Geniza Lab

Psalter in Old Church Slavonic. Floral capitals. Dating: Perhaps 15th century. This section includes Psalm 11:3–7.1 in the Tarnovo recension of Old Church Slavonic. The manuscript is most likely of Wallachian or Moldavian origin, more likely the latter given the internal disputes within the Wallachian Kingdom and the concomitant golden age of Stephen the Great in Moldavia. It is possible that this manuscript made its way to Cairo via travelling monks who were headed towards St. Catherine's Monastery. The script is Uncial (Ustav) given the geometrical letter-forms, the religious nature of the content and the paucity of abbreviations, but there are elements of semi-uncial (polu-ustav) script. Information kindly provided by Elisaveta Musakova of the Bulgarian National Library, Peter Toth and Ilia Curto Pelle.