DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14722#0160
THE BOOKS, OF THE PROPHET DAXIEL AND OF THE
REVELATION, IN VISIGOTHIC CHARACTERS.
DESCRIPTION OF TIIE PLATE.
The upper line represents a line from a Visigothic Latin choral the left and an armed warrior on the rig-ht. At the hottom
book marked with musical notes, beneath which is copied is a view of the Church of Laodicea, with the angel presenting
Revel. ch. iii. v. 7, having- a portrait of Nebuchadnezzar on the book to St. John.
y ^ATIX manuscripts, written in Spain in the Visigothic character, are of very great rarity; for although
many such are doubtless contained in the library of the Escurial, of some of which fac-similes have been
published by Don Christoval Rodriguez,1 yet elsewhere they are so scarce that the Benedictines were compelled
to content themselves with copying Rodriguez' specimens; and evenMessrs. Silvestre and Champollionhave been
able only to give one Visigothic fac-simile, taken from a manuscript, " Louanges de la Vierge," in Latin, by the
Bishop of Toledo, written in the year 989, in Galicia, and which they describe as "un des plus riches et de
plus beaux modeles qu'on puisse trouver."2 This manuscript precisely agrees, in respect to the form of the
characters, with that from which the accompanying figures have been drawn, but can bear no comparison with
it in point of execution.3
It is impossible not to be convinced, by an inspection of the accompanying plate, that the Visigoths of
Spain adopted the Roman characters, varying them, however, in certain respects. " Les savans conviennent
que Pancien gothique avoit specialement cours en Espagne. Aldrette, dans son docte ouvrage sue la langue
Castellane,4 a publie le modele d'un MS. de Cordoue. Cest constamment pour le fond Fecriture romaine,
quoiqu'elle soit plus nette et plus aisee, comme etant d'une main moins ancienne et plus exacte. L'ecriture du
missal Mozarabique de Tolede est a peu pres la meme que la minuscule romaine."5
Visigothic capital letters are generally very narrow in form, with the heads of several of the letters elevated
considerably above the top of the line. The letters are moreover often conjoined together, as will be seen from
the two lines in my specimen, whieh istoberead—" Explc eccla v\ In libro ii°." i. e. Explicit ecclesia5a. In
libro 2do. cc Incip. eccla vi\ In libro ii°." i. e. Incipit ecclesia 6a. In libro 2do.
The elongated tops of the I and L; the tails of the I; the square C, and the conjunction of the letters Ixc
at the beginning of the second line; the oblique bar of the N, reaching neither the top nor the bottom of the
straight strokes, are peculiar. The form of the letters in these two lines closely resembles the first specimen
given by the Benedictines, also from a MSS. of the Apocalypse, written in the 1 lth century, in the library of the
King of Spain. The MS. before us exhibits many capitals fantastically formed of animals, birds, fishes, leaves,
&c. of which the one at the beginning of the paragraph, copied in my plate, is an example, the two fishes
uniting to form the letter A.
The Benedictines, notwithstanding their immense researches, were unable to discover a single instance of
Spanish Visigothic uncial writing. I have therefore selected two specimens in which it is exhibited; namely,
in the name inscribed over the seated monarch Nebuchadnezzar, or, as it is written, " Nabucodonosor rex;" as
also in the word Angls (angelns) written over the angel in the lower part of the plate.
The Visigothic minuscule characters are distinguished by several peculiarities. The specimens in the plate
are to be read thus :—" Dominus sicut fortis egredietur et ut vir bellator."—The Lord goeth forthlike a strong
man, and as a man of war.—" Angelo firudelfise secclesidd scribee. Hsec dicit sa?ictus et verus qui habet clavem
David, qui aperit et nemo claudit, et claudit et nemo aperit."—(Rev. iii. 7-) And the minuscule inscriptions in
the lower drawing are, " Johannes sanctus," St. John, and cc ecclesia laudocie,'' the church of Laodicea. The
long heads and tails of some of the letters, the open-topped a, the high-topped e, the e marked with a cedilla for
1 Bibliotheca Universal de la' Polygraphia Espagnola, fol. 1738. I
have not seen the 13th volume of the Spectacle de la Nature en
Espagnol, cited with great praise by the Benedictines, as chiefly exe-
cuted by the Jesuit B. A. M. Burriell, N. Tr. de Dipl. iii. p. 448, nor
the Palgeographia Espagnola of Don Terrers.
2 Palceographie Universelle, livr. 4G.
3 The library of King-'s College, Cambridge, possesses a fine manu-
script Latin Psalter of Orosius, brought from Cadiz, which deserves
careful exauiination.
4 Del Orig-en de la Castellana, fol. 158.
5 N. Tr. de Dipl. iii. p. 19.
REVELATION, IN VISIGOTHIC CHARACTERS.
DESCRIPTION OF TIIE PLATE.
The upper line represents a line from a Visigothic Latin choral the left and an armed warrior on the rig-ht. At the hottom
book marked with musical notes, beneath which is copied is a view of the Church of Laodicea, with the angel presenting
Revel. ch. iii. v. 7, having- a portrait of Nebuchadnezzar on the book to St. John.
y ^ATIX manuscripts, written in Spain in the Visigothic character, are of very great rarity; for although
many such are doubtless contained in the library of the Escurial, of some of which fac-similes have been
published by Don Christoval Rodriguez,1 yet elsewhere they are so scarce that the Benedictines were compelled
to content themselves with copying Rodriguez' specimens; and evenMessrs. Silvestre and Champollionhave been
able only to give one Visigothic fac-simile, taken from a manuscript, " Louanges de la Vierge," in Latin, by the
Bishop of Toledo, written in the year 989, in Galicia, and which they describe as "un des plus riches et de
plus beaux modeles qu'on puisse trouver."2 This manuscript precisely agrees, in respect to the form of the
characters, with that from which the accompanying figures have been drawn, but can bear no comparison with
it in point of execution.3
It is impossible not to be convinced, by an inspection of the accompanying plate, that the Visigoths of
Spain adopted the Roman characters, varying them, however, in certain respects. " Les savans conviennent
que Pancien gothique avoit specialement cours en Espagne. Aldrette, dans son docte ouvrage sue la langue
Castellane,4 a publie le modele d'un MS. de Cordoue. Cest constamment pour le fond Fecriture romaine,
quoiqu'elle soit plus nette et plus aisee, comme etant d'une main moins ancienne et plus exacte. L'ecriture du
missal Mozarabique de Tolede est a peu pres la meme que la minuscule romaine."5
Visigothic capital letters are generally very narrow in form, with the heads of several of the letters elevated
considerably above the top of the line. The letters are moreover often conjoined together, as will be seen from
the two lines in my specimen, whieh istoberead—" Explc eccla v\ In libro ii°." i. e. Explicit ecclesia5a. In
libro 2do. cc Incip. eccla vi\ In libro ii°." i. e. Incipit ecclesia 6a. In libro 2do.
The elongated tops of the I and L; the tails of the I; the square C, and the conjunction of the letters Ixc
at the beginning of the second line; the oblique bar of the N, reaching neither the top nor the bottom of the
straight strokes, are peculiar. The form of the letters in these two lines closely resembles the first specimen
given by the Benedictines, also from a MSS. of the Apocalypse, written in the 1 lth century, in the library of the
King of Spain. The MS. before us exhibits many capitals fantastically formed of animals, birds, fishes, leaves,
&c. of which the one at the beginning of the paragraph, copied in my plate, is an example, the two fishes
uniting to form the letter A.
The Benedictines, notwithstanding their immense researches, were unable to discover a single instance of
Spanish Visigothic uncial writing. I have therefore selected two specimens in which it is exhibited; namely,
in the name inscribed over the seated monarch Nebuchadnezzar, or, as it is written, " Nabucodonosor rex;" as
also in the word Angls (angelns) written over the angel in the lower part of the plate.
The Visigothic minuscule characters are distinguished by several peculiarities. The specimens in the plate
are to be read thus :—" Dominus sicut fortis egredietur et ut vir bellator."—The Lord goeth forthlike a strong
man, and as a man of war.—" Angelo firudelfise secclesidd scribee. Hsec dicit sa?ictus et verus qui habet clavem
David, qui aperit et nemo claudit, et claudit et nemo aperit."—(Rev. iii. 7-) And the minuscule inscriptions in
the lower drawing are, " Johannes sanctus," St. John, and cc ecclesia laudocie,'' the church of Laodicea. The
long heads and tails of some of the letters, the open-topped a, the high-topped e, the e marked with a cedilla for
1 Bibliotheca Universal de la' Polygraphia Espagnola, fol. 1738. I
have not seen the 13th volume of the Spectacle de la Nature en
Espagnol, cited with great praise by the Benedictines, as chiefly exe-
cuted by the Jesuit B. A. M. Burriell, N. Tr. de Dipl. iii. p. 448, nor
the Palgeographia Espagnola of Don Terrers.
2 Palceographie Universelle, livr. 4G.
3 The library of King-'s College, Cambridge, possesses a fine manu-
script Latin Psalter of Orosius, brought from Cadiz, which deserves
careful exauiination.
4 Del Orig-en de la Castellana, fol. 158.
5 N. Tr. de Dipl. iii. p. 19.