Parchment, 9 ff.; c. 24.4 × 15.3 cm; 11th century
The manuscript contains two minor greek texts on asceticism ascribed to St. Basil the Great (c. 330-379), the Greek Church Father and founder of a monastic order. Their genuineness has been debated in modern scholarship. The manuscript consists of a single quaternion. A single leave with a few lines of supplementary text has been added later
St. Basil is pictured against a background of gold on the first page of the manuscript. He is holding a book in one hand, while he blesses two groups of monks surrounding him with the other. The monk kneeling before him is probably the scribe who copied this book
The manuscript once belonged to Friedrich Lindenbrog (1573-1648), cf. " No 17" on f. 1r (identified by Jørgensen). Later it became part of the library of Gottorp Castle in Schleswig, whose manuscripts were transferred to Copenhagen in 1735
Bibl.: Charles Graux, Notices sommaires des manuscrits grecs de la Grande Bibliothèque Royale de Copenhague, Paris 1879, p. 32f. - Chr. Bruun, De illuminerede Haandskrifter i Det store kongelige Bibliothek (= Aarsberetninger og Meddelelser fra Det store kongelige Bibliothek III), Copenhagen 1890, p. 30f. – Greek and Latin Illuminated Manuscripts X–XIII Centuries in Danish Collections, Copenhagen 1921 p. 3. – Ellen Jørgensen, Catalogus codicum Latinorum medii ævi Bibliothecæ Regiæ Hafniensis, Hafniæ 1926, p. 300. - Gyllene Böcker. Illuminerade medeltida handskrifter i dansk och svensk ägo. Stockholm 1952, p. 21 no. 2. - Eva Horváth, Friedrich Lindenbruch. Späthumanist und Handschriftensammler des 17. Jahrhunderts. Ein Beitrag zur Hamburger Bibliotheks- und Gelehrtengeschichte, Hamburg 1988 [dissertation, microfiche], p. 215. - Bjarne Schartau, Codices Graeci Haunienses. Ein Descriptiver Katalog des griechischen Handschriftenbestandes der Königlichen Bibliothek Kopenhagen. Mit zwei Appendices von Erik Petersen, Copenhagen 1994, p. 119 & 478f. – Erik Petersen (ed.), Living Words & Luminous Pictures. Catalogue, Copenhagen & Århus 1999, p. 73 no. 102
Erik Petersen
