Gospels of Ivan Aleksandar

The Gospels of the Bulgarian Tsar John Alexander of 1356 (BL London, Add. Ms. 39627) represent one of the most beautiful testimonies of mediaeval book production and have often been the subject of research. After photo reproductions, color images of the illuminated manuscript are already available online. While the majority of the studies focuses on its art history, other problems that the manuscript poses have found little or no treatment so far. This first edition and its scientific contributions intend to supplement the present state and to form a solid basis for further analyzes. That they are needed, showed the preparation of the volume. Thus many questions, especially the formation of the codex and of its liturgical parts, are only now being posed, while others which had appeared to be solved proved to be incorrectly answered. The edition therefore contains not only the Old Slavonic Gospel texts with black-and-white reproductions of the miniatures, the afterword of his chief scribe Simon, the magical diagram with the tsar`s name and the liturgical annex attached later for use in worship (instructions for the immobile and mobile cycle), but also all original and later additions (chapter-numbers, notes, etc.). In the apparatus all those peculiarities are commented which can only be recognized by an examination of the original or cannot be understood without analysis. The research part comprises seven articles (authors in brackets): first the full bibliography arranged according to the year of publication with author index (N. Ganceva), then a description of the external appearance of the codex (E. Musakova, H. Miklas), an essay on the tzars portraits (E. Bakalova), as well as articles on the textual criticism of the Gospels on the basis of the lexics (. Alberti) and on the position of the text within the Old Slavonic Gospel tradition (A. Alberti, M. Garzaniti), on the liturgical apparatus (T. Popova) and his history (E. Dogramadžieva). To be highlighted are the characterization of the minor scribes, the assignment of the Gospel texts to an archaic branch known only from the Bosnian tradition, and the first examination of the liturgical apparatus and its allocation to a Bulgarian provincial center of the 14th c. The appendix provides an overview of the Gospel readings and miniatures (E. Musakova), lists of the quoted manuscripts and early prints (B. Mirceva) and the literature used (N. Ganceva). Since the work is primarily directed at a Slavistic and Bulgarian audience, it is in Bulgarian and (preface, table of contents, edition principles, headings and summary of the research part) German. The preparation of the introduction, edition and the redaction of the volume were carried out by T. Popova and H. Miklas, supported by B. Mirceva, who also translated the Italian contributions.