Manuscript Fragments PRZYB. 299/71 from the Jagiellonian Library: Codicological and Textological Research

Abstract

The purpose of the study is codicological and textual research of the 41 Cyrillic manuscript fragments of Przyb. 299/71 from the collection of the Jagiellonian Library in Krakуw (Poland). The research methodology applies general scientific methods of analysis, synthesis, induction and deduction, and specific methods for the study of manuscripts. Textology helps organize and identify the texts from the fragments; with a watermark method it is possible to find out the time and place of paper production; methods of palaeography and codicology support a localization a territory of the manuscript’s production. The scientific novelty. The fragments were found in the binding of the Cyrillic print book St. dr. 589840 III. The article’s first task was to attribute the old print book in which the manuscript fragments were found. It allows to establish the approximate time of the manuscript separation as the 18th century. The identification of the manuscript text helps replace the fragments in the correct sequence. The codicological and palaeographic parameters of the fragments show the place and time of their creation. Conclusions. The article argues that the first edition of Вослѣдованiѧ праздникѡмъ... was published in Cyrillic types in 1741 by Basilian Fathers of the Pochaiv Monastery. The textual attribution shows that the fragments originally were parts of three different manuscripts: Festal Menaion (35), Jerusalem Typikon (2), and another liturgical book (4). The paleographic research concludes that all three fragments were rewritten in the Church Slavonic language by a semi-constitutional type of writing, typical of Early Modern Halychyna. The watermarks of Festal Menaion allow to identify the time of manuscript production as the beginning of the 16th century. The obtained results open up prospects for further search for codices from which the fragments originated. This paper is a case study on fragments from liturgical codices, promoting the publication of new sources, attribution, research, and digitization. The comprehensive study of the manuscripts’ fragments goes alongside the old print book, which was bound together for a long time in the shared sacred space. As the result of the research, it is possible to reconstruct the manuscript codex before the damage and separation for the binding purposes.

Keywords

• fragmentology, manuscript, old-print books, festal menaion, jerusalem typikon, jagiellonian library, codicology, textology.