The Codex Csíksomlyoviensis – Codex Ms 43/tq-136h (cicero, Frontinus, Horatius, Vegetius). Preliminary Report
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The 14th century codex, which belonged to the library of the Franciscan Monastery of Șumuleu Ciuc (Csíksomlyó / Schomlenberg, today a district of the municipality of Miercurea Ciuc / Csíkszereda / Seklerburg, Harghita County) from the 1700s at the latest, became part of the Bibliotheca Telekiana collection (Teleki Téka), today Teleki-Bolyai Library in Târgu Mureș (Mureș County), in the early 19th century. The codex contains the works De legibus by Cicero (1st century BC), De re militari by Vegetius (4th-5th century AD) and Strategemata by Frontinus (1st century AD). In addition to these, in the late medieval or early modern period, the first part of Horace’s Ode I.28 was added, in a hitherto unknown version. The parts of the codex were made in the same workshop, probably in Soissons, France, in the first third of the 1300s. There is no break between the works, and the volume was designed, probably to order, with this structure containing the three works in mind from the outset. Three different handwritings and three different types of abbreviations, belonging to the same period, as well as initials, can be distinguished, suggesting that there were at least three copyists. Instead, only two illuminators can be identified. The copyists attributed one of Vegetius’ books to Cicero and gave the same title to the books of Frontinus and Vegetius. Cicero’s book bears the correct title, inserted between books II and I of Vegetius. Abbreviations and omissions of passages are also frequent in the codex. Subsequent readers and owners wrote notes in the margins. The book was restored and bound in the early 19th century, after 1816. Because of its importance and place of provenance, we propose the name “Codex Csíksomlyó” / “Codex Șumuleu Ciuc”, Codex Csíksomlyoviensis, along with the current identification MS43/Tq-136h. The codex is unpublished, and the critical edition and facsimiles are in progress.
Source: Acta Musei Napocensis
Author: Ádám Szabó
Language: English
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4407230255