Codicology

This article traces the pictorial lineages of images collected in one of the two Thun-Hohenstein albums through comparative analyses of fight books produced in the German-speaking lands, and considers how the representational strategies deployed in martial treatises inflected the ways that book painters and their audiences visualized the armoured body.

This article presents a manuscript that significantly enriches the textual corpus of ›Helfta Mysticism‹ with a series of hitherto unknown writings. Aside from this, it contains what is by some distance the oldest copy of the ›Legatus divinae pietatis‹, in the form of a ›special edition‹ that consists of excerpts from the known text as well as new material. This is preceded by a prologue and a florilegium which is marked in an epilogue as Gertrude’s own work. We argue that the epilogue of the florilegium, the prologue and the ›special edition‹ itself were probably composed by ›Sister N‹ of Helfta herself. The article provides a full description of the manuscript (Ms 827), a breakdown of the new ›special edition‹ of the ›Legatus‹-text, and an edition, translation, and close reading of the prologue.

Im Folgenden soll eine Handschrift vorgestellt werden, die die Textbasis der Helftaer Mystik mit einer Reihe von bislang unbekannten Schriften bereichert. Außerdem enthält sie die mit Abstand älteste Abschrift des ›Legatus divinae pietatis‹ in Form einer ›Sonderausgabe‹, die aus Exzerpten aus dem bekannten Textcorpus und aus weiterem bislang nicht bekanntem Material besteht. Dieser geht eine Vorrede und ein im Epilog als Gertruds Werk ausgewiesenes Florilegium voraus, Texte, die wie die ›Sonderausgabe‹ selbst von Schwester N von Helfta stammen dürften. Die vorliegende Studie bietet eine Beschreibung von Ms 827, die Aufschlüsselung der ›Sonderausgabe‹ des ›Legatus‹ sowie Abdruck, Übersetzung und inhaltliche Analyse der Vorrede.

The colophons of the Armenian manuscripts take a special place with their original and rich information among the medieval Armenian written monuments.
In the work we have attempted to thoroughly examine the components of the Armenian colophons, the latters’ diverse ways of expression. We have done some classifications of the Armenian colophons, according to the time of writing, the authors of colophons and the content. We have individually represented the units we encounter in the Armenian colophons, if possible, comparing this all with the identical manifestations occurring in other manuscript traditions.

Considered one of the most important documents in
the history of the transmission of the Qurʾān, the Sanʿāʾ
palimpsest (Codex Sanʿāʾ 1) is remarkable because of its
unique lower text (i.e., erased text), which differs from
the canonical edition in both wording and the arrange-
ment of the sūras (chapters).

The article by Denis Tsypkin is an editorial foreword for the current collection of articles and it provides brief overview of the five annual conferences “Expert Examination and Photography,” which were held from 2010 to 2014. The paper covers the reports and presentations, which were dedicated to the following subjects: development of the expert examination of documents and texts in Russia; general expert theory and methodology, as well as to the theory, methodology and history of studying of historical and modern paper and its identifying marks; methodology and hardware and software for studying handwritten manuscripts (in forensic and historical handwriting examination); modern methods, procedures and means of technical examination of documents; technical and technological expert examination of monuments; questions relating to the expert, restoration and resource studying of photo documents.

This article is focused on opinions that the literary historian and Custodian of the Prague Imperial-Royal University Library (now the National Library of the Czech Republic) Josef Truhlář (1840–1914) had on Manuscripts of Dvůr Králové and Zelená Hora. Initially, he had been convinced of the authenticity of the Manuscripts, but after Gebauer's groundbreaking article questioning their authenticity published in the Athenaeum journal in February 1886, he re-evaluated his older opinions and published a series of articles in this journal denying the authenticity of the Manuscripts. These articles were focused on suspicious finding circumstances of these allegedly old monuments, parallels in their texts with literary works from the early 19 th century, and on other contemporary forged manuscripts.

Script for video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjepyBwdpOY, which is part of the MOOC "Deciphering the secrets of medieval illuminated manuscripts", offered by the universities of Colorado (US) and Complutense (Spain) through www.coursera.org,

L’article analyse un corpus de 122 manuscrits contenant le texte complet du Nouveau Testament latin. Ces manuscrits de format maniable constituent une production assez homogène du point de vue matériel et textuel et sont originaires de l’Italie du nord dans la plupart des cas. Ils ne semblent pas avoir été conçus en fonction de la liturgie, mais plutôt pour la lecture personnelle.

Mультимедийная лекция, посвященная 1000-летию памяти Владимира Святого – Крестителя Руси († 1015),  в Международном мультимедийном пресс-центре МИА «Россия сегодня» (Президентский зал) 4 Марта 2015 г. (17:00) в рамках нового мультимедийного проекта «Sputnik. Чтения»: http://1000vladimir.ru/2015/03/15/v-moskve-proshla-multimedijnaya-lekciya-istorika-professora-o-g-ulyanova-kreshhenie-vladimira-svyatogo-i-nachalo-rusi/

In this study we will decipher the process by which the canonry
of the Cathedral of Seville created a series of codices, enerically called Statute Books, in which were written the rules that governed the see until the fall of the Old Regime. We aim to understand how they became the unordered group of rules
and laws that finally were. Also we will clarify how and when these manuscripts, sometimes recipients of unpublished information, were used, were born and died. In addition, we will show another scriptural practice of the canonry used to publicize their statutes which had not attracted attention until now.

Чепіга І. П. Пересопницьке Євангеліє – унікальна пам'ятка української мови. С. 13–54; Гнатенко Л. А. Письмо Пересопницького Євангелія та графіко-орфографічні особливості пам’ятки. С. 55–73; Дубровіна Л. А., Гнатенко Л. А. Археографічний та кодикологічний опис Пересопницького Євангелія. С. 74–104.

L'ouvrage Lire le manuscrit médiéval, présenté dans une édition mise à jour, se propose de guider tous ceux qui étudient les sources médiévales à partir des documents originaux. Il s'attache plus particulièrement à la forme de livre manuscrit qui s'est imposée vers le IVe siècle de notre ère dans l'ensemble du bassin méditerranéen et qui demeure le modèle des livres imprimés actuels, à savoir le codex.

Divisé en neuf chapitres, il suit les différentes étapes de l'existence du manuscrit, de sa confection jusqu'à sa destinée entre les mains de possesseurs successifs. Le manuscrit se trouve ainsi étudié dans son ensemble, comme objet matériel, support de textes et témoin historique.

L'ouvrage reflète l'activité de l'Institut de Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes (CNRS), consacrée, de l'Antiquité tardive à la Renaissance, aux manuscrits et aux débuts du livre imprimé, et qui s'ordonne autour de cinq grands pôles linguistiques (hébreu, grec, latin, arabe et langues romanes). Les auteurs entendent ainsi faire partager au lecteur, néophyte ou spécialiste, l'expérience acquise.
À la croisée de plusieurs disciplines, qui relèvent toutes de l'histoire, l'ouvrage est destiné à un large public : étudiants de l'enseignement supérieur, philologues éditeurs de textes, conservateurs de bibliothèques et restaurateurs de livres, historiens de l'art et des techniques, historiens des idées et des cultures.

Pour le paléographe, il est plus commode de travailler avec des classifications nettes et des périodisations distinctes qu’en suivant une tradition confuse. Les styles d’écriture arménienne ne sont pas clairement définis, et il est commun de mélanger un type avec un autre. Une véritable catégorisation universelle n’est véritablement apparue qu’avec l’imprimerie, où l’idiosyncrasie du scribe laisse la place à une implacable logique des formes de lettres.

V Katedrální knihovně v Ostřihomi se nachází antifonář (signatura: Ms. I. 313), v jehož dodatku se zachoval téměř celý latinský text jediného oficia napsaného na počest Jana Husa. I proto považujeme za důležitou součást příspěvku představit tento kodex. Písař opisující tento antifonář považoval za důležité doplnit tuto knihu pražského ritu o dvě modlitby církve: Jan Hus a Proměnění Páně. Nečinil mezi nimi rozdíl v důležitosti, oběma přisoudil stejný důraz. V případě transfigurace si lze povšimnout
téhož, co platí pro Husovo oficium: i v tomto případě jsou z oficia obsaženého v našem kodexu v různých jiných antifonářích rozesety pouze jednotlivé části. Na základě kodikologické expertizy lze říci i to, že antifonář přechovávaný v Ostřihomi dobře odráží rovněž další tvrzení odborné literatury, a totiž že ani do počátku 16. století, tedy sto
let po Husově smrti, se nevytvořila zvláštní, od pražské dobře odlišitelná husitská liturgická praxe, ačkoliv také v případě našeho kodexu jsou patrné snahy o její změnu. Ty jsou dobře uchopitelné a vystopovatelné na vzhledu různých variant textů těchto oficií, na snaze o tropaci a v neposlední řadě na zesílení úcty k českým svatým, jež se projevilo v rozšíření repertoáru oficií o další texty. Antifonář přechovávaný v Ostřihomi sice nese výrazné husitské znaky a velmi úzce souvisí s husitskou liturgickou praxí, avšak za úplný jej můžeme považovat teprve
společně s dalšími texty, jež byly sepsány během následujících dlouhých desetiletí. Po vyjasnění dalších drobných detailů bude mít v budoucnu přinejmenším stejnou důležitost také výzkum toho, v jakém prostředí mohly být používány a jak žily vedle sebe a snášely se utrakvistická a oficiální katolická liturgická praxe.

Az Esztergomi Főszékesegyházi Könyvtár kódexállományának feldolgozása során első ízben került sor annak az antifonálénak a teljes körű kodikológiai vizsgálatára, amely a Husz János tiszteletére íródott latin nyelvű zsolozsma eddig ismert legteljesebb szövegét őrzi (jelzete: Ms. I. 313).
Husz János zsolozsmájáról korábban számos kiváló tanulmány született, és a szövegét is többször közölték (Radó Polikárp, František Fišer, David R. Holeton, Hana Vlhová-Wörner), ám a kódex egészére vonatkozó formai és tartalmi elemzés mindezidáig nem történt meg, a korábbi szakirodalomban csak részleges utalások történtek rá. E tanulmány a teljes kódex vizsgálata alapján ad közre újabb eredményeket, és ezzel együtt a huszita liturgikus gyakorlathoz is szolgáltat új adalékokat.
Ezek közül kiemelendő, hogy a kódex másolója a prágai rítusú, de huszita jegyeket is hordozó szerkönyvet nem csak Husz János zsolozsmájával, de az eddig érdeklődésre számot nem tartó Urunk színeváltozásának (Transfiguratio Domini) zsolozsmájával is kiegészítette.
A mai ismeretek szerint a Transfigurationak ezen énektételei más szerkönyvekben nem szerepelnek (amint Husz zsolozsmájáé sem), kivéve az egyik responzóriumot, amely egy utrakvista használatra készült vesperáléban maradt fenn (Praha, Národni Knihovny IV H 12). A tanulmány ebből kiindulva több érvvel támasztja alá, hogy Husz János zsolozsmája mellett Urunk színeváltozása is az utrakvista liturgikus gyakorlat fontos eleme lehetett, ezért közli zsolozsma szövegét is. Érdemes lenne filológiai és zenei szempontból is alaposabban megvizsgálni, vajon egyszerre készült-e Husz zsolozsmájával.
A kodikológiai vizsgálat ezen kívül sorra veszi a kódex későbbi latin és cseh nyelvű bejegyzéseit, amelyek jól reprezentálják a liturgikus gyakorlat folyamatos változásait. Elemzi a kódex írását, díszítését, kötését, vízjelét, és párhuzamba állítja más kódexekkel . Mind ezzel lényegesen tovább árnyalja és megerősíti a szakirodalomnak azt az álláspontját, hogy még száz évvel Husz halála után, a 16. század elejére sem alakult ki egy, a prágaitól jól elkülöníthető huszita liturgikus gyakorlat.

The manuscript of al-Ṣaḥīfa al-sajjādiyya that forms the basis of this facsimile edition was written by the Twelver scholar Ibrāhīm b. ʿAlī al-Kafʿamī (d. 905/ 1499-1500). The manuscript was kept in India for about three centuries and is now in the private library in Qum. It was written on Saturday, 29 Shawwāl 867/17 July 1463 and contains 192 folios. In the lengthy introduction to this edition (around 250 pages), all of the features of the manuscript and the text of the book are addressed in detail. The introduction has four parts.
The first part deals with the history of research on the Ṣaḥīfa up to the eleventh/seventeenth century as well as the transmission of the text and its various versions.
The second part focuses on Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-Jubaʿī (d. 886/1481) and his copy of the Ṣaḥīfa.
The third part is dedicated to Kafʿamī and the manuscripts copied by him.
The fourth part deals in detail with the codicology of this copy, exploring issues such as the date of copying, the calligraphy, the decorations, the transfer history of the manuscript, notes and corrections to it, and it's cover and paper.
After the introduction, the text of the Ṣaḥīfa’s fifty-eight prayers has been printed in excellent quality and in colour. It is worth mentioning that this copy has four more prayers than does the famous version of the Ṣaḥīfa, i.e. the Bahāʾ al-Sharaf version.

The study of the Samaritan version of Saadya Gaon’s translation of the Pentateuch (the tafsīr), mainly based on MS London BL OR7562, shows that a Saadyan version in Arabic Characters was adopted by the Samaritans and adapted to the Samaritan Hebrew Pentateuch. The transmission of this version in MS London BL OR7562 continued after the early Samaritan Arabic translation of the Pentateuch and perhaps also its later revision had already been created, since many of their translations were preserved in MS BL OR7562, mixed with its Saadyan basic text. As MS London BL OR7562 also contains numerous words and phrases paralleled only in Christian Arabic translations of the Pentateuch and Saadyan adaptations, mainly related to the Peshitta tradition, it is reasonable to assume that these were the sources of this Samaritan Saadyan version and possibly also of the other Samaritan Arabic translations. The Samaritan version of Saadya’s translation of the Pentateuch also reveals some parallels to tenth- and eleventh-century Karaite translations and it contains prominent Aramaic and Islamic vocabulary, unfamiliar in other versions of Saadya’s tafsīr.

Discovering an unknown medieval library must count as one of the unexpected delights in the career of any medievalist. In the case of a group of Birgittine scholars, however, our recent joyful anticipation unfortunately all too quickly turned into anxiety and concern. In October of 2015 the Extraordinary Sensescape work group (http://sensescapes.asu.edu) toured several German monasteries, ending up at the Birgittine monastery at Altomünster, a market hamlet to the West of Munich. Our group is researching the sensorium of late medieval nuns, and we have decided to focus on the Birgittines because of the ways that Saint Birgitta of Sweden founded and fashioned her order with special architecture, art, music, texts and rituals all of which might today be characterized as a " Gesamtkunstwerk. " The Birgittine monastery at Altomünster was founded in the 1490 and was continuously inhabited by Birgittines ever since, even though it had been secularized by the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1803 and refounded as monastery in 1841. Until recently strict claustration prohibited scholars from entering the vast Baroque building complex of the nuns' monastery, which also includes a library. About one dozen manuscripts from the library at Altomünster were known to specialists of Birgittine liturgy, in addition to the books that were taken to Munich during the secularisation of 1803. The antiphoners at Altomünster were considered to be the earliest complete sources for the cantus sororum, the office liturgy of the Birgittines, the only liturgy composed especially for women during the Middle Ages. When our group visited Altomünster we asked Sister Apollonia, the prioress of Altomünster, to see these manuscripts and she gladly brought them to us to peruse. When we inquired what the situation of the library was, if there were more medieval manuscripts and books, she invited several of the colleagues to join her and see for themselves. What they found was a treasure trove of books, many medieval, that were unknown to scholarship. Several of these came from other Birgittine monasteries, including Maria Mai in Maihingen and Maria Troon in Dendermonde. Some of the tomes contained high quality illuminations. This discovery indicates that Altomünster contains the most important repository for liturgical sources of the Birgittine order. Before the members of our group left for their homes in the U.S., Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, we approached Sister Apollonia and asked if we could inventorize the library and digitize the most important manuscripts for our project. Sister Apollonia approved, and we made plans for a smaller group to return to Altomünster to work on the books. Unfortunately, however, before we could realize our plans we learned through the press that the Vatican had closed the monastery and had instituted a papal commissar, Sister Gabriele Konrad, to dissolve the institution. We immediately made contact, pointing out the importance of the library and offering our help to secure the undocumented collection through cataloging and digitization. Sister Gabriele declined our offer, has ceased to answer subsequent queries about the plans for the collection or allowing access to our project participants, and has not permitted visitors into the library – neither scholars nor journalists. The diocese of Munich and Freising, named as heir to the monastic buildings and their contents in the papal dissolution document, has likewise refused to communicate with us about the fate of the library. As informed scholars we feel an obligation that this important collection, which we consider to be our shared world cultural heritage, remains accessible to researchers and is preserved for future generations. In January 2016 our working group wrote an open letter to Sister Gabriele Konrad, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of the diocese of Munich and Freising.

In this paper an overview is given of all manuscripts in the Biblioteca Trivulziana that contain works by Francesco Filelfo, assessing their proximity to the author and, whenever possible, identifying their copyists. In particular, the three Trivulziana copies of Filelfo’s Oratio parentalis (Triv. 684, Triv. 799 and Triv. 800), in three different hands, are a valuable reference in assessing the production of certain scribes who were working directly for Filelfo in Milan in the 1460s.

In questo articolo si fornisce un quadro sintetico dei manoscritti della Biblioteca Trivulziana che contengono opere di Francesco Filelfo, esaminandone la loro vicinanza all’autore e cercando, qualora possibile, di identificarne i copisti. In particolare le tre copie Trivulziane dell’Oratio parentalis del Filelfo (Triv. 684, Triv. 799 e Triv. 800), vergate da tre mani diverse, risultano opportune per valutare la produzione di alcuni copisti che lavoravano direttamente per Filelfo nella Milano degli anni 1460.

Among the preserved Aristophanes’ codices veteres, there is the Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional Mss/4683, an important manuscript for its paleographical and philological value which shows how Aristophanes was read and commented in Byzantium, especially during the Palaeologan period (1261-1453). The current paper deals with the textual and paleographical study of the main scribe and the marginal hands that wrote scholia on the comedies, to find out the exegetical tradition of the manuscript.

The Grolier Codex (Codice Maya de Mexico, CMM) is discussed in the context of the archaeoastronomy of the ancient Americas on pages 98-99 of the March 1990 National Geographic Magazine article "America's Ancient Skywatchers" by John B. Carlson. One of four known ancient Maya books, the Grolier Codex depicts different manifestations of the planet Venus; the column of glyphs on the left of each panel records days in a 104-year Venus almanac. These plaster-coated bark-paper pages, carbon-dated to the 13th century, represent only half of the 20-page original. A numbered photographic arrangement of the Grolier Codex depictes the author's discovery that Codex pages 10 and 11 are actually two parts of the same "page 10".  Carlson clarifies the identities of Venus deities depicted in the Grolier Codex from a comparison of images from the Cacaxtla murals and links the images of the Grolier Codex with ancient Maya astronomically timed ritual warfare and sacrifice. (Grolier Codex photographs: Enrico Ferorelli; Other photos: Bob Sacha)

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

Il volume ripercorre la storia delle principali forme librarie dall’antichità romana fino a oggi attraverso le innovazioni che si sono succedute nei supporti (legno, papiro, membrana, carta), nelle tipologie (tabula, rotolo, codice, libro a stampa), nelle figure professionali impegnate nella produzione (copista, miniatore, compositore, tipografo), nelle pratiche di elaborazione, ricezione e circolazione del testo presso il pubblico dei lettori. La parte finale è dedicata alla rivoluzione digitale e all’avvento dell’e-book, che hanno scisso il binomio finora indivisibile tra il piano del testo e quello del libro, rendendo possibile la realizzazione dell’antico sogno di una biblioteca universale capace di contenere l’intero patrimonio scritto dell’umanità.

El objetivo del presente trabajo es estudiar y poner en valor un librete de cuentas del año 1453 perteneciente a la mayordomía de Fábrica de la catedral de Sevilla hallado en el Archivo Histórico de la Casa de Alba y hasta ahora inédito. El análisis de su materialidad y sus aspectos formales nos permitirán encuadrarlo en el engranaje económico administrativo de la institución capitular en un momento crucial de
su historia, el de la construcción del actual templo gótico en sustitución de la vieja mezquita aljama cristianizada durante el siglo XV. Con los datos recabados además hemos podido identificar con precisión al mayordomo que lo elaboró e integrarlo en uno de los linajes medievales más poderosos de Castilla, el de los Enríquez, almirantes, así como trazar el camino que llevó a este libro hasta su actual ubicación archivística. Se presenta, por último, una edición íntegra de su texto.