From text to art and back again: Verifying A. Weyl Carr's manuscript groupings through textual analysis

The purpose of the dissertation was to analyze the textual relationships of selected manuscripts to verify subgroups identified by Annemarie Weyl Carr in Byzantine Illumination 1150-1250: The Study of a Provincial Tradition based on artwork. The research sought to answer the question of whether or not a textual analysis would validate the grouping of manuscripts noted as provincial based on a study of the artwork in the manuscripts? The textual analysis was divided into two sections, the pre-1204 C.E. Initial subgroup and the post-1204 C.E. Late subgroup. Carr's Initial subgroup (the Taphou and London subgroups) was studied in John chapters 4 and 10 by means of both the teststellen readings and a full chapter quantitative analysis of the two chapters. The Late subgroup (the Dionysiou and Berlin subgroup and the Interregnum subgroup) was analyzed based on a quantitative analysis across all 21 chapters of John.;The study is comprised of four chapters. Chapter 1 includes a survey of the decorative style group, textual relationships, and manuscript groupings. Chapter 2 is an introduction to the selected manuscripts in the subgroups. Chapter 3 presents the test passage and full chapter quantitative examination of the selected manuscripts in the Initial subgroup. Chapter 4 includes a quantitative analysis of the Late subgroup.;With regard to the Initial subgroups the evaluation of the teststellen passages resulted in the identification of the manuscripts as Byzantine, as was expected. The quantitative examination of the units of significant variation in John chapters 4 and 10 revealed some unique textual relationships among the Taphou subgroup manuscripts 365 and 1319, and the London subgroup manuscripts 969, 2278, and 2756, thereby blurring the boundaries between the two subgroups.;With regard to the Late subgroups a quantitative analysis of the manuscripts and an observation of the sub-singular readings produced four groupings of manuscripts. The largest grouping comprised manuscripts 660, 697, 791, 924, 1005, 1278, 1365, and 2372. Manuscripts 59, 298, 923, and 1338 represented another grouping. The last two groupings were smaller, manuscripts 251 and 760, and manuscripts 706, 1113, and 2478.;The overall result of the textual analysis was that it revealed a lack of textual definition among manuscripts of Carr's Initial subgroups, yet clear textual relationships among the manuscripts of Carr's Late subgroups. Within Carr's provincial matrix the textual analysis affirmed the following conclusions concerning the Late subgroup. (1) Manuscripts 660 and 924 represent the base of the provincial tradition post-1204 C.E. (2) The core manuscripts in the Interregnum subgroup illustrate a scribal network or scribal/artistic school. (3) The high degree of relationships among the textual groupings in the Late subgroup points to a specific geographical origin, most possibly Cyprus. (4) The production of the manuscripts was primarily for private use. (5) The specific uniqueness of the largest textual grouping illustrates a textual tradition that was provincial.