The first papyrus text in the British Museum

Over at the Medieval manuscripts blog, Cillian O'Hogan has an interesting discussion of a small piece of papyrus in the Cotton collection: A Papyrus Puzzle and Some Purple Parchment 

A Papyrus Puzzle and Some Purple Parchment

A Papyrus Puzzle and Some Purple Parchment

A Papyrus Puzzle and Some Purple Parchment

The interesting thing is that this VI-VIIth century papyrus is mounted within the borders of a piece cut from the Mreviary of Margaret of York (a XVth cent manuscript). Following the lead of R. Babcock (who published the papyrus as an early copy of Gregory's Homilies on the Gospels in Scriptorium 54 (2000), 280-288) it is suggested that the original codex could have come over with early missionaries sent to England by Gregory himself: 'it could even be the case that it was an early copy of the Homilies (completed in 592-3) brought over by Augustine of Canterbury when he arrived in Kent in 597.' This gets a bit speculative for me, but I thought I would pass it on.

Mounted on a blank sheet of parchment is a border cut from the Breviary of Margaret of York, a 15th-century manuscript written in Ghent.  And inside the border is a small scrap of papyrus (125 x 60 mm), dating from the late 6th or early 7th century - See more at: http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2014/02/a-papyrus-puzzle-and-some-purple-parchment.html#sthash.y1j9Hlr7.dpuf

Mounted on a blank sheet of parchment is a border cut from the Breviary of Margaret of York, a 15th-century manuscript written in Ghent.  And inside the border is a small scrap of papyrus (125 x 60 mm), dating from the late 6th or early 7th century - See more at: http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2014/02/a-papyrus-puzzle-and-some-purple-parchment.html#sthash.y1j9Hlr7.dpuf

Cillian O’HoganCill

Cillian O’Hogan

Cillian O’Hogan

Cillian O’Hogan