Medieval Greek Manuscripts

TCD MS 31 folio 1v: 12th-century Gospels with catena

TCD MS 31 folio 1v: 12th-century Gospels with catena.

When the Library acquired the books of James Ussher, archbishop of Armagh and primate of All Ireland, after his death in 1656, it also acquired the manuscripts which form the core of the collection of Greek manuscripts. These are being catalogued in detail and digitized for the first time.

What would Ussher have thought about his manuscripts being published on the world-wide web? He would certainly have been astonished, but not displeased. For someone with a global view, as he had, reaching out to different cultures and languages was part of his world view. Neither would he have suffered qualms of possessiveness, since he had a remarkable attitude to the sharing of books. He would probably have been relieved of the anxiety of lending the unique physical objects, when virtual reproduction could serve so well the scope of distant and diverse research.

The list of Greek manuscripts in the Library comprises over one hundred items. Of these, a select group of 24 manuscripts are the object of this first survey. Detailed catalogue entries, compiled by Dr Barbara Crostini, are linked to the digitized manuscripts as the project progresses.

TCD Shelfmark	Date	Contents
27	1534	Psalter
28/1	9th and 12th cents?	Palimpsest
28/2	6th and 12th cents?	Palimpsest
30	16th cent	New Testament ‘Montfortianus’
31	11th-12th cents	Gospel with catena
33 i.e. MS 373, folios 151-166	13th-14th cents	Lectionary of the Epistles
112-113	16th cent	Commentaries on Scripture
185	10th-11th cents	Homiliary
186	12th cent	Zigabenos, Panoplia
199	11th cent	Canon Law
200	12th cent	Canon Law
220	16th cent	Philosophical fragments
231	11th-17th cents	Miscellany
304	16th cent	Matthaios Angelos Panaretos
373 (1-2)	15th-16th cents	Miscellany
922	13th cent	Iliad with scholia
925	1480	Theodore Gaza, Grammatica
1723	11th-12th cent	Sticherarion
2885	9th-10th? cents	Lectionary
2886	12th cent	Lectionary
2887	10th cent	Gregory Nazianzen, Homilies
3528	13th cent?	Liturgical texts
5215	13th cent?	Psalm with paraphrasis