ACTA UNIVERSITATIS UPSALIENSIS Studia Byzantina Upsaliensia 11 Eva Nyström CONTAINING MULTITUDES Codex Upsaliensis Graecus 8 in Perspective UPPSALA 2009 Dissertation presented at Uppsala University to be publicly examined in Ihresalen, Engelska parken, Humanistiskt centrum, Thunbergsvägen 3, Uppsala, Saturday, May 16, 2009 at 10:15 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The examination will be conducted in English. Abstract Nyström, E. 2009. Containing Multitudes. Codex Upsaliensis Graecus 8 in Perspective. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Studia Byzantina Upsaliensia 11. 340 pp. ISBN 978-91-554-7501-7. This study employs as its primary source a codex from Uppsala University Library, Codex Upsaliensis Graecus 8. Its aim is to contribute to a better understanding of the Late Byzantine and post-Byzantine miscellaneous book. It is argued that multitext books reflect the time and society in which they were created. A thorough investigation of such books sheds light on the interests and concerns of the scribes, owners, and readers of the books. Containing some ninety texts of different character and from different genres, Codex Upsaliensis Graecus 8 is a complex creation, but still an example of a type of book that was common during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. This study takes a comprehensive view of the book in its entirety, making sense of its different parts in relation to the whole with the help of codicology and textual analysis. With that approach the original idea of the book is brought to the fore, and the texts are studied in the same context that the main scribe Theodoros chose and the early owners and readers of the book encountered. Through a systematic codicological analysis, the overall structure of the codex is explored and suggestions are made concerning the provenance. The examination of the scribal work procedure becomes a means to profile this otherwise fairly unknown scribe. The texts are grouped and characterized typologically to illustrate connections throughout the whole book as well as in relation to the separate structural units. The role of microtexts and secondary layers of inscription is also considered. From the perspective of usability the texts are divided into four categories: narrative texts, rhetorical texts, philosophical-theological texts, and practical texts. Three texts are studied in greater depth, as examples of the width of the scribe's interests and the variety of the book's contents. Keywords: Codex Upsaliensis Graecus 8, Byzantine and post-Byzantine book history, codi- cology, multitext books, miscellany, composite book, microtext, codicological unit, scribal work procedure Eva Nyström, Department of Linguistics and Philology, Box 635, Uppsala University, SE-751 26 Uppsala, Sweden © Eva Nyström 2009 ISSN 0283-1244 ISBN 978-91-554-7501-7 urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-100643 (http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-100643) Printed in Sweden by Edita Västra Aros, Västerås 2009. Distributor: Uppsala University Library, P.O. Box 510, SE-751 20 Uppsala www.ub.uu.se, [email protected] * Acknowledgements The journey toward the completion of a doctoral dissertation is joyful and adventurous but also strenuous and meandering. To reach the goal one needs good guides, people who point one in the right direction. I have been fortu- nate in having had such well-informed cicerones. My sincere and warm thanks go to the following persons, all important for me in my work in vari- ous ways: To Professor Jan Fredrik Kindstrand, who took me on as a doctoral stu- dent and first introduced me to the codex which eventually became the sub- ject of this thesis. To my supervisor Professor Jan Olof Rosenqvist for teach- ing me Greek in the first place, for being a knowledgeable guide to all things Byzantine and a patient and thorough reader of all my drafts. To my supervi- sor Professor Monica Hedlund, indefatigable coach and model, for your en- couragement and clearsightedness, for sharing with me the excitement and interest in codicological research. To Professor Paolo Odorico (EHESS, Paris), who generously read a late version of my manuscript and contributed to its final shape through judicious and apt remarks. To Dr. h.c. Nigel G. Wilson (Oxford) and Prof. Dr. Dieter Harlfinger (Hamburg) for much needed advice at an early stage of my research. My deep gratitude also goes to Ingela Nilsson, for rewarding discussions, support and friendship. To Theodore Markopoulos, for giving me the dia- chronic perspective of Greek that I needed and for helpful remarks on my last draft. To Dimitrios Iordanoglou and Denis Searby, who for a while shared my interest in Codex Ups. gr. 8 (within the Swedish Research Coun- cil project) and who have been long-lasting friends and colleagues to me. To the participants in the Greek and Byzantine seminar for all the time and ef- fort you put in on my behalf: Ove Strid, Ewa Balicka-Witakowska, Mikael Johansson, Johan Heldt, Mats Eriksson, Irina Brändén, and, not least, my “room mates” at the Institute, fellow doctoral students David Westberg and Patrik Granholm, always there to bandy ideas with. Although I do not men- tion everyone by name, my thoughts also go my Latinist friends and other colleagues at the Institute of linguistics and philology: my working days have been much more fun and interesting thanks to you all. My English was improved on by Professor Ann Charters (Univ. of Con- necticut): I thank you dearly for this and also for taking an interest in my work. The constantly supportive librarians and staff at Uppsala University Library have assisted me during many years, and I hope that I will yet spend many days to come in the Rare Books Department, indulging, leafing through the treasures of old. My research was made possible through a gen- erous scholarship from the Göransson-Sandviken foundation of Gästrike- Hälsinge nation, Uppsala. Doctoral studies are an engulfing activity. The upside of all the tough years, the necessary counter-balance in my life is spelled Rolf and Fredrika. My beloved husband, words cannot capture what I feel—if it weren’t for your love, where would I be! Your curiosity and assured faith in me have carried me through bad days and the joy of better days is doubled when I share it with you. And Fredrika, my precious daughter, my absolute treasure, because you are the most important person in my life I dedicate this book to you. Contents Abbreviations................................................................................................13 Preface ..........................................................................................................17 INTRODUCTION 1 Preliminaries: Book History, Codicology, and Philology.........................21 What can a book tell us? – Scope and aim of the study ...........................21 Codex Upsaliensis Graecus 8, a first acquaintance..................................22 Book history .............................................................................................25 Codicology...........................................................................................26 Philology, old and new ........................................................................27 Contextualizing medieval books..........................................................29 Previous research on multitext books.......................................................31 A few conference volumes ..................................................................32 Studies of Byzantine multitext books ..................................................33 2 Composite Books and Miscellanies ..........................................................38 Multitext books ........................................................................................38 Terminology current at the time ..........................................................41 The container and its contents..................................................................42 Physical structure.................................................................................42 The relation between contents and structure........................................44 BRINGING OUT THE STRUCTURE 3 Codicological Description and Analysis...................................................51 General aspects of the codex....................................................................51 Provenance and further vicissitudes ....................................................51 Library shelf-marks .............................................................................52 Watermarks..........................................................................................52 Book block and binding.......................................................................54 Foliation...............................................................................................55 Scribes .................................................................................................55 Criteria for discerning codicological units ...............................................59 Codicological unit 1 (U1) – the pinax......................................................62 Nicholas de la Torre’s contribution to Gr 8.........................................62 The selection of entries for the pinax...................................................64 The discarded pinax on f. IIv................................................................69 Codicological unit 2 (U2), ff. 1–87 ..........................................................70 Anomalies in the quire