Codex Boernerianus - History

History

The codex was probably written by an Irish monk in the Abbey of St. Gall, Switzerland between 850-900 A.D. Ludolph Kuster was the first to recognize the 9th century date of Codex Boernerianus. The evidence for this date includes the style of the script, the smaller uncial letters in Greek, the Latin interlinear written in Anglo-Saxon minuscule, and the separation of words.

In 1670 it was in the hands of P. Junius at Leiden. The codex got its name from its first German owner, University of Leipzig professor Boerner, who bought it in Holland in the year 1705. It was collated by Kuster, described in the preface to his edition of Mill's Greek New Testament. The manuscript was designated by symbol G in the second part of Wettstein's New Testament. The text of the codex was published by Matthaei, at Meissen, in Saxony, in 1791, and supposed by him to have been written between the 8th and 12th centuries. Rettig thought that Codex Sangallensis is a part of the same book as the Codex Boernerianus.

During World War II, the codex suffered severely from water damage. Thus, the facsimile, as published in 1909, provides the most legible text. Some scholars believe that, originally, this codex formed a unit with the Gospel manuscript Codex Sangallensis 48 (Δ/037). Boernerianus is housed now in the Saxon State Library (A 145b), Dresden, Germany, while Δ (037) is at Saint Gallen, in Switzerland.