Marks of Provenance
Part 3: Elusive Journeys
Fact Checking an Archbishop
Corpus Christi College, Parker Library,
Homer MS 81.
A big part of cataloguers’ work is verifying the information they find on manuscripts. This book (CCCC MS 81), which contains the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer was owned by the 16th century Archbishop of Canterbury, and master of Corpus Christi College, Matthew Parker.
Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 81. First page of the Iliad.
Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 81. First page of the Iliad.
The archbishop added this note in Latin to the flyleaf (the pages that precede the main text).
The flyleaf of MS 81
The flyleaf of MS 81
In the note he claims that the book was brought to England from Rome by one of his early predecessors as Archbishop of Canterbury, Theodore of Tarsus in 668.
Parker was led to believe this was his book by the name 'Theodore' in a decorated wreath at the bottom of the first page of the text. As his name suggests, Theodore was born in Tarsus, then in a province of the Byzantine Empire, now in modern day Turkey. He moved first to Constantinople and then to Rome before being appointed Archbishop of Canterbury where he set up a school teaching both Greek and Latin texts.
Keen to associate himself with a book belonging to his illustrious predecessor, Matthew Parker placed his signature prominently between the lines of the Greek text: Matthaeus Cantuar. Quite audacious since he believed this book was over 900 years old at the time.
However, Parker was wrong in his assumption. In fact the book belonged to a 15th century Byzantine Professor of Greek, Theodore Gaza and was not much more than a century old. Even without studying the script, it is clear that the book does not date to the 7th century. It's made of paper and paper was not available as a writing material in Western Europe until many centuries later. Manuscripts of that period were all written on parchment (animal skin).
Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 81. First page of the Iliad.
Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 81. First page of the Iliad.
Page 5 of MS 81.
Page 5 of MS 81.
Last page of the Greek text.
Last page of the Greek text.
The same page of the MS, edited to show the traces of ink on the left side.
The same page of the MS, edited to show the traces of ink on the left side.
Provenance Erased.
Gospel Book, Christ's College MS 6
Sometimes, the people involved in moving the manuscript between owners concealed the full story of the books. In this manuscript (Christ's College MS 6), a note has been erased.
The left-hand side of this page was previously filled by a note in red ink, subsequently erased. The placement on the page suggests that it predated the surviving note. The likeliest explanation of this is that it was a record of ownership, scrubbed out by someone else to protect their own claim to this gospel book.
Meticulous Collectors
Galen On the Powers (and Mixtures) of Simple remedies, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. gr. 31
Wealthy collectors often bought the entire libraries of earlier collectors. Ulrich Fugger (1526–1584) is one such example. He meticulously recorded where he bought each manuscript. Some of these provenance details have unfortunately lost their meaning.
Vatican, BAV, Pal. lat. 1950 Catalogue of the Fugger Library. Galen (Pal.gr.31) highlighted.
Vatican, BAV, Pal. lat. 1950 Catalogue of the Fugger Library. Galen (Pal.gr.31) highlighted.
This Greek manuscript (Pal. gr. 31)contains the text of Galen’s "On the Powers (and Mixtures) of Simple remedies". Galen was an influential philosopher and physician in the 2nd century Roman Empire.
The 31 seen on the title page was marked by Fugger, and it is still the identifying number of the manuscript today.
The “Hen” at the top of the page is believed to stand for “Henricus”. Given Fugger’s connections, librarians at Heidelberg have identified two possible collectors this book might have previously belonged to: Henri Estienne (also known as Henricus Stephanus), the sixteenth-century French classical scholar and printer of Greek texts, or Henry Scrimger/Scrimgeour, a Scottish diplomat and scholar. Both had close associations with Fugger; Scrimgeour acted as agent acquiring books and manuscripts for Fugger.
Family coat of arms: Fugger von der Lilie. The branch of the Family Ulrich Fugger (III) belonged to. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek BSB CGM 9460.
Family coat of arms: Fugger von der Lilie. The branch of the Family Ulrich Fugger (III) belonged to. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek BSB CGM 9460.
Conclusion
The Greek manuscripts in library collections have had many adventures on their way to their current homes. The annotations, stamps, seals, and other marks left in the books, help us reconstruct those stories.
As we have seen, owners of books often wrote their name, sometimes with a date, on the pages of the manuscripts. Today, a signature on the first page of the text (rather than on a blank page), could be seen as quite invasive or conspicuous. Similarly, readers who annotate borrowed books are frowned upon. However, what we might consider intrusions in manuscripts are greatly valued by modern scholars.
Motivations for leaving marks by owners, readers, librarians and others were wide-ranging. A signature or bookplate signalled a book belonged to a particular collection and could protect it from being stolen or ‘misplaced’. Notice of a donation, particularly to an institution, ensured the memory of the donor and their generosity would live on. Some signatures or notes are similar in spirit to the graffiti left by tourists visiting ancient monuments - a way of creating an association with a venerable and significant cultural artefact. All of these books were made in or travelled to Western Europe where Greek manuscripts were always prized as much for the scholarly and cultural prestige they signified as for the knowledge they contained.
An unbroken chain of provenance from the creation of the book to its entry into the library is rare in our collections. The information recorded by previous owners and readers is often partial and vague. As these stories from our collections show, it can require a lot of detective work applying many different skills to piece together the evidence: reading inscriptions (even if they have been damaged or erased), dating the paper used, identifying scribes, tracing connections between manuscripts now dispersed in many different libraries and tracing historical connections between individuals. As part of the Polonsky Foundation Greek Manuscripts project, it has been extremely satisfying for our cataloguers to tease out these details and help tell the varied life stories of these well-travelled objects.
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Book Plates and Library Stamps
Trinity College MS B.10.17. The college bookplate.
Trinity College MS B.10.17. The college bookplate.
CUL MS Nn.3.16. Cambridge University Library Bookplate.
CUL MS Nn.3.16. Cambridge University Library Bookplate.
Christ's College MS 9. Christ's College Bookplate.
MS Christ's College 9.2. Christ's College Bookplate.
CUL MS Dd.6.19. Bookplate of the Royal Library (1737).
CUL MS Dd.6.19. Bookplate of the Royal Library (1737).
King's College MS 45. Bookplate of Jonathan Peckover.
King's College MS 45. Bookplate of Jonathan Peckover.
CUL MS Kk.5.12. Claude Sarrau's Coat of Arms on the Bookplate.
CUL MS Kk.5.12. Claude Sarrau's Coat of Arms on the Bookplate.
Christ's College MS Rouse 263. Christ's College Bookplate with Donation Information.
Christ's College MS Rouse 263. Christ's College Bookplate with Donation Information.
Images of BAV Pal. gr.31 and BAV Pal. lat.1950: © Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Images courtesy of BAV and Heidelberg University Library.
All images of Leiden BPG 74 G: © Leiden University Libraries CC BY 4.0.
All images of Corpus Christi College (MS 081): © The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge CC BY-NC 3.0.
Portrait of Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon, NPG 1574, © National Portrait Gallery, London CC BY-NC-ND 3.0.
Image of Fugger Family Crest: Das Ehrenbuch der Fugger, BSB Cgm 9460, © Bayerische Staatsbibliothek/ Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
Niketas Lychnos seal: © Dumbarton Oaks, Byzantine Collection, Washington, DC.
Portrait of Don Gaspar de Guzmán (1587–1645), Count-Duke of Olivares, ca. 1636 or later. Attributed to Velázquez (Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, CC0 1.0.
All other images: © Cambridge University Library/Licensed under CC-BY-NC 3.0.
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