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:
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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
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