Minuscule 70

Minuscule 70
New Testament manuscript
TextGospels
Date15th century
ScriptGreek
Now atCambridge University Library
Size28.5 cm by 17.7 cm
TypeByzantine text-type
CategoryV
Noteclose to minuscules 17, 30

Minuscule 70 is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament Gospels, on parchment leaves. It is designated by the siglum 70. in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament Manuscripts, and ε 521 in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts. It was created sometime between 1491 and 1494. The manuscript has complex contents. The marginal notes are incomplete.

Description

The manuscript is a codex (precursor to the modern book format), containing the complete text of the four Gospels written on 186 leaves (sized 28.5 cm by 17.7 cm). The text is written in one column per page, 23 lines per page. The large initial letters are written in gold and other colour inks.

The text is divided according to the chapters (known as κεφαλαια / kephalaia), whose numbers are given in the margin in Latin (as also seen in minuscule 62). It contains the chapter titles (known as τιτλοι / titloi) written at the top of the pages, and there are some marginal corrections made by humanist scholar Guillaume Budé, and some by diplomat George Hermonymus, who also copied the manuscript.

Text

The Greek text of the codex is considered to be a representative of the Byzantine text-type. Biblical scholar Kurt Aland placed it in Category V of his Ne Testament Manuscript classification system. Category V manuscripts are described as "manuscripts with a purely or predominantly Byzantine text.": 336  

According to the Claremont Profile Method (a specific analysis of textual data), it represents the textual family Kx in Luke 1 and Luke 20. In Luke 10 no profile was made. It belongs to the textual cluster 17.

In Matthew 1:11 it has an additional reading: τον Ιωακιμ, Ιωακιμ δε εγεννησεν (of Joakim, and Joakim was the father of). This reading is also found in the codicies Campianus (M) and Koridethi (Θ), the minuscule manuscripts of the textual family ƒ1, and the minuscules Minuscule 17, 33, 71, and 120. This reading was cited by textual critic Johann J. Griesbach in his Novum Testamentum Graece (The Greek New Testament).

History

The manuscript was written in Paris between 1491 and 1494 for Guillaume Budé by George Hermonymus (like the minuscules 30 and 287). It once belonged to Bunckle of London, then to Bishop Moore of Ely, England.

It was used by biblical scholar John Mill in his Novum Testamentum (labelled as Bu.). Biblical scholar Caspar René Gregory saw it in 1885. It is currently housed at the Cambridge University Library (shelf number Ll. 2.13), in Cambridge.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Gregory, Caspar René (1908). Die griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testament [The Greek Manuscripts of the New Testament] (in German). Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs. p. 50.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Aland, Kurt; M. Welte; B. Köster; K. Junack (1994). Kurzgefasste Liste der griechischen Handschriften des Neues Testaments [A Concise List of the Greek Manuscripts of the New Testament]. Berlin; New York: Walter de Gruyter. p. 50. ISBN 3-11-011986-2.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Gregory, Caspar René (1900). Textkritik des Neuen Testaments [Textual Criticism of the New Testament] (in German). Vol. 1. Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs. p. 145.
  4. 1 2 3 "Liste Handschriften: Minuscule 70". Münster: Institute for New Testament Textual Research. Retrieved 31 July 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 Scrivener, Frederick Henry Ambrose; Edward Miller (1894). A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament. Vol. 1 (4 ed.). London: George Bell & Sons. p. 203.
  6. 1 2 Aland, Kurt; Aland, Barbara (1995). The Text of the New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism. Translated by Erroll F. Rhodes. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-8028-4098-1.
  7. 1 2 3 {Wisse, Frederik (1982). The Profile Method for Classifying and Evaluating Manuscript Evidence. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 54. ISBN 0-8028-1918-4.
  8. ↑ Aland, Kurt; Black, Matthew; Martini, Carlo Maria; Metzger, Bruce M.; Wikgren, Allen, eds. (1981). Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece (26 ed.). Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelstiftung. p. 4. ISBN 3-438-051001. (NA26)
  9. ↑ Griesbach, Johann Jakob (1809). Novum Testamentum Graece. Quattuor Evangelia complectens [The Greek New Testament: Comprising the Four Gospels]. Vol. I. London: J. Mackinlay, Cuthell & Martin. p. 4.Griesbach, Novum Testamentum Graece, Volume 1, p. 4.

Digital Colour Images of Minuscule 70 online at the Cambridge University Library.