The Codex Argenteus (
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
for "Silver Book/Codex") is a
6th-century illuminated manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, the ...
, originally containing
part
Part, parts or PART may refer to:
People
*Armi Pärt (born 1991), Estonian handballer
* Arvo Pärt (born 1935), Estonian classical composer
*Brian Part (born 1962), American child actor
*Dealtry Charles Part (1882–1961), sheriff (1926–1927) a ...
of the
4th-century translation of the Christian Bible into the
Gothic language
Gothic is an extinct East Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the ''Codex Argenteus'', a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic language with a sizeable text cor ...
. Traditionally ascribed to the
Arian bishop Wulfila
Ulfilas (–383), also spelled Ulphilas and Orphila, all Latinized forms of the unattested Gothic form *𐍅𐌿𐌻𐍆𐌹𐌻𐌰 Wulfila, literally "Little Wolf", was a Goth of Cappadocian Greek descent who served as a bishop and missionar ...
, it is now established that the Gothic translation was performed by several scholars, possibly under Wulfila's supervision. Of the original 336
folios
The term "folio" (), has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for a book ma ...
, 188—including the Speyer fragment discovered in 1970—have been preserved, containing the translation of the greater part of the four
canonical gospels
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
. A part of it is on permanent display at the
Carolina Rediviva
Carolina Rediviva is the main building of the Uppsala University Library in Uppsala, Sweden. The building was begun in 1820 and completed in 1841. The original architect was Carl Fredrik Sundvall. Later additions to the building have been designed ...
building in
Uppsala
Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, under the name "Silverbibeln" (i.e. "The Silver Bible").
History
Origin
The ''Codex Argenteus'' (literally: "Silver Book") was probably written for the
Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great
Theodoric (or Theoderic) the Great (454 – 30 August 526), also called Theodoric the Amal ( got, , *Þiudareiks; Greek: , romanized: ; Latin: ), was king of the Ostrogoths (471–526), and ruler of the independent Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy b ...
, either at his royal seat in
Ravenna
Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the cap ...
, or in the
Po valley
The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain ( it, Pianura Padana , or ''Val Padana'') is a major geographical feature of Northern Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of including its Venetic ex ...
or at
Brescia
Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...
; it was made as a special and impressive book written with gold and silver ink on high-quality thin
vellum stained a regal purple, with an ornate
treasure binding
A treasure binding or jewelled bookbinding is a luxurious book cover using metalwork in gold or silver, jewels, or ivory, perhaps in addition to more usual bookbinding material for book-covers such as leather, velvet, or other cloth. The act ...
. Under Theodoric's reign, manuscripts of the
Gothic Bible
The Gothic Bible or Wulfila Bible is the Christian Bible in the Gothic language spoken by the Eastern Germanic (Gothic) tribes in the early Middle Ages.
The translation was allegedly made by the Arian bishop and missionary Wulfila in the f ...
were recopied. After Theodoric's death in 526, the "Silver Bible" is not mentioned in inventories or book lists for a thousand years.
Discovery
187 leaves of the original 336 parchment folios were preserved at the former Benedictine
abbey of Werden
Werden Abbey (german: Kloster Werden) was a Benedictine monastery in Essen-Werden (Germany), situated on the Ruhr.
The foundation of the abbey
Near Essen Saint Ludger founded a monastery in 799 and became its first abbot. The little church ...
(near
Essen
Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...
,
Rhineland
The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section.
Term
Historically, the Rhinelands ...
). The abbots at Werden were imperial princes and had a seat in the
Imperial Diet. While the precise date of the "Silver Bible" is unknown, it was discovered at Werden in the
16th century.
The remaining part of the codex came to rest in the library of
Holy Roman emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...
Rudolph II
Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–1608). He was a member of the Ho ...
at his imperial seat in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
. In 1648, after the
Battle of Prague from the end of the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...
, it was taken as war booty to
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
, Sweden, to the library of Queen
Christina of Sweden
Christina ( sv, Kristina, 18 December ( New Style) 1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Queen of Sweden in her own right from 1632 until her abdication in 1654. She succeeded her father Gustavus Adolphus upon his death ...
. In 1654, after her conversion to
Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and her abdication, the codex went to the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
among the property of
Isaac Vossius
Isaak Vossius, sometimes anglicised Isaac Voss (1618 in Leiden – 21 February 1689 in Windsor, Berkshire) was a Dutch scholar and manuscript collector.
Life
He was the son of the humanist Gerhard Johann Vossius. Isaak formed what was accoun ...
, her former librarian. In the 1660s it was bought and taken to
Uppsala University
Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...
by Count
Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie, who also provided its present lavishly decorated binding.
The codex remains at the
Uppsala University Library
The Uppsala University Library ( sv, Uppsala universitetsbibliotek) at Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden, consists of 11 subject libraries, one of which is housed in the old main library building, Carolina Rediviva. The library holds books a ...
in the Carolina Rediviva building. On 5 April 1995, parts of the codex which were on public display in Carolina Rediviva were stolen. The stolen parts were recovered one month later, in a storage box at the
Stockholm Central Railway Station.
The details of the codex's wanderings for a thousand years remain a mystery; it is unknown whether the other half of the book may have survived.
In 1998 the codex was subjected to
carbon-14 analysis, and was dated to the 6th century. It was also determined the codex had been bound at least once during the 16th century.
The Speyer fragment
The final leaf of the codex, fol. 336, was discovered in October 1970 in
Speyer, Germany
Speyer (, older spelling ''Speier'', French: ''Spire,'' historical English: ''Spires''; pfl, Schbaija) is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the river Rhine, Speyer lies ...
, 321 km south-east of Werden. It was found at the restoration of the
Saint Afra
Saint Afra (died 304) was martyred during the Diocletian persecution. Along with Saint Ulrich, she is a patron saint of Augsburg. Her feast day is August 7. Afra was dedicated to the service of the goddess, Venus, by her mother, Hilaria. Thro ...
chapel, rolled around a thin wooden staff, contained in a small
reliquary
A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', by the French term ''châsse'', and historically including ''wikt:phylactery, phylacteries'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a ''fereter'', and a chapel in which it i ...
originating in
Aschaffenburg
Aschaffenburg (; South Franconian: ''Aschebersch'') is a town in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg is not part of the district of Aschaffenburg, but is its administrative seat.
Aschaffenburg belonged to the Archbishopric ...
. The leaf contains the final verses of the
Gospel of Mark.
Publications
First publication mentioning Gothic manuscript appeared in 1569 by
Goropius Becanus
Johannes Goropius Becanus () (23 June 1519 – 28 June 1573), born Jan Gerartsen, was a Dutch physician, linguist, and humanist.
Life
He was born Jan Gerartsen van Gorp in the hamlet of Gorp, in the municipality of Hilvarenbeek. As was the fa ...
in his book ''Origines Antwerpianae'':
In 1597,
Bonaventura Vulcanius,
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...
professor of Greek, published his book ''De literis et lingua Getarum sive Gothorum''. It was the first publication of a Gothic text altogether, calling the manuscript "Codex Argenteus":
But he was not only the first who enabled the learned world to make the acquaintance of the Gothic translation of the Gospels in Gothic script, but also the first who connected this version with the name of Ulfilas:
In his book Vulcanius published two chapters about the Gothic language which contained four fragments of the Gothic New Testament: the Ave Maria (Luke I.28 and 42), the Lord's Prayer (Matt. VI.9-13), the Magnificat (Luke I.46-55) and the Song of Simeon (Luke II.29-32), and consistently gave first the Latin translation, then the Gothic in Gothic characters, and then a transliteration of the Gothic in Latin characters.
In 1737,
Lars Roberg
Lars Roberg (4 January 1664 – 21 May 1742) was a Sweden, Swedish physician and natural science researcher. He served as a professor of anatomy and medicine at Uppsala University.
Biography
Roberg was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He was the ...
, a physician of Uppsala, made a
woodcut
Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...
of one page of the manuscript; it was included in
Benzelius' edition of 1750, and the woodcut is preserved in the
Linköping
Linköping () is a city in southern Sweden, with around 105,000 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Church ...
Diocesan and Regional Library. Another edition of 1854–7 by
Anders Uppström contained an artist's rendition of another page. In 1927, a facsimile edition of the Codex was published.
The standard edition is that published by
Wilhelm Streitberg Wilhelm August Streitberg (23 February 1864, in Rüdesheim am Rhein – 19 August 1925, in Leipzig) was a German Indo-Europeanist, specializing in Germanic languages. Together with Karl Brugmann he founded the ''Indogermanische Forschungen'' j ...
in 1910 as ''Die Gotische Bibel'' (''The Gothic Bible'').
Script and illumination
The manuscript is written in an
uncial
Uncial is a majuscule Glaister, Geoffrey Ashall. (1996) ''Encyclopedia of the Book''. 2nd edn. New Castle, DE, and London: Oak Knoll Press & The British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one ...
script in the
Gothic alphabet, reportedly created by
Ulfilas
Ulfilas (–383), also spelled Ulphilas and Orphila, all Latinisation of names, Latinized forms of the unattested Gothic language, Gothic form *𐍅𐌿𐌻𐍆𐌹𐌻𐌰 Wulfila, literally "Little Wolf", was a Goths, Goth of Cappadocian Ancie ...
. The script is very uniform, so much so that it has been suggested that it was made with stamps. However, two hands have been identified: one hand in the Gospels of Matthew and John and another in the Gospels of Mark and Luke. The
illumination is limited to a few large, framed initials and, at the bottom of each page, a silver arcade which encloses the monograms of the four evangelists.
In the 1920s, German conservator Hugo Ibscher worked on the conservation of the Codex.
[Rolf Ibscher: ''Hugo Ibscher zum Gedächtnis.'' In: ''Das Altertum'', Volume 5 (1959), pp. 183–189.]
Contents
*
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and for ...
: Matthew 5:15-48; 6:1-32; 7:12-29; 8:1-34; 9:1-38; 10:1,23-42; 11:1-25; 26:70-75; 27:1-19,42-66.
*
Gospel of John
The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...
: 5:45-47; 6:1-71; 7:1-53; 8:12-59; 9:1-41; 10:1-42; 11:1-47; 12:1-49; 13:11-38; 14:1-31; 15:1-27; 16:1-33; 17:1-26; 18:1-40; 19:1-13.
*
Gospel of Luke
The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-volu ...
1:1-80; 2:2-52; 3:1-38; 4:1-44; 5:1-39; 6:1-49; 7:1-50; 8:1-56; 9:1-62; 10:1-30; 14:9-35; 15:1-32; 16:1-24; 17:3-37; 18:1-43; 19:1-48; 20:1-47.
*
Gospel of Mark: 1:1-45; 2:1-28; 3:1-35; 4:1-41; 5:1-5; 5-43; 6:1-56; 7:1-37; 8:1-38; 9:1-50; 10:1-52; 11:1-33; 12:1-38; 13:16-29; 14:4-72; 15:1-47; 16:1-12 (+ 16:13-20).
See also
*
Gothic Bible
The Gothic Bible or Wulfila Bible is the Christian Bible in the Gothic language spoken by the Eastern Germanic (Gothic) tribes in the early Middle Ages.
The translation was allegedly made by the Arian bishop and missionary Wulfila in the f ...
*
Gothic language
Gothic is an extinct East Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the ''Codex Argenteus'', a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic language with a sizeable text cor ...
*
Purple parchment
Purple parchment or purple vellum refers to parchment dyed purple; codex purpureus refers to manuscripts written entirely or mostly on such parchment. The lettering may be in gold or silver. Later the practice was revived for some especially gran ...
*
Codex Carolinus
Codex Carolinus is an uncial manuscript of the New Testament on parchment, dated to the 6th or 7th century. It is a palimpsest containing a Latin text written over a Gothic one. The Gothic text is designated by siglum ''Car'', the Latin text is d ...
References
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
{{Commons category, Codex Argenteus
Homepage of the Codex Argenteus (Uppsala University Library)Digital copy of the Codex Argenteus in the Swedish portal for cultural heritage collections, alvin-record:60279Wulfila Projectdigital library dedicated to the study of Gothic
* Lars Munkhammar
*
The Gothic Bible on
Wikisource
Wikisource is an online digital library of free-content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole and the name for each instance of that project (each instance usually rep ...
, Streitberg's edition
Gothic Bible in Gothic scripton Wikisource
the Gothic New Testamenton wikisource, Patrologia Latina edition
6th-century biblical manuscripts
6th-century illuminated manuscripts
Illuminated biblical manuscripts
Purple parchment
Gothic Bible
Ostrogothic Kingdom
History of Uppsala
Uppsala University