View source for Codex Heidelbergensis 921

{{Short description|Parchment codex from the 8th–9th century}}
[[File:Codex Heidelbergensis 921 (Heidelberg-Universitätsbibliothek, Palat. Lat. 921) - repr. F. Wilken, Geschichte der ... Heidelbergischen Büchersammlungen, Heidelberg 1817, Taf. 2, Nr 2.jpg|thumb|300x300px|Copy of an excerpt from the text of the Heidelberg Codex included in Friedrich Wilken's catalog (1817)]]
The '''Codex Heidelbergensis 921''' ("Heidelberg Codex") or '''Codex Palatinus Latinus 921''' is a [[parchment]] [[codex]] dated to the 8th–9th century, containing a copy of the ''Romana'' and ''[[Getica]]'' of [[Jordanes]]. It was destroyed in a fire on the night of July 15–16, 1880.

== Physical description ==
[[File:Iordanis Romana et Getica, ed. Th. Mommsen, Berlin 1882 (Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Auctores Antiquissimi 5,1) - Titelblatt..jpg|thumb|Title page of Mommsen's edition of Jordanes' works]]
[[File:Theodor Mommsen.jpg|thumb|Theodor Mommsen around 1870. Photograph]]
Originally, this codex consisted of 15 quaternions, totaling 120 leaves.<ref name=":0">{{Harvard citation text|Bertelli|2008|p=2}}</ref> According to the inventory of [[Heidelberg]] codices after the [[Congress of Vienna]] in 1816, it contained only 110 leaves, or 220 pages<ref>{{Harvard citation text|Bertelli|2008|p=2}}; {{Harvard citation text|Wilken|1817|p=296}} and {{Harvard citation text|Lowe|1959|p=56}} provide wrong number of leaves as 220</ref> of variously described formats: [[folio]],<ref name=":1">{{Harvard citation text|Wilken|1817|p=296}}</ref> ''quadratae maioris'',<ref>{{Harvard citation text|Mommsen|1882|p=XLVII}}</ref> or large [[quarto]].<ref>{{Harvard citation text|Steinmeyer|Sievers|1922|p=29|loc=Footnote 4}}</ref> The entire first gathering was missing, and the last one had only 6 leaves. According to the description by [[Theodor Mommsen]] from 1882, 110 leaves were written on, the first two leaves and the last one (i.e., 1, 2, and 112) were blank, and the foliation resulted from duplicating leaf 17.<ref>{{Harvard citation text|Mommsen|1882|p=29|loc=Footnote 4}}</ref>

This [[manuscript]] is identified under the signature of the library in the [[Heidelberg University]] – Palat. Lat. 921.<ref>{{Harvard citation text|Bertelli|2008|p=56}}</ref> According to the systematics of ''Codices Latini Antiquiores'', in which it was described in Part VIII, it is numbered as 1224.<ref name=":2">{{Harvard citation text|Lowe|1959|p=56}}</ref>

No [[facsimile]] of any fragment of this manuscript has survived. There is only an illustration of a copy of a fragment of the text of the ''Romana'' (part of caput 215) included in [[Friedrich Wilken]]'s catalog from 1817,<ref>{{Harvard citation text|Bertelli|2008|p=2}}; {{Harvard citation text|Lowe|1959|p=56}}</ref> which Wilken described in the appendix to his ''Geschichte der Bildung, Beraubung und Vernichtung der alten Heidelbergischen Büchersammlungen'' from 1817,<ref name=":1" /> and Theodor Mommsen in the introduction to the edition of Jordanes' works from 1882.<ref name=":3">{{Harvard citation text|Mommsen|1882|p=XLVII}}</ref> The description was also included in Part VIII of ''Codices Latini Antiquiores'' from 1959.<ref name=":2" />

== Dating, place of origin and handwriting ductus ==
The writing of this codex is dated respectively: rather to the 8th than to the 9th century,<ref name=":3" /> to the 8th–9th century,<ref name=":2" /> or to the turn of the 8th and 9th centuries.<ref name=":3" /> The place of origin is considered to be [[Germany]],<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> in one of the [[Scriptorium|scriptoria]] in the area of [[Mainz]]<ref name=":2" /> or (which cannot be proven)<ref>{{Harvard citation text|Falk|1897|pp=10–11}}</ref> perhaps in the [[Princely Abbey of Fulda]],<ref>{{Harvard citation text|Mommsen|1882|p=XLVII}}</ref> from where it would likely have made its way to Mainz, probably through the agency of [[Marianus Scotus]].<ref name=":3" /> German provenance is inferred from an [[interlinear gloss]] in [[Old High German]]: the word ''suagur'' (English: ''brother-in-law'') written next to the Latin ''cognatus'' in the ''Romana'' (c. 337).<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Harvard citation text|Schultze|1907|p=406}}</ref>

The codex was written in [[Insular minuscule]], in a style used on the [[Europe|European]] continent.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> This script was characterized mainly by the large descenders of [[minuscule]] letters, including the letters ''r'' and ''s''.<ref name=":2" /> The letter ''a'' is often unclosed, and ''i'' is slightly larger.<ref name=":3" /> Corrections to grammar were made in the codex during the [[Middle Ages]], but not very heavily, so the original script is still visible in most places.<ref name=":3" />

== Content and meaning ==
The codex contained two works by Jordanes: the ''Romana'' and the ''Getica''. Already in the early 19th century, there were missing pages containing the beginning of the ''Romana'' (up to the last words of caput 56 – the text begins with the words ''et finis'') and the end of the ''Getica'' (the ending of caput 299 is missing – the text breaks off at the word ''regi'' – and the following 17 capita).<ref>{{Harvard citation text|Mommsen|1882|p=297}}</ref> The beginning of the ''Getica'' text was located on page 51.<ref>{{Harvard citation text|Wilken|1817|p=297}}</ref>

Mommsen considered the transmission of the codex to be the best among those known to him, although the text of this manuscript rarely spoke against others.<ref name=":3" /> He classified it as belonging to the first class of transmissions, in which it was the best.<ref name=":3" /> In the codex copy of Jordanes, a few words were omitted in two places in the ''Getica'': part of caput 200 (''fide et consilio ut diximus clarus'') and part of 222 (''obicientes exemplo veriti regis''), and there were few errors (fourteen in total) where other manuscripts of this group transmit the correct script.<ref>{{Harvard citation text|Mommsen|1882|pp=XLVII-XLVIII}}; Translation of omitted passages – c. 200: ''[...] as I said, he was renowned for his faithfulness and for his counsel'', c. 222: [''...] in the care [...] of the king. For they had before their eyes the example [...]'' ({{Harvard citation text|Jordanes|1984|pp=125, 128, 129}})</ref>

== History ==
The first definite information about the whereabouts of the manuscript is an ownership note from the year 1479 of the cathedral library in [[Mainz Cathedral|Mainz]].<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> This note was entered on the first leaf and read: ''iste liber pertinet ad librariam sancti Martini ecclesie Maguntin. M(acarius) Sindicus s(ub)s(cripsi)t 1479'', which translates to ''this codex belongs to the library of the church of St. Martin in Mainz. M[akarius von Buseck], syndic, wrote [this] in 1479''.<ref>{{Harvard citation text|Falk|1897|p=2}}; {{Harvard citation text|Butterfield|2013|p=259}}</ref> Additionally, the volume was described with the following note: 1651 – <math>\tfrac{646}{566}</math> – h 13.<ref name=":3" /> Then the codex became part of the collection of the [[Bibliotheca Palatina]] in Heidelberg, where it was used by [[Jan Gruter]].<ref name=":3" /> In 1622, along with the rest of the collection, the codex was in [[Rome]], where it remained until the [[Napoleonic Wars]].<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> It was then transported to [[Paris]], from where, as a result of the Vienna Congress agreements, it returned to Heidelberg.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> The manuscript, along with three other manuscripts (also containing texts of Jordanes' works), burned in the fire at the house of Theodor Mommsen, publisher of the ''Romana'' and ''Getica'' in the ''[[Monumenta Germaniae Historica]]'' series, on the night of July 15–16, 1880, in [[Charlottenburg]].<ref>{{Harvard citation text|Lowe|1959|p=56}}; {{Harvard citation text|Kautz|pp=1–2}}; {{Harvard citation text|Bertelli|2008|p=2}} in footnote no. 8 wrongly provides the date of 12 July</ref>

=== Lausanne fragment (Ms. 398) ===
At the beginning of the 20th century, Marius Besson discovered a fragment of one leaf of an old medieval manuscript<ref>{{Harvard citation text|Bertelli|2008|p=2|loc=Footnote 9 and 10}}</ref> at the ''Musée historiographie vaudoise''.<ref group="lower-alpha">Founded in 1896 by Paul Vionnet.</ref> This fragment was transferred to the Cantonal and University Library in [[Lausanne]] and was assigned the signature Ms. 398, under which it is currently known.<ref name=":0" /> On both sides of the leaf, there are fragments of Chapter 60 of Jordanes' ''Getica'' written in Anglo-Saxon minuscule, which is why Besson considered this fragment to be one of the lost leaves of the Heidelberg Codex.<ref>{{Harvard citation text|Bertelli|2008|p=3}}</ref> However, this attribution was negated in the entry in the ''Codices Latini Antiquiores'' due to differences in the writing styles.<ref name=":2" /> Additionally, a meticulous comparative analysis of the script from the Lausanne relic by Sandra Bertelli with the fragment from Wilken's catalogue excluded the possibility of identifying the creators of both inscriptions.<ref>{{Harvard citation text|Bertelli|2008|pp=4–7}}</ref> Given the impossibility of determining the number of [[Copyist|copyists]] working on the Heidelberg Codex, any further conclusions are impossible to draw.<ref>{{Harvard citation text|Bertelli|2008|p=7}}</ref>

== Notes ==
<references group="lower-alpha" />

== References ==
<references />

== Bibliography ==

* {{Cite book |last=Bertelli |first=S. |title=Classica et Beneventana. Essays Presented to Virginia Brown on the Occasion of her 65th Birthday |year=2008 |editor-last=Coulson |editor-first=Frank T. |series=Textes et Études du Moyen Âge |volume=36 |location=Turnhout |chapter=Sul frammento dei Getica di Giordano conservato a Losanna |ref={{sfnref|Bertelli|2008}} |editor-last2=Grotans |editor-first2=Anna A.}}
* {{Cite book |last=Butterfield |first=D. J. |title=The early textual history of Lucretius' De rerum natura |year=2013 |series=Cambridge Classical Studies |location=Cambridge |ref={{sfnref|Butterfield|2013}}}}
* {{Cite book |title=Codices Latini Antiquiores. A Paleographical Guide to Latin Manuscripts prior to the Ninth Century |year=1959 |editor-last=Lowe |editor-first=E. A. |series=Part VIII: ''Germany. Altenburg-Leipzig'' |location=Oxford |ref={{sfnref|Lowe|1959}}}}
* {{Cite book |last=Falk |first=Franz |title=Die ehemalige Dombibliothek zu Mainz, ihre Entstehung, Verschleppung und Vernichtung nach gedruckten und ungedruckten Quellen |year=1897 |series=Beiheft zum Centralblatt für Bibliothekswesen |volume=18 |location=Leipzig |language=de |ref={{sfnref|Falk|1897}}}}
* {{Cite book |last=Jordanes |title=Kasjodor i Jordanes. Historia gocka, czyli scytyjska Europa |year=1984 |editor-last=Zwolski |editor-first=E. |series=Rozprawy Wydziału Historyczno-Filologicznego |volume=49 |location=Lublin |language=pl |translator-last=Zwolski |translator-first=E. |chapter=O pochodzeniu i czynach Gotów |ref={{sfnref|Jordanes|1984}}}}
* {{Cite web |last=Kautz |first=M. |title=Wien, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek. Cod. 203 (olim Hist. prof. 652) – Wissenschaftliche Beschreibung |url=http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/sammlung50/werk/pdf/onb_cod203.pdf |access-date=2024-04-17 |website=Bibliotheca Lauresheimensis digital |language=de |ref={{sfnref|Kautz}}}}
* {{Cite book |last=Mommsen |first=Theodor |title=Iordanis Romana et Getica |year=1882 |series=Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Auctores Antiquissimi |volume=5 |location=Berlin |chapter=Prooemium |ref={{sfnref|Mommsen|1882}}}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Schultze |first=Wilhelm |year=1907 |title=Ahd. suagur |journal=Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung |language=de |volume=40 |ref={{sfnref|Schultze|1907}}}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Steinmeyer |first1=Elias |title=Die althochdeutschen Glossen |last2=Sievers |first2=Eduard |author-link2=Eduard Sievers |year=1922 |volume=V |location=Berlin |language=de |ref={{sfnref|Steinmeyer|Sievers|1922}}}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wilken |first=Friedrich |title=Geschichte der Bildung, Beraubung und Vernichtung der alten Heidelbergischen Büchersammlungen. Ein Beytrag zur Literärgeschichte vornehmlich des funfzehnten und sechszehnten Jahrhunderts. Nebst einem meist beschreibenden Verzeichniß der im Jahr 1816 von dem Papst Pius VII. der Universität Heidelberg zurückgegebenen Handschriften und einigen Schriftproben |year=1817 |location=Heidelberg |language=de |ref={{sfnref|Wilken|1817}}}}

[[Category:8th-century manuscripts]]
[[Category:9th-century manuscripts]]
[[Category:1880 disestablishments]]