Volume / Number: 2 / 180

• London United Kingdom British Library Add. MS 43460 [palimpsest new]

Written in Italy, probably at Nonantola. Belonged to S Silvester, Nonantola, by the ninth century (foll. 1, 63, 95). Migrated in the seventeenth century with many other MSS to Santa Croce, Rome, whence it was stolen during the Napoleonic occupation. Acquired from Messrs Payne, the booksellers, in 1848 by Sir Thomas Phillipps, in whose library at Cheltenham it had the number 12261. Acquired in 1924 by Mr. A. Chester Beatty, in whose collection it bore the number 3, and in 1933 by the British Museum.

Script is a rather uncalligraphic minuscule with many cursive elements, resembling early Beneventan: c is mostly broken-backed; e rises above the line; the broken form of l occurs; ligatures of te, fi, li, ri, and ti are used regularly; ti is used indifferently for the soft and hard sound; i-longa is used initially and even medially. On fol. 192v are some lines in mixed uncial and half-uncial. Marginal entries by a contemporary hand often take the form of a bunch of grapes. An unmistakable Nonantola hand (saec. IX) is seen on foll. 1, 63, 95.

☛Bischoff, Katalog II no. 2407. ☛Formerly Cheltenham, Private collection Phillipps 12261. ☛F. Römer, Die handschriftliche Überlieferung II/2 Österr. Akad. Veröff. Corpus Latein. Kirchenväter IV (1972) p. 161-162