Codex Carolinus

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6th- or 7th-century Biblical manuscript

title: "Codex Carolinus" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["gothic-bible", "6th-century-biblical-manuscripts", "palimpsests", "vetus-latina-new-testament-manuscripts", "herzog-august-library"] description: "6th- or 7th-century Biblical manuscript" topic_path: "general/gothic-bible" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Carolinus" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 6th- or 7th-century Biblical manuscript ::

::callout[type=note] a 6th- or 7th-century Biblical manuscript ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Codex_Guelferbytanus_Weissenburgensis_64_folio_280_recto.JPG" caption="Codex Carolinus, showing the text of Romans 15:3-8"] ::

Codex Carolinus is an uncial manuscript of the New Testament on parchment, dated to the 6th-7th century. It is a palimpsest of a Latin text written over a Gothic one. The Gothic text is designated by siglum Car; the Latin text is designated by siglum gue (traditional system) or by 79 (on the list of Beuron) and represents the Old Latin translation of the New Testament. It is housed in the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel in Lower Saxony, Germany.

Thought fragmentary, it is one of the very few extant manuscripts of Wulfila's Gothic Bible.{{Cite book | last = Metzger | first = Bruce M. | author-link = Bruce M. Metzger | title = The Early Versions of the New Testament | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1977 | location = Oxford | pages = 378–382 | isbn = 0-19-826170-5}} The four leaves of the codex were used as raw material for the production of another manuscript – Codex Guelferbytanus 64 WeissenThe t, and its text has been reconstructed several times. Franz Anton Knittel was the first to examine it and decipher its text.

Description

The codex has survived to the present day in a very fragmentary condition. It contains only the text of the Epistle to the Romans 11-15 on four parchment leaves (size 26.5 cm by 21.5 cm). The text is written in two parallel columns, 27 lines per column. The left column is in Gothic, the right in Latin.{{Cite book | last = Knittel | first = Franz | author-link = Franz Anton Knittel | title = Fragmenta Versionis Ulphilanae | year = 1763 | location = Uppsala

; Contents : Romans 11:33-12:5; 12:17-13:5; 14:9-20; 15:3-13.{{Cite book | last = Falluomini | first =Carla | author-link = Carla Falluomini | title = Der sogenannte Codex Carolinus von Wolfenbüttel. (Codex Guelferbytanus 64 Weissenburgensis). Mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der gotisch-lateinischen Blätter (255, 256, 277, 280) | publisher = Harrassowitz | series = Wolfenbütteler Mittelalter-Studien | year = 1999 | location = Wiesbaden | isbn = 3-447-04230-3}}

The text of the codex is not divided into chapters. The nomina sacra are used both in Gothic and Latin texts (ihm and ihu for "Iesum" and "Iesu"). All the abbreviations are marked with the superscript bar. Its text has some value in Romans 14:14 for Textual Criticism.

It is a palimpsest, the whole book is known as Codex Guelferbytanus 64 Weissenburgensis. The upper text is in Latin, it contains Isidore of Seville's Origines and his six letters. The lower text of the codex belongs to several much earlier manuscripts, such as Codex Guelferbytanus A, Codex Guelferbytanus B, and Codex Carolinus.{{Cite book | last = Gregory | first = Caspar René | author-link = Caspar René Gregory | title = Textkritik des Neuen Testaments | publisher = J.C. Hinrichs’sche Buchhandlung | year = 1900 | location = Leipzig | volume = 1 | page = 62 | url = https://archive.org/stream/textkritikdesne00greggoog#page/n75/mode/2up

History

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Codex_Guelferbytanus_64_Weissenburgensis,_page_00507.JPG" caption="Folio 256 verso with text of Romans 12:17-13:1; the Latin text is inverted"] ::

The manuscript is dated palaeographically to the 6th century or 7th century. According to Tischendorf it was written in the 6th century. Probably it was written in Italy. Nothing is known about its early history. In the 12th or 13th century four of its leaves were used as material for another book and they were overwritten by Latin text. Its later story is linked with the codices Guelferbytanus A and B.

Formerly the manuscript was held in Bobbio, Weissenburg, Mainz, and Prague. The Duke of Brunswick bought it in 1689.

The manuscript became known to the scholars in the half of the 18th century, where it was found in the Ducal Library of Wolfenbüttel. The first description of the codex was made by Heusinger.{{Cite book | last = Heusinger | first = Jakob Friedrich | title = De quattuor Evangeliorum Codice Graeco, quem antiqua manu membrana scriptum Guelferbytana bibliotheca servat | year = 1752 | location = Guelf Franz Anton Knittel (1721–1792) recognized two lower Greek texts of the New Testament in this palimpsest codex, and designated them by A and B, he recognized also the Gothic-Latin text (known later as Codex Carolinus).{{cite book | last = Scrivener | first = Frederick Henry Ambrose | author-link = Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener |author2=Edward Miller | title = A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament | publisher = George Bell & Sons | year = 1894 | location = London | edition = 4th | volume = 1 | page = 143 F. A. Knittel deciphered Gothic-Latin text of the Codex Carolinus and published it in 1762 at Brunswick.{{Cite book | last = Gregory | first = Caspar René | author-link = Caspar René Gregory | title = Textkritik des Neuen Testaments, Vol. 1 | year = 1900 | location = Leipzig | page = 63 In his edition all abbreviated forms, Gothic and Latin, are written in full. It was published in Uppsala in 1763. It was published again by Theodor Zahn.{{Cite book | last = Gregory | first = Caspar René | author-link = Caspar René Gregory | title = Textkritik des Neuen Testaments, Vol. 2 | year = 1902 | location = Leipzig | page = 732 | url =https://archive.org/stream/textkritikdesne01greggoog#page/n265/mode/2up

Knittel made many errors, especially in Latin text, he also did not decipher every word and left several lacunae in the reconstructed text (e.g. Romans 11:35; 12:2; 15:8). Tischendorf made a new and more accurate collation for the Latin text and edited in 1855. Tischendorf used abbreviations for the nomina sacra, he did not leave any lacunae.{{Cite book |title=Anecdota sacra et profana |first=Constantin von |last=Tischendorf |author-link=Constantin von Tischendorf |location=Leipzig |year=1855 |url=https://archive.org/stream/anecdotasacraet00tiscgoog#page/n172/mode/2up |pages=153–158 The new collation of the Gothic text was given by Carla Falluomini in 1999.

The codex is located at the Herzog August Bibliothek (no. 4148) in Wolfenbüttel.{{Cite book | last = Metzger | first = Bruce M. | author-link = Bruce M. Metzger | title = The Early Versions of the New Testament | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1977 | location = Oxford | pages = 306, 381 | isbn = 0-19-826170-5}}

Samples of reconstructed text (Romans 11:33-12:2)

Gothic text (folio 277 recto, 1 col.)

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Codex_Carolinus_(Knittel_edition).PNG" caption="Knittel]]'s edition"] ::

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Latin text (folio 277 recto, 2 col.)

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Codex_Carolinus_Tischendorf_(Monumenta_p._155).PNG" caption="Tischendorf's edition of the text Romans 11:33-12:5"] ::

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References

References

  1. [http://www.wulfila.be/gothic/manuscripts/ Manuscripts of Gothic Bible] at the ''Wulfila Project''
  2. [http://www.gotica.de/carolinus.html Gothica]
  3. George W. S. Friedrichsen, ''The Gothic Text of Rom. XIV 14 ( τι κοινον ειναι ), in Cod. Guelferbytanus'', Weissenburg 64, JTS (Clarendon Press, 1937), pp. 245-247.
  4. Tischendorf, [https://archive.org/stream/novumtestamentu01abbogoog#page/n330/mode/2up ''Editio Octava maiora''], vol. III, p. 1111.
  5. F. A. Knittel, ''Fragmenta Versionis Ulphilanae'', Upsaliae 1763.
  6. Knittel, Franz A.. (1763). "Fragmenta Versionis Ulphilanae".
  7. [http://diglib.hab.de/edoc/ed000006/index.php?edition=palimpsest.Ulfilas.Falluomini Gothic text in Falluomini's reconstruction] at the ''Digitale Edition der Handschrift Cod. Guelf. 64 Weiss''
  8. Constantin von Tischendorf, ''Anecdota sacra et profana (Lipsiae 1855)'', p. 155.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

gothic-bible6th-century-biblical-manuscriptspalimpsestsvetus-latina-new-testament-manuscriptsherzog-august-library