Purple parchment or purple vellum refers to

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins ...

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 grand

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, th ...

s produced for the emperors in

Carolingian art Carolingian art comes from the Frankish Empire in the period of roughly 120 years from about 780 to 900—during the reign of Charlemagne and his immediate heirs—popularly known as the Carolingian Renaissance. The art was produced by and for th ...

and

Ottonian art Ottonian art is a style in pre-romanesque German art, covering also some works from the Low Countries, northern Italy and eastern France. It was named by the art historian Hubert Janitschek after the Ottonian dynasty which ruled Germany and no ...

, in Anglo-Saxon England and elsewhere. Some just use purple parchment for sections of the work; the 8th-century Anglo-Saxon Stockholm Codex Aureus alternates dyed and un-dyed pages. It was at one point supposedly restricted for the use of Roman or Byzantine emperors, although in a letter of

Saint Jerome Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is co ...

of 384, he "writes scornfully of the wealthy Christian women whose books are written in gold on purple vellum, and clothed with gems".Needham, 21

Examples

The ''Purple Uncials'' or the ''Purple Codices'' is a well-known group of these manuscripts, all 6th-century New Testament Greek manuscripts: *

Codex Purpureus Petropolitanus Codex Petropolitanus Purpureus, designated by N or 022 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 19 ( Soden), is a Greek New Testament codex containing the four Gospels. It has been paleographically dated to the 6th century. Codex Petropolitanus P ...

N (022) *

Sinope Gospels The Sinope Gospels, designated by O or 023 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 21 ( Soden), also known as the Codex Sinopensis, is a fragment of a 6th-century illuminated Greek Gospel Book. Along with the Rossano Gospels, the Sinope Gospels ha ...

O (023) (illuminated) *

Rossano Gospels The Rossano Gospels, designated by 042 or Σ (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 18 ( Soden), held at the cathedral of Rossano in Italy, is a 6th-century illuminated manuscript Gospel Book written following the reconquest of the Italian peninsu ...

Σ (042) (illuminated) *

Codex Beratinus Codex Purpureus Beratinus ( sq, Kodiku i Beratit, Kodiku i Purpurt i Beratit) designated by Φ or 043 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 17 ( von Soden), is an uncial illuminated manuscript Gospel book written in Greek. Dated palaeographicall ...

Φ (043) (illuminated) *

Uncial 080 Uncial 080 (in the Biblical manuscript#Gregory-Aland, Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 20 (Biblical manuscript#Von Soden, Soden), is a Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament, dated Palaeography, paleographically to the 6th century. Descripti ...

Two other purple New Testament Greek manuscripts are minuscules: * Minuscule 565 known as the ''Empress Theodora's Codex'' *

Minuscule 1143 Minuscule 1143 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 1035 ( von Soden), also known as the ''Beratinus 2'' ( Albanian: ''Kodiku i Beratit nr. 2''), or ''Codex Aureus Anthimi'' (The Golden Book of Anthimos). It is a Greek minuscule manuscript of th ...

known as ''Beratinus 2'' There is a 9th-century

lectionary A lectionary ( la, lectionarium) is a book or listing that contains a collection of scripture readings appointed for Christian or Judaic worship on a given day or occasion. There are sub-types such as a "gospel lectionary" or evangeliary, an ...

: * Codex Neapolitanus, former ''Codex Vindobonensis 2'' Another six New Testament purple manuscripts are in Latin (with corresponding sigla ''a'', ''b'', ''e'', ''f'', ''i'', ''j''). Besides some scattered fragments, they are held mainly in:

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 ...

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

, Sarezzano, Trent and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. Three of these use

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 (bot ...

texts: * Codex Vercellensis * Codex Veronensis * Codex Palatinus * Codex Brixianus * Codex Purpureus Sarzanensis * Codex Vindobonensis Lat. 1235 There is also one Gothic purple codex – the

Codex Argenteus The Codex Argenteus (Latin for "Silver Book/Codex") is a 6th-century illuminated manuscript, originally containing part of the 4th-century translation of the Christian Bible into the Gothic language. Traditionally ascribed to the Arian bi ...

(illuminated). There is a purple manuscript of part of the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond t ...

: * Vienna Genesis (illuminated) Other illuminated manuscripts include the

Godescalc Evangelistary The Godescalc Evangelistary, Godescalc Sacramentary, Godescalc Gospels, or Godescalc Gospel Lectionary (Paris, BNF. acquisitions nouvelles lat.1203) is an illuminated manuscript in Latin made by the Frankish scribe Godescalc and today kept in th ...

of 781–3, the Vienna Coronation Gospels (early 9th century) and a few pages of the 9th-century La Cava Bible from the

Kingdom of Asturias The Kingdom of Asturias ( la, Asturum Regnum; ast, Reinu d'Asturies) was a kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula founded by the Visigothic nobleman Pelagius. It was the first Christian political entity established after the Umayyad conquest of ...

. Anglo-Saxon examples include a lost 7th-century ''Gospels'' commissioned by Saint Wilfrid.

Notes

References

External links

*
The World of Bede

Illuminated manuscripts {{Christian-book-stub

Examples

See also

Notes

References

External links