This 12th-century Gospel book (now divided into two volumes) was copied by the monk Gregory. A note at the end of the second volume tells us Gregory died in 1189.
The manuscript did not originally contain portraits of the evangelists at the beginning of each Gospel. An owner inserted portraits of Matthew, Luke and John later at the relevant points. These portraits also date from the 12th century. They may have been taken from a larger Gospel book and were certainly trimmed to fit into the present manuscript. They are now housed in a separate volume.
The manuscript formerly belonged to Anthony Askew (1722-1774), and the British Museum purchased it at Askew’s sale in 1785. It formerly also housed the Golden Canon Tables, which date from the 6th or 7th century, but these are now kept separately.
Public Domain in most countries other than the UK.
An overview of articles and British Library resources relating to Christianity.
Many of the British Library’s Greek manuscripts contain beautiful illuminations. Here, Cillian O’Hogan provides a brief overview of the history of illumination in Greek manuscripts.
Byzantine scribes and authors refer repeatedly to book collections and libraries. Georgi Parpulov outlines what private, monastic and imperial libraries were like in medieval Byzantium.
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