Purple parchment or purple vellum refers to

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared Tanning (leather), untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves and goats. It has been used as a writing medium in West Asia and Europe for more than two millennia. By AD 400 ...

dyed purple; codex purpureus refers to manuscripts written entirely or mostly on such parchment. The lettering may be in gold or silver. Later the practice was revived for some especially grand

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared manuscript, document where the text is decorated with flourishes such as marginalia, borders and Miniature (illuminated manuscript), miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Churc ...

s produced for the emperors in

Carolingian art Carolingian art comes from the Frankish Empire in the period of roughly 120 years from about 780 to 900—during the reign of Charlemagne and his immediate heirs—popularly known as the Carolingian Renaissance. The art was produced by and for the ...

and

Ottonian art Ottonian art is a style (visual arts), style in Pre-Romanesque art, pre-romanesque German art, covering also some works from the Low Countries, northern Italy and eastern France. It was named by the art historian Hubert Janitschek after the Ottoni ...

, in Anglo-Saxon England and elsewhere. Some just use purple parchment for sections of the work; the 8th-century Anglo-Saxon

Stockholm Codex Aureus The Stockholm Codex Aureus (Stockholm, National Library of Sweden, MS A. 135, also known as the Codex Aureus of Canterbury and Codex Aureus Holmiensis) is a Gospel book written in the mid-eighth century in Southumbria, probably in Canterbury, wh ...

alternates dyed and un-dyed pages. It was at one point supposedly restricted for the use of Roman or Byzantine emperors, although in a letter of

Saint Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian priest, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known for his translation of the Bible ...

of 384, he "writes scornfully of the wealthy Christian women whose books are written in gold on purple vellum, and clothed with gems".Needham, 21

Examples

The ''Purple Uncials'' or the ''Purple Codices'' is a well-known group of these manuscripts, all 6th-century New Testament Greek manuscripts: * Codex Purpureus Petropolitanus N (022) * Sinope Gospels O (023) (illuminated) * Rossano Gospels Σ (042) (illuminated) * Codex Beratinus Φ (043) (illuminated) * Uncial 080 Two other purple New Testament Greek manuscripts are minuscules: * Minuscule 565 known as the ''Empress Theodora's Codex'' * Minuscule 1143 known as ''Beratinus 2'' There is a 9th-century

lectionary A lectionary () is a book or listing that contains a collection of scripture readings appointed for Christianity, Christian or Judaism, Jewish worship on a given day or occasion. There are sub-types such as a "gospel lectionary" or evangeliary, ...

: * Codex Neapolitanus, former ''Codex Vindobonensis 2'' Another six New Testament purple manuscripts are in Latin (with corresponding

sigla Scribal abbreviations, or sigla (grammatical number, singular: siglum), are abbreviations used by ancient and medieval scribes writing in various languages, including Latin, Greek language, Greek, Old English and Old Norse. In modern Textua ...

''a'', ''b'', ''e'', ''f'', ''i'', ''j''). Besides some scattered fragments, they are held mainly in:

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

Sarezzano Sarezzano (Western Lombard: ''Sarsòu'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about east of Turin and about east of Alessandria. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,171 ...

, Trent and

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. Three of these use

Vetus Latina The ''Vetus Latina'' ("Old Latin" in Latin), also known as ''Vetus Itala'' ("Old Italian"), ''Itala'' ("Italian") and Old Italic, and denoted by the siglum \mathfrak, are the Latin Bible translations, translations of biblical texts (both Old T ...

texts: *

Codex Vercellensis The title Codex Vercellensis Evangeliorum refers to two manuscript codices preserved in the cathedral library of Vercelli, in the Piedmont Region, Italy. Old Latin Codex Vercellensis The Old Latin Codex Vercellensis Evangeliorum, preserved in ...

Codex Veronensis The Codex Veronensis, designated by the siglum b (used in the critical editions of Nestle-Åland and the UBS Greek New Testament) or 4 (in the Beuron system), is a 5th-century Latin manuscript of the four Gospels, written on vellum which has been ...

Codex Palatinus Codex Palatinus is a 5th-century manuscript of the Latin New Testament Gospels written on purple dyed parchment. It is designated by e or 2 in the Beuron register of Latin New Testament manuscripts. The text is a version of the Old Latin New Test ...

Codex Brixianus The Codex Brixianus (Brescia, Biblioteca Civica Queriniana, s.n.), designated by f, is a 6th-century Latin Gospel Book which was probably produced in Italy. Description The manuscript contains 419 folios. The text, written on purple dyed vellu ...

Codex Purpureus Sarzanensis The Codex Sarzanensis, or ''Codex Saretianus'', designated by j or 22 (in Beuron system), is a 5th or 6th century Latin Gospel Book. The text, written on purple dyed vellum in silver ink (as are codices '' a b e f i''), is a version of the old ...

* Codex Vindobonensis Lat. 1235 There is also one Gothic purple codex – the

Codex Argenteus The (Latin for "Silver Book/Codex") is a 6th century, 6th-century illuminated manuscript, originally containing Gospel#Canonical gospels, part of the Gothic Bible, 4th-century translation of the Christian Bible into the Gothic language. Trad ...

(illuminated). There is a purple manuscript of part of the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

: * Vienna Genesis (illuminated) Other illuminated manuscripts include the

Godescalc Evangelistary The Godescalc Evangelistary, Godescalc Sacramentary, Godescalc Gospels, or Godescalc Gospel Lectionary (Paris, BNF. acquisitions nouvelles lat.1203) is an illuminated manuscript in Latin made by the Franks, Frankish scribe Godescalc and today kept ...

of 781–3, the

Vienna Coronation Gospels The Vienna Coronation Gospels, also known simply as the Coronation Gospels (), is a late 8th century illuminated gospel book produced at the court of Charlemagne in Aachen.Kunsthistorisches 1991, p. 166. It was used by the future emperor at his co ...

(early 9th century) and a few pages of the 9th-century

La Cava Bible The La Cava Bible or ''Codex Cavensis'' (Cava de' Tirreni, Biblioteca statale del Monumento Nazionale Badia di Cava, Ms. memb. I) is a 9th-century Latin illuminated Bible, which was produced in Spain, probably in the Kingdom of Asturias during th ...

from the

Kingdom of Asturias The Kingdom of Asturias was a kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula founded by the nobleman Pelagius who traditionally has been described as being of Visigothic stock. Modern research is leaning towards the view that Pelagius was of Hispano-Roman ...

. Anglo-Saxon examples include a lost 7th-century ''Gospels'' commissioned by Saint Wilfrid.

Notes

References

External links

*
The World of Bede

Illuminated manuscripts {{Christian-book-stub

Examples

See also

Notes

References

External links