Par. Lat. 7505
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 7505
Former shelfmark(s): Paris, Colbert, Colbert 880; Paris, Bibliothèque du roi, Regius 5047
France, Tours (Gioffreda); France, Paris (Vezin 1990 65; Cinato 2015 556); France, Poitiers (Bischoff III, nr. 4459)
800-820 (Gioffreda)
f. 3v
Grammar notes
inc.: omnis constructio; expl.: supra diximus
ff. 4r-4v
Ars lectoria
inc.: exceptiuncule de libro artis lectorie; expl.: hoc est sine sostentatione
ff. 5r-5v
Various grammar notes
Note: Some notes are written in Tironian notes. On this folium a secondary hand wrote in Rustic Capital the subscription of Flavius Theodorus.
ff. 6r-241r
Prisc. ars 1, 1 – 17, 208
inc.: cum omnis eloquentiae; expl.: virtute
Title: Priscianus caesarensis grammaticus Iuliano consuli ac patricio
Note: On ff. 59v-60r the main copyist of these folios also added the additamentum to the 5th book.
f. 112r
Prisc. ars 6, Praef.
inc.: breviter regulas; expl.: noscuntur
Title: Epistola ad Iulianum
Note: Added by a secondary hand, whose name is probably Isaac.
f. 112r
De dedicatione ecclesiae Pictauensis Sanctae Radegundis
inc.: millesimo sexagesimo anno terbio; expl.: praecipue populis
Note: Added by Isaac.
f. 112v
Epistola Ebroin Pictavensis ad Guanindum diaconum
inc.: divinae gratiae; expl.: per vos caritas polleat
Note: Probably added by Isaac.
f. 112v
Epistola Ingenaldi ad Herardum archiepiscopum Burdigalensem
inc.: In nomine sanctae et indiuiduae Trinitatis; expl.: caracteres
Note: Probably added by Isaac who employed Tironian notations.
f. 113v
De artibus liberalibus
inc.: haec definitio substantialis; expl.: sine casu
ff. 241r-241v
Prisc. ars 18, 1 – 18, 7
inc.: in superiori libro; expl.: casibus quibus licet
f. 242r
inc.: neuter doctus; expl.: doctissimis
ff. 242v-243v
inc.: composita pronomina; expl.: ab aliquibus
ff. 3-243
Material: parchment
Guard sheet material: paper
Leaf count: 240
Guard leaf count: 3
Leaf numbering: modern leaf numbering; three endleaves at the beginning of the codex (I, 1-2), where I is of paper, and 1-2 are made of parchment; three endleaves at the end of codex too (244-245, II), with 244-245 being made of parchment and II being made of paper
Quires: beginning with hair side (f. 3); collation: 12+1+8 (13), 2-148 (109), 154 (113), 16-318 (233), 328+2 (243)
Quire numbering: two different and ancient quire numberings in Roman figures: the first is indicated from the 3rd quire, numbered as III on page 29v, and it extends up to the 15th quire. The second begins with a new series of Roman figures starting with the 16th book, numbered as I on f. 121v. This latter continues until the end of the manuscript
Rulings: hard-pt • system: l-1 • Muzerelle 2-2/0/0/J • description: full page with 35 lines; pricking on the outer margin and sometimes on the outer bounding line; unit of ruling mm 8
Leaf size: 236×316 mm (18r)
Written area size: 159×225 mm (18r)
State: numerous lisières and holes on the parchment; the f. 113 was cut and is blank on the recto
Binding: morocco red binding with the Colbert's coat-of-arms on the back cover
main (Ancient Greek and Latin): Caroline minuscule: French
Hand(s)
A (ff. 6r-61r) Elegant and calligraphic Caroline of Tours with clubs on the top of the shafts of b, h, l, from the f. 9r the trace is less accurate, however the following characteristic shapes have been kept unchanged in both registers: shaft of f goes below the baseline, minuscule g ends in a long descending flourish, cursive ligatures for ra and re, the use of the nexus us at the end of the words. The Greek text mixes up the Greek and Latin alphabets.
kappa | the third trait horizontal rather than slating | |
sigma | often in the form of Capital s |
B (ff. 62r-114r) Round Caroline of Tours with a thick trace, more evident on the tops of the shafts of b, h, l. The copyist employs different shapes for the same letter: a in three shapes, also in the cursive type of two cc, open g, long shafts at the top and at the bottom. Some shapes present generous and sweeping curves, like minuscule r or the ligature between st. The Greek mixes up Latin and Greek traits with a less spontaneous draw.
csi | rigid and fragmented in three strokes placed horizontally | |
my | rigid Capital m |
C (ff. 114v-119r) An improved and rounded cursive of Tours with a fast pace. Few cursive traits are employed. Greek letter with a thick and rigid trace. Most of the letters are in Uncial letters shapes, like alpha and delta traced like Uncial shapes of a and d.
delta | Uncial form for d |
B (ff. 119r-241r) see above.
secondary (Latin): Caroline minuscule: French
Hand(s)
D (ff. 3v-4v) Caroline with vertical axis and clubbed shafts, sometimes with forks, at the bottom for letters like b, d, h, l. A appears in two forms, minuscule and Uncial with back that goes beyond the loop, d in two forms, minuscule and Uncial, r in the cursive trait, with long and slanted shafts.
Regular abbreviations: Regular abbreviations for pro, us and titulus for nasal letters.
ca. 1090-ca. 1110
Isaac (ff. 241r-241v) Fast, tiny and slender Caroline using Tironian annotations: among the most characteristic traits one can see a only in Uncial form, f with long shaft, g with curved bow. Sometimes n is in Capital shape. The trace of the Greek letter is very fine and recalls Rustic Capital shape of letters, see the shape for alpha like Rustic Capital a. The scribe also uses the Western my.
Regular abbreviations: Among the abbreviations there are the employment of the titulus for nasal letters and the sign, in the form of 2, for ur.
ca. 880-ca. 920
alpha | Rustic Capital a shaped | |
my | western my |
E (ff. 242v-243v) Slender and thin Caroline: a with high back and opened g.
Regular abbreviations: Et in the insular abbreviation form of 7.
ca. 950
Rubric (ff. 1r-241r) Uncial script, both colourless and in red, is used for the headings of the various books. For the explicit, Rustic Capital or Uncial were used. Just after the heading, the first line of the text is traced in an embellished Half-Uncial with forks at the end of the upper and the bottom traits.
Init (f. 6r) Flourished initial c.
Init (f. 7v) Flourished initial p.
Init (f. 114r) Uncial initial v with the second trait in the form of a peacock with curled coil touching the first trait, that is decorated by a braid pattern.
Provenance(s):
The manuscript seems to be the result of a merger of two different material parts (ff. 3-113; ff. 114-241), as the two quire numberings inspire, both probably written at the same time (the beginning of the 9th century) and in the same monastery of Tours. Afterwards, on the original blank f. 112rv some missives related to the archbischops of Poitiers were written, including a letter in which one can read about the celebration of the church of Saint Radegund happened in the year 863. Then, the manuscript likely arrived in the abbey of Saint-Pierre de Moissac, where a hand dated between the end of the 11th century and the beginning of the 12th added the Ars lectoria on the actual f. 4rv (cf. Vezin 1990, pp. 65-66). However, in the 17th century the manuscript was no longer stored in that monastery, because it does not appear in its inventory. Indeed, in 1678, Foucault, on commission from Colbert, bought it from the monastery, and in 1732, the book arrived in the royal French library along with the entire collection of Colbert.
Owner(s): Colbert
Annotation(s):
Hand D: Between the end of the 11th century and the beginning of the 12th, ff. 3-4 containing grammar annotations were added.Latin
Hand E: The essay on the morphology of the pronouns was added with ff. 242-243 in the 10th century.Latin
Hand F: In the margins of the 17th book an anonymous hand wrote various notes from the Excerptiones by Alcuin (between the end of the 9th and the beginning of the 10th century).Latin
Hand Isaac: Most of the annotations were added by Isaac, a copyist active at the end of the 9th century, whose name can be read in the marginalia visible at ff. 173v, 174r (e.g. ego Isaac scribo) (cf. Luhtala 2000, 174-176). Isaac also added the second letter to Iulianus on f. 112r and the details about the celebration of the Saint Radegund church in Poitiers (on the 24th September 863), as well as the missives to the archbishops of Poitier (cf. Chatelain 1901, pp. 211-212; Kneepkens 1986, p. 336).Latin
- G. Ballaira, Per il catalogo dei codici di Prisciano, Torino 1982
- B. Bischoff, Katalog der festländischen Handschriften des neunten Jahrhunderts, Wiesbaden 2014
- F. Cinato, Αccessus ad Priscianum. De Jean Scot Érigène à Létald de Micy, «ALMA» 70, 2012, 27-90
- F. Cinato, Priscien glosé. L’Ars grammatica de Priscien vue à travers les gloses carolingiennes, Paris 2015
- F. Cinato, The Earliest Anonymous Exposition of Priscian: Two Manuscripts and Their Glosses, in M. Teeuwen – I. van Renswoude (edd.), The annotated book in the early Middle Ages: practices of reading and writing, Turnhout 2017, 199-236
- L. Delisle, Le cabinet des manuscrits de la bibliothèque nationale, Paris 1868
- J. Dufour, La bibliothèque et le scriptorium de Moissac, Paris-Genève 1972
- D. Ganz, Carolingian Manuscripts with Substantial Glosses in Tironian notes, in R. Bergmann – E. Glaser – C. Moulin (edd.), Mittelalterliche volkssprachige Glossen, Heidelberg 2001, 101-107
- Ch. Kneepkens, À propos des débuts de l’histoire de l’église-funéraire Sainte-Radegondede Poitiers, «Chiers de civilization médiévale» 29, 1986, 331-338
- M. Korhammer, Mittelalterliche Konstruktionshilfen und altenglische Wortstellung, «Scriptorium» 34, 1980, 18-58
- E. A. Lowe, Nugae Paleographicae, in Persecution and Liberty. Essays in Honor of George Lincoln Burr, New York 1931, 187-202
- A. Luhtala, Early Medieval Commentary on Priscian’s Institutiones Grammaticae,, «Cahier de l’Institut du Moyen Ages grec et latin» 71, 2000
- M. Passalacqua (ed.), Prisciani Caesariensis Opuscula, I. De figuris numerorum, De metris terentii, Praeexercitamina, Roma 1978
- K. Rand, Studies in the Script of Tours, I, Cambridge 1929
- P. H. Saenger, Space Between Words: The Origin of Silent Reading, Stanford 1997
- V. Sivo (ed.), Anonimi Ars Lectoria e codice Parisino Latino 8488, Bari 1990
- Ch. Thurot, Extraits de divers manuscrits latins pour servir à l’histoire des doctrines grammaticales au Moyen Age, «Notices et extraits des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Impériale» 22, 1868, 1-592
- A.-M. Turcan-Verkerk, Les Cisterciens et les outils d’aide à la redaction: un premier aperçu, in A. Baudin – L. Morelle (edd.), Les pratiques de l’écrit dans les abbayes cisterciennes (XIIe - milieu du XVIe siècle), produir, échanger, controller, conserver, Paris 2016, 131-144
- J. Vezin, L’emploi de Notes Tironiennes dans les manuscrits de region Parisienne, in Ganz (ed.), Tironische Noten, Wiesbaden 1990, 59-74