Uppsala University Library, Gr. 28A
Composite manuscript with mainly epistolographic contents, in two volumes (together with Gr. 28B) (‘Codex Rolambianus’)
Constantinople, mid 14th c.
paper
ii, 225, ii' leaves
220 × 145 mm
6 units
Greek
Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
Unit 5
Unit 6
Support
Binding/Endleaves
Unit 1
Watermark 1
ff. 3/8,Watermark 3
ff. 10/17, 13/14,Unit 2
Watermark 3
Unit 3
Watermark 7
ff. 78/83, 79/82–2, 102/107, 103/106,Watermark 9
ff. 85/92,Watermark 10
Unit 4
Unit 5
Unit 6
Support 1
ff. 173r–196v, 199r–199v, 201r–225vWatermark 6
Watermark 15
Watermark 8
Foliation
Collation
Binding/Endleaves
Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
Unit 5
Layout
Script
Unit 1
Hand 1
(ff. 1r–17v) Scribe A, ⟨Philotheos Metropolitan of Selymbria⟩, who is the main scribe and the organizer of the volume (PLP, no. 29896). Writes in a distinct digraphic way, with one more calligraphic variant, suggestive of the Metochitesstil, and one more narrow and cursive minuscule. The styles may be compared, e.g., on (f. 1r), where the pinax on the upper half differs from the letter recorded below. That the two variants are by the same scribe is evident from other parts of the volume, where the two styles constantly take turns and also sometimes appear to transform into each other. The scribal hand, in both its digraphic variants, seems to be indentical to the one represented in the Princeton Gospel book Princeton y1957-19, ; that manuscript includes a colophon providing the name of Philotheos Metropolitan of Selymbria and the year 1379–1380.Unit 2
Hand 2
(ff. 75v–76v) Scribe B (except for the rubric on (f. 75v), which is by ⟨Philotheos Metropolitan of Selymbria⟩). This cursive minuscule script is not altogether different from the cursive variant of the main hand, but should, according to Dieter Harlfinger’s palaeographical analysis, nevertheless be seen as another hand; cf. Karlsson (1981), p. 23. Scribe B has contributed also in Q13–14 and Q18, and is responsible for a few folios in Gr. 28B, .Unit 3
Hand 1
(ff. 77r–101v, 108r–109v, 120r–128v) Scribe A, ⟨Philotheos Metropolitan of Selymbria⟩; cf. preceding units.Hand 2
(ff. 102r–107v, 110r–119v) Scribe B, the collaborator of ⟨Philotheos Metropolitan of Selymbria⟩; cf. the preceding unit.Unit 4
Hand 1
(ff. 129r–150v:19, 151v:15–151v:28) Scribe A, ⟨Philotheos Metropolitan of Selymbria⟩; cf. preceding units.Unit 5
Unit 6
Hand 1
(ff. 173r–225v) Scribe A, ⟨Philotheos Metropolitan of Selymbria⟩, who has contributed in all units of the volume (cf. codicological units 1–5).Additions
Decorations
Unit 1
Rubrics, glosses, and a few larger initials in red ink. The headpiece on (f. 2r) is rather plain; just lines and dots, and a couple of flourishes.
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
Titles, initials, marginalia and glosses in red ink. Most initials are plain or with just a small flourish. On (f. 129r) a simple headpiece made up from a couple of lines and four trefoils. Astrological and planetary symbols in the margins, passim. On (f. 131v) a cosmological diagram showing Pythagoras’ eight-corded lyre.
Unit 5
Unit 6
Titles, initials, and marginal glosses in faded red, or pale brown ink, on (ff. 173r–194v), in bright red ink on (ff. 195r–225v). For examples of flourished initials, see the quadrangular Beta with unfilled crosses and trefoils on (f. 179v), a Delta furnished with a vine, dots, and tendrils on (f. 181r). Similar embellishments are used also for the bright red initials later in the unit; see, e.g., the Rho on (f. 210v), and Psi on (f. 221v) 210v. A pointing hand on (f. 176v).
Binding
Inboard binding covered in stained brown calfskin. Sewn on five supports. Stuck-on endbands in brown and reddish-brown. Blue edges. Binding title on spine: CODEX MS. GRAECUS. Gold-tooled decorations on spine compartments, bands, and board edges. The same kind of tooling is found on books bound by Johan Nilsson Norman, who was active as a bookbinder in Stockholm 1693–1723 and was employed as bookbinder to the King’s Library 1700–1714. Cf. Hedberg (1949–1960), vol. 1, pp. 301–303, plate 102.
Origin
The volume was, together with its sister volume, Ups. Gr. 28B, , written in the mid 14th c., based on the watermarks and the handwriting (partly in ‘Metochitesstil’). As it is an extensive composite of several autonomous units, it is not unlikely that the production was stretched out over a longer period of time. The following units were, according to Dieter Harlfinger, probably the earliest (1340s): units 1 and 5 in Ups. Gr. 28A, together with units 9 and 12 in Ups. Gr. 28B, ; cf. Karlsson (1981), pp. 24–28. Dieter Harlfinger has suggested that, on the basis of the contents as well as the handwriting, the main scribe is likely to have been a pupil of Thomas Magister and Nicephorus Gregoras; he first proposed that Scribe A might be Demetrius Cydones, in which case we would have a geographical connection to Constantinople. In an addendum, though, this assumption was corrected into an identification of Scribe A as Philotheos Metropolitan of Selymbria (Karlsson (1981), p. 32). This still supports a close connection to the intellectual milieu around Nicephorus Gregoras, to whom Philotheos Metropolitan of Selymbria supposedly was a pupil but later turned against (cf. the anathema preserved in autograph in the Register of the Patriarchate, Vindob. Cod. Hist gr. 47, ).
Provenance
The manuscript was acquired in Istanbul by Claes Rålamb, who was the Royal Swedish ambassador there in 1657–1658. Before that acquisition, the codex/codices (28A and 28B) had probably been in the West for some time, judging from marginalia and Latin titles added in the fifteenth century. In the late sixteenth century it was part of Mattias I Corvinus King of Hungary’s library in Poland, according to the very accurate description of its contents given in a letter from 1573 (Karlsson (1981), p. 30). How and when it returned to Istanbul in between is not known.
Acquisition
Claes Rålamb’s library came into the hands of Charles XI King of Sweden as part of the payment of a debt. The library, including codex Ups. Gr. 28A–B, was thereafter donated to Uppsala University Library in 1693.
Former shelfmarks
- Norrmann (1691–1694).
- Foerster (1877).
- Graux (1889), pp. 53–55.
- Foerster (1903–1927), vol. 9, pp. 145–146.
- Fritz (1905), p. 376.
- Lindstam (1910), pp. LIV–LX.
- Lindstam (1919–1920), pp. 62–65.
- Hermelin (1934).
- Garzya (1973), p. 27, no. 209.
- Karlsson (1981).
- Harlfinger (1996), pp. 47–48, plates 10–12.
- Gastgeber (2010), pp. 419–421.
- Kotzabassi (2010), p. 479.
