Codex Beneventanus
Encyclopedia
Illuminated manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders and miniature illustrations...
Gospel Book
Gospel Book
The Gospel Book, Evangelion, or Book of the Gospels is a codex or bound volume containing one or more of the four Gospels of the Christian New Testament...
. According to a subscription on folio 239 verso, the manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
was written by a monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
named Lupus for one Ato, who was probably Ato, abbot
Abbot
The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...
the monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
St. Vincent on the Volturno, near Benevento
Benevento
Benevento is a town and comune of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, 50 km northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill 130 m above sea-level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino and Sabato...
. Ato was abbot from 736-760.
The codex
Codex
A codex is a book in the format used for modern books, with multiple quires or gatherings typically bound together and given a cover.Developed by the Romans from wooden writing tablets, its gradual replacement...
contains the Vulgate
Vulgate
The Vulgate is a late 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It was largely the work of St. Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 to make a revision of the old Latin translations...
version of the four Gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
s, the canon tables of Eusebius of Caesarea
Eusebius of Caesarea
Eusebius of Caesarea also called Eusebius Pamphili, was a Roman historian, exegete and Christian polemicist. He became the Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine about the year 314. Together with Pamphilus, he was a scholar of the Biblical canon...
, the letter of St. Jerome to Pope Damasus
Letter of Jerome to Pope Damasus
The Epistle of Jerome to Pope Damasus I , written in 376 or 377 AD, is a response of Jerome to a epistle from Damasus, who urged him to make a new translational work of the Holy Scripture. The letter was written before Jerome started his translational work .Jerome agreed that Old-Latin translation...
(Novum opus), the prologue of St. Jerome to the Gospels (Plures fuisse), and prologues and chapter lists for each of the Gospels. The text is written on vellum
Vellum
Vellum is mammal skin prepared for writing or printing on, to produce single pages, scrolls, codices or books. It is generally smooth and durable, although there are great variations depending on preparation, the quality of the skin and the type of animal used...
in two columns in Uncial
Uncial
Uncial is a majuscule script commonly used from the 3rd to 8th centuries AD by Latin and Greek scribes. Uncial letters are written in either Greek, Latin, or Gothic.-Development:...
script with no division between words. The running titles are in small uncials while the incipits and explicits are in capitals. The incipits and explicits are written in alternating lines of red and black ink. The subscription of Lupus is written in uncials, and also has alternating lines of red and black ink. The text contains additional punctuation and annotations in a 10th century Beneventuan hand.
There are 240 folios of 355 by 275 mm. The folios are generally gathered into quires of eight folios each. There are a few gatherings of ten folios and a few gatherings are lacking one or more folios. The rear flyleaf (folio 240) is a piece of vellum from another manuscript and contains a fragment of a commentary on the Epistle to the Romans
Epistle to the Romans
The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, often shortened to Romans, is the sixth book in the New Testament. Biblical scholars agree that it was composed by the Apostle Paul to explain that Salvation is offered through the Gospel of Jesus Christ...
written in a 9th century Carolingian minuscule
Carolingian minuscule
Carolingian or Caroline minuscule is a script developed as a writing standard in Europe so that the Roman alphabet could be easily recognized by the literate class from one region to another. It was used in Charlemagne's empire between approximately 800 and 1200...
that has 10th century Beneventan
Beneventan script
Beneventan script was a medieval script, so called because it originated in the Duchy of Benevento in southern Italy. It was also called Langobarda, Longobarda, Longobardisca , or sometimes Gothica; it was first called Beneventan by palaeographer E. A...
punctuation.
Arch
An arch is a structure that spans a space and supports a load. Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture and their systematic use started with the Ancient Romans who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures.-Technical aspects:The...
es decorated with gold, red and blue. Both sides of folio 4 have decorated arches, but are otherwise blank. Each of the Gospels begins with an initial which is decorated in green, red, and gold. The incipits and explicits are decorated with green red and black ivy leaves.
The manuscript was owned in the 8th century by the monastery of St. Vincent on the Voturno, and may have been produced there. By the 13th century it was associated with St. Peter's convent in Benevento. In the first half of the 18th century it was owned by Dr. Richard Mead
Richard Mead
Richard Mead was an English physician. His work, A Short Discourse concerning Pestilential Contagion, and the Method to be used to prevent it , was of historic importance in the understanding of transmissible diseases.-Life:The eleventh child of Matthew Mead , Independent divine, Richard was born...
, and was used by Dr. Richard Bentley
Richard Bentley
Richard Bentley was an English classical scholar, critic, and theologian. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge....
in his collation of New Testament texts. Dr. Mead may have acquired the manuscript in the 1690s when he traveled to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, however, the manuscript did not appear in the catalog of the sale of his library in 1754-55. The manuscript was later owned by Anthony Askew
Anthony Askew
Anthony Askew was an English physician and book collector.-Life and work:Askew was born in Kendal, Westmorland, the son of Dr. Adam Askew, a well-known physician of Newcastle. His early education was at Sedbergh School and The Royal Free Grammar School in Newcastle upon Tyne, where by all accounts...
(d. 1754). It was purchased by John Jackson
John Jackson
-Politicians:* John Jackson , mayor of Tampa, Florida* John Jackson , Member of Parliament for Plymouth Devonport, 1910–1918* John Edward Jackson, British diplomat...
in 1785 at the sale of Askew's manuscripts. The British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
purchased it in 1794 at the sale of Jackson's manuscripts.
Gallery
Image:CodexBeneventanusFolio1vBlankCanonTable.jpg|Folio 1 verso, a blank canon table.
Image:CodexBeneventanusCanonTable.jpg|Canon Table
Image:CodexBeneventanusFolio5rJeromeLetter.jpg|Folio 5r, Letter of St. Jerome to Pope Damasus
Pope Damasus I
Pope Saint Damasus I was the bishop of Rome from 366 to 384.He was born around 305, probably near the city of Idanha-a-Velha , in what is present-day Portugal, then part of the Western Roman Empire...