Blog Post #1: Lewis Read

23.02.2022

Starting this month we want to give a deeper understanding about our project from our team's perspective. At the end of every month another member will present their work, findings, obstacles or other insights. First comes Lewis Read, one of our Prae Docs, focussing on Armenia.

The Colophons of Eleventh-Century Armenia

Alongside settling into life in Vienna, the first four months working as a PhD researcher on RELEVEN have been devoted to locating, transcribing, and translating Armenian colophons from the eleventh century. A colophon is a section of text, varied in length, which is attached to a manuscript. It provides vital details about the production of the manuscript, including information about sponsorship, dating and the context in which it was produced. In Armenian sources, the colophon tradition is particularly rich; they exhibit a tendency to expand on contemporary historical events and offer unique insights into people, places and textual production. Colophons are valuable repositories of data and in many ways represent their own genre. Their value has been well recognised by medieval and modern scholars alike, who have both sought to use them to enhance their understanding of Armenian history.

In the absence of extensive online queryable databases of Armenian manuscripts, locating these sources is a manual task. It involves searching catalogues and contacting respective libraries to obtain images of the texts. Fortunately, in 1988, Armenologist Artashes Matevosyan produced a collection of medieval Armenian colophons from the 5th-12th century. By bringing this disparate material into one place, the work of Matevosyan has made my research far more effective. However, after over thirty years, and with new manuscripts appearing year on year, we felt it was time to revisit a comprehensive search, produce new transcriptions based on manuscripts images and, for the first time, a complete English translation of all the 11th century Armenian colophons.

Of the sixty-five colophons I have transcribed and translated, a valuable range of data has become very apparent. For example, in contrast to the historiographical Armenian text of the period, Aristakes Lastiversi (writing 1072-1079 CE), which offers extensive treatment of Armenian-Turkish interactions, the colophon material conveys almost nothing about them. Whilst Aristakes records a series of Turkish sacks in Armenian urban centres, manuscript colophons produced in the same cities in the same year will make no mention of the same event. Colophons then become a crucial way of querying the production of past and present in 11th Armenian texts and a device to better understand the varying visions of identity, community and historical experiences conveyed by Armenian speaking authors. 

Colophons will play an important role in our RELEVEN data set, providing diverse Armenian perspective on the networks of exchange and interconnectedness which characterised Eastern Christian communities in the 11th century. Take, for example, the colophon of a Gospel from 1099 written in Alexandria (translated below). There is a lot to unpack here - what did a 'mother-city' mean to an Armenian and what is the significance of referring to Jerusalem and Alexandria as such? How was the distinction between 'Turk', 'Parsic', 'Arapik' and 'Tačik' understood by an Armenian author? How were accounts of the First Crusade circulating? How does the authorship in Alexandria impact our understanding of the plurality and mobility of Armenian communities in the 11th century?

As well as aiding our RELEVEN database, we believe it is crucial to make this corpus accessible. As part of my work, I aim to produce a digital scholarly edition of 11th century colophons - visualising the original manuscript image, transcription, and English translation alongside another. Each text will be designed with supporting information for the reader to better understand these sources and allow this corpus to be studied collectively with greater ease. I am looking forward to taking several classes in TEI-XML; refreshing and learning the transferrable skills I need to put this plan into action!

Over the coming months, our team will be providing regular updates on our work, so stay tuned for more RELEVEN content! In the meantime, back to finishing translations before the editing and checking process begins...


Yerevan Mss. 288 - Gospel, 1099 CE

278b Glory to the three persons, seamlessly united in a singular infinite nature, this holy Gospel was written in the Armenian era 548 (1099), by the hand of Aaron ignorant miserable scribe and useless monk.

279a Now, I pray for all those who are enlightened and profit in this holy Gospel, that you will be made worthy, and God have mercy on you: Amen. And the same for my brother Yovhannes, who was executed by the impious Southern nations in the impious gathering of Mahmet for my miserable life. Now I pray that you all remember Yovhannes in your holy prayers, and Christ God bless this holy Gospel and the mother of God and may the holy Karapet's intercessions have mercy on the soul of Yovhannes and may the manuscript be purged, and may it be written in the writings of his life. Amen. And may you remember and may God have mercy on us all. Amen.

279b Now, this holy Gospel was written in the patriarchate of the lord Gregory and in the community of men of the Roman Empire, which is glorious. They were moved and went up amongst the multitude above they felt the sensation of the Almighty God when they came to Antioch. And with great endeavour and through great war they extended around the city and with swords branded they mercilessly slaughtered the impious, and after three days and innumerable host from the people of the Turk', Parsic', Arapik', and Tačik' encamped around the city and the plain, numbering four hundred and forty thousand.

280a And the valiant peoples went out and gathered for war and with the aid of God above, and for three days the swords of the Christians turned the forces of the impious, and in great victory they returned to the great Church of St Peter and celebrated with joy the great God and the saviour Jesus Christ, who had granted victory to his servants. In the same year they opened the great and famous mother city of Jerusalem, and the multitudes of the impious were slaughtered with swords by the forces of Christ.

This holy Gospel was completed in the mother city of Alexandria, under the shadow of John the Evangelist, to the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom glory be forever. Amen.

 

 

An example colophon image from Yerevan 275