St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 213
Lowe Elias Avery, Codices Latini Antiquiores. A palaeographical guide to latin manuscripts prior to the ninth century. Part VII: Switzerland, Oxford 1956 (Osnabrück 1982), p. 25.
Manuscript title: , Dialogi; , Sermones; etc.
Date of origin: Saec. VIII med.
Extent:
184 pp.
Format: ca. 265 x ca. 180 mm; ca. 265 x ca. 180 mm.
Contents:
Palimpsest, two scripts.
Codicological unit:
Palimpsest, secondary script.
Manuscript title:
, Dialogi; , Sermones; etc.
Place of origin: Written probably at St. Gall.
Date of origin: Saec. VIII med.
Support: Parchment mostly defective and of poor quality.
Extent:
Foll. 87
Format: Average size ca. 265 x ca. 180 mm.
Foliation: Paginated 5-178 (pp. 1-4 are paper fly-leaves; pp. 179/180 in parchment form the back fly-leaf and contain probationes pennae and a table of contents for the manuscript)
Collation: Gatherings of four palimpsest bifolia, arranged without method and with occasional insertions of fresh parchment; quires regularly signed in the centre of the lower margin of the last page with uncial letters set off by groups of lines on four sides.
Page layout:
(ca. 195-215 x 145-150 mm.) in 33-34 long lines; Ruling before folding, on the hair- or flesh-side, presumably 4 bifolia at a time. Single bounding lines as a rule. Prickings in the outer margin guided the ruling.
Writing and hands:
- Punctuation: the semicolon marks the main pause, the medial point lesser pauses.
- Omissions, supplied by an eighth-century hand, are indicated by in the text answered by before the insertion in the lower margin (p. 19), or by signes de renvoi.
- Abbreviations: b; (and b:), q; (and q:) = bus, que; aū = autem; ƀ = ber; ec̄ = ecce; ē and ·ē· = est; fr̄s = fratres; = men; = non; ni = nostri; os = omnis and omnes; ꝑ, = per, prae; q = quod; ꞇ̄ = ter; the abbreviation-stroke is a horizontal or vertical flourish.
- Spelling, unusually barbarous, shows confusion of c and g, e and i, o and u, d for t, ci for ti, and ss for s.
- Script is a small, distinct pre-Caroline minuscule considered typical of Breisgau, and for the most part probably in the hand of Liutfrit, the scribe of several St. Gall charters (e.g., the charter of A.D. 754): open ɑ is the rule; the head of g is closed; i-longa is frequent initially; majuscule N occurs here and there at the beginning of words; the top of ꞇ forms a loop to the left; the ro ligature is noteworthy, as it ends in a dot above the o; Ɛ is used for hard ti; the script on part of p. 173 is in manifest imitation of Insular majuscule, even to the wedge-shaped ascenders (see plate).
Decoration:
- Running titles on some openings, in small uncial preceded and followed by lines and points.
- Colophons in black uncial.
- Headings in red or black bold uncial, occasionally daubed with red or yellow.
- Initials in bold black or filled with red or yellow.
- Ink dark brown.
Contents:
Partly palimpsest, secondary script (for the primary script containing ' Divinae Institutiones in uncial saec. V, see next item; pp. 153 -160, 163-170, 177, 178 are ter scripti; their intermediate script showing traces of an unidentified theological text is so similar to the present uppermost script that it must have been written in the same centre only a short time before; pp. 89 f., 99 f., 109 f. ,119 f., 127 f., 131 f., 135 f., 141 f., 145 f., 149 f., 179 f. have no lower script).
Origin of the manuscript:
Written probably at St. Gall, and, in the opinion of Dr. Bruckner, by Liutfrit, who wrote several St. Gall charters from 754 to 757.
Codicological unit:
Palimpsest, primary script.
Manuscript title:
, Divinae Institutiones (fragm.).
Place of origin: Written presumably in Italy.
Date of origin: Saec. V.
Support: Parchment is thickish.
Extent:
Foll. 77
Format: ca. 265 x ca. 180 mm.
Foliation: now paginated 5- 88, 91-98, 101-108, 111-118, 121- 126, 129 f., 133 f., 137-140, 143 f., 147 f., 151- 178 in a volume of 180 pages in all.
Collation: Gatherings of eight, with flesh-side outside, signed with Roman numerals in the lower right-hand corner of the last page.
Page layout:
(200-208 x 130 mm.) in 31 long lines. Ruling before folding, on the hair-side, probably each bifolium separately. Single bounding lines. Prickings run through the center of the written area - an ancient practice.
Writing and hands:
- No punctuation, a blank space of 2 or more letters marking sense-pauses and setting off.
- Abbreviations seen are B·, Ɋ· and the normal forms of Nomina Sacra; but ꝹI and ꝹO also occur written out; sanctus is abbreviated (SC̄S) only when accompanied by SP̄S. Omission of M and N occurs at line-end and is marked by a short horizontal over and after the vowel. A larger letter begins most pages - a sign of antiquity. Ink left yellowish traces.
- Script is an excellent early uncial; the eye of is open; N is broad; various ligatures occur at line-ends.
Decoration: Colophons, now completely faded, were apparently in red (cf. p. 6 which follows the end of Book II and appears to be blank).
Contents:
Palimpsest, primary script (for the secondary script, containing Gregory's Dialogues, etc., and, in parts of the manuscript, for the intermediate script containing an unidentified theological text, both in pre-Caroline minuscule saec. VIII, see preceding item).
Origin of the manuscript:
Written presumably in Italy. Rewritten with theological texts in the eighth century, presumably at St. Gall (see preceding item).