Paris-Petersburg Code BnF Lat. 12214 + NLR. Lat. Q. v. I. № 4: to the history of creation and existence

Abstract

This article aims to clarify some key questions about the origin and provenance of a northern Italian manuscript of St Augustine’s De civitate Dei: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), Lat. 12214 + Saint Petersburg, National Library of Russia, Lat.Q.v.I.4. There is no consensus on the exact place of creation of this northern Italian half-uncial codex. Most researchers tend to assume that the manuscript was copied in Verona. The script of the Paris-Petersburg Codex shares several similarities with the script of a whole group of half-uncial manuscripts that are traditionally associated with Verona due to their content (the ‘Three-Chapter’ group). Another point of view is supported by a minority of scholars (first of all, G. Cavallo, T. Licht). It claims that the codex was created in Ravenna. Indeed, the Paris-Petersburg manuscript has common features with the group of Ravenna manuscripts of the 6th century. Some of them contain works by St Augustine: most importantly the manuscript Lyon, Bibliothèque Municipale, 607. However, a detailed comparison of these codices rules out the possibility of combining them into a single group. Сodicological and textual examination of the Paris-Petersburg manuscript allows us to conclude that the first part was added later in the monastery of Castellum Lucullanum (Naples), since it is closely linked to the editorial work of Eugippius, the famous St Augustine scholar. It is also found that the manuscript contains annotations by Presbyter Donatus, who annotated several manuscripts from the library of Castellum Lucullanum in the second half of the 6th century.