Wien, ÖNB, Cod. 424

Library	Österreichische Nationalbibliothek
Shelfmark	Cod. lat. 424
Century	s. IX2/4-med
General region of origin	Salzburg monastery
Collection	Collectio XXX capitulorum (De ratione matrimonii)
Main author	Bruno Schalekamp
Main author	Gideon de Jong

Wien, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. lat. 424 is a second quarter (ÖNB) to middle (Bischoff) ninth-century manuscript of 9 folios in 1 col. and 30 lines (295 x 203 mm). Its codicological composition is unknown at the time of writing. No quire signatures were included. Modern foliation was made in Arabic numerals in lead pencil. The work was written by at least four different scribes in Caroline minuscule. Its origin is from Salzburg and probably its monastery according to Steinová and its catalogue. About its provenance, however, less is known: we know for sure it was bought in 1675 by Peter Lambeck for the Hofbibliothek in Vienna from an unknown seller.

Contents

The manuscript is a very small-sized codex and contains a mix of canonical and encyclopedic material. It includes a large version of the Collectio XXX capitulorum (De ratione matrimonii), as well as works on heresies (Isidore de Seville), a (forged) epistle by Pseudoisidore, and a template for a charter to free a slave to receive ecclesiastical ordination.

See the digitized version: https://digital.onb.ac.at/RepViewer/viewer.faces?doc=DTL_7085075&order=1&view=SINGLE.

Script

According to De Jong (unpublished work-in-progress analysis), four scribes can be discerned: A through D. Scribe A (fols. 1-5) writes a small, neat, right-leaning minuscule with slightly clubbed ascenders; frequent open cc-shaped a’s, and [...] ligatures. Rubrics are in red half-uncials. A greek word in capitals features on fol. 3v (ΚΙΛΙΑCΤΕ).

Scribe B (fol. 6r) writes a larger script, using with a broad nib. Corrections, sometimes in darker ink.

Scribe C (fol. 6v) writes a Caroline minuscule. No rubrics or titles, black ink. Scribe C’s hand has at least two different versions of r, with occasional rt-ligatures with high ascenders (libertinitatis). The hand also had two different versions of e: the regular Caroline e (ascender that touches the midline and forms an eye) and a version with a higer ascener thart does not touch the midline and remains open. This e often occurs in ligatures with r or t, where it attaches to the ligated letter in a high loop. Ri-ligatures occur near the end of lines with long-descender-i.

Scribe D (fol. 7r-9v) writes a Caroline minuscule closer to scribe A. Rubrics in red ink in half-uncial (but note the second M in quadrata in ‘excomm’ on fol. 9v). Regular lines that are well spaced out over the page. No evidence of punctures, although folia appear to have been cut (almost no margin close to the gutter ). Occasional spelling mistakes: fol. 7v postteritatis, 8v tumulenta and mmolitia, 9v aga[t]. Scribe D’s hand has three different versions of r: regular minuscule r that stays below the headline, an r with a deeper cross-stroke that will often form a ligature with a (fol. 7r tradita, paranimphis, separanda, altera) and an r that rises far above the headline in a ligature with the next letter (fol. 7r quartum). Three different versions of a, the regular minuscule a and downstroke and ‘belly’ that occurs most frequently. Also closed a without downstroke like an alpha. This a often occurs in ligature with r. Some open cc-shaped a’s, (see fol. 7r quartum), although the strokes are connected. See also 7v quamdiu gravata.

folios	texts
	Front cover and multiple flyleaves
1r-3v	Summary of various heresies a Marcione usque ad Eutychetem
3v-5v	Excerpt from Isidore de Seville's Etymologies, book 8, chapter 5 ('on heresies')
6r	Template for a charter to free a slave to receive ecclesiastical ordination, charta ingenuitatis
6v	Fragment from Pseudoisidore, Epistola ad Masonem, cap. 8-13
7r-9v	Collectio XXX capitulorum (De ratione matrimonii), chapters I-XXVIII
	Flyleaves and back cover

Literature

Bischoff, Die Südostdeutschen Schreibschulen Vol. 2 (1980), p. 146-146; Catón, 'Las Etimologias' (1965), p. 181 n. 178; Kéry, Canonical Collections (1999), p. 77 and 81; Reynolds, Canon Law Collections (1980), p. 15-34; Tabulae codicum Vol. 1 (1864), p. 68.

An edition of the Collectio XXX capitulorum (De ratione matrimonii) is currently being prepared by Sven Meeder, Gideon de Jong, and Bruno Schalekamp.