Codex Usserianus Primus (

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

Library, 55) is an early 7th-century

Old Latin Old Latin, also known as Early Latin or Archaic Latin (Classical la, prīsca Latīnitās, lit=ancient Latinity), was the Latin language in the period before 75 BC, i.e. before the age of Classical Latin. It descends from a common Proto-Italic ...

Gospel Book A Gospel Book, Evangelion, or Book of the Gospels ( Greek: , ''Evangélion'') is a codex or bound volume containing one or more of the four Gospels of the Christian New Testament – normally all four – centering on the life of Jesus of Nazar ...

. It is dated palaeographically to the 6th or 7th century. It is designated by r (traditional system).

Description

The manuscript is damaged, with the leaves being fragmentary and discoloured. The remains of the approximately 180

vellum Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. Parchment is another term for this material, from which vellum is sometimes distinguished, when it is made from calfskin, as opposed to that made from other ani ...

folios have been remounted on paper. It contains the text of the

Pericope Adulterae Jesus and the woman taken in adultery (or the ) is a passage (pericope) found in John 7:53– 8:11 of the New Testament. It has been the subject of much scholarly discussion. In the passage, Jesus was teaching in the Second Temple after com ...

as do many Old Latin manuscripts of the Italian branch. It contains some lacunae (Matthew 1:1–15:16; 15:31–16:13; 21:4–21; 28:16–20; John 1:1–15; Mark 14:58–15:8; 15:29–16:20). It names the two thieves crucified with Jesus as, Ioathas and Capnatas (Luke 23:32). The order of Gospels is Western: Matthew, John, Luke, and Mark. It represents European Old Latin recension. The manuscript has a single remaining decoration, a cross outlined in black dots at the end of the

Luke People *Luke (given name), a masculine given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) * Luke (surname) (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luke. Also known a ...

(fol. 149v). The cross is between the Greek letters alpha and omega. It is also flanked by the ''explicit'' (an ending phrase) for Luke and the ''

incipit The incipit () of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin and means "it b ...

'' (first few words) for Mark. The entire assemblage is contained within a triple square frame of dots and small "s" marks with crescent shaped corner motifs. The cross has been compared to similar crosses found in the

Bologna Lactantius Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nati ...

, the

Paris St. John Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Sin ...

, and the

Valerianus Gospels Valerian (; la, Publius Licinius Valerianus; c. 199 – 260 or 264) was Roman emperor from 253 to spring 260 AD. He persecuted Christians and was later taken captive by the Persian emperor Shapur I after the Battle of Edessa, becoming the fir ...

. Initials on folios 94, 101 and 107 have been set off by small red dots. This represents the first appearance of decoration by "dotting" around text, a motif which would be important in later

Insular Insular is an adjective used to describe: * An island * Someone who is isolated and parochial Insular may also refer to: Sub-national territories or regions * Insular Chile * Insular region of Colombia * Insular Ecuador, administratively known ...

manuscripts. There are some paleographic similarities with early manuscripts produced at the monastery at

Bobbio Bobbio ( Bobbiese: ; lij, Bêubbi; la, Bobium) 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 di ...

, such as the Ambrosiana Jerome and the

Ambrosiana Orosius The Bobbio Orosius (Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana MS D. 23. Sup.) is an early 7th century Insular manuscript of the '' Chronicon'' of Paulus Orosius. The manuscript has 48 folios and measures 210 by 150 mm. It is thought to have been produc ...

. However, it is now thought to have been produced in Ireland. It may therefore be the earliest surviving Irish

codex The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...

. The manuscript's traditional name can be translated as "the First Book of Uss(h)er" and refers to

James Ussher James Ussher (or Usher; 4 January 1581 – 21 March 1656) was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland between 1625 and 1656. He was a prolific scholar and church leader, who today is most famous for his iden ...

, Archbishop of Armagh. Despite the name, it is doubtful that Ussher ever actually owned the manuscript. The text of the codex was collated in 1884 by

T. K. Abbott Reverend Thomas Kingsmill Abbott (26 March 1829 – 18 December 1913) was an Irish scholar and educator. Abbott was born in Dublin and was educated at Trinity College. He was elected a scholar in 1848, graduated in 1851 as a senior moderator in m ...

who also gave the manuscript its name.Abbott, T. K., ''Evangeliorum versio antihieronymiana ex codice Usseriano'', 2 vols., 1884. Currently it is housed at

(55) at

Bruce M. Metzger, ''The Early Versions of the New Testament'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

1977, p. 300. and can be read online using th
Digital Collections
portal of the Trinity College library.

References

Bibliography

*Abbott, T. K.
''Catalogue of the manuscripts in Trinity College''
Dublin, 7, 1900. *Abbott, T. K.
''Evangeliorum versio antihieronymiana ex codice Usseriano''
2 vols., 1884. *Abbott, T. K., ed, ''The book of Trinity college, Dublin, 1591–1891'', 1892. *Aberg, N., ''The Occident and the Orient in the art of the seventh century, I; The British Isles'', Stockholm, 1943. *Alexander, J. J. G., ''Insular Manuscripts: 6th to the 9th Century'', no. 1, London, 1978. *

Gilbert, J. T. Sir John Thomas Gilbert, LLD, FSA, RIA (born 23 January 1829, Dublin - died 23 May 1898, Dublin) was an Irish archivist, antiquarian and historian. Life John Thomas Gilbert was the second son of John Gilbert, an English Protestant, who was Port ...

, ''Facsimiles of National Manuscripts of Ireland'', Part I, vi, pl. II, 1848. *Henry, K. ''Irish Art in the Early Christian Period (to 800 A.D)'', 62, 64, 187, pl. 58London, 1965 *Kenney, J. F., ''The Sources for Early History of Ireland'', no. 453, New York, 1929. *Lowe, E. A., ''Codices Latini Antiquiores'' Vol. II no. 271, *McGurk, P., ''Latin Gospel Books from A.D. 400 to A.D. 800'', no. 84, Paris, Brussels, 1961. *Nordenfalk, C., ''Celtic and Anglo-Saxon painting. Book Illumination in the British Isles 600–800'', 13, fig. 1, New York, 1976. *Nordenfalk, C, 'Before the Book of Durrow', ''

Acta Archaeologica ''Acta Archaeologica'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering new discoveries of archaeological analysis. The journal is published in English, French, German, and Italian and is published by Denmark. Abstracting and indexing The journal ...

'', 18, 1947, 147 ff., fig. 5 *''Palaeographical Society: Facsimiles of Manuscripts and Innscriptions'', ed. E. A. Bond, E. M Thompson, G. F. Warner, 2nd series, pl. 33, London, 1884–94. *Westwood, J. O., ''Palaeographia sacra pictoris'', no. 19, London, 1843–5.

External links

Direct link to the digitised manuscript, Library of Trinity College Dublin Digital Collections

More information at Earlier Latin Manuscripts
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, below = 7th-century biblical manuscripts Usserianus Primus Hiberno-Saxon manuscripts Irish manuscripts Vetus Latina New Testament manuscripts Library of Trinity College Dublin

Description

See also

References

Bibliography

External links