Western Medieval Manuscripts : Theotokarion

Western Medieval Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This fragment consists of two unstitched quires from a <i>Theotokarion</i>, a book of hymns to the Virgin Mary (the Theotokos), probably copied in the 14th century. The individual hymns - <i>theotokia</i> - are organised so that the first letters of each hymn form a series of acrostics, one of which survives here in its entirety, along with the latter part of the preceding acrostic and the early part of the following one. The first two sequences both contain errors, where the first letter of one hymn does not correspond to the letter which should appear at this point in the acrostic.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The individual bifolia of these quires not being stitched together, there is an error in the foliation of the first quire, reversing the order of two bifolios.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Dr Christopher Wright</p>