Paleographic Analysis Research Articles

Notas sobre la descripción bibliográfica y la configuración del manuscrito M-139 de la Biblioteca de Menéndez Pelayo

This paper examines from a codicological and bibliographical point of view the manuscript M-139 of the Menéndez Pelayo Library (Santander, Spain). The aim is to provide new information on the materiality of the codex while linking the study of the material and content of the manuscript, in order to draw conclusions about its configuration. After the identification of the manuscript, the contents are explained in detail. The material aspects are then dealt with, from the composition and markings of the paper, through the systems of arrangement to a brief paleographic analysis.

TOMBSTONE OF PRINCE DMYTRO KOZEKA: A «NEW AND OLD» LAPIDARY MONUMENT OF VOLYN OF THE 16th CENTURY

The Scientific Archive of the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine holds a drawing of the tombstone of Prince Dmytro Kozeka. The drawing on a sheet of paper was made in pencil in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It contains two inscriptions (epitaphs) in Old Ukrainian and Latin and the princely coat of arms between them. The texts of the inscriptions were published twice in the nineteenth century. The large coat of arms on the tombstone has never been described. Its image, as well as the image of the inscriptions, is published for the first time. The large coat of arms has the shape of a heraldic shield inscribed in a circle. The shape of the shield is made in the Baroque style. Four heraldic signs are symmetrically arranged on the shield, the first of which, in the form of a bow and cross, is the minor coat of arms of the prince. This sign is present on the personal seals of Dmytro Kozeka. The second sign is still unknown in the heraldry of Ukraine in the sixteenth century. Two other signs belong to well-known arms used by many noble families. The paper is accompanied by illustrations that show a complete drawing of the prince’s tombstone and individual elements of this lapidary monument: two epitaphs and a great coat of arms, opening the way for studying the vocabulary of the inscriptions and performing paleographic analysis. The attribution of the coat of arms will allow us to clarify the genealogy of the Kozeka family. Prince Dmytro Kozeka died in 1583 and was buried in the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady in the monastery not far from Zymne village near Volodymyr city. The marble slab on the grave was installed by his wife Kateryna Falchevska. After the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, there is no evidence of the location of the slab. The Kozeka family appeared in Volhynia in the mid-fifteenth century. Their origin is not clear. Dmytro Kozeka is the most famous representative of this family, according to written sources. The paper describes some episodes of his biography, gives an overview of the princely estates, specifies the time period when his father died, and reveals the previously unknown names of his two sisters. The tombstone of Prince Dmytro Kozeka is a valuable historical source for the study of the elite stratum of the Ukrainian population of the early modern period.

Lietuvos didžiojo kunigaikščio Aleksandro Jogailaičio kanceliarijos rusėniški dokumentai paleografiniu aspektu

The article examines paleographic specifics of Ruthenian documents of Alexander Jagiellon (1492–1506), Grand Duke of Lithuania. We looked into 17 documents of this ruler, kept in Lithuania and Poland. The examination of Alexander Jagiellon’s Ruthenian documents enabled us to establish the following: 1) the documents were written on two types of material – parchment or paper – using black or brown ink; 2) the documents were authenticated with pendant or applied seals of the Grand Duke of Lithuania, while other means of authentication such as signatures of the ruler or his officials were not detected; 3) individual letters in the texts of the documents are enlarged and/or decorated; 4) in all these documents, the slant of the letters varies (the letters are either vertical or slanted to the left or right); 5) some letters (mostly consonants) are raised above words, even though they make only a small part of all letters in the documents; 6) some words are made shorter by omitting vowels; 7) words are often (but not always) separated by spaces; 8) letters in individual words are almost never connected. The paleographic analysis of Alexander Jagiellon’s Ruthenian documents confirms an idea (expressed in historiography as early as in the last century) of the conditionality of the term “cursive” and manifestation of some traits of semi-uncial in Ruthenian documents of the Chancery of the Grand Duke of Lithuania in the 16th century. The Ruthenian documents of this ruler display features of both cursive and semi-uncial or even uncial. We also attempted to identify individuals (Alexander Jagiellon’s scribes) who could have been responsible for the preparation of documents and documents that could have been written by the same individual.

Early Mālikī Manuscripts: A Retrospective

Abstract In this review article, I offer an overview of research undertaken thus far on early Mālikī Manuscripts, primarily the collection from Kairouan, Tunisia. Modern attention to this collection dates from the early twentieth century, as the collection itself moved from Kairouan to Tunis and back again. While access to Qurān manuscripts has been highly restricted, select scholars had been allowed to study and make copies of a limited number of legal manuscripts, primarily from the Mālikī school of Islamic law. These limitations had an effect on scholarship, making some forms of codicological and paleographic analysis difficult at best. The last part of the article addresses very recent scholarship and work that remains to be done, including network analysis and other ways of placing these manuscripts within broader social and historical contexts. I close with a reflection on the colonial history of research into these manuscripts and the responsibilities of researchers to reflect on the ethical implications of their activities into the future.

On the question of dating Arabic texts on papyrus and paper

Dating is one of the most important stages of working with a document, along with its deciphering. When working with Arabic documents on papyrus and paper, we do not have information about their provenance, or whether they were part of an archive. Their often poor preservation does not increase a researcher’s chances of dating the document at least within a century as well. Conditionally dividing the dating mechanisms into “external” and “internal,” we can argue that prosopography provides the most accurate data about when the document was written; the formulas and structure of documents may indicate a certain historical period; paleographic analysis provides the least accurate data. Based on paleographic data, documents on papyrus are tentatively dated to the 3rd/9th century, and documents on paper - to the period from the 4th/10th to the 7th/13th centuries.

An Underground Rock-Cut Shrine near Amatsya, Judean Foothills, Israel

This article presents our documentation of a previously unidentified subterranean complex located near Amatsya, Israel. The study revolves primarily around an examination of the architecture, decorations, and letters carved on the walls of an underground rock-cut hall. The layout of the hall bears a striking resemblance to sacred architecture prevalent in the region since the Middle Bronze Age, while its decorative elements are linked to earlier artistic traditions dating back to the Iron Age, as well as the aniconic characteristics found in Idumean, Canaanite, Phoenician and Nabatean art of the Persian and Hellenistic periods. According to paleographic analysis, the Aramaic lapidary inscriptions, which possibly mention two deities, El and Adon, are tentatively dated to the 5th-4th centuries BCE. Our main thesis is that this hall functioned as a private shrine, possibly a funerary shrine adjacent to a rock-cut burial complex. We propose that both the shrine and the adjacent tomb were utilized by an Idumean landowner, showcasing influences from Phoenician / Canaanite iconographic traditions. Consequently, the site assumes significant importance, as it offers novel insights into the field of study by presenting, for the first time, a relatively well-preserved underground Idumean shrine from the Persian and Hellenistic periods. These finds contribute to a deeper understanding of the religious and cultural practices of the Idumeans during that specific era.

Recent Insights into a Manuscript of Ornate Poetry from Toyoq: A new Fragment of Mātṛceṭa’s <i>Varṇārhavarṇa</i>

The article continues a series of publications of the Sanskrit manuscript fragments written in the Proto-Śāradā script, kept in the Serindia Collection of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The authors introduce into scientific circulation a fragment of the Varṇārhavarṇa, the work of the famous Buddhist thinker and poet Mātṛceṭa. The article provides the paleographic analysis of the manuscript fragment, as well as brief information about the author, his works, the Varṇārhavarṇa structure. The article provides transliteration and translation of the fragment.

Two Repousse Icons Preserved in the Golden Fund of Shalva Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts – Eustace Placida with a Hunting Scene and the Image of Infantry Placida (Dating and Iconographic Features)

Hunting scene of St. Eustace and related storylines hold an important place in the Christian art of the middle centuries. We find this theme, in various forms and interpretations, in almost every century from V to XVIII. It is found in monumental paintings, as well as in stone carving and metalwork. The article presents a study on two repousse icons kept in the Golden Fund of Shalva Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts: Plate of Saint Eustace with doors, with a hunting scene of Eustace Placida (Q. 747) and plate with Infantry Placida (Tf. 60). The aim of the work is the dating of unexplored repousse icons, artistic-stylistic analysis of the iconographic scheme, and Clarifying the issue of the origin of Tf. 60. On both icons, the inscription identifies the Saint: “წა ე (ვ)სტატი”. It provides important information for dating the icon. From a paleographic point of view, the icon’s inscription should belong to the late Middle Ages, approximately XVI-XVII centuries. It is worth noting that both inscriptions are made with one hand. The overall content context, stylistic solution, and paleographic analysis speak of a single origin. Based on the paleographic analysis, the study of the iconographic scheme and artisticstylistic features, according to our assumption, the plate of Saint Eustace with doors, with a hunting scene of Eustace Placida (Q. 747) and plate with Infantry Placida (Tf. 60) date back to the XVI–XVII centuries.

Find of an Ancient Rus Lead Letter at Polonne in Khmelnytskyi Oblast

In 2021, during the excavations at one of the settlements of the chronicle city Polonne, belonging to the Kyiv principality (modern Polonne city, Khmelnytskyi Oblast), in an object of the 12th century, a lead plate rolled into a scroll was found. As a result of the restoration, the plate was cleaned of dirt and oxides, unfolded and fixed. At the same time, Cyrillic texts were found on both sides of the plate. Further study of the texts made it possible to identify the find as a letter on a lead item, with two messages written on it in the Ancient Rus (Ancient Kyiv) language. The text of the message on the front side is read as “A letter from Khytr(?) to Mich and Gyrl(?): having gathered the cattle together, and without Mich lead to Kyiv”. On the back — “A letter to Mich: now the one who was engaged as a thresher is sick, and Dorozh wrote you, but didn’t give it to you, so go home”. The content of both letters was interpreted by the authors as an order from a certain entrepreneur to his employees to collect the cattle and transport it to Kyiv, with a note addressed to one of the employees, explaining the need for him to return back home to replace a sick worker who threshed grain. Paleographic analysis allows establishing that the texts on different sides of the charter were written by different people, and their dating can be determined within the second — third quarters of the 12th century. The letter from Polonne city is the fourth find among Ancient Rus non-parchment documents in Ukraine and the third one among the lead letters of the 12th — 13th centuries in Eastern Europe.

A Revisiting of the Dating of Hodayot Manuscripts: A Stylistic Paleographic Analysis

In 2021, Drew Longacre applied a stylistic paleographic analysis to thirty-five Dead Sea scrolls to propose conventional usage registers for different types and levels of scripts. His article has been published by Vetus Testamentum. Longacre’s research, however, has not included hodayot manuscripts. Hodayot manuscripts are the collection of approximately thirty thanksgiving psalms to the Lord. Since the opening phrase of these manuscripts is blessing the Lord, Sukenik names them as hodayot or thanksgiving Psalms in Hebrew. Hodayot, in Hebrew connotes thanksgiving Psalms, Hodayot is a significant resource for understanding the piousness and religious devotion of those who composed and then recited them. The importance of hodayot manuscripts is thus significant to help us to comprehend the devotion and religious reverence of the community in a particular context and culture. This article attempts to apply a stylistic paleographic analysis to hodayot manuscripts in order to revisit the dating of these manuscripts such as 1QHa, 1QHb, 4QHa (4Q427), 4QHb (4Q428), 4QHc (4Q429), 4QHd (4Q430), 4QHe (4Q431), and 4QpapHf (4Q432). This research is a combination of the text of Dead Sea scrolls (Hodayot) with a stylistic paleographic analysis.

The Scope of the Transmission of the Pentateuch in the Second Temple Period

Abstract This essay examines the variants that were caused by the interchange of letters bearing graphic similarity between the Masoretic text and the Samaritan Pentateuch. Through a paleographic analysis of the shapes of the interchanging letters, it aims to carefully propose a paleographic framework for the interchanges. This process reveals that the scribal activity in the transmission of the Pentateuch increased after the middle of the second century BCE, reaching its peak in the middle of the first century BCE. This essay discusses the significance of these findings in light of further material and textual evidence for the role that the Pentateuch played in Second Temple Judaism.

Mellin de Saint-Gelais et la Bibliothèque Royale

This article proposes to examine Mellin de Saint-Gelais’ activity as librarian at the court of François 1st, king of France. On the basis of rather famous documents (such as the royal acts, or the inventory composed for the transportation of Blois’ Library to Fontainebleau in 1544, the inventory being annotated by Mellin himself) and less known ones (such as annotations written by Mellin in certain manuscripts of the Royal Library), we will investigate the relationship that Mellin establishes with Italian Humanism, particularly through his opinions on certain works by Laurent Valla. This article further proposes, for the very first time, a paleographic analysis of Mellin’s writing, which is entirely based on the graphic model of Italian humanist minuscule of the 15th century.

Paleographic evidence of localization of the early Holocene cultural unity in the southwest of Western Siberia

In the article the results of paleographic analysis of two daggers from the Chernoozerye II site (Sargatsky district, Omsk region) and the Pegan burial (Makushinsky district, Kurgan region) are presented. The Pegan design as it concerns to the shape and morphology, which is based on the “rhombus chains”, is an invariant of the Chernoozerye prototype. The revealed complexity of the analogy, which includes the symbolic syntax of the ornamental text, the shape and morphology of the key symbol, the order of its graphic construction, cannot be accidental, but, obviously, indicates the “kinship” of the two existing ornamental traditions in the final Paleolithic and Mesolithic in the territory between the Middle Irtysh and the Trans-Urals. The evidence of the cultural contacts between these areas can be supported not only by similarity of stone industries, but by the stylistics of ornamental compositions on bone items. The above arguments make it possible to put forward a hypothesis on the possibility of localizing the zone of the ornamentally stable motif. The territorial proximity of the analyzed items inspires confidence in the prospects for solving the problem, but the chronological gap in their dating requires explanations concerning principles of translation of ornamental traditions and reasons of their “conservation”. The conclusions made in the study are preliminary. To support them, further researches based on new data obtained as a result of archaeological excavations and analyses of museum collections are needed.

The Bristol Merlin: Revealing the Secrets of a Medieval Fragment by Leah Tether et al.

Reviewed by: The Bristol Merlin: Revealing the Secrets of a Medieval Fragment by Leah Tether et al. Aaron Kestle The Bristol Merlin: Revealing the Secrets of a Medieval Fragment. By Leah Tether, Laura Chuhan Campbell, Benjamin Pohl, and Michael Richardson. York, UK: Arc Humanities Press, 2021. The Bristol Merlin: Revealing the Secrets of a Medieval Fragment offers its readers multiple conclusions, tools, and innovations. Among these, a fairly long selection from a now inextant manuscript witness of the Suite vulgate du Merlin with facing translation figures prominently. On par with or perhaps more important than the textual edition, The Bristol Merlin contains a detailed and rich accounting of the fragments, their provenance, and their importance as historical artifacts. In the course of this accounting, the project team makes use of the fragments to show their readers something of the life of a manuscript and to explore the nature of the exchange of literature and culture between England and the Continent from a relatively early date in the rise of vernacular Arthurian prose romance, the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. Furthermore, it is the team's explicit ambition to create in this book a model for the collaborative and interdisciplinary study of manuscript fragments. The Bristol Merlin is divided into two parts. The first contains four chapters: (1) "Codicology and Paleographical Analysis," (2) "Bindings," (3) "Provenance," and (4) "Redaction, Language, and Localization." The second contains a brief "Principles of Edition and Translation," an edition of the Old French text, and a facing modern English translation. Roughly half of the book serves as an exemplar of how to perform a holistic and detailed study of fragments; the other half constitutes a partial edition of a less common and fairly idiosyncratic version of the Suite du Merlin or Les Premiers faits du roi Arthur.1 The singularity of this witness is noteworthy. For starters, The Bristol Merlin contains a portion of the Suite vulgate du Merlin that is sometimes referred to as the Suite historique du Merlin (historical sequel) as opposed to the Post-Vulgate Suite romanesque (romance sequel).2 The Suite Vulgate is a continuation of The Merlin that transitions to the Lancelot-Grail Cycle. Moreover, the project team has determined that The Bristol Merlin is part of the α manuscript tradition as opposed to the β tradition according to the system of classification established by Alexandre Micha (1958).3 At present, the α version of the text remains unedited; however, an edition by [End Page 228] Richard Trachsler is forthcoming. The project team both acknowledges and makes frequent reference to Trachsler's project. Collaboration between Trachsler and The Bristol Merlin team appears to have been amicable and extensive as evinced by the team's use of the Trachsler edition in their "Table of Concordance." Nevertheless, The Bristol Merlin selection contains some unique elements, which the team addresses. In the first section of the book, the team uses paleography, language, marginal annotation, and every scrap of evidence available to trace the provenance of the fragments as far as possible. The team reaches several convincing conclusions regarding both the origin of the fragments and their journey to the Bristol Central Library. They propose that the manuscript from which the fragments came was written in northern France between roughly 1250 and 1275. It likely also contained the Estoire del saint Graal, the Estoire de Merlin, and possibly other texts from the Lancelot-Grail Cycle, though this cannot be confirmed. The team also concludes that, before becoming scrap, the manuscript likely made its way into England by the early fourteenth century. Though the book may have been in a private collection, the team makes an interesting case that the manuscript could also have been kept unbound as an exemplar text in the English book trade. Subsequently, by the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century, the book was scrapped and likely sold to a bookbinder in either Oxford or Cambridge for recycling. Both alternatives are pursued by the team and discussed in some detail. The fragments finally ended up as pastedowns and then flyleaves in a four-volume edition of the works of Gerson. Though the book may have taken any of a number of possible routes from...

Multiple Hands in the Marginal Annotations of the Hebrew Bible Codex Madrid M1: (Biblioteca Historica Marques de Valdecilla, BH MSS1)

This article presents a paleographical analysis of the marginal annotations that appear next to the biblical text in the Hebrew Bible codex known as Madrid M1. In order to do so, a new methodology has been developed. The ensuing analysis has identified a great number of annotations, largely located in the outer and intercolumnar margins, written by multiple hands. These later interventions have different aims and produce diverse results. The systematic additions associated with different Masoretic textual phenomena reveal an interest in organizing the information differently and offering the information on each phenomenon consistently by adding cases that are lacking. The non-systematic additions seem to be more the result or reflection of later revisions, readings, and uses of the manuscript. The annotations of both types show a clear intention to complete and expand the already abundant information found in the margins of Madrid M1, rather than an effort to correct it.

From Genova to Yangzhou? Funerary Monuments for Europeans in Yuan China and their Paleographic Analysis

From Genova to Yangzhou? Funerary Monuments for Europeans in Yuan China and their Paleographic Analysis

Autographs of the Stolniks Melnitskii in the Ancient Storage of the Pushkin House

The article presents autographs of Nazarii Petrovich, Iakov Nazar’evich and Ivan Nazar’evich Melnitskii kept in the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academmy of Science, in the Ancient Storage (Drevlekhranilishche) named after V. I. Malyshev: their letters to their close relative Gavrila Alexandrovich Melnitskii and the Latin-Russian dictionary, the Latin part of which was written by Iakov Nazar’evich Melnitskii. The letters of Iakov and Ivan Melnitskii relate to the different circumstances of the Crimean campaigns of the late 17th century, in the first of which Nazarii Petrovich Melnitski was involved (he was responsible for escorting to Azov suppliers of provisions caught in embezzlement), while his sons Nikita and Semen participated in the second (Nikita served under the command of Patrick Gordon). A letter from Nazarii Melnitski tells about the circumstances of his dispatch to serve in the conquered Tavan’ and Kazykermen’. Letters date back to 1695, 1696, and 1698/99. They were sent from Moscow, presumably, to the estate of G. A. Melnitskii. The Latin-Russian dictionary, in the creation of which Iakov Nazar’evich Melnitskii played the main role, is not only of lexicographic interest. On the one hand, it allows us to evaluate the education of the Petrine generation of service people; on the other hand, — to make some observations regarding the organization of scribal work in creating such books. Iakov Melnitskii not only wrote the Latin part of the dictionary, but also organized people who filled out its Russian part, and paid for their work. Despite the fact that the Russian part of the dictionary was not completed, the book was bound. Iakov Melnitskii gave it a complete look, writing the chapters and placingthe output note on the binding sheets. The article suggests a paleographic analysis of the manuscripts under consideration and demonstrates both the general features characteristic of the manuscript culture of the beginning of the Petrine era and the individual features of each scribe. The article is supplemented by the publication of samples of the handwriting of stolniks Melnitskii and the texts of three their letters.

...And Yet Another Pectoral of Pyay

In 2011, Claude Laroche was able to establish relation between three pectorals of Pyay kept in the collections of three different European museums. He proved that the objects served in the modern times as patterns for one another and established a sequence in which they were made. Another copy belonging to the group was identified in the collections of the Buchlov Castle, South Moravian Region in the Czech Republic. The Buchlov piece is significantly diverging from the others in its form and decoration of the recto. The text of the initial parts of Chapter 30B of the Book of the Dead on the verso of the Buchlov specimen was compared with corresponding texts from the other pieces by the means of paleographic analysis. Based on its results, it was possible to ascertain its position in Laroche’s sequence of the copies of the pectoral of Pyay.

Paleographical Analysis: Torah Scroll NTS.25.15

The present report represents a commissioned paleographical analysis (short paper) performed by the MIKRA Research Laboratory paleography team on a Torah scroll labeled NTS.25.15. The scroll's dimensions are provided as well as its paleography

A NEW LIFE OF THE UNIQUE MANUSCRIPT (O. A. SERGEEV. VASILIY KREKNIN, IOANN PLATUNOV “KRATKOY CHEREMISKOY SLOVAR’ S ROSSIYSKIM PEREVODOM”: LINGVISTICHESKIY ANALIZ (S PRILOZHENIEM SLOVARYA) [VASILIY KREKNIN, IOANN PLATUNOV “A BRIEF CHEREMIS DICTIONARY WITH RUSSIAN TRANSLATION”: A LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS (SUPPLIED WITH A DICTIONARY)] YOSHKAR-OLA, 2020. 348 PAGES)

This publication is a review of a new book by O. A. Sergeev, which presents a historical, linguistic and paleographic analysis of the handwritten Mari-Russian dictionary of the second half of the 18th century by V. Kreknin and I. Platunov. This is the second scientific reference edition of the author related to the series “From the history of Russian lexicography”. It introduces the reader to the history of the creation, dialect and lexical features of a unique bicentenary lexicographic work. As an appendix, the monograph contains a “Brief Cheremis Dictionary with a Russian translation” with the use of modern Mari language data. Thus, materials on the Mari language of the end of the 18th century will become available to a wide range of readers. The publication of handwritten works becomes relevant due to the increased interest of researchers in the study of the history of the language, the problems of the emergence and development of writing, and the literary language in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The development of these tasks requires a broad involvement of handwritten and published works in the scientific circulation, which for many languages, including Mari, are one of the most important sources that recreate a more or less complete picture of the language development (graphics, spelling, punctuation, vocabulary) at a certain stage. The book by O. A. Sergeev is a valuable research that is of great interest, first of all, for students of philology and graduate students as a textbook for studying the course of the history of the Mari literary language and / or linguistics. It can be used by researcherstheorists in the field of Finno-Ugric linguistics, as well as by all those interested in the material and spiritual culture of the Mari people.