The Codex Corbeiensis II, designated by ff² or 8 (in the Beuron system), is a 5th or 6th century Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 Gospel Book

Gospel Book

The Gospel Book, Evangelion, or Book of the Gospels is a codex or bound volume containing one or more of the four Gospels of the Christian New Testament...

. The text, written on vellum

Vellum

Vellum is mammal skin prepared for writing or printing on, to produce single pages, scrolls, codices or books. It is generally smooth and durable, although there are great variations depending on preparation, the quality of the skin and the type of animal used...

, is a version of the old Latin

Vetus Latina

Vetus Latina is a collective name given to the Biblical texts in Latin that were translated before St Jerome's Vulgate Bible became the standard Bible for Latin-speaking Western Christians. The phrase Vetus Latina is Latin for Old Latin, and the Vetus Latina is sometimes known as the Old Latin Bible...

. The manuscript contains 190 parchment folio with the text of the four Gospels with lacunae (Matt 1:1-11:16; Luke 9:48; 10:20.21; 11:45-12:6.7; John 17:15-18:9; 20:22-21:8). Written in a beautiful round uncial hand.

Gospels follow in the sequence: Matthew, Luke, John, Mark.

The Latin text of the codex is a representative Western text-type

Western text-type

The Western text-type is one of several text-types used in textual criticism to describe and group the textual character of Greek New Testament manuscripts...

 in itala recension. The text is akin to preserved in Codex Vercellensis

Codex Vercellensis

The title Codex Vercellensis refers to two manuscript codices preserved in the cathedral library of Vercelli, in the Piedmont Region, Italy.- Old Latin Codex Vercellensis :...

 and Codex Veronensis

Codex Veronensis

The Codex Veronensis, designated by siglum b or 4 , is a 4th or 5th century Latin Gospel Book. The text, written on purple dyed vellum in silver and occasionally gold ink, is a version of the old Latin. The Gospels follow in the Western order.- Description :The manuscript contains the Latin text of...

.

The manuscript formerly belonged to the monastic Library of Corbey, on the Somme

Somme

Somme is a department of France, located in the north of the country and named after the Somme river. It is part of the Picardy region of France....

, near Amiens

Amiens

Amiens is a city and commune in northern France, north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in Picardy...

; and with the most important part of that Library was transferred to St. Germain des Prés

Saint-Germain-des-Prés

Saint-Germain-des-Prés is an area of the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France, located around the church of the former Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés....

 at Paris, about the year 1638, and was there numbered 195.
It was quoted by Sabatier

Paul Sabatier

Paul Sabatier , was a French clergyman and historian who produced the first modern biography of St. Francis of Assisi. He is the brother of Auguste Sabatier....

, Bianchini

Giuseppe Bianchini

Giuseppe Bianchini was an Italian Oratorian, biblical, historical, and liturgical scholar. Clement XII and Benedict XIV, who highly appreciated his learning, entrusted him with several scientific labors...

 gave a collation in Mark, Luke, and John. Full text was published by Johannes Belsheim

Johannes Belsheim

Johannes Engebretsen Belsheim was a Norwegian teacher, priest, translator and biographer. He is known for his studies of biblical handwritings, including the Codex Aureus, Codex Gigas, Codex Corbeiensis I, Codex Palatinus, Codex Veronensis, and Codex Claromontanus V...

, Augustine Calmet

Antoine Augustin Calmet

Antoine Augustin Calmet , French Benedictine, was born at Ménil-la-Horgne in Lorraine.He was educated at the Benedictine priory of Breuil in Commercy, and in 1688 joined the same order in the abbey of St-Mansuy at Toul, where he was admitted to profession 23 October of the following year...

,
Migne, and Jülicher.

Currently it is housed at the National Library of France (Lat. 17225) at Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

.

Further reading

• Augustine Calmet, Commentarius literalis in omnes libros Novi Testamenti Latinis litteris traditus a Ioanne Dominico Mansi, Würzburg, Vol. 2 (1787), p. 276-302.
• E. S. Buchanan, The four Gospels from the Codex Corbeiensis ff² (Old Latin Biblical Texts, v; Oxford, 1907), pp. 1-96.
• A. Jülicher, Itala. Das Neue Testament in Altlateinischer Überlieferung, Walter de Gruyter
  Walter de Gruyter
  Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG is a scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. Its origins date back to 1749 when it was given the right to print books by King Frederick II of Prussia. -De Gruyter Mouton:...
  
  , Berlin, New York, 1976. (Marcus Evangelium)