The St Petersburg Insular Gospels: another Old Latin witness

Abstract

The St Petersburg Insular Gospels (National Library of Russia F.v.I.8, sometimes known as Codex Fossatensis) were copied in England in the eighth century. This manuscript is well known for its decoration, but there has been no previous investigation of its gospel text apart from the collation of test passages by Bonifatius Fischer. A full transcription of the Gospel according to John, compared with the Vulgate and surviving Old Latin witnesses, shows that the manuscript derives from an Old Latin version which was largely corrected towards the Vulgate. Despite further alterations to the manuscript under consideration, numerous readings remain unchanged which can be traced back to the earliest stratum of Old Latin versions of John. Some are paralleled in patristic citations, while others appear to be unique. This is therefore an important witness to the text of the Old Latin Gospels, and has now been entered in the register of the Vetus Latina-Institut with the number VL 9A