Detaljer om håndskriftet

Parchment. The entire codex is a palimpsest, deriving from four separate manuscripts, two of which are from responsorialia from the tenth or eleventh century. There are also the remains of a ninth-century Catalonian Forum Iudicum written in early Visigothic minuscule.

The manuscript was foliated by Kristian Kålund.

13 quires of 8 leaves except from the fourth quire, consisting of 6 leaves.

• I: fols 1-8.
• II: fols 9-16.
• III: fols 17-24.
• IV: fols 25-30.
• V: fols 31-38.
• VI: fols 39-46.
• VII: fols 47-54.
• VIII: fols 55-62.
• IX: fols 63-70.
• X: fols 71-78.
• XI: fols 79-86.
• XII: fols 87-94.
• XIII: fols 95-102.

Written in one column throughout; 23 to 25 lines per page.

Written in one hand, a practised caroline minuscule.

There are red initials and headings throughout.

An initial, B, on fol. 24v, beginning Tractatus in Apocalypsin.

At fol. 97v, below the text and above an erased line, the name B. Arías Montanus is added in red ink. Below this name there are four lines, written apparently in the seventeenth century, which read: Barcinonæ descriptus est liber iste ex alio vetustiore manu | exarato, ann. Mxxxxij. et emptum anno M.Dc.xvj. | Agit de auctore M. Maximus Episcopus Cesarang. et de scripto Isidorus | Hispanensis Archi-episcopus, ille in chron. ann. 529 iste de Viris illustribus.

On the front pastedown and on the bottom margin of fol. 1r the name Holger Parsbergh and the dates 1680 and 1682 are added.

A letter from Bonifatius Fischer, of the Vetus Latina Institut in Beuron, (Germany) who investigated the manuscript in 1957.

There are also four slips, three of them in Árni Magnússon's hand.

• The first, a, which in all likelihood was written by one of Árni's amanuenses, contains information on Apringius based on Guilielmus Cave's Scriptorum ecclesiasticorum historia literaria . It reads: Aprigius Ecclesiæ Pacensis in Hispa|nia Episcopus, et scientiâ eruditus | claruit circa ann. 540. Scripsit in-|qvit Isidorus, de scriptia c. 17. Expli cationem Apocalypseos B Johannis | subtili sensu atque illustri sermone, | melius pene qvam veteres Eccle|siastici viri exposuisse videntur. | Interiit opus istud: Loaisa ta-|men in notis suis ad Isidori cata|logum testatur se in Hispania vidis-|se opus ingens manuscriptum | in Apocalypsin Gothicis literis exa-|ratum, ex Victorini, Isidori, ex | Aprigii libris, uti præ se tulit præ|fatio consarcinatum. Scripsit | Aprigius teste Isidoro, et alia qvæ|dam, qvorum nec nomina super-|sunt.| Guilh. Cave hist: Lit: pag 289.

  Under this is written in another ink, but possibly the same hand: p: 409. edit: Londin:

• The second, b, contains a decipherment of the last line of the final rubric, which repeats the previous line, Deo gracias ag|o finito labore isto, using a simple displacement cipher (b is used for a, c for d etc.), and a transcription of the marginal note following it on fol. 97v.

• The third, c, contains information on Apringius: Aprigius, Pacis Juliæ | in Hisp. Episcopus, vixit an. | 540. Vide Isidorum | de Script C. 17. Non | Extat. Cave in char-|tophylace. | Vide quorum Gesneri | Bibliothecam voce | Aprigius. This last is a reference to Conradus Gesner, Bibliotheca universalis .

• Finally, there is a small slip, d, on which Árni has calculated Arias Montano's date of birth, 1598-71=1527, and multiplied 12000 by 5 to produce 60000.

Written in Spain or Portugal in the early or mid-thirteenth century (the date 1042 (Mxxxxij) , given in a marginal note on fol. 97v, can hardly be correct).

The Spanish scholar Benito Arias Montano (1527-98) has written his name on fol. 97r (B. Arias Montanus), and may be presumed to have owned the manuscript. It came somehow into the possession of etatsråd Holger Parsberg (1636-92). Following Parsberg's death, the manuscript was bought by etatsråd Jens Rosenkrantz (1640-95), when Parsberg's library was auctioned off (23. oktober 1693).

The manuscript was acquired by Árni Magnússon from the estate of Jens Rosenkrantz, presumably at auction (the auction lot number 468 is written in red chalk on the fly-leaf), either in 1696 or 1697.

• Mikrofilm (master), G.neg. 160, s.d.
• Mikrofilm (archive), G.pos. 186, s.d.
• Black and white prints, reg.nr. 75, from 25. januar 1999 (photographs of the spine, outside covers, stitching etc.).
• Colour prints , reg.nr. 102, from 25. januar 1999 (photographs of the spine, outside covers, stitching etc.).
• Black and white prints from 27. januar 1999 (copy of af G.pos. 186).