Title
Codex Regularum
Generic classification
Manuscripts and illuminationsObject
ManuscriptDate
ca. 900-930Century
Early 10th c.Cultural context / style
VisigothicDimensions
9,25 x 13,3 inIconography / Theme
Regla de San BenitoProvenance
San Pedro de Cardeña Monastery (Castrillo del Val, Burgos, Spain)Current location
The British Library (London, United Kingdom)Inventory Number in Current Collection
Add MS 30055Object history
This manuscript comes from the Monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña (Burgos). Although studies traditionally dated it to the late 10th and early 11th centuries (Millares Carlo, 1999), it is now considered to be earlier (Shailor, 1979). Silva Verastegui (2020) believes that the decoration of the codex and the colors that abound in its miniatures date back to the early 10th century.
Be that as it may, the copy remained in the monastery until the early 17th century, when Francisco Bivar (1584-1634) requested the manuscript. During those years, the codex was kept at the Monastery of Santa María de Palazuelos (Cabezón de Pisuerga, Valladolid) and was returned to Cardeña in 1656 by Tomás Gómez, who sent a letter detailing the situation (Gayangos, 1893). Francisco de Berganza, librarian of the monastery of Cardeña, mentioned the manuscript at the beginning of the 18th century when he said: "In a very old codex from our Monastery of Cardeña, different Rules of Saint Pachomius are written"(Berganza, 1719). Therefore, the return of the copy to the monastery is confirmed.
After the dissolution of the monasteries in 1835, the manuscript ended up in England and was sold between June 7 and 10, 1876, by Sotheby's auction house in London (Whitehill, 1935). The British Museum acquired the codex that same year for £133 and added it to its collection, describing it in its inventory as follows:
"On the inside of the cover is a letter from Fr. Thomas Gomez, dated, Monastery of S. Maria de Palazuelos, May 8, 1656, returning the MS. to the Monastery of S. Pedro de Cardena, diocese of Burgos, from which it had been borrowed by Francisco Bivar, of the Monastery of Nucala (ob. 1634)."
Finally, in 1973, it was transferred to the British Library (London), where it remains today (Add MS 30055).
Description
The manuscript consists of 233 double-column folios. Two authors have been identified: the first wrote folios 4r-223v, while another scribe wrote folios 224-231 (Whitehill, 1935). The decoration features peacocks, pelicans, fish, and rosettes, among other ornamental motifs. Likewise, the use of red, green, and yellow colors has allowed it to be dated to the early 10th century (Silva, 2020).
Locations
Xth c. - Early XVIIth c.
Early XVIIth c. - 1636
1656 - ca. 1835
ca. 1876 - 1876
auction house
Sotheby's, Nueva York / Londres
1876 - 1973
1973 - present
study center
The British Library, London (United Kingdom)
Bibliography
- BERGANZA, Francisco de (1719): Antiguedades de España, Francisco del Hierro, Madrid, p. 19.
- BRITISH MUSEUM (ed.) (1882): Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum in the Years 1876-1881, The Trustees of the British Museum, Londres, pp. 27-28.
- GAYANGOS, Pascual de (1893): Catalogue of the manuscripts in the spanish language in The British Museum, vol. IV, Trustees, Londres, p. 152.
- MILLARES CARLO, Agustín (1999): Corpus de códices visigóticos, UNED, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, p. 85.
- SERNA SERNA, Sonia (2023): "El Pasionario del monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña (British Library, Add. Ms. 25600): nuevas aportaciones sobre su datación y autoría", vol. 41, nº 1, Studia Historica. Historia Medieval, p. 211.
- SHAILOR, Barbara (1979): "The Scriptorium of San Pedro de Cardeña", vol. 61, nº 2, Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester.
- SILVA VERASTEGUI, Soledad de (2020): "La miniatura en el Monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña en el siglo X", vol. 261, Boletín de la Institución Fernán González, pp. 494-496.
- VELÁZQUEZ SORIANO, Isabel (2022): "Algunas notas sobre la relación entre transmisión manuscrita y carácter literario de las regulae monachorum de la Hispania visigoda", vol. 162, Estudios Clásicos. Revista de la Sociedad Española de Estudios Clásicos (SEEC), p. 89 / 97.
- WHITEHILL, Walter Muir (1935): "Un códice visigótico de San Pedro de Cardeña (British Museum, Additional ms. 30055)", vol. 107, nº 2, Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, pp. 508-514.
Record manager
Isabel Escalera FernándezCitation:
Isabel Escalera Fernández, "Codex Regularum" in Nostra et Mundi. Cultural Heritage from Castile and Leon around the world, Fundación Castilla y León, 2025. https://inventario.nostraetmundi.com/en/work/490
Codex Regularum, f. 223r
Whitehill (1935): 511.
Whitehill (1935): 511.
Codex Regularum, f. 67v
Whitehill (1935): 509.