University of Chicago Library, Goodspeed Manuscript Collection Ms. 130, New Testament. Gospels (Barnabas Gospels). Greg. 2405. Antalya, Turkey (Adalia)? 13th century.

Contents

Four gospels in Greek. Ammonian section numbers and lectionary headings. Additional texts contain a genealogy of Joseph and the Virgin Mary, an extract on church history, and a canon. Formerly Goodspeed Ms. Grk. 20.

  1. A[r]-B[v] Account of the genealogy of Joseph the betrothed and Mary the Virgin. Extract of writings on the four gospels.
    Colophon: The holy four gospels was bought back by the very reverend bishop Barnabas the Attaliate for the most honored brother among the monks (illegible word) Joseph (B[v]).
  2. fols. 1r-56r Matthew. Subscription and stichoi (2,600).
  3. fols. 56r-93v Mark.
  4. fols. 94r-158v Luke. Little Supplicatory Canon of the Great Horologion (3rd section) with incipits of each troparion.
  5. fols. 159r-206v John (ends at 21:24 with ταυτα).
  6. Cover, Inside (back)
    Colophon: Church of St. George of Heraklitsa, dated October 28, 1921.

Decoration

Headpieces

Headpieces of floral, foliate, and geometric motifs in red and white (fols. 1r, 56r, 94r). Space left for a headpiece at the beginning of John (fol. 159r).

Initials

Major initials with foliate embellishment (33-50 mm). Minor initials in red set off from the text.

Physical Description

Support

Parchment. 165 x 120 mm.

Number of Leaves

209 leaves, of which 1 is a flyleaf. A bifolium (A-B) from an unidentified manuscript is bound in before fol. 1.

Foliation

1 (unfoliated parchment flyleaf) + 2 (parchment bifolium A-B) + 206. Modern foliation in Arabic numerals in pencil 1-206. Correction of leaves after fol. 200, misnumbered to 214.

Collation

26 quires each of 8 leaves, with the exception of quire 20 of 7 leaves. Estimate of content lost: leaf 8 of quire 26 (after fol. 206, John 21:24-end).

Quire numbers recorded in the lower margin on each quire's first (recto) and last (verso) leaves.

Dimensions

Written space 126 x 75 mm (fol. 12r).

Layout

1 column, 27 lines. Frame ruling with hard point.

Writing

Written in minuscule script in dark brown ink (some fading).

Punctuation includes high point, comma, marks of elision, and interrogation.

Methods of correcting the text consist of erasure and additions in the margins marked with small crosses or reference signs.

Text Divisions

Titles in red.

Condition

Leaves moderately cockled, and several partially broken. Water stains.

Binding Description

Bound in dark brown leather over boards.

Front cover: Blind-tooled and stamped floral and fret designs set within a double frame. Central and corner floral-pattern bosses. Back cover of similar design, above and below the central boss, stamped double-headed eagles within diamond-shaped tablets. Corner bosses (two lost).

History

Origin

The manuscript is dated to the 13th century, and may have been written at Adalia, the present-day Antalya, Turkey.

Provenance

An undated colophon states that the manuscript was bought by the bishop Barnabas the Attaliate for the monk Joseph (inserted leaf, B[v]). An inscription dated 6974, indiction 14 (1466) is signed Michael of Adalia. Placement of the writing inside the front cover suggests he may have been a bookbinder who rebound the manuscript, rather than a one-time owner.

Belonged to the Church of St. George in Heraklitsa, the present-day Eriklice located in Turkey's Tekirdağ Province (colophon, inside back cover, dated October 28, 1921). Between 1929 and 1930, the manuscript was in Paris, in the possession, respectively, of the booksellers Léon Gruel, and Maurice Stora.

Notation includes a later system of cross-referencing in which parallel kephalaia, subjects, and folio numbers are cited in the margin near to verses in the text (many erased or faded). Prayer, "O, Christ help your servant..." (front flyleaf, verso).

Acquisition

Purchased from Maurice Stora (Paris), December 1930, by anonymous donors, and presented as a gift to the University of Chicago.

Bibliography

  1. Seymour de Ricci, Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada (New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1935), vol. 1, p. 569.
  2. Kenneth W. Clark, A Descriptive Catalogue of Greek New Testament Manuscripts in America (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1937), pp. 233-235.
  3. Harold Rideout Willoughby, "Greek Rebinding Colophons in Chicago Manuscripts," Annales de l'institut Kondakov 11 (1940), pp. 21-24.
  4. Albert Leland Jamison, "The Barnabas Gospels." (Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1941).
  5. Merrill Mead Parvis, The Story of the Goodspeed Collection ([Chicago]: s.n., 1952), p. 17.
  6. New Testament manuscript traditions. An exhibition based on the Edgar J. Goodspeed Collection of the University of Chicago Library, the Joseph Regenstein Library, January-March, 1973. University of Chicago. Library. Dept. of Special Collections. Exhibition catalogs ([Chicago: s.n., 1973]), 36, no. 44.