University of Chicago Library, Goodspeed Manuscript Collection Ms. 136, New Testament. Gospels (Thomas Gospels). Greg. 2407. Greece or Asia Minor, 1332.

Contents

Four gospels in Greek. Added lectionary tables with corresponding lection numbers in the margins, and tables to determine Easter dating for the years 1424-1469.

Leaves of the present manuscript have been foliated and paginated, and both systems of numbering are cited in this description. Formerly Goodspeed Ms. Grk. 24.

  1. Pastedown (front, verso)
    Colophon: Bishop Manuel (μανολησ επισκοπησα).
  2. fol. 1r
    Colophon: The monk Sebas. Includes the malediction of the 318 inspired fathers.
  3. fols. 2r-3v Kephalaia of Matthew.
  4. fols. 4r-92v (pp. 1-178) Matthew. Subscription.
  5. fols. 93r-94r Kephalaia of Mark. Verse on Mark.
    Note: Blank (fol. 94v).
  6. fols. 95r-148v (pp. 179-286) Mark. Subscription and stichoi (1,600).
  7. fols. 149r-150v Kephalaia of Luke.
  8. fols. 152r-244v (pp. 287-472) Luke. Subscription and stichoi (2,800).
    Note: Blank (fol. 151v).
  9. fols. 244v-245r Kephalaia of John.
  10. fol. 245r Prologue of John.
    Note: Blank (fol. 245v).
  11. fols. 246r-315v (pp. 473-612) John. Subscription and stichoi (2,300).
  12. fol. 315v (p. 612)
    Colophon: The scribe Thomas, dated 6 April 1332.
  13. fols. 316r-326r Lectionary tables (Synaxarion, Lent, Holy Week, Heothina, Menologion, various occasions).
  14. fols. 326v-328v Tables for Easter dating, 1424-1469.

Decoration

Headpieces

Interlace-patterned headpieces in red (fols. 2r, 4r, 95r, 152r, 246r). Tailpiece of similar design (fol. 3v).

Initials

Major initials in red (25-35 mm). Minor initials in red set off from the text.

Physical Description

Support

Parchment. 160 x 110 mm.

Number of Leaves

330 leaves, of which 2 are raised pastedowns.

Foliation

1 (unfoliated parchment pastedown) + 328 + 1 (unfoliated parchment pastedown). Foliation and pagination in Arabic numerals in pencil. Three sets of numbering are extant. The earliest foliation (upper right margin, recto) was partially erased, and replaced with a pagination of the gospels' text. Later foliation of the manuscript (lower right margin, recto), encompassed numbering the first 10 leaves, and thereafter every tenth leaf.

Collation

42 quires of 8 leaves, with the exception of quires 23 and 41, of 6 leaves, and quires 11 and 19, of 9 leaves. The first quire is unnumbered, and composed of a raised pastedown (front) and fols. 1-3. The raised pastedown (back) is part of the quire numbered 41. Estimate of content lost: 2 leaves (before fol. 1); leaves 2 and 7, a bifolium of quire 23 (after fol. 182, Luke 8:28, ends at δεομαι σου, and begins on fol. 183r with 8:39 at, οικον σου και...; after fol. 186, Luke 9:27, ends at οι ου μη, and begins on fol. 187r with 9:38 at, [ανε]βοησε λεγων).

Original quire numbers on the last leaf (verso) of each quire, several of which remain. At an unknown date, quire numbers were added to the recto of each quire's first leaf beginning at fol. 4 (α-μα).

Dimensions

Written space 113 x 70 mm (fol. 60r).

Layout

1 column, 19 lines. Ruling with hard point. With the exception of fols. 325 and 326, the leaves of quires numbered 40 and 41 were ruled previously for a larger manuscript. In the present manuscript, ruling lines run vertically, and the double lines of side margins run horizontally in the upper and lower margins.

Writing

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

Punctuation includes middle point, comma, marks of interrogation and elision, and quotation marks in the left margin next to each line of quoted text.

Text Divisions

Titles in red.

Condition

Several leaves torn or broken. Random cockling. Grease, dirt, wax, and water stains. Edges blackened.

Binding Description

Bound in brown leather and lined with linen. Front cover of wood, back support of fiberboard. Fore-edge metal peg, and nail holes of a strap closure (lost).

History

Origin

The manuscript was written by the scribe Thomas, and completed April 6, 1332 (his colophon, fol. 315v), possibly in Greece or Asia Minor.

Provenance

According to an undated colophon, the manuscript belonged to the monk Sebas (fol. 1r), and perhaps at another date to Manuel, a bishop, whose name is inscribed on the front pastedown (verso).

University of Chicago Libraries bookplate (inside front cover). Inscription dated August 29, 1429 (back raised pastedown, recto); illegible notations (front raised pastedown, recto; fol. 149r, lower margin); note concerning the lectionary system (fol. 325r)

Acquisition

Acquired by the University of Chicago from Maggs Bros. (London), May 1931.

Bibliography

  1. The art of writing, 2800 B.C. to 1930 A.D.: illustrated in a collection of original documents written on vellum, paper, papyrus, silk, linen, bamboo, or inscribed on clay, marble, stealite, jasper, haematite and chalcedony. Maggs Bros. London. Catalogues (London: Maggs Bros., 1930), 542, no. 67.
  2. Otto F. Linn, "The Tetragram, Thomas, and Larissa Gospels" (Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1935).
  3. 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. 570.
  4. Kenneth W. Clark, A Descriptive Catalogue of Greek New Testament Manuscripts in America (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1937), pp. 247-248.
  5. Merrill Mead Parvis, The Story of the Goodspeed Collection ([Chicago]: s.n., 1952), p. 19.
  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. 76.