Volume / Number: 3 / 344a

• Milan Italy Biblioteca Ambrosiana G. 82 Sup. (Studemunt) [palimpsest new]

Origin uncertain. Written before Bobbio was founded, but apparently by Irish scribes, if one may be guided by the cumulative evidence of the form of b and l, the et ligature, the punctuation, the m-stroke, and the colour of the ink, all redolent of Ireland. Portions of the biblical text were already in bad condition when the MS reached Bobbio, to judge by the scripts used for restoring it, manifestly in the early period of the abbey. Collations and excerpts are contained in the Ambrosian MSS A.S. V . 12 and A.S. VI. 1, both saec. XVIII. The MS was disfigured by the reagent applied by Angelo Mai.

Script of the main hand is a unique type of half-uncial written apparently with a reed pen: noteworthy are the club-shaped shafts of the tall letters, b and l bending in near the base-line (a trick of Irish scribes); a is open; G, regularly uncial, has an ample bow but a small tail; i is slightly taller at the beginning of a word; the middle stroke of N turns up (as in many Irish MSS); o is a narrow oval leaning decidedly to the right; the bow of q is a good-sized oval; the cross-stroke of ꞇ is slightly wavy; the lower left limb of x curves to the right; z descends sharply below the line. Another curious and skilful hand begins with the second line of p. 75 and continues to the middle of the second line of page 76, and is also seen on pages 305, 307, 313: d and Ᵹ usually have the half-uncial form; o has the same strong inclination to the right; z goes well below the line. Numerous marginal entries in different later scripts: uncial on page 47, cursive on page 15, Irish passim.

• Provenance: Bobbio library (Zironi 2004)
• Text: MSS containing biblical text (including Gospels)
• Text: MSS with texts available in the Bobbio library during the Lombard period (Zironi, 2004)