Vulgate manuscripts
The Vulgate is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible that was to become the Catholic Church's officially Latin version of the Bible during the 16th century, and is still used fundamentally in the Latin Church to this day.
History
The Vulgate exists in many forms. The Codex Amiatinus is the oldest surviving complete manuscript; it dates from the 8th century.A number of early manuscripts containing or reflecting the Vulgate survive today. Dating from the 8th century, the Codex Amiatinus is the earliest surviving manuscript of the complete Vulgate Bible. The Codex Fuldensis, dating from around 545, contains most of the New Testament in the Vulgate version, but the four gospels are harmonized into a continuous narrative derived from the Diatessaron.
Alcuin of York oversaw efforts to make an improved Vulgate, which he presented to Charlemagne in 801. He concentrated mainly on correcting inconsistencies of grammar and orthography, many of which were in the original text. More scholarly attempts were made by Theodulphus, Bishop of Orléans ; Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury ; Stephen Harding, Abbot of Cîteaux ; and Deacon Nicolaus Maniacoria. The University of Paris, the Dominicans, and the Franciscans following Roger Bacon assembled lists of correctoria; approved readings where variants had been noted. Many of the readings that were recommended were later found to be interpolations, or survivals of the Old Latin text, since medieval correctors commonly sought to adjust the Vulgate text into consistency with Bible quotations found in Early Church Fathers.
List of manuscripts
Stuttgart Vulgate
List of manuscripts with siglum from the Stuttgart Vulgate :Sigla | Name | Approx. date | Prov. | Content | Custodian |
A | Amiatinus | 700 | Northumbria | Bible | Laurentian Library |
C | Cavensis | 850 | Hispania | Bible ex Cath | Monte Cassino |
D | 750 | Lugdunum | Sam–Kings | Municipal Lib. of Lyon | |
D | 750 | Northumbria | Job | Russian National Lib. | |
D | Durmachensis | 650 | Hibernia | Gospels | Trinity College, Dublin |
F | Codex Fuldensis | 547 | Capua | NT | Fulda |
F | 750 | Gaul | Deut–Ruth | National Lib. of France | |
F | Corbeiense | 750 | Corbie | Ps | Russian National Lib. |
G | Turonensis | 600 | Tours | Gen–Num | National Lib. of France |
G | Sangermanensis | 850 | Parisii | National Lib. of France | |
H | Cathach | 650 | Hibernia | Psalms | Royal Irish Academy |
I | 950 | Gaul? | Psalms | of Rouen | |
I | 800 | Latium | Acts Cath Rev | Bibl. Vallicelliana of Rome | |
K | 750 | Italia | Ezra–Job | Cathedral Lib. of Cologne | |
K | Augiense | 850 | Augia | Psalms | Baden State Library |
L | 850 | Würzburg | Deut–Ruth | Bodleian Library | |
L | 850 | Lugdunum | Ezra | Municipal Lib. of Lyon | |
L | Laureshamensis | 600 | Italia merid. | Tobit–Job | Vatican Library |
L | Lugdunense | 500 | Lugdunum | Psalms | Municipal Lib. of Lyon |
L | 850 | Tours | Psalms | British Museum | |
M | Maurdramni | 750 | Corbie | of Amiens |
New Testament
Identification
The list of manuscripts below is based on citations in Novum Testamentum Graece and The Greek New Testament. Each manuscript is identified first by its siglum, as given by the critical apparatus of the editions mentioned. These sigla are related to content, so are not unique. For example, the letter S refers to Codex Sangallensis 1395 in the gospels, but to Codex Sangallensis 70 in the Pauline epistles. So sigla need disambiguation. In the table below, this is done by providing a full name. Additionally, the standard unique serial number for each manuscript is provided. Taken together sigla, name and number provide unambiguous identification, and some further information regarding the content, history and relationship of manuscripts.Sigla, names and numbers exist to serve different scholastic purposes. Sigla, in the context of reference to an original document, provide unique and concise identification of witnesses to the text of that original, suited to minimizing the space taken by citation in a critical apparatus. Names, on the other hand, normally refer to specific handwritten volumes, either as originally bound or in their current form. Names are typically Latin, and can refer to the place of composition or rediscovery, the current location, a famous owner, a volume's function, or can even refer to physical characteristics of a volume. The Book of Mulling is also known as Liber Moliensis after the name of the scribe, as tradition has it.
It must also be observed that certain Latin NT manuscripts may present a mixture of Vulgate and Old Latin texts. For example, Codex Sangermanensis is Old Latin in Matthew, but Vulgate in the rest of the Gospels. Also, the text of John in Codex Veronensis is believed to be part Old Latin and part Vulgate.