Minuscule 444

New Testament manuscripts
papyri • uncials • minuscules • lectionaries

Minuscule 444
The first page of Mark
Text	New Testament (except Rev.)
Date	15th century
Script	Greek
Now at	British Library
Size	26 cm by 19.5 cm
Type	Byzantine
Category	none

Minuscule 444 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 551 (in the Soden numbering),^[1] is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 15th century.^[2]

Description

The codex contains the text of the New Testament except Book of Revelation on 324 parchment leaves (26 cm by 19.5 cm).^[2] The order of books: Gospels (ff. 1-154), Acts, Catholic epistles, and Pauline epistles.^[3]

The text is written in one column per page, in 25-30 lines per page.^[2]

The lists of the κεφαλαια (tables of contents) are placed before each book. It contains the τιτλοι (titles) at the top, lectionary equipment at the margin, subscriptions at the end of books, στιχοι, Synaxarion, Menologion, and scholia.^[4]

Text

Kurt Aland the Greek text of the codex did not place in any Category.^[5] Hermann von Soden classified it to the textual family K^r.^[6] According to the Claremont Profile Method it belongs to the textual cluster M1326, along with minuscule 191, 1326, 1396, 2521. The cluster is related to the cluster M106.^[6]

History

The manuscript came from the Athos (probably). It was bought in 1537 by one Greek man for 500 asper. Bernard Mould bought it in 1722 in Smyrna. It was bought for the University Library in 1775 for ₤20, at the celebrated book-sale of Anthony Askew.^[3] The manuscript was added to the list of New Testament manuscripts by Scholz (1794-1852).^[7] It was examined by C. R. Gregory in 1883.^[3]

It is currently housed at the British Library (Harley 5796) in London.^[2]

See also

Bible portal

• List of New Testament minuscules
• Biblical manuscript
• Textual criticism

References

1. ^ Gregory, Caspar René (1908). Die griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testament. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung. p. 64. http://www.archive.org/stream/diegriechischen00greggoog#page/n75/mode/2up. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Aland, Kurt; M. Welte, B. Köster, K. Junack (1994). Kurzgefasste Liste der griechischen Handschriften des Neues Testaments. Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter. p. 73. ISBN 3110119862. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} Gregory, Caspar René (1900). Textkritik des Neuen Testaments, Vol. 1. Leipzig. p. 190. http://www.archive.org/stream/textkritikdesne00greggoog#page/n203/mode/2up. 
4. ^ Scrivener, Frederick Henry Ambrose; Edward Miller (1894 (2005 reprint)). A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, Vol. 1 (4 ed.). London: George Bell & Sons. p. 239. 
5. ^ Aland, Kurt; Barbara Aland; Erroll F. Rhodes (trans.) (1995). The Text of the New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 139. ISBN 978-0-8028-4098-1. 
6. ^ ^{a b} Wisse, Frederik (1982). The profile method for the classification and evaluation of manuscript evidence, as Applied to the Continuous Greek Text of the Gospel of Luke. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 60. ISBN 0-8028-1918-4. 
7. ^ Scrivener, Frederick Henry Ambrose (1894 (reprint 2005)). A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, Vol. 1. London: George Bell & Sons. p. 225. 

Further reading

• William H. P. Hatch, Facsimiles and Descriptions of Minuscule Manuscripts of the New Testament (Cambridge, MASS.: Harvard University Press, 1951), pl. lxxxviii.
• Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 246, 462.
• Summary Catalogue of Greek Manuscripts (London: British Library, 1999- ), I, p. 196.

External links

• Harleian 5796 at the British Library