Western Medieval Manuscripts : Codex canonum ecclesiae Africanae

Western Medieval Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This fragment consists of the end of a manuscript containing selections from the collected canons of the various synods held in Carthage in the 4th and 5th centuries, for the regulation of the Church in the Roman province of Africa. The surviving portion consists of a single full quire and three folios from a half-length quire which finished the original volume, the last leaf of which was left blank and used as a protective endleaf. As the scribe recorded in an ornate colophon (<a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(20);return false;'>f. 10v</a>), it was completed on 3 January 1040. In asking the reader to pray for him, the scribe describes himself self-deprecatingly as the "ξύσαντος", the scratcher or scribbler of the manuscript. The original proceedings were in Latin, and since this manuscript was laid out in two columns, of which the Greek text fills only the left-hand one on each page, it was evidently intended to contain also the Latin text in the right-hand column, but this was never added. </p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Dr Christopher Wright</p>