twelfth-century manuscript now in Madrid , Biblioteca Nacional Vitr . 26-2 (‘ M '') (2 ), is The only illustrated manuscript among the twenty two taken into account by Thurn in pre-the his critical edition of Skylitzes '' Synopsis Historiarum (3 ). In fact , it is the only known paring manuscript of a Byzantine Greek chronicle , and it may well be the first illustrated illustrated opinion is divided about the origin of the illustrations . On the basis of inconsistencies Scholarly between the text and certain illustrations and / or their captions , Manoussacas inferred the Madrid Skylitzes had drawn on two different sources , one for the text of the that and another for the captions to the illustrations and , by implication , for the illus-chronicle themselves (8 ). Tsamakda identified many more instances of inconsistency and trations them by positing the existence of illustrated manuscripts of various other works explained may have been drawn upon for the illustration of Skylitzes '' text , as well as a number which intermediate copies between the Madrid Skylitzes and its archetype (9 ). Both scholars were of to assume a Constantinopolitan origin for the illustrations . In stark contrast , Sevcenko inclined proposed that the Madrid Skylitzes was the first manuscript of Skylitzes to be illus-
1 ) The research for this paper forms part of a wider project on the Madrid Skylitzes involving the University (of Melbourne and the AHRB Centre for Byzantine Cultural History centred at the Institute of Byzantine , The Queen '' s University Belfast , with support from the British Academy and Discovery and Linkage Studies grants from the Australian Research Council . I thank my colleagues Assoc . Prof . R . D . Scott , Dr International . Tuffin and Dr B . Bjornholt for their patience and helpful comments during preparation of this paper . P 2 ) For a description of Ms . Madrid BN Vitr . 26-2 (olim N2 ) and the copy Ms . Madrid BN 4594 (olim N1 ) (Jose ´ Maria Fernández Pomar , «El Scylitzes de la Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid », Gladius 3 , 1964 , p . 15-see . 43 3 )
Ioannis Scylitzae Synopsis Historiarum . Editio princeps . Recensuit Ioannes Thurn , Berlin , 1973 (Corpus (Historiae Byzantinae , V , Series Berolinensis ). Thurn follows de Boor (see n . 11 below ) in referring to Fontium . 26-2
as Matritensis II and to the copy (ms . 4594 ) as Matritensis I . Vitr 4 ) It is not until the mid-thirteenth century that anything similar appears in the West : see E . N . Boeck , (
Art of Being Byzantine : History , Structure and Visual Narrative in the Madrid Skylitzes Manuscript , PhD The , Yale 2003 , p . 20-21 . Thesis 5 ) V . Tsamakda , Die illustrierte Chronik des Johannes Skylitzes in Madrid , Heidelberg , 2001 — published as (note 7 below ; B . K . Bjornholt , The use and portrayal of spectacle in the ‘ Madrid Skylitzes '' (Bib . Nac . vitr . 26-in ), The Queen '' s University Belfast , 2002 ; E . N . Boeck (see previous note ). 2 6 ) Joannis Scylitzae Synopsis Historiarum : codex Matritensis graecus Vitr . 26-2 : facsimile edition . Scientific (Agamemnon Tselikas , Athens , 2000 . consultant 7 ) V . Tsamakda , The Illustrated Chronicle of Ioannes Skylitzes in Madrid , Leiden , 2002 . (8 ) A . Grabar and M . Manoussacas , L '' Illustration du manuscrit de Skylitze`s de la Bibliothe`que Nationale de (, Venice , 1979 (Bibliothe`que de L '' Institut Helle ´ nique d '' E ´ tudes Byzantines et Post-Byzantines de Venise 10 ), Madrid . 8-9 .
p 9 ) V . Tsamakda , The Illustrated Chronicle , passim . On p . 395 , for example , she concludes that the captions (were not necessarily added for the first time in the Matritensis but possibly in the archetype and certainly in «one or more intermediate copies of Skylitzes ».
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john burke
THREE COPIES OF THE MADRID SKYLITZES (1 )
book produced in either the Greek East or the Latin West (4 ). Its 575 surviving miniatures history , which combine Byzantine , Western and Arabic elements , are thus of unparalleled sig-for art historians . Three recent PhD theses (5 ), a life-size colour facsimile edition (6 ) nificance a fully illustrated monograph (7 ) all testify to growing international interest in this manu-and script .
