Acts of the Apostles ('The Laudian Acts') — late 6th or early 7th century; Italian, Sardinia (?), or Rome(?)

Title

Acts of the Apostles ('The Laudian Acts') — late 6th or early 7th century; Italian, Sardinia (?), or Rome(?)

Shelfmark

MS. Laud Gr. 35

Date

late 6th or early 7th century

Language

Ancient Greek (to 1453)

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment

Physical extent

ii (modern paper) + i (17th century parchment) + 227 + i (17th century parchment) + ii (modern paper), foliated i-iii, 1–230

Hands

Uncial by one scribe.

Additions in Continental uncial, cursive majuscule, cursive minuscule, and Carolingian minuscule.

Binding

Brown tanned calf over laminated pulpboard for Abp. Laud, 1637–1639.

Acquisition

Given to the Bodleian as part of his third donation, dispatched on 28 June 1639.

Provenance

The edict on fol. 227v may suggest that the manuscript originated in Sardinia or that it was there at an early date; for historical and palaeographical arguments in favour of a Roman origin, see Lai, 2017.

Wearmouth-Jarrow, before 735: correspondences between the text of this manuscript and the text of Acts quoted by Bede in his commentaries on that book make it virtually certain that this manuscript was used by Bede; perhaps brought to Northumbria from Rome by Benedict Biscop or Ceolfrith.

Hornbach abbey, by the late 8th century: inscription, fol. 226v (Mariae uirginis Gamundum)

Fulda abbey (?): perhaps referred to in the Fulda (?) booklist of c. 800 (M. Lapidge, Anglo-Saxon Library (2006) p. 151 no. 2, ‘Actus apostolorum’)

Würzburg, Domstift St Kilian (?): perhaps referred to in the booklist of c. 800, no. 1 (‘Actus apostolorum’), perhaps one of the copies of Acts referred to in the booklist of c. 1000, no. 93 (‘II Apostolorum’), but both identifications are uncertain, and ultimately depend on the assumption that Laud acquired the manuscript from Würzburg.

William Laud, 1573–1645: his ex libris, 1636, fol. 1r.

Title

Acta Apostolorum, Graeco-Lat.

Shelfmark

MS. Laud Gr. 35

Summary

1. Fols. 1ra-226rb. Acts of the Apostles ('The Laudian Acts')

2. Fols. 226v-227v. Added texts:

Fol. 226v. Apostle's Creed, added in Continental uncial script, s. viii. Marginal scribbles in Carolingian minuscule

Fol. 226v. Note on the oracle of Delphi, added in cursive majuscule, s. vii

Fol. 227r. Invocations to the Virgin Mary, added in cursive majuscule and minuscule, s. vii

fol. 227v. Edict of Flavios Pankratios (fl. 638 × 668), dux Sardiniae, added in cursive majuscule, s. vii

Date

Late 6th or early 7th century

Language

Latin

Modern Greek (1453-)

Physical extent

227 Leaves

Custodial history

There is no evidence that it belonged to Bede, but apparently he did use it. It may have been brought to England in 669 by Theodore of Tarsus, the Gk. abp. of Canterbury. In that case it left England before very long, as it contains continental writing of later date than Bede. On fol. 226v Prof. Lake has pointed out some part of a sentence written with a stilus in Latin majuscules: they might very well be written at Canterbury in the late 7th century. Manuscript 2407 acquired by the Bodleian Library