History
Textual critics and palaeographers like Johann Jakob Wettstein, Constantin von Tischendorf, Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener and Caspar René Gregory dated the manuscript to the 10th century. Henri Omont and Kirsopp Lake dated it to the 12th century, and Dean Burgon to the 12th or 13th century. It is dated by the Institute for New Testament Textual Research to the 12th century because the frequent occurrence of enlarged letters, rounded breathing marks, flourishes and ligatures seem to eliminate earlier dates.
The manuscript was presented to the monastery of the Preaching Friars by Cardinal Ragusio (1380–1443), general of the Dominicans. It was used by Desiderius Erasmus in the first edition of his Novum Testamentum (1516); as a result, some of its readings are found in the Textus Receptus. Erasmus used this codex very little, because its text was different from other manuscripts with which he was acquainted. Oecolampadius and Gerbelius (Erasmus's sub-editors) insisted that he use more readings from this codex in his third edition; however, according to Erasmus the text of this codex was altered from the Latin manuscripts and had secondary value. Since 1559, it has been kept at the University of Basel, along with Codex Basilensis and minuscule 2 (GA).
Johann Albrecht Bengel used several extracts from the codex, and Wettstein was the first who thoroughly examined it. According to him, in the Gospels its text agrees with the most ancient codices and patristic quotations; therefore, he called it number one. In 1751 he changed his high opinion (Novum Testamentum Græcum), dating the codex to the 10th century. Wettstein collated this manuscript twice, with many errors; according to Samuel Prideaux Tregelles, his collation was incorrect in more than 1,200 readings. Leonard Hug supported Wettstein's last opinion that the codex was Latinisated. Tregelles and Roth again collated the text of this codex, and Tregelles noticed that this codex is textually close to minuscule 118. Dean Burgon noticed that codices 131 and 209 are also textually similar. This entire group was examined by Kirsopp Lake in 1902, and it was called "the Lake Group" (or Family 1). The text of the family was established on the basis of minuscule 1 (collates codex 1 with Minuscules 118, 131, and 209).
F. H. A. Scrivener (1813–1891) demonstrated that at least 22 verses of Erasmian text were derived from minuscule 1:
- Matthew 22:28; 23:25; 27:52; 28:3.4.19.20
- Mark 7:18.19.26; 10:1; 12:22; 15:46
- Luke 1:16.61; 2:43; 9:1.15; 11:49
- John 1:28; 10:8; 13:20
The manuscript has been cited in all critical editions of the Greek New Testament and systematically cited in the third and fourth editions edited by United Bible Societies (UBS3 and UBS4) and Nestle-Aland's 26th and 27th editions (NA26 and NA27). In NA27, the codex is cited as a witness of the first order.
Read more about this topic: Codex Basilensis A. N. IV. 2
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