Codex Carolinus
Encyclopedia
Codex Carolinus is a Gothic
-Latin diglot uncial
manuscript
of the New Testament
on parchment, dated to the 6th or 7th century. The Gothic text is designated by siglum Car, the Latin text is designated by siglum gue (traditional system) or by 79 (on the list of Beuron), it represents the Old Latin
translation of the New Testament. It is housed in the Herzog August Bibliothek
.
It is one of very few manuscripts of Wulfilas
Gothic Bible
. The manuscript is fragmentary. The four leaves of the codex were used as raw material for the production of another manuscript – Codex Guelferbytanus 64 Weissenburgensis. It is a palimpsest
, and its text was reconstructed several times. Franz Anton Knittel
examined its and deciphered its text as the first.
11-15 on four parchment leaves (size 26.5 cm by 21.5 cm). The text is written in two parallel columns, 27 lines per column. The left column is in Gothic, the right in Latin.
Contents
The text of the codex is not divided into chapters. The nomina sacra
are used both in Gothic and Latin texts (ihm and ihu for "Iesum" and "Iesu"). All the abbreviations are marked with the superscript bar. Its text has some value in Romans 14:14 for Textual Criticism
.
It is a palimpsest
, the whole book is known as Codex Guelferbytanus 64 Weissenburgensis. The upper text is in Latin, it contains Isidore of Seville
's Origines
and his six letters. The lower text of the codex belongs to several much earlier manuscripts, such as Codex Guelferbytanus A
, Codex Guelferbytanus B
, and Codex Carolinus.
to the 6th century or 7th century. According to Tischendorf
it was written in the 6th century. Probably it was written in Italy. Nothing is known about its early history. In the 12th or 13th century four of its leaves were used as material for another book and they were overwritten by Latin text. Its later story is linked with the codices Guelferbytanus A and B.
Formerly the manuscript was held in Bobbio
, Weissenburg, Mainz
, and Prague
. The Duke of Brunswick
bought it in 1689.
The manuscript became known to the scholars in the half of the 18th century, where it was found in the Ducal Library of Wolfenbüttel. The first description of the codex was made by Heusinger.
Franz Anton Knittel
(1721–1792) recognized two lower Greek texts of the New Testament in this palimpsest codex, and designated them by A and B, he recognized also the Gothic-Latin text (known later as Codex Carolinus).
F. A. Knittel deciphered Gothic-Latin text of the Codex Carolinus and published it in 1762 at Brunswick
.
In his edition all abbreviated forms, Gothic and Latin, are written in full. It was published in Uppsala
in 1763. It was published again by Theodor Zahn
.
Knittel made many errors, especially in Latin text, he also did not decipher every word and left several lacunae
in the reconstructed text (e.g. Romans 11:35; 12:2; 15:8). Tischendorf made a new and more accurate collation
for the Latin text and edited in 1855. Tischendorf used abbreviations for the nomina sacra, he did not leave any lacunae.
The new collation of the Gothic text was given by Carla Falluomini
in 1999.
The codex is located at the Herzog August Bibliothek
(no. 4148) in Wolfenbüttel
.
Sortable articles
Sortable articles
Gothic language
Gothic is an extinct Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the Codex Argenteus, a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic language with a sizable Text corpus...
-Latin diglot 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:...
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...
of the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
on parchment, dated to the 6th or 7th century. The Gothic text is designated by siglum Car, the Latin text is designated by siglum gue (traditional system) or by 79 (on the list of Beuron), it represents the Old Latin
Vetus Latina
Vetus Latina is a collective name given to the Biblical texts in Latin that were translated before St Jerome's Vulgate Bible became the standard Bible for Latin-speaking Western Christians. The phrase Vetus Latina is Latin for Old Latin, and the Vetus Latina is sometimes known as the Old Latin Bible...
translation of the New Testament. It is housed in the Herzog August Bibliothek
Herzog August Bibliothek
The Herzog August Library , in Wolfenbüttel, , known also as Bibliotheca Augusta, it has an international importance for its collection from the Middle Ages and Early modern Europe. The library is overseen by the Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and Culture...
.
It is one of very few manuscripts of Wulfilas
Ulfilas
Ulfilas, or Gothic Wulfila , bishop, missionary, and Bible translator, was a Goth or half-Goth and half-Greek from Cappadocia who had spent time inside the Roman Empire at the peak of the Arian controversy. Ulfilas was ordained a bishop by Eusebius of Nicomedia and returned to his people to work...
Gothic Bible
Gothic Bible
The Gothic Bible or Wulfila Bible is the Christian Bible as translated by Wulfila into the Gothic language spoken by the Eastern Germanic, or Gothic Tribes.- Codices :...
. The manuscript is fragmentary. The four leaves of the codex were used as raw material for the production of another manuscript – Codex Guelferbytanus 64 Weissenburgensis. It is a palimpsest
Palimpsest
A palimpsest is a manuscript page from a scroll or book from which the text has been scraped off and which can be used again. The word "palimpsest" comes through Latin palimpsēstus from Ancient Greek παλίμψηστος originally compounded from πάλιν and ψάω literally meaning “scraped...
, and its text was reconstructed several times. Franz Anton Knittel
Franz Anton Knittel
Franz Anton Knittel , was a German, Lutheran orthodox theologian, priest, and palaeographer. He examined palimpsests' text of the Codex Guelferbytanus 64 Weissenburgensis and deciphered text of Codex Carolinus. He was the author of many works.- Life :In 1751 he became a priest, in 1753 Archdeacon...
examined its and deciphered its text as the first.
Description
The codex has survived to the present day in a very fragmentary condition. It contains only the text of the Epistle to the RomansEpistle 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...
11-15 on four parchment leaves (size 26.5 cm by 21.5 cm). The text is written in two parallel columns, 27 lines per column. The left column is in Gothic, the right in Latin.
Contents
- Romans 11:33-12:5; 12:17-13:5; 14:9-20; 15:3-13.
The text of the codex is not divided into chapters. The nomina sacra
Nomina sacra
Nomina sacra means "sacred names" in Latin, and can be used to refer to traditions of abbreviated writing of several frequently occurring divine names or titles in early Greek language Holy Scripture...
are used both in Gothic and Latin texts (ihm and ihu for "Iesum" and "Iesu"). All the abbreviations are marked with the superscript bar. Its text has some value in Romans 14:14 for Textual Criticism
Textual criticism
Textual criticism is a branch of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in the texts of manuscripts...
.
It is a palimpsest
Palimpsest
A palimpsest is a manuscript page from a scroll or book from which the text has been scraped off and which can be used again. The word "palimpsest" comes through Latin palimpsēstus from Ancient Greek παλίμψηστος originally compounded from πάλιν and ψάω literally meaning “scraped...
, the whole book is known as Codex Guelferbytanus 64 Weissenburgensis. The upper text is in Latin, it contains Isidore of Seville
Isidore of Seville
Saint Isidore of Seville served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"...
's Origines
Etymologiae
Etymologiae is an encyclopedia compiled by Isidore of Seville towards the end of his life. It forms a bridge between a condensed epitome of classical learning at the close of Late Antiquity and the inheritance received, in large part through Isidore's work, by the early Middle Ages...
and his six letters. The lower text of the codex belongs to several much earlier manuscripts, such as Codex Guelferbytanus A
Codex Guelferbytanus A
Codex Guelferbytanus A designated by Pe or 024 , ε 33 , is a Greek uncial manuscript of the Gospels, dated palaeographically to the 6th century. The manuscript is very lacunose.- Description :...
, Codex Guelferbytanus B
Codex Guelferbytanus B
Codex Guelferbytanus B designated by Q or 026 , ε 4 , is a Greek uncial manuscript of the Gospels, dated palaeographically to the 5th century.It is a palimpsest.- Contents :Gospel of Luke...
, and Codex Carolinus.
History
The manuscript is dated palaeographicallyPalaeography
Palaeography, also spelt paleography is the study of ancient writing. Included in the discipline is the practice of deciphering, reading, and dating historical manuscripts, and the cultural context of writing, including the methods with which writing and books were produced, and the history of...
to the 6th century or 7th century. According to Tischendorf
Constantin von Tischendorf
Lobegott Friedrich Constantin Tischendorf was a noted German Biblical scholar. He deciphered the Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus, a 5th century Greek manuscript of the New Testament, in the 1840s, and rediscovered the Codex Sinaiticus, a 4th century New Testament manuscript, in 1859.Tischendorf...
it was written in the 6th century. Probably it was written in Italy. Nothing is known about its early history. In the 12th or 13th century four of its leaves were used as material for another book and they were overwritten by Latin text. Its later story is linked with the codices Guelferbytanus A and B.
Formerly the manuscript was held in Bobbio
Bobbio
Bobbio is a small town and commune in the province of Piacenza in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. It is located in the Trebbia River valley southwest of the town Piacenza. There is also an abbey and a diocese of the same name...
, Weissenburg, Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
, and Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. The Duke of Brunswick
Duchy of Brunswick
Brunswick was a historical state in Germany. Originally the territory of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in the Holy Roman Empire, it was established as an independent duchy by the Congress of Vienna in 1815...
bought it in 1689.
The manuscript became known to the scholars in the half of the 18th century, where it was found in the Ducal Library of Wolfenbüttel. The first description of the codex was made by Heusinger.
Franz Anton Knittel
Franz Anton Knittel
Franz Anton Knittel , was a German, Lutheran orthodox theologian, priest, and palaeographer. He examined palimpsests' text of the Codex Guelferbytanus 64 Weissenburgensis and deciphered text of Codex Carolinus. He was the author of many works.- Life :In 1751 he became a priest, in 1753 Archdeacon...
(1721–1792) recognized two lower Greek texts of the New Testament in this palimpsest codex, and designated them by A and B, he recognized also the Gothic-Latin text (known later as Codex Carolinus).
F. A. Knittel deciphered Gothic-Latin text of the Codex Carolinus and published it in 1762 at Brunswick
Braunschweig
Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....
.
In his edition all abbreviated forms, Gothic and Latin, are written in full. It was published in Uppsala
Uppsala
- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...
in 1763. It was published again by Theodor Zahn
Theodor Zahn
Theodor Zahn or Theodor von Zahn was a biblical scholar born in Rhineland, Prussia . He was professor of Theology at Erlangen, and distinguished for his eminent scholarship in connection with the matter especially of the New Testament canon. He stood at the head of the conservative New Testament...
.
Knittel made many errors, especially in Latin text, he also did not decipher every word and left several lacunae
Lacuna (manuscripts)
A lacunaPlural lacunae. From Latin lacūna , diminutive form of lacus . is a gap in a manuscript, inscription, text, painting, or a musical work...
in the reconstructed text (e.g. Romans 11:35; 12:2; 15:8). Tischendorf made a new and more accurate collation
Collation
Collation is the assembly of written information into a standard order. One common type of collation is called alphabetization, though collation is not limited to ordering letters of the alphabet...
for the Latin text and edited in 1855. Tischendorf used abbreviations for the nomina sacra, he did not leave any lacunae.
The new collation of the Gothic text was given by Carla Falluomini
Carla Falluomini
Carla Falluomini, professor at the University of Sassari, Gothic palaeographer; area of interest: Gothic language and culture.Falluomini gave a new collation for Gothic text of Codex Carolinus in 1999. The first collation of the codex was made by Franz Anton Knittel in 1762, who made some errors.-...
in 1999.
The codex is located at the Herzog August Bibliothek
Herzog August Bibliothek
The Herzog August Library , in Wolfenbüttel, , known also as Bibliotheca Augusta, it has an international importance for its collection from the Middle Ages and Early modern Europe. The library is overseen by the Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and Culture...
(no. 4148) in Wolfenbüttel
Wolfenbüttel
Wolfenbüttel is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, located on the Oker river about 13 kilometres south of Brunswick. It is the seat of the District of Wolfenbüttel and of the bishop of the Protestant Lutheran State Church of Brunswick...
.
Gothic text (folio 277 recto, 1 col.)
|
|
Latin text (folio 277 recto, 2 col.)
|
|
See also
Another manuscript of Gothic Bible- Codex AmbrosianusCodex AmbrosianusThe Codex Ambrosianus refers to five manuscripts, c. 6th-11th century CE, written by different hands and in different alphabets. The codices contain scattered passages from the Old Testament and the New Testament , as well as some commentaries known as Skeireins...
- Codex ArgenteusCodex ArgenteusThe Codex Argenteus, "Silver Book", is a 6th century manuscript, originally containing bishop Ulfilas's 4th century translation of the Bible into the Gothic language. Of the original 336 folios, 188—including the Speyer fragment discovered in 1970—have been preserved, containing the...
- SkeireinsSkeireinsThe Skeireins is the longest and most important monument of the Gothic language after Ulfilas' version of the Bible. It is notable for being the only preserved Gothic text of substantial length that has not been translated from another language, but was written directly in Gothic by a native speaker...
Sortable articles
- Gothic BibleGothic BibleThe Gothic Bible or Wulfila Bible is the Christian Bible as translated by Wulfila into the Gothic language spoken by the Eastern Germanic, or Gothic Tribes.- Codices :...
- List of New Testament Latin manuscripts
- Biblical manuscriptBiblical manuscriptA biblical manuscript is any handwritten copy of a portion of the text of the Bible. The word Bible comes from the Greek biblia ; manuscript comes from Latin manu and scriptum...
- Textual criticismTextual criticismTextual criticism is a branch of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in the texts of manuscripts...
Further reading
- George W. S. Friedrichsen, The Gothic Text of Rom. XIV 14 ( τι κοινον ειναι ), in Cod. Guelferbytanus, Weissenburg 64, JTS (Clarendon Press, 1937), pp. 245–247.
External links
Text of the codex- Codex Carolinus — with reconstructed text Gothic and Latin
- Gothic text in Falluomini's reconstruction at the Digitale Edition der Handschrift Cod. Guelf. 64 Weiss
Sortable articles
- Manuscripts of Gothic Bible at the Wulfila Project
- Digitalized Codex Guelferbytanus Weissenburgensis 64 at the Herzog August BibliothekHerzog August BibliothekThe Herzog August Library , in Wolfenbüttel, , known also as Bibliotheca Augusta, it has an international importance for its collection from the Middle Ages and Early modern Europe. The library is overseen by the Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and Culture...
— Images 505-508, 549-550, 555-556