View source for Codex Argenteus

{{Short description|6th-century Gothic bible manuscript}}
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{{Use mdy dates|date = February 2019}}
{{Use American English|date = February 2019}}
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The '''{{lang|la|Codex argenteus}}''' ([[Latin]] for "Silver Book/Codex") is a [[6th century|6th-century]] [[illuminated manuscript]], attributed to the 4th century Gothic Bishop [[Ulfilas|Wulfila]] and originally containing [[Gospel#Canonical gospels|part]] of the [[Gothic Bible|4th-century translation of the Christian Bible]] into the [[Gothic language]].  A part of it is on permanent display at the [[Carolina Rediviva]] building in [[Uppsala]], [[Sweden]], under the name "'''Silverbibeln'''" (i.e. "The Silver Bible").<ref>{{cite book |first=Bruce M. |last=Metzger |author-link=Bruce M. Metzger |title=The Early Versions of the New Testament |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1977 |page=378}}</ref> Since 2011, the ''Codex Argenteus'' has been included in the UNESCO [[Memory of the World Programme|Memory of the World Register]].

==History==
===Origin===
[[File:Wulfila_bibel.jpg|thumb|A facsimile of the {{lang|la|Codex argenteus}}]]
The {{lang|la|Codex argenteus}} (literally: "Silver Book") was probably written for the [[Ostrogothic Kingdom|Ostrogothic king]] [[Theodoric the Great]], either at his royal seat in [[Ravenna]], or in the [[Po River|Po valley]] or at [[Brescia]]; it was made as a special and impressive book written with gold and silver ink on high-quality thin [[Purple parchment|vellum stained a regal purple]], with an ornate [[treasure binding]]. Under Theodoric's reign, manuscripts of the [[Gothic Bible]] were recopied.<ref>{{cite book |last=Miller |first=D. Gary |year=2019 |chapter=The Goths and Gothic |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YN-RDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA4 |title=The Oxford Gothic Grammar |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |page=4 |doi=10.1093/oso/9780198813590.003.0001 |isbn=9780198813590 |lccn=2018956032 |s2cid=198009307}}</ref> After Theodoric's death in 526, the "Silver Bible" is not mentioned in inventories or book lists for a thousand years.

===Discovery===
187 leaves of the original 336 parchment folios were preserved at the former Benedictine [[Werden Abbey|abbey of Werden]] (near [[Essen]], [[Rhineland]]). The abbots at Werden were imperial princes and had a seat in the [[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)|Imperial Diet]]. While the precise date of the "Silver Bible" is unknown, it was discovered at Werden in the [[16th century]].<ref name=":0" />

The remaining part of the codex came to rest in the library of [[Holy Roman Empire|Holy Roman emperor]] [[Rudolf II]] at his imperial seat in [[Prague]].<ref>[http://www.ub.uu.se/arv/codexeng.cfm Uppsala University Library] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041208110615/http://www.ub.uu.se/arv/codexeng.cfm/ |date=2004-12-08 }}</ref> In 1648, after the [[Battle of Prague (1648)|Battle of Prague]] from the end of the [[Thirty Years' War]], it was taken as war booty to [[Stockholm]], Sweden, to the library of Queen [[Christina of Sweden]]. In 1654, after her conversion to [[Catholicism]] and her abdication, the codex went to the [[Netherlands]] among the property of [[Isaac Vossius]], her former librarian. In the 1660s it was bought and taken to [[Uppsala University]] by Count [[Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie]], who also provided its present lavishly decorated binding.<ref name=":0" />

The codex remains at the [[Uppsala University Library]] in the Carolina Rediviva building. On 5 April 1995, parts of the codex which were on public display in Carolina Rediviva were stolen. The stolen parts were recovered one month later, in a storage box at the [[Stockholm Central Station|Stockholm Central Railway Station]].<ref>{{cite web |first=Thomas |last=Totte |url=http://www.kb.se/dokument/Aktuellt/audiovisuellt/N%C3%A5gra%20hyll%28nings%29centimeter/473-484TottieKuppen.pdf |publisher=[[National Library of Sweden]] |title=Kuppen mot Silverbibeln |access-date=27 March 2017 |language=Swedish |archive-date=February 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219075506/http://www.kb.se/dokument/Aktuellt/audiovisuellt/N%C3%A5gra%20hyll%28nings%29centimeter/473-484TottieKuppen.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | first= Lena |last=Köster | url = http://www.unt.se/kultur/mysterier-kring-silverbibeln-1794931.aspx | title = Mysterier kring Silverbibeln | newspaper=[[Upsala Nya Tidning]] |date=2012-07-15 |access-date=27 March 2017 |language=Swedish}}</ref>

The details of the codex's wanderings for a thousand years remain a mystery; it is unknown whether the other half of the book may have survived.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2024-08-08 |title=The history of Codex argenteus - Uppsala University |url=https://www.uu.se/en/library/visit-and-contact/exhibitions/codex-argenteus/the-history-of-codex-argenteus |access-date=2025-08-25 |website=www.uu.se |publisher=Uppsala University Library |language=en}}</ref>

In 1998 the codex was subjected to [[Radiocarbon dating|carbon-14 analysis]], and was dated to the 6th century.<ref>{{Cite news |date=7 April 1998 |title=Silverbibeln daterad med kol-14-metoden |trans-title=Codex argenteus carbon date determined |url=http://wwwc.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/9804/07/telegram/inrikes8.html |access-date=27 March 2017 |newspaper=[[Aftonbladet]] |location=Uppsala |language=Swedish |agency=TT}}</ref> It was also determined the codex had been bound at least once during the 16th century.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://archive.ifla.org/IV/ifla64/050-132e.htm |title=Silver Bindings carbon dated |access-date=September 24, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319110406/http://archive.ifla.org/IV/ifla64/050-132e.htm |archive-date=March 19, 2015 |url-status = dead}}</ref>

===The Speyer fragment===
The final leaf of the codex, fol. 336, was discovered in  October 1970 in the [[Speyer Cathedral]] in [[Speyer|Speyer, Germany]]. During the renovation of the Saint Afra chapel of the cathedral, the leaf was found in a box with non-authentic [[relic]]s that was hidden in 1859 by immuring it.<ref>[https://rlp.museum-digital.de/index.php?t=objekt&oges=14958&navlang=de Fotografie "Speyer-Fragment des Codex argenteus"], rlp.museum-digital.de</ref> The leaf with text on both sides contains the final verses of the [[Gospel of Mark]] (16:12-20).<ref>Stutz, Elfiede: "Ein gotisches Evangelienfragment in Speyer" in Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung 85, volume 1 (1971), pp. 85-95.</ref>

===Publications===
The earliest mention of the Gothic manuscript, in 1569, by [[Goropius Becanus]], appears in his book ''Origines Antwerpianae'':{{blockquote|text=So now let us come to another language, which the judgement of every man of distinguished learning at Cologne identifies as Gothic, and examine the aforesaid Lord's Prayer written in that [language] in a volume of great age belonging to the monastery of Werden in the district of Berg, about four miles from Cologne. This [volume] was kindly made available to me, with his notable generosity towards all researchers, by the most reverend and learned [[Maximilien Morillon]], from among the papers of his late brother Antoine.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=l0n8QL3crpYC ''Origines Antwerpianae''], Liber VII. Gotodanica: Ex officina Christophori Plantini, 1569, p. 740.</ref>}}

In 1597, [[Bonaventura Vulcanius]], [[Leiden]] professor of Greek, published his book ''De literis et lingua Getarum sive Gothorum''. It was the first publication of a Gothic text altogether, calling the manuscript "Codex argenteus":

{{blockquote|text=In regard to this Gothic language, there have come to me [two] brief dissertations by an unidentifiable scholar - shattered planks, as it were, from the shipwreck of the Belgian libraries; the first of these is concerned with the script and pronunciation [of the language], and the other with the Lombardic script which, as he says, he copied from a manuscript codex of great antiquity which he calls "the Silver".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=GRA8AAAAcAAJ&q=De+litteris+et+lingua+Getarum ''De literis et lingua Getarum''], 1597, p.4. Note that according to this Vulcanius did not himself invent the epithet 'Argenteus' but found it in the notes of an unidentified precursor.</ref>}}

But he was not only the first who enabled the learned world to make the acquaintance of the Gothic translation of the Gospels in Gothic script, but also the first who connected this version with the name of Ulfilas:

{{blockquote|text=With all due respect to these writers, I should think that the use of Gothic scripts existed among the Goths long before the time of Wulfila but that it was he who first made it known to the Romans by translating the Holy Bible into the Gothic language.  I have heard that a manuscript copy of this, and a very ancient one, written in Gothic capital letters, is lurking in some German library.<ref>''De literis et lingua Getarum'', 1597, p.3</ref>}}

[[Image:Oratio Dominica.jpg|thumb|Part of the [[Lord's Prayer]], transliteration "... in himina, weihnai namo þein; qimai þiudinassus þeins, wairþai wilja þeins, swe in himina jah ana airþai; hlaif..." from ''De Literis & Lingva GETARUM Sive GOTHORUM'', 1597, p.33.]]
In his book Vulcanius published two chapters about the Gothic language which contained four fragments of the Gothic New Testament: the Ave Maria (Luke I.28 and 42), the Lord's Prayer (Matt. VI.9-13), the Magnificat (Luke I.46-55) and the Song of Simeon (Luke II.29-32), and consistently gave first the Latin translation, then the Gothic in Gothic characters, and then a transliteration of the Gothic in Latin characters.

In 1737, [[Lars Roberg]], a physician of Uppsala, made a [[woodblock printing|woodcut]] of one page of the manuscript; it was included in [[Henric Benzelius|Benzelius]]' edition of 1750, and the woodcut is preserved in the [[Linköping]] Diocesan and Regional Library. Another edition of 1854&ndash;7 by [[Anders Uppström]] contained an artist's rendition of another page. In 1927, a facsimile edition of the Codex was published.

The standard edition is that published by [[Wilhelm Streitberg]] in 1910 as ''Die Gotische Bibel'' (''The Gothic Bible'').

==Script and illumination==
[[File:Detail of Codex Argenteus.jpg|thumb|Detail of the {{lang|la|Codex argenteus}}, [[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]] {{bibleverse-nb||Matthew|5:34|RSV}}, a scan of the 1927 facsimile edition. The highlighted section is an abbreviation of the Gothic cognate of "[[God (word)|God]]".]]
The manuscript is written in an [[uncial]] script in the [[Gothic alphabet]], reportedly created by [[Ulfilas]].  The script is very uniform, so much so that it has been suggested that it was made with stamps.  However, two hands have been identified: one hand in the Gospels of Matthew and John and another in the Gospels of Mark and Luke. The [[Illuminated manuscript|illumination]] is limited to a few large, framed initials and, at the bottom of each page, a silver arcade which encloses the monograms of the four evangelists.

In the 1920s, German conservator Hugo Ibscher worked on the conservation of the Codex.<ref>Rolf Ibscher: ''Hugo Ibscher zum Gedächtnis.'' In: ''Das Altertum'', Volume 5 (1959), pp. 183–189.</ref>

==Contents==

*[[Gospel of Matthew]]: Matthew 5:15-48; 6:1-32; 7:12-29; 8:1-34; 9:1-38; 10:1,23-42; 11:1-25; 26:70-75; 27:1-19,42-66.
*[[Gospel of John]]: 5:45-47; 6:1-71; 7:1-53; 8:12-59; 9:1-41; 10:1-42; 11:1-47; 12:1-49; 13:11-38; 14:1-31; 15:1-27; 16:1-33; 17:1-26; 18:1-40; 19:1-13.
*[[Gospel of Luke]] 1:1-80; 2:2-52; 3:1-38; 4:1-44; 5:1-39; 6:1-49; 7:1-50; 8:1-56; 9:1-62; 10:1-30; 14:9-35; 15:1-32; 16:1-24; 17:3-37; 18:1-43; 19:1-48; 20:1-47.
*[[Gospel of Mark]]: 1:1-45; 2:1-28; 3:1-35; 4:1-41; 5:1-5; 5-43; 6:1-56; 7:1-37; 8:1-38; 9:1-50; 10:1-52; 11:1-33; 12:1-38; 13:16-29; 14:4-72; 15:1-47; 16:1-12 (+ 16:13-20).

== See also ==
* [[Gothic Bible]]
* [[Gothic language]]
* [[Purple parchment]]
* [[Codex Carolinus]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite book | title = Codex argenteus Upsalensis jussu Senatus Universitatis phototypice editus | location = Uppsala | year = 1927}}
* {{Cite book | author = James W. Marchand | title = The Sounds and Phonemes of Wulfila's Gothic | publisher = Walter de Gruyter | year =  1973  | isbn = 97-89027924-32-2}}
* {{Cite book | author = Tönnes Kleberg | title = The Silver Bible at Uppsala | publisher = Uppsala University Library | location = Uppsala | year = 1984 | isbn = 91-85092-20-7}}
* {{Cite book | author = Bologna, Giulia | title = Illuminated Manuscripts: The Book before Gutenberg | location = New York | publisher = Crescent Books | year = 1995 | page = 50}}
* Munkhammar, Lars (2011). ''The Silver Bible: Origins and History of the Codex Argenteus''. Uppsala.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Codex Argenteus}}
*[https://www.uu.se/en/library/about-the-library/special-collections/project-codex-argenteus-online Homepage of the Codex argenteus (Uppsala University Library)]
*[http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:alvin:portal:record-60279 Digital copy of the Codex argenteus in the Swedish portal for cultural heritage collections, alvin-record:60279]
*[http://www.wulfila.be/ Wulfila Project] digital library dedicated to the study of Gothic
* Lars Munkhammar, [https://web.archive.org/web/20150319110406/http://archive.ifla.org/IV/ifla64/050-132e.htm Uppsala University Library, "Codex argenteus"]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20041209053449/http://www.cs.tut.fi/~dla/Codex_Argenteus/Cod_Arg_Bib.html Codex argenteus Bibliography]
*[[oldwikisource:Die gotische Bibel|The Gothic Bible]] on [[Wikisource]], Streitberg's edition
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120606125850/http://wikisource.org/wiki/Gothic_Bible_in_Ulfilan_Gothic_Script_with_correct_i Gothic Bible in Gothic script] on Wikisource
*[http://la.wikisource.org/wiki/Patrologia_Latina_Vol_18_Ulfilas_-_Evangelia the Gothic New Testament] on wikisource, Patrologia Latina edition

[[Category:6th-century biblical manuscripts]]
[[Category:6th-century illuminated manuscripts]]
[[Category:Illuminated biblical manuscripts]]
[[Category:Purple parchment]]
[[Category:Gothic Bible]]
[[Category:Ostrogothic Kingdom]]
[[Category:History of Uppsala]]
[[Category:Uppsala University]]
[[Category:Theodoric the Great]]