the minor Attic Orators. Constantinople, 1st half of the 14th century.
Burney MS 276, Fragments of Greek and Latin manuscripts, mostly of classical and patristic authors. 11th-17th century.
Egerton MS 942, Demosthenes, Orationes, preceded by Argumenta of Libanius. Full border in colours and gold, with flowers, green parrots, putti, medallions, cameos, and heraldic arms in the lower border. Headpiece in gold, red, and blue, with braided decoration (f 1r). Large historiated initial in colours and gold. 18 large initials in colours and gold with interlace or foliate decoration. Writing in gold. Initials in red with penwork decoration. Simple headpieces in red. Text and apparatus in red. Florence, made for Alexander Farnese (later Pope Paul III) after 1490.
Egerton MS 2624, Thucydides, Historiae (TLG 0003.001) with numerous scholia and a few glosses added later. Florence, 1st half of the 14th century.
Egerton MS 3154, Geoponica (TLG 4080.001) attributed to Cassianus Bassus Scholasticus, imperfect. 16th century.
Royal MS 1 A IX, The Book of Daniel translated into Greek by Hugh Broughton (1549-1612). England, before 1589.
Royal MS 12 A VI, Complimentary verses to Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, on his matriculation at Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1605.
Royal MS 12 A XV, Complimentary verses to Henry, Earl of Arundel, on his return from abroad, by Robert Owen. England, 3rd quarter of the 16th century.
Royal MS 12 A XXIII, Complimentary verses and address to Elizabeth I on her visit to Oxford by Geoffrey Lewis, of Christ Church. Oxford, 1566?
Royal MS 12 A XXX, Complimentary verses to Elizabeth I on her coming to Windsor by members of Eton College. Windsor, 1563.
Royal MS 12 A XLI, Complimentary verses to Elizabeth I by boys of Westminster School. London, 1597.
Royal MS 12 A LV, Complimentary verses to Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, by Israel Brimeld, of New College, Oxford. Oxford, 1603-12.
Royal MS 12 A LX, Complimentary verses to Charles I upon a visit to Winchester, entitled 'Musae Tripudiantes'. Winchester, 1636.
Royal MS 12 A LXVII, Complimentary verses to Elizabeth I on the beginning of her reign by the High Master and boys of St Paul's School. London, c 1573.
Royal MS 16 C II, Charms, prayers, and medical recipes. 4th quarter of the 15th century.
Royal MS 16 C III, Dionysius Periegetes, Orbis descriptio (TLG 0084.001), imperfect. Italy, N., end of the 15th century.
Royal MS 16 C VIII, A translation of the first book of Virgil's Aeneid into Greek hexameters by John Harpsfield, D. D. Oxford, c 1530-1550.
Royal MS 16 C XVII, Harpocration, Lexicon in decem oratores Atticos (1389.001), and Heraclitus, Allegoriae (=Quaestiones Homericae) (TLG 1414.001), imperfect. Possibly written in Italy, end of the 15th century.
Royal MS 16 C XVIII, Scholia on the Greek Anthology of Planudes and Paraphrase of Aristotle's Sophistici Elenchi. In two parts, bound together. Italy, N., end of the 16th century (part 1 contains a colophon dated 1580 in Venice).
Royal MS 16 C XXI, Aristotle, Ethica Nicomachea (TLG 0086.010), with copious Latin marginal notes, ff 3r-130v. Preceded by Latin and Greek notes, with some quotations from Greek authors, ff 1r-2v, and followed by Greek notes on f 131v.Possibly France, S?, 1st half of the 16th century.
Royal MS 16 C XXII, Aristotle, Ethica Nicomachea (TLG 0086.010), Books VIII-IX. Italy, Central, end of the 16th century.
Royal MS 16 C XXIV, Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae (TLG 0008.001), with glosses. Possibly written at Venice, 1st half of the16th century.
Royal MS 16 C XXV, Aristotle, De Anima (TLG 0086.002); Plato, extracts; [Plato], Definitiones (TLG 0059.037); Diogenes Laertius, Vitae Philosophorum (TLG 0004.001), Life of Epimenides. Possibly written in Messina, in the south of Italy, c 1500.
Royal MS 16 D X, Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae (epitome) (TLG 0008.003), with glosses, imperfect. Italy, Central, 1st half of the16th century.
Royal MS 16 D XII, John Tzetzes, Eusebius, Oppian and Hermogenes. Formerly three separate volumes, now bound together. 2nd half of the 16th century.
Royal MS 16 D XIII, Sextus Empiricus, with marginal notes by Isaac Casaubon. Italy, N. (Venice?), 2nd half of the 16th century.
Royal MS 16 D XIV, Works by Dionysius Thrax, George Choeroboscus, Heliodorus, Ammonius, Herodianus, and Gemistus Pletho. Italy, 2nd quarter of the 16th century.
Royal MS 16 D XVI, Polyaenus, Strategemata (TLG 0616.001), with marginal notes. Venice, mid-16th century.
Sloane MS 1774, Euripides, Hippolytus (TLG 0006.038) with marginal scholia in Greek and Latin. Italy, 16th century.
Sloane MS 4087, Fragments from Kalophonic Sticherarion with compositions mainly by Manuel Chrysaphes and John Kladas (the Lampadarios). Greece, 16th-17th century. A detached binding for this manuscript (Sloane MS 4087/1) is also now online.
Yates Thompson MS 50, Aristophanes, with hypotheses, marginal scholia and interlinear glosses. Decorated headpieces. Large decorated initials. End of the 15th century, possibly Venice.
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Cillian O’Hogan
09 October 2014
The Latest, Greatest, Up-To-Datest Giant List of Digitised Manuscripts Hyperlinks
Behold, one and all, a freshly minted spreadsheet that contains a complete list of all the manuscripts uploaded to Digitised Manuscripts by us diligent digitisation devotees. A quite simply staggering 1111 manuscripts are now online for your delectation.
Here is the spreadsheet for you to download: Download BL Medieval and Earlier Digitised Manuscripts Master List 09.10.14
Full-page illuminated miniature of St Luke the Evangelist, from a Gospel lectionary, E. Mediterranean (?Cappadocia) or S. Italy, 4th quarter of the 10th century, Arundel MS 547, f. 94v
The numerologically minded among you might feel more than a slight quiver at this auspicious alignment of four instances of the single digit. Is it confirmation that the BL Medieval blog is the best, the ‘numero uno’ if you will? Is it repeated four times over as both a joyful affirmation of that fact and in synchronicity with this, the fourth hyperlink blog post of the year? And what year is it, readers, but 2014 – the last two digits in perfect harmony with our present total, and prophesying the repetition of ‘1’, ‘4’ times over! Rejoice, O Readers, Rejoice!
Let’s not get carried away, dear friends, for we know that great portents such as these can bring glad tidings but also terrible omens. The sceptics among you are probably thinking, ‘Well, what about the “20” at the beginning of “2014”? He’s rather skipped over that!’ To you doubters, I say only this: if you divide the number 14 into 2 equal parts, you get 7 and 7. Unite those numbers and you get 77. Why is this significant? From today, there are but 77 shopping days until Christmas. I see it now: your mouths agape in horror like the number 0. Weep and lament, O Readers, weep and lament!
James Freeman
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