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Two more manuscripts for Basil the Bastard

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2017

Georgi R. Parpulov
Georgi R. Parpulov*
Affiliation:
Independent Scholar, Plovdiv, [email protected]
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Abstract

Two gospel lectionaries, Gregory-Aland l 367 and l 46, were probably commissioned circa 965–985 by Basil the Parakoimomenos: the former as a gift for the St Basil Monastery that he founded, the latter for his personal use.

Keywords

Basil LekapenosByzantine Gospel lectionaries
Type
Short Note
Information
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , October 2017 , pp. 300 - 306
Copyright
Copyright © Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham, 2017 

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References

1 Lilie, R.-J. et al., Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit (Berlin 1998-2013) no. 20925 (with further bibliography)Google Scholar.

2 For a diligent summary of the literature, see Bevilacqua, L., Arte e aristocrazia a Bisanzio nell'età dei Macedoni: Costantinopoli, la Grecia e l'Asia Minore [Milion, 9] (Rome 2013) 193-234, 294-300, 332-40Google Scholar. More of the same: Bevilacqua, ‛Basilio “parakoimomenos”, l'aristocrazia e la passione per le arti sotto i Macedoni’, in Longo, A. Acconcia et al. (eds), La Sapienza bizantina: un secolo di ricerche sulla civiltà di Bisanzio all'Università di Roma [Milion, 8] (Rome 2013) 183–202 Google Scholar; Bevilacqua, ‛Basilio parakoimomenos e i manoscritti miniati: impronte di colore nell'Ambrosiano B 119 sup.’, in Rigo, A. et al. (eds), Vie per Bisanzio (Bari 2013) 1013-30Google Scholar. – Kurysheva, M., ‛Два «заказа» Василия Нофа: к датировке кодекса РНБ Греч. 55 и идентификации кольца из Лувра’, in Konovalova, I. (ed.), Палеография, кодикология, дипломатика: современный опыт исследования греческих, латинских и славянских рукописей и документов (Moscow 2013) 174–85, esp. 183-5Google Scholar, argues that Basil owned a finger-ring now in Paris, Cabinet des Médailles (inv. Schl. 126).

3 Schminck, A., ‛Zur Einzelgesetzgebung der “makedonischen” Kaiser’, Fontes Minores 11 (2005) 269–323Google Scholar, esp. 300-301; Wander, S. H., The Joshua Roll (Wiesbaden 2012) 93–132 Google Scholar; Featherstone, J., ‛Basileios Nothos as compiler: the De Cerimoniis and Theophanes Continuatus ’, in Codoñer, J. Signes and Martín, I. Pérez (eds), Textual Transmission in Byzantium: Between Textual Criticism and Quellenforschung (Turnhout 2014) 353–72CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4 A П-shaped headpiece and a large initial letter, both filled with ornament of the ‛flower-petal’ type (cf. note 25 below), mark the beginning of each lection. All titles and paragraph initials are written in gold. There is no sign that the manuscript ever contained figural miniatures.

5 Omont, H. A., Fac-similés des plus anciens manuscrits grecs en onciale et en minuscule de la Bibliothèque nationale, du IVe au XIIe siècle (Paris 1892) pl. xxi.2Google Scholar. See also Gregory, C. R., Textkritik des Neuen Testaments, I (Leipzig 1900) 420 (cat. 367)Google Scholar.

6 Gastoué, A., Introduction à la paléographie musicale byzantine: catalogue des manuscrits de musique byzantine de la Bibliothèque nationale de Paris et des bibliothèques publiques de France (Paris 1907) 80 (cat. 54)Google Scholar. Cf. Høeg, C., La notation ekphonétique (Copenhagen 1935)Google Scholar.

7 Ebersolt, J., La miniature byzantine (Paris 1926) 80 Google Scholar. See also Spatharakis, I., Corpus of Dated Illuminated Greek Manuscripts to the Year 1453 (Leiden 1981) cat. 302 Google Scholar.

8 I have resolved the scribe's abbreviations without parentheses, and added subscript iotas and modern punctuation.

9 Fol. B originally formed a quire with another leaf, of which now only a stub remains. – There are no quire signatures. Except for its first two folia (marked ‛A’ and ‛B’), the manuscript is paginated. The last flyleaf (pp. 343-[4]), an inserted singleton (pp. 111-[12]), and fol. A are all made of identical, unruled parchment and must have been added at a later date. Fol. Ar is annotated (supra) ‛Venetiis mense Junio 1583’. A second flyleaf at the back (pp. 341-2) is a recycled fragment from some other majuscule Gospel lectionary.

10 On fol. Br (Fig. 2), the ruling type is D 44D1 and the written area measures 198 × 155 mm. On p. 1 (Fig. 1), the written area measures 200 × 160 (65+30+65) mm. The ruling type there (and on all other text leaves) is D-K 44E2 (sic), i.e. the same as D 44D1 but with two text columns instead of one: cf. Sautel, J.-H., Répertoire de réglures dans les manuscrits grecs sur parchemin (Turnhout 1995) 239, 245Google Scholar.

11 Lauxtermann, M. D., Byzantine Poetry from Pisides to Geometres: Texts and Contexts, I (Vienna 2003) 197–212 Google Scholar.

12 Note the unusual enjambment between verses 6 and 7.

13 I do not understand what κρεῖττος ἢ χειρὸς τάχα means.

14 Constantelos, D. J., Byzantine Philanthropy and Social Welfare (New Brunswick 1968) 170, 232-5Google Scholar.

15 Psellos, Michael, Chronographia, ed. Reinsch, D. R. (Berlin 2014) 11–12 (§ I.20)Google Scholar. See also Janin, R., Les églises et les monastères [La géographie ecclésiastique de l'empire byzantin, I.3], 2nd edn (Paris 1969) 58–9Google Scholar; Magdalino, P., ‛The House of Basil the Parakoimomenos’, in Delouis, O. et al. (eds), Le saint, le moine et le paysan: Mélanges d'histoire byzantine offerts à Michel Kaplan [Byzantina Sorbonensia, 29] (Paris 2016) 323–8, esp. 328Google Scholar. – Folia 293-303 of the gospel lectionary St Petersburg, National Library of Russia, СПбДА Б I 5 were copied in 985 at a monastery dedicated to St Basil: Ė. N. Dobrynina, ‛О двух греческих рукописях X в.’, in Beliaeva, I. M. (ed.), Современные проблемы археографии (St Petersburg 2011) 22–32, esp. 22-7Google Scholar. It is unclear whether this was the Constantinopolitan monastery founded by Basil the Bastard.

16 The outer half of p. 235, on which this reading begins, has been cut out of the book, and the corresponding title is now lost. The other feasts included in the menologion are 8 Sept. Birth of the Virgin (pp. 203-5), 14 Sept. Elevation of the Cross (pp. 205-12), Saturday of Pentecost (pp. 212-17), 1 Nov. Sts Cosmas and Damian (pp. 217-19), 13 Nov. St John Chrysostom (pp. 219-22), Sunday before Christmas (pp. 222-30), 25 Dec. Christmas (pp. 231-5), Sunday before Christ's Baptism (pp. 240-3), 6 Jan. Christ's Baptism (pp. 243-5), 2 Feb. Presentation in the Temple (pp. 245-50), 29 June Sts Peter and Paul (pp. 251-3), 6 Aug. Transfiguration (pp. 253-6). – After this point, the moveable (Easter) cycle of readings is resumed (unusual as it is, this must be the original text order, since pp. 255-6 is the first leaf of a regular quaternion). The volume ends with seven Ἀναγνώσματα ἑωθινὰ ἀναστάσιμα (readings for Matins on Sunday; nos 3-5, 7-8, 10-11 in current printed editions) on pp. 319-40.

17 Schminck, ‛Einzelgesetzgebung’, 302-3, argues that Basil actually fell from power in 989.

18 Orsini, P., ‛La maiuscola distintiva “liturgica ornata”’, in D'Agostino, M. (ed.), Ἀληθὴς φιλία: Studi in onore di Giancarlo Prato (Spoleto 2010) 525–40, esp. 539Google Scholar.

19 Orsini, , Scrittura come immagine: morfologia e storia della maiuscola liturgica bizantina (Rome 2013) 40, 54 (‛type C’)Google Scholar.

20 Orsini, Scrittura come immagine, 40, 54 (‛type A’), 57n.154.

21 Weitzmann, K., ‛Ein kaiserliches Lektionar einer byzantinischen Hofschule’, in Benesch, O. et al. (eds), Festschrift Karl M. Swoboda (Vienna 1959) 309–20, esp. 313Google Scholar; repr. in Weitzmann, , Byzantine Liturgical Psalters and Gospels (London 1980) no. viiiGoogle Scholar.

22 Weitzmann, , ‘Ein kaiserliches Lektionar’, fig. 75 (fol. 1v). Colour photograph: Romano, F. (ed.), Biblioteca Nazionale ‛Vittorio Emanuele III’ Napoli (Florence 1993) 46 Google Scholar.

23 Weitzmann, , ‛Ein kaiserliches Lektionar’, 317-18. See also B. Flusin, ‛Le livre et l'empereur sous les premiers macédoniens’, Bulgaria Mediaevalis 2 (2012) 71–84, esp. 75Google Scholar.

24 Weitzmann, ‘Ein kaiserliches Lectionar’, fig. 73 (fol. 2r).

25 Spatharakis, Corpus, cats 9, 12, 14, 15. See also Weitzmann, K., Die byzantinische Buchmalerei des 9. und 10. Jahrhunderts (Berlin 1935) 22–32 Google Scholar; Parpulov, G., ‛The beginnings of flower-petal ornament’, in Saminsky, A. L. (ed.), Путем орнамента: исследования по искусству византийского мира (Moscow 2013) 93–5Google Scholar.

26 Weitzmann, ‛Ein kaiserliches Lektionar’, fig. 73 (fol. 2r); Cavallo, G., ‛Funzione e strutture della maiuscola greca tra i secoli VIII-XI’, in La paléographie grecque et byzantine (Paris 1977) 95–137, esp. 129 with fig. 34 (fol. 10r)Google Scholar.

27 The earliest precisely dated examples are from 949 and 967: Spatharakis, Corpus, cats 10, 18. For the correct date of a supposedly ninth-century specimen, see Hutter, I., Corpus der byzantinischen Miniaturenhandschriften: Oxford, Bodleian Library, III (Stuttgart 1982) 28 (cat. 16)Google Scholar. Cf. Høeg, Notation, 77-83, 105-8; Engberg, S. G., ‛Greek ekphonetic notation: the classical and pre-classical systems’, in Raasted, J. and Troelsgård, C. (eds), Palaeobyzantine Notations: A Reconsideration of the Source Material (Hernen 1995) 33–55, esp. 38-50Google Scholar; Martani, S., ‘Das ekphonetische Notationssystem in den datierten Evangeliarien des 10. Jahrhunderts’, in Wolfram, G. (ed), Palaeobyzantine Notations, III (Leuven 2004) 27–47, esp. 37Google Scholar.

28 Holmes, C., Basil II and the Governance of Empire (Oxford 2005) 469–74Google Scholar.