Codex Fuldensis

Codex Fuldensis, pages 296-297

The Codex Fuldensis, designated by F, is a New Testament manuscript based on the Latin Vulgate made between 541 and 546.^[1] The codex is considered the second most important witness to the Vulgate text; and is also the oldest complete manuscript witness to the order of the Diatessaron. It is an important witness in any discussion about the authenticity of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35.^[2] It is one of the earliest dated manuscripts of the New Testament. It was corrected until 2 May, 546 CE.^[3]

Description

It contains the Diatessaron and 23 canonical books of the New Testament; plus the Epistle to the Laodiceans, and a copy of Jerome's Prologue to the Canonical Gospels. It represents the Italian type of text.^[4]

The four gospels are harmonised into a single continuous narrative, according to the form of Tatian's Diatessaron.^[5] Its text is akin to that of Codex Amiatinus.^[1] The harmonised gospel text is preceded by a listing of its sections, with a summary of their contents, which was copied unchanged from the Old Latin exemplar. From this it can be determined that the Old Latin source had lacked the Genealogy of Jesus (which Victor inserted); but that the source had included the passage of Jesus and the woman taken in adultery.

The order of books: Diatessaron, Pauline epistles (Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1-2 Thessalonians, Colossians, Laodiceans, 1-2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews), Acts of the Apostles, Catholic epistles (usual order), Book of Apocalypse.

The section 1 Cor 14:34-35 is added by the original scribe on the margin. This section is marked by umlaut in Codex Vaticanus.^[6] Several manuscripts of the Western text-type, placed section 1 Cor 14:34-35 after 1 Cor 14:40 (manuscripts: Claromontanus, Augiensis, Boernerianus, it^{d, g}). Also codex 88, which is not representative of the Western text, placed this section after 1 Cor 14:40. One manuscript of the Vulgate does the same (Codex Reginensis).^[2] According to Metzger the evidence of the codex is ambiguous. Perhaps the scribe, without actually deleting verses 34-35 from the text, intended the liturgist to omit them when reading the lesson.^[7]

History

Victor of Capua reports that he found an Old Latin harmony of the Gospels, which he recognised as following Tatian's arrangement of the Diatessaron; and substituted the Vulgate text for the Old Latin, appending the rest of the New Testament books from the standard Vulgate. ^[1] St. Boniface acquired the codex and in 745 gave it to the monastic library (Abb. 61), in Fulda, where it is housed to the present day (hence the name of the codex),^[4] where it served as the source text for vernacular harmonies in Old High German, Eastern Frankish and Old Saxon.

Codex Sangallensis 56 was copied, in the 9th century, from the Diatessaron of the Codex Fuldensis. It contains also some extracts from the Acts of the Apostles.

The text of the codex was published by Ranke in 1868.^[8]

See also

• List of New Testament Latin manuscripts
• Biblical manuscripts
• Textual criticism

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Bruce M. Metzger, Bart D. Ehrman, The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration, Oxford University Press, New York — Oxford 2005, p. 108.
2. ^ ^{a b} Philip B. Payne, Fuldensis, Sigla for Variants in Vaticanus and 1 Cor 14.34-5, NTS 41 (1995) 251-262.
3. ^ F. H. Blackburne Daniell, Victor, Bishop of Capua, in W. Smith and H. Wace, eds., A Dictionary of Christian Biography (4 vols., London, 1877-1887), Vol. 1, p. 1126.
4. ^ ^{a b} Bruce M. Metzger, The Early Versions of the New Testament (Oxford 1977), p. 335.
5. ^ K. Aland & B. Aland, Der Text des Neuen Testaments, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart 1989, p. 197.
6. ^ G. S. Dykes, Using the „Umlauts” of Codex Vaticanus to Dig Deeper, 2006. See: Codex Vaticanus Graece. The Umlauts.
7. ^ Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, (Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, United Bible Societies: 1994), pp. 499-500.
8. ^ Ernestus Ranke, Codex Fuldensis. Novum Testamentum Latine Interprete Hieronymo (Lipsiae 1868).

Further reading

• Ernestus Ranke, Codex Fuldensis. Novum Testamentum Latine Interprete Hieronymo (Lipsiae 1868).
• John Chapman, Notes on the Early History of the Vulgate Gospels (Oxford, 1908), pp. 78-161.
• J. P. Waltzing, Codex Fuldensis (1914-1917).
• Heinrich Joseph Vogels, Beiträge zur Geschichte des Diatessaron im Abendland, Münster 1919, pp. 1-34.

External links

Bible portal

• "Manuscripts of the Bible" (1913) Catholic Encyclopedia
• Codex Sangallensis 56 at the Stiffsbibliothek St. Gallen (copy of Fuldensis in Diatessaron)