Codex Amiatinus - Gospel of Mark, chapter 1

The

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...

() is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

, largely edited by

Jerome Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, th ...

, which functioned as the

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's ''de facto'' standard version during the

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. The original Vulgate produced by Jerome around 382 has been lost, but texts of the Vulgate have been preserved in numerous

manuscripts A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...

, albeit with many textual variants. Vulgate manuscripts differ from ''Vetus Latina'' manuscripts, which are handwritten copies of the earliest

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 ...

-language Bible translations known as the "''

Vetus Latina ''Vetus Latina'' ("Old Latin" in Latin), also known as ''Vetus Itala'' ("Old Italian"), ''Itala'' ("Italian") and Old Italic, and denoted by the siglum \mathfrak, is the collective name given to the Latin translations of biblical texts (both ...

''" or "Old Latin", originating from multiple translators before Jerome's late-4th-century Vulgate. ''Vetus Latina'' and Vulgate manuscripts continued to be copied alongside each other until the

Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the Periodization, period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Eur ...

; many copies of (parts of) the Bible have been found using a mixture of ''Vetus Latina'' and Vulgate readings. Manuscripts of the Vulgate, together with the

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

, formed the basis of the printed

Sixto-Clementine Vulgate The Sixto-Clementine Vulgate or Clementine Vulgate () is the edition promulgated in 1592 by Pope Clement VIII of the Vulgate—a 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible that was written largely by Jerome. It was the second edition of the V ...

in 1592, which became the Catholic Church's officially

promulgated Promulgation is the formal proclamation or the declaration that a new statutory or administrative law is enacted after its final approval. In some jurisdictions, this additional step is necessary before the law can take effect. After a new law ...

version of the

History

The Vulgate exists in many forms. The ''

Codex Amiatinus The Codex Amiatinus (also known as the Jarrow Codex) is considered the best-preserved manuscript of the Latin Vulgate versionBruce M. Metzger, ''The Text of the New Testament'' (Oxford University Press 2005), p. 106. of the Christian Bible. It w ...

'' is the oldest surviving complete

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...

; it dates from the 8th century. A number of early manuscripts containing or reflecting the Vulgate survive today. Dating from the 8th century, the ''

'' is the earliest surviving

of the complete Vulgate Bible. The ''

Codex Fuldensis The Codex Fuldensis, also known as the Victor Codex (Hessian State Library, ''Codex Bonifatianus I''), designated by F, is a New Testament manuscript based on the Latin Vulgate made between 541 and 546. The codex is considered the second most impo ...

'', dating from around 547, contains most of the New Testament in the Vulgate version, but the four

gospel 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 ...

s are harmonized into a continuous narrative derived from the

Diatessaron The ''Diatessaron'' ( syr, ܐܘܢܓܠܝܘܢ ܕܡܚܠܛܐ, Ewangeliyôn Damhalltê; c. 160–175 AD) is the most prominent early gospel harmony, and was created by Tatian, an Assyrian early Christian apologist and ascetic. Tatian sought to comb ...

Alcuin Alcuin of York (; la, Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus; 735 – 19 May 804) – also called Ealhwine, Alhwin, or Alchoin – was a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student o ...

of York oversaw efforts to make an improved Vulgate, which most argue he presented to

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

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,

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(787?–821);

Lanfranc Lanfranc, OSB (1005 1010 – 24 May 1089) was a celebrated Italian jurist who renounced his career to become a Benedictine monk at Bec in Normandy. He served successively as prior of Bec Abbey and abbot of St Stephen in Normandy and then ...

, Archbishop of Canterbury (1070–1089);

Stephen Harding Stephen Harding (french: Étienne Harding) ( 106028 March 1134) was an English-born monk and abbot, who was one of the founders of the Cistercian Order. He is honoured as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. Life There is little archival ev ...

, Abbot of Cîteaux (1109–1134); and Deacon Nicolaus Maniacoria (mid-12th century). The

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, the Dominicans, and the

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following

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assembled lists of '' correctoria''; approved readings where variants had been noted.

List of manuscripts

Old Testament

List of some manuscripts from the

Stuttgart Vulgate The Stuttgart Vulgate or Weber-Gryson Vulgate (full title: ''Biblia Sacra iuxta vulgatam versionem'') is a manual critical edition of the Vulgate first published in 1969. The most recent edition of the work is the fifth edition, from 2007. His ...

(officially known as ''Biblia Sacra iuxta vulgatam versionem'') with ''

siglum Scribal abbreviations or sigla (singular: siglum) are abbreviations used by ancient and medieval scribes writing in various languages, including Latin, Greek, Old English and Old Norse. In modern manuscript editing (substantive and mechanica ...

'' from the same source; no name means the Stuttgart Vulgate did not give it a name, no provenance means the Stuttgart Vulgate did not give it a provenance:

New Testament

The list of manuscripts below is based on citations in ''

Novum Testamentum Graece (''The New Testament in Greek'') is a critical edition of the New Testament in its original Koine Greek, forming the basis of most modern Bible translations and biblical criticism. It is also known as the Nestle–Aland edition after its mos ...

'' (NA27) and ''The Greek New Testament'' (

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4). Each manuscript is identified first by its

(the first column, s., in the table), as given by the

critical apparatus A critical apparatus ( la, apparatus criticus) in textual criticism of primary source material, is an organized system of notations to represent, in a single text, the complex history of that text in a concise form useful to diligent readers and ...

of the editions mentioned. These sigla are related to content, so are not unique. For example, the letter ''S'' refers to

Codex Sangallensis 1395 Codex Sangallensis 1395 is a nineteenth-century compilation of fragments, and includes a 5th-century Latin manuscript of the New Testament, designated by Σ. The text, written on vellum, is a version of the Latin Vulgate. Description The colle ...

in the

s, but to

Codex Sangallensis 70 The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...

in the

Pauline epistles The Pauline epistles, also known as Epistles of Paul or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen books of the New Testament attributed to Paul the Apostle, although the authorship of some is in dispute. Among these epistles are some of the earliest extan ...

. 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. Certain Latin NT manuscripts may present a mixture of Vulgate and ''Vetus Latina'' texts. For example,

Codex Sangermanensis Codex Sangermanensis designated by Dabs1 or 0319 (in the numbering Gregory-Aland), α 1027 ( Soden), is a tenth-century diglot manuscript, formerly in the library of St. Germain des Prés, Paris, hence its name ''Sangermanensis'', "of Saint Ge ...

(g¹ ) is ''Vetus Latina'' in Matthew, but Vulgate in the rest of the Gospels. The text of John in Codex Veronensis is believed to be part ''Vetus Latina'' and part Vulgate.

Complete bibles

References

External links

{{Subject bar , portal1= Bible , portal2= Christianity Early versions of the Bible Latin texts