A Manuscript Cost in the 11th Century (Based on a Colophon from a Georgian Manuscript (Vind.Georg.3) Held at Austrian National Library) (წიგნის ფასი XI საუკუნეში (ავსტრიის ეროვნულ ბიბლიოთეკაში დაცული ერთი ქართული ხელნაწერის (Vind.Georg.3) ანდერძ-მინაწერის მიხედვით)
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Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University Press
Abstract
Manuscripts in the Middle Ages were too expensive. They were essential to
the practice of Christianity.
The large colophon found in a Georgian manuscript from the collection of
Austrian National Library is studied for the first time from the viewpoint of a manuscript cost. This is the February Menaion (Vind.georg.3) copied in 1042/44-1066.
The colophon was written by Ivane Khakhuleli, a Georgian monk who resided in
the monastery of Holy Cross in Jerusalem. He had commissioned the manuscript.
The colophon written by Ivane Khakhuleli has never been used for the study
of manuscript costs. At the first stage of my study I found out that Ivane Khakhuleli’s
colophon was to be considered the oldest Georgian written source which
provides information about manuscript cost, and not the Nikortsminda deed of
1071-1080, as widely accepted prior to me.
Based on the analysis of Ivane Khakhuleli’s colophon, I reached several
conclusions which are of special importance for addressing the issue of a manuscript
cost in the 11th century.
Namely, it was established that Ivane Khakhuleli paid 20-25 drahkans for
copying and binding a manuscript which measures 25x19 cm, and contains 290
folios. 18-22 drahkans were paid for copying, and 2-3 drahkans for its binding.
On the one hand, the colophon under consideration corroborates consideration
accepted in the scholarly literature about the manuscript cost in the 11th
century, and on the other hand, it enriches our knowledge concerning prices, suggesting
that 20 drahkans was not just an average price for copying large church
books in general, but it was the price for copying a particular manuscript which
contained 290 folios.
It was also established that in 1040s-1070s, the price for copying manuscripts
in the Holy Land and in Georgia was practically the same.
Description
Berdzenishvili M. (1962). nikortsmidis „datserili“ [The Nikortsminda “Deed” (Publication
of the Text). «Materials for the History of Georgia and the Caucasus»,vol. 34. pp.
25-42.] in Georgian.
Berdzenishvili M. (1979). metertmete saukunis kartuli saistorio tsqaroebi sakartvelos
sotsialur-ekonomikuri istoriis shesakheb [Georgian Written Sources of the Eleventh
Century About Social and Economical History of Georgia (The Nikortsminda Deed).
Tbilisi: Publishing House “Metsniereba”.] in Georgian.
Tabuashvili A. (2019). pasebi peodaluri epokis sakartveloshi (X-XVIII saukuneebi).
[Prices in Feudal Georgia (10th-18th centuries). Tbilisi: Publishing House “Color”.] in
Georgian.
kartuli istoriuli sabutebis korpusi (1984). I. kartuli istoriuli sabutebi. IX-XIII saukuneebi.
[A Corpus of Georgian Historical Documents (1984). I. Georgian Historical Documents.
9th-13th Centuries. Compiled and prepared for publication by T. Enukidze,
V. Silogava, N. Shoshiashvili. Tbilisi: Publishing House “Metsniereba”.] in Georgian.
Tsurtsumia M. (2013-2014). XI saukunis sakartvelos sotsial-ekonomikuri suratisatvis
(pasebi nik’orts’midelis dats’erilis mikhedvit) [The Social and Economic Condition of
Georgia in the 11th Century (Prices According to Nikortsminda Deed). Ivane Javakhisvilis
sakhelobis Tbilisis Sakhelmtsipo Universitetis Sakartvelos Istoriis Institutis
Shromebi, VIII. pp. 125-162.] in Georgian.
Javakhishvili Iv. (1996). kartuli damtserlobatmtsodneoba anu paleograpia [Studies
in Georgian Script or Paleography. Works in Twelve Volumes, v. IX, part one, Tbilisi:
Publishing House “Metsniereba”.] in Georgian.
Japaridze G. (1976). okros monetis terminologia XI-XIII saukuneebis sakartveloshi
[Terminology of Gold Coin in 11th-13th Centuries Georgia. Sakartvelos SSR Metsnierebata
Akademiis Matsne, The Series in History, Archaeology, Ethnography and Art History,
3. pp. 84-95.] in Georgian.
Jojua T. (2019). ierusalimis jvris monastris beris iovane khakhulelis dakvetit gadatserili
1042/1044-1066 tslebis tebervlis tveni [The February Menaion (Vind.Georg.3)
Copied in 1042/1044-1066 on the Commission of Iovane Khakhuleli, Now Held at the
Austrian National Library (Codicological, Historical and Source Study Analysis). Saistorio
Krebuli, 7. pp. 164-211.] in Georgian
Keywords
Manuscript, manuscript cost, drahkan, colophon, Iovane Khakhuleli, february menaion
Citation
Economics and Business, №2, 2020, pp. 186-199