Generous Devotion: Women in the Church of the East between 1550 and 1850
Heleen
Murre-van den Berg
Universiteit Leiden
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
George A. Kiraz
James E. Walters
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Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
2004
Vol. 7, No. 1
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https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/article/hv7n1murre
Heleen (H.L.) Murre-van den Berg
Generous Devotion: Women in the Church of the East between 1550 and 1850
https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/pdf/vol7/HV7N1Murre.pdf
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute,
vol 7
issue 1
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies is an electronic journal dedicated to the study
of the Syriac tradition, published semi-annually (in January and July) by Beth
Mardutho: The Syriac Institute. Published since 1998, Hugoye seeks to offer the
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Syriac Studies
Women
Church of the East
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In the centuries following the Ottoman
conquest of northern Mesopotamia and Kurdistan, the Church of
the East showed a remarkable vitality, which was expressed
among other things in a considerable manuscript production and
the restoration of churches and monasteries. This article
intends to highlight the contribution of women to this revival.
It is based mainly on a study of manuscript colophons and a few
inscriptions, which testify to the large number of women who
were involved in financing the production of manuscripts and to
their reasons for doing so. A closer reading of the colophons
also reveals details about the social position of these women,
the role of their fathers, brothers, and husbands, as well as
about their position within the church—varying from
incidental references to daughters of the convenant,
deaconnesses and nuns, to highly-esteemed mothers and
well-doers in the Christian community. Finally, the article
asks for a closer reading of the colophons in order to enlarge
our knowledge of the Church of the East in this period of
history.
[1] In the
early summer of 1707, the priest Yosep, son of the priest
Giwargis, son of the priest Israel Alqoshaya from the Shikwana
family, one of the famous scribes’ families of Alqosh of
the period, in his hometown finished writing a
taksā d-kāhnē, a priests’
office book which included the regular Sunday eucharistic
liturgies, a few special liturgies and a number of
huttāmē by various
authors. In his colophon he notes: “This book of the
taksā d-kāhnē
was written thanks to the money and labor of Belgan, a
believing woman from Alqoshta, and she bestowed it upon the
holy church of Mar Yohannan in the
blessed village of Dawedaya, in the region of Sapna (Amadiah region). From now on, everyone is
required to read from it.”
See appendix, no. 30.
[2] Belgan
from Alqoshta (a little village in the mountains of Berwari,
about 65 miles north of Alqosh in what is now southeastern
Turkey) is not the only woman of the Church of the East who
makes her appearance in the Syriac manuscript colophons of the
Ottoman period. In David Wilmshurst’s list of colophons
and inscriptions, more than eighty women are mentioned in
sixty-six entries made between 1500 and 1830.
The appendix contains a list of women’s names
taken from the primarily Syriac colophons in MSS. written by
Church of the East copyists between 1500 and 1830. The list is
gleaned from David Wilmshurst’s list of colophons of
Syriac manuscripts, in The Ecclesiastical Organisation of
the Church of the East, 1318-1913, CSCO vol. 582, Subsidia
104 (Louvain: Peeters, 2000). When the catalogues were
available to me and provided extra information on the women and
the MSS., such information has been added. Note that Wilmshurst
did not include the Arabic MSS. produced by Church of the East
writers in this period. Note also that my timeframe is
considerably shorter than that of Wilmshurst, who covers the
period from 1318 to 1913. I have limited myself to the
‘Ottoman period’, but with the exclusion of most of
the nineteenth century, because of the largely different
circumstances (considerable western influence) and abundance of
sources from about 1830 onwards.
On the total number
of colophons and inscriptions of this period, numbering about
1350, this already constitutes a significant group of about six
percent, but when compared with the number of colophons that
mention commissioners and sponsors (the roles in which women
occur most frequently), the percentage goes up to about
eighteen percent.
My numbers are based on the colophon descriptions
in Wilmshurst, The Ecclesiastical Organisation.
Although he seems to have taken into account all manuscripts
that are described in the catalogues, the often rather concise
way in which the MS. colophons are edited suggests that a study
of the MSS. itself would yield additional information.
Although most of the colophons are edited only
partially, the information available in the catalogues already
provides us with a wealth of information on the women of the
Church of the East in this period. It is this information that
is used for the present contribution.
To my knowledge, women in the colophons in similar
manuscript traditions have not been studied in extenso, cf.,
e.g., the absence of any particular reference to women in the
study by Sanjian K. Avedis: Colophons of Armenian
Manuscripts, 1301-1480. A Source for Middle Eastern
History, Harvard Armenian Texts and Studies 2 (Cambridge
(Mass): Harvard University Press, 1969), p. 9-14.
[3] The
period of about 1500 to 1830 is the period in which the Church
of the East, after a century of almost complete silence
following Timur Leng’s raids in the late fourteenth
century, slowly recovered from the destruction and ravages
wrought by the plague. The great majority of the East-Syriac
manuscripts that have survived to our day date from this
period, in which apparently a great effort was made to restore
the classical heritage. Especially between 1670 and 1760 the
large village of Alqosh was the center of an enormous
manuscript production. Its scribes provided new manuscripts for
village churches and monasteries in northern Mesopotamia and
northwestern Iran that in this period were also often restored.
Three famous families dominated life in this village: the
Shikwana and Nasro families, to which
most of the scribes belonged, and the Abuna family, from which
metropolitans and patriarchs were selected.
Wilmshurst, The Ecclesiastical
Organisation, 244, 249, 251.
The patriarchs had
their official see in the famous monastery of Rabban Hormizd,
not far from Alqosh, and so added to the importance of the
region. The importance of the Alqosh region (including the
monastery of Rabban Hormizd and the village of Telkepe) is also
reflected in the colophons of the manuscripts in my list:
thirty-five of the fifty-eight manuscripts were produced here.
Smaller centers of manuscript production were found in villages
and monasteries in the west (Amida, Gazarta), in the Hakkari
mountains (Gissa) and western Iran (Darband, Tergawar). In
addition to the copying of older texts, this period also saw a
limited production of new texts, both in Classical Syriac and
in Modern Aramaic, the spoken language of the majroity of the
members of the Church of the East.
See H.L. Murre-van den Berg, “A Syrian
Awakening. Alqosh and Urmia as Centres of Neo-Syriac
Writing”, in Symposium Syriacum VII, Uppsala
University, Department of Asian and African Languages, 11-14
August 1996, OCP 256, ed. R. Lavenant, S.J. (Rome: 1998),
499-515, and Alessandro Mengozzi, Israel of Alqosh and
Joseph of Telkepe. A Story in a Truthful Language, Religious
Poems in Vernacular Syriac (North Iraq, 17th
century), 2 vols. CSCO 589, 590, Scryptores Syri 230, 231
(Louvain: Peeters 2002).
[4]
Politically, the region became more and more part of the
Ottoman Empire, although it took until the middle of the
nineteenth century before the Ottomans were able to exercise
any kind of effective control over the Hakkari Mountains with
its independent Kurdish and Assyrian tribes. Roman Catholicism
also made its influence felt in the region. In 1552, Yuhannan
Sulaqa established official links with the papacy and in doing
so created the uniate counter-patriarchate in 1553. Although
his successors severed links with the papacy towards the end of
the sixteenth century and continued as the Church of the East
patriarchate of Qodshanis, both this line (whose patriarchs
took the formal name Shimcun) and the line of Rabban
Hormizd (whose patriarchs took the formal name Eliya) had
occasional contacts with Roman Catholic missionaries. In 1681,
a new Catholic patriarchate (whose holders took the name of
Yosep) was created in Amida (Diyarbakır), under the
influence of Capuchin missionaries. In 1830, this patriarchate
merged with the by then Catholic patriarchate of
Alqosh.
See H.L. Murre-van den Berg, “The Patriarchs
of the Church of the East from the Fifteenth to Eighteenth
Centuries” [Hugoye, Journal of Syriac Studies
2:2 (1999), ].
[5] Despite
occasional setbacks caused by wars (between Turkey and Persia
as well as between local rulers), outbreaks of the plague and
looting by local robbers or rival tribes, the considerable
manuscript production and the restoration of churches testify
to the vitality of the Church of the East in the Ottoman
period. However, so far hardly any attention has been paid to
the role of women in this ‘awakening’. This study
focuses on the question to what extent and in what way women
participated in it. The following themes will be discussed: the
position of these women within their families [6-8]; the
geographical origin of the women and the manuscripts [9-10];
their names [11], money and status [12-13]; and the reasons for
commissioning, sponsoring
The difference between commissioning
(ysep), and sponsoring
(‘giving money’ – cf. no. 38) is unclear. In
many cases only commissioning is mentioned and we are left to
assume that commissioning in those cases included providing the
money. In other cases commissioners and sponsors are mentioned
separately, which might suggest a different role for each.
and donating
I use the term donor/donating in the case of
already existing MSS. or other valuables, such as land and/or
houses.
[14-16]. I will end
with a few concluding remarks [17-18].
[6] There
can be little doubt that the women in the colophons are first
and foremost identified by their family relationships. The most
common way to introduce a woman is to add her father’s
name to her own: Kanzadeh, daughter of the deacon Sulaiman (c.
1660, no. 14), Gozal, daughter of the smith Hanna of Mosul (1707, no. 31), Shmuni, daughter of
the priest Hoshaba (1722, no. 37), and
many more. In the one case of a female scribe, an extended
genealogy is given, extending to five generations: Teresa,
daughter of the priest Khadjodor, son of the deacon
cAbdelkarim, son of the priest Bakos, son of the
priest Khadjo, son of the priest Bet Sabrishoc of
cAyn Tannur (1767, no. 53). This usage is exactly
parallel to that regarding the men in the colophons: a brief
genealogy (usually only the father) in the case of donors,
sponsors and commissioners, long genealogies in case of
scribes. In one case, a woman is identified by giving the name
of her mother only: Naze, daughter of Shmuni (1766, no. 52),
whereas one woman is identified first by her mother, than by
her husband: Maryam, daughter of Elisabeth and wife of Maroge,
of Nisibis (1586, no. 7).
In at least two cases I have not been able
to ascertain whether the name of the parent refers to a man or
a woman: Maryam, daughter of Mima of Erbil (1559, no. 4), and
Seltana, daughter of Belgana of Bet Megali (ca. 1593, no. 8).
There is also one instance of a male scribe who gives only the
name of his mother (the deacon Giwargis, son of the believing
woman Gozal, 1704, no. 27).
In addition, in quite a few cases
a mother and daughter sponsored or commissioned together, for
instance Shona, daughter of Oshacna and her mother
Nasrat (1706, no. 29), Hatun and her
mother Sette, daughter of the priest Eliya of Telkepe (1710,
no. 32), as well as cAzize and her mother Baghdad,
together with their father and husband Isaac, son of Giwargis
(1705, no. 28).
[7] In this
list, the second most important way of identifying a woman is
by giving her husband’s name. However, of only twenty-one
of the eighty-four women in the list a husband is mentioned,
often in addition to the father, e.g. in the case of a
manuscript donated by a couple such as Auraham, son of Mako,
and his wife Shmuni, daughter of the priest Quriaqos (1682, no.
19), or by two couples together: “the money was given by
the believers Hanne, Kammo, and their
righteous wives Sara and Maryam” (1723, no. 38). An
eighteenth-century inscription in the church of Mar Quriaqos in
Salmas simply says: “This church was renovated by the
wife of Amr, may the Lord give her rest” (18th
c., no. 36). In addition to these twenty-one cases where a
woman’s husband is explicitly mentioned, in eleven
instances marriage can be inferred from the mentioning of a
dowry, (grand)sons or daughters. The two instances of dowry
(māhrā) probably both date to the early
eighteenth century. In the first case the manuscript itself
constitutes the dowry, taken for the daughter of the priest
cAbdishoc son of Zangish (no. 23), in the
second, the manuscript contains a note of a dowry taken by the
priest Hanna for his daughter (no. 24).
Both women remain anonymous.
Curiously enough, the copyist of the second
MS. seems to be the same cAbdishoc of
Zangish who accepted a MS. as his daughter’s dowry. In
both cases, the names of three or four witnesses (all men,
different in each case) are added.
[8] A total
of thirty-two married women among the more than eighty women in
the list is a strikingly low number, which requires an
exploration of the possible reasons. The most obvious one,
although explaining only a minority of the cases, is that women
remained unmarried for religious reasons. In five instances,
there is little doubt: women are referred to as a nun
(rāhiba, Maryam, daughter of priest Hormizd of
1542, no. 2, and Hatun in Mar
Yohannan Nahlaya,
1629, no. 12), as a daughter of the covenant (ba(r)t
qyāmā, Seltana, daughter of Belgana, c. 1600,
no. 8), as a deaconess of the monastery of Mar Augin
(mshammshānītā, Maryam, 1739, no. 45)
and as a distinguished virgin (btultā
zāhyā, Shmuni, daughter of Marqos, 1824, no.
63).
The presence of these different types of
religious women raises some issues that cannot be adequately
treated in this article. One is the apparent survival of the
earlier offices of both ‘deaconess’ and
‘daughter of the covenant’, although we learn next
to nothing about the content of these offices (on these in the
early days, see S. Harvey Ashbrook, “Women’s
Service in Ancient Syriac Christianity”, in Kanon
XVI. Yearbook of the Society for the Law of the Eastern
Churches: Mother, Nun, Deaconess, Images of Women
according to Eastern Canon Law (Egling: Edition Roman
Kovar, 2000, p. 226-241). The other interesting issue is the
possibility that the nun Shmuni was involved in the early
stages of the Chaldean monastic movement, initiated in 1808 by
Gabriel Danbo in Alqosh; cf. S. Bello, La congregation de
S. Hormisdas et l’église chaldéenne dans la
première moitié du XIXe siècle, OCA
122 (Rome: Pont. Institutum Orientalium Studiorum, 1939),
although Bello does not mention female involvement.
In a number of other cases one may perhaps
assume that the women were not married yet, as in the
case of the first colophon in our list, in a manuscript copied
by a priest Aprem son of the priest Yacqub for
“his own and learned daughters Tamar and Shmuni”
(1521, no. 1), or our female copyist, the girl Teresa, daughter
of the priest Khadjador, who was fifteen years old when she
wrote her manuscript in 1767 (no. 53).
Although I do not have direct evidence for
the age at which girls generally were married, somewhere
between twelve and sixteen seems likely.
In this respect,
one also wonders to what extent the custom described by Surma
d’Bait Mar Shimun (a member of the patriarchal family of
Qodshanis) in the early twentieth century might explain the
fact that for some women no husband is mentioned. She notes:
“Often girls and youths live as virgins in their
parents’ house. They are called Rabbanyati [the usual
title for nuns, MvdB] although they have not received the
blessing of the Bishop, so they are not officially
recognized.”
Surma d’Bait Mar Shimun, Assyrian
Church Customs and the Murder of Mar Shimun, Vehicle
editions, ca. 1920, p. 32.
With perhaps a number of widows among
them, it seems not unreasonable to assume that a significant
part of the remaining fifty-two women were not married. In
addition, there is the distinct possibility that even if a
woman was married, it was not always necessary to mention that
fact in the colophon, especially if the husband had not been
personally involved in the commissioning or sponsoring.
Whatever the reasons for the low number of husbands in the
colophons, it seems to me that at the very least this indicates
that husbands in the majority of cases were not the defining
factor in deciding whether women could or would donate
valuables or commission and sponsor the writing of a
manuscript.
[9] It is
worthwhile to take a closer look at the place names mentioned
in these colophons. The dominance of Alqosh as a center of
manuscript production has been mentioned above, but for a study
of the involvement of the women, the location of the
monasteries and churches benefiting from their generosity seems
to be more important. Surprisingly enough, it is usually only
the church and its location, rather than the hometown or
village of the commissioner or sponsor, that is mentioned in
the colophon. It seems to me that the reader of the colophon is
meant to understand that the commissioner or sponsor lived in
the vicinity of that particular church. One of the few
colophons to mention the woman’s home village, is the one
naming Belgan from the village of Alqoshta (no. 30), who
bestowed a manuscript to a church in Dawedaya, a village about
fifteen miles south.
[10] When
we look up the churches and monasteries that profited from the
generosity of the women of the Church of the East on a map, we
find that most of these are situated in a rather circumscribed
area: a small band stretching northwards from Mosul, via
Telkepe, Alqosh, and Dohuk towards Dawedaya, and a little
eastwards from there, towards Aqra, via Tella, Artun, Geppa and
Barzane.
For detailed maps, see Wilmshurst, The
Ecclesiastical Organisation.
Regions that benefited to a lesser extent were
the monasteries around Mardin, Nisibis, Seert and Gazarta in
the west. The Hakkari mountains and the Persian territories of
the country of the Church of the East are represented only by
the inscriptions of Salmas,
This is probably due to the fact that
inscriptions from other regions have not been edited, whereas
the Salmas inscriptions were edited by Rubens Duval.
and by the reference to the place
of origin of a few women.
Sanam of Daralik in Sulduz (1770, no. 54)
and Banusheh from Gulpashan in Baranduz (1813, no. 62).
Although a comparison with the
larger collection of colophons will perhaps refine this picture
somewhat, these data suggest that in the southern and western
regions the Christians were wealthier and church life was more
active. It was not only churches and monasteries close to home
that benefited: the Church-of-the-East community in Jerusalem
and particularly the monastery of Mart Maryam also shared in
the relative prosperity, which confirms the importance of this
city in the spiritual life of the time.
See no. 6 (pre-1581), no. 8 (ca. 1593) and
no. 33 (1710).
[11] Of
the seventy-five woman’s names in the colophons, only
about twenty-six can be considered traditional Syriac names.
Most of these are biblical and one is Greek. These twenty-six
women, however, share among them only nine different names, of
which the most popular are Shmuni and Maryam (eight times
each), and Helen (five times).
Syriac/traditional names: Tamar, Shmuni
(8x), Maryam (8x), Helen (5x), Qudsiya Hormez, Meskinta, Marta,
Sara, and Elisabeth. I wonder whether Elfiya (3x) and Nasimo
(<Onesima?) should be added here as well. Popular
non-traditional names are: Hatun (2x),
Naze (2x), Maya (2x), Gozal (2x) and Dalle (2x).
All other names will
probably be identified as Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish and
perhaps a few as more recent Aramaic/Syriac names, but much
further research is required here. Note also here the
interesting case of two women named after illustrious cities:
Baghdad (1705, no. 28) and Stambul (1773, no. 55), a custom
that may be observed also among present-day Christians from the
region who name their daughters, e.g., after the city of
Edessa.
As was observed also by J.M. Fiey,
Mossoul chrétienne. Essai sur l'histoire,
l’archéologie et l’état actuel des
monument chrétiens de la ville de Mossoul.
Recherches publiées sous la direction de
l’Institut de lettres Orientales de Beyrouth 12 (Beirut:
Imprimerie Catholique Beirouth, 1959), 114.
[12] The
most interesting aspect of these colophons is the fact that
they show that at least some women of this period had the
independent use of money or other possessions. Twenty-three
women in this list are mentioned as the single donor or
commissioner of a manuscript, whereas seven more are listed as
having donated other valuables such as land or buildings. Some
examples of individual commissioning are Belgan from Alqoshta,
mentioned above (no. 30), Putta, daughter of chief
cAtallah of Harab Olma (ca.
1550, no. 3), Shmuni, daughter of Nacazar (1701, no.
25) and Alpo (1808, no. 58). Thirty-one women donated land or
commissioned manuscripts together with others: their husbands,
mothers, other women or other men. The deacon Bako and his wife
Rihana commissioned a gazza together (1686, no. 20),
while the two couples Hanne and Sara and
Kammo and Maryam (1723, no. 38) provided the money for a
manuscript. In 1706, Shona and her mother Nasrat commissioned a
Gospel lectionary (no. 29), while in 1744, Amat, her daughter
Maryam, Helen, Teka, and Elfiya together paid for a manuscript
that was commissioned by the priest
cAbdishoc from Telkepe (no. 48).
In this respect, compare also no. 58,
another MS. from Telkepe, which was commissioned thirty-four
years later (1778) by a group of “believing women”
whose names are not given. This MS. was copied by the same
scribe and donated to the same monastery of Giwargis Bet
cAwire.
Some women made individual donations in other ways: around
1613, Shazemana, the wife of Yazdan, donated a “silver
cup worth a hundred drachmas” and “a house in
Sharukhiya” to the church of Mar Pethion in Amida
(Diarbakir, no. 9), whereas Kanzadeh, daughter of the deacon
Sulaiman, ransomed a gazza that was looted from the
church of Mar Yareth in Barbitha and donated it to the church
of Mar Shemcon, Mar Giwargis and Ma(r)t Meskinta in
Mosul (around 1660, no. 14). So far no concrete indications of
the price of manuscripts as compared with other goods have been
found, and only in a few instances prices are mentioned, in a
variety of different currencies.
For a better insight in the prices of
manuscripts, a separate study of all prices in the colophons
would be needed. Prices for MSS. in connection with women
donors are: 10 shahiye (ca 1593, no. 8), 60
msrt’ (not identified),
12½ qarushe (1660, no. 14), 5
“piasters” (ca. 1700, no. 24). Around 1700 one
manuscript constituted a dowry (no. 23). A
qurush (or akçe) was the Ottoman
standard silver currency, while the shahi (or
dirham) was a similar coin minted in the eastern
provinces with a view to the Persian market. For further
details, see Şevket Pamuk, “Evolution of the Ottoman
Monetary System”, in Halil İnalcik and Donald
Quataert, An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman
Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), vol.
ii, 947-980.
[13]
Whereas it seems reasonable to assume that the sums involved
were quite considerable, especially when women were paying and
commissioning on their own, there is another indication that
many of the women in this list did not come from the lower
strata of the Church-of-the-East communities of the time.
Although in a considerable number of cases futher details about
their fathers are lacking, a large number of women appear to
come from the more important families; many of the fathers are
priests, and a few are chiefs.
Of the women’s fathers, three are
chiefs (two of them also being a priest or a deacon), seventeen
are priests, one a merchant. Three women are called
‘lady’ (khatun) which probably indicates
an important family, and one father is called
‘glorious’, which gives a total of twenty-four
women that probably come from important families, compared to
sixteen cases where the colophon does not give additional
information on the father’s status. In addition, one
father is a smith and two are deacons.
Among the husbands, hardly
any priests are mentioned; the large majority of them come
without title.
Two priests, two deacons, and eight without
title.
Not surprisingly, in the few cases when other
family members are mentioned (sons, brothers) the number of
priests or even a patriarch, like the Lady Azdiah, mother of
Mar Eliya (1738, no. 44) is relatively high.
Two priests, one deacon-copyist, one
patriarch and three without title.
The last case
also indicates that it is possible that a father or a husband
was a priest but was not referred to as such in the colophon.
We know from other sources that Azdiah’s husband,
Hoshaba son of Giwargis was indeed a
priest, although the colophon makes no mention of it.
Wilmshurst, The Ecclesiastical
Organisation, 251.
Although we do not have much to go by to compare the numbers of
priests and chiefs with the total numbers of men, it is
unlikely that these would constitute more than fifty percent of
the male population. It seems safe, therefore, to assume that
women from priestly and other types of leading families were
more likely to have some money available and to be involved in
manuscript production.
[14] The
final question to be asked is what was the most likely reason
for these women to spend money on manuscripts or church
buildings. Although there is little hard evidence, it seems
possible that some of these women wanted to possess manuscripts
for private use within their families or (religious) community.
The one example of a female scribe, Teresa, daughter of the
priest Khadjador (1767, no. 53), is the most convincing proof
that at least some women were able to read, and it is likely
that she copied the works of John of Damascus for her own
education. I am inclined to assume that the already mentioned
“learned girls Tamar and Shmuni”, were able to read
the miscellaneous work that their father for copied for them,
including the ‘Discourse on the monk Mar Shamli’
and the ‘Book of the Centuries’ (1521, no. 1). The
same might be assumed of the deaconess Maryam, living in the
monastery of Mar Augin, who ordered a ‘Life of Mar
Augin’ (1739, no. 45).
However, she ordered it together with a
certain Hoshaba, which may exclude the
possibility that she actually wanted it for her own use.
Another book that was
commissioned for private use was the ‘Hexaemeron’
of Rabban Emmanuel (ktābā d-shettat
yāumē), which the daughter of
cAbdishoc of Alqosh ordered “for
her brother the priest Yohanna, to read
from it” (1701, no. 26). Perhaps also for use within the
family was the ktābā d-hermē d-natturē (‘book of charms of
protection’), which was ordered by
cIsa and Sanam in 1770 (no.
54).
Four more MSS. could have been commissioned
for private use: no. 3 (ca. 1550 “collections
diverses”), copied “for Putta, the sister of the
copyist”; no 61 (1813), commissioned “for the
believing woman Daris Sargis; no. 63 (1824, ‘Book of the
seven hours’), commissioned by the nun Shmuni; no. 65
(1826, funeral offices for priests), “commissioned by
Kafo of Bidwil for his daughter Gozal”.
[15] In
all other cases we may virtually rule out the possibility that
manuscripts were commissioned for private use. In fact, it
seems unlikely that these women (as most of the lay men) were
able to read at all, since reading skills in general seem to
have been restricted to the deacons and priests.
To what extent women (including religious
women) in this period were able to read is difficult to
ascertain. The missionaries in Urmia believed that in the early
nineteenth century only the sister of the patriarch, Helena,
could read, cf. Justin Perkins, Missionary Life in Persia:
being glimpses of a quarter of a century of labors among the
Nestorian Christians (Andover: Allen, Morill &
Wardwell, 1863), 10. However, it is possible that it was not
always widely known when women were able to read, whereas it is
also possible that in the Alqosh region literacy among women
was higher than in the Urmi region. In general, considering the
fact that priests and deacons were able to read, one should not
be surprised to encounter some degree of literacy among their
daughters as well as their sons.
The colophons,
however, provide us with two important hints as to the reason
for commissioning and sponsoring. The first is that the
majority of the manuscripts are said to have been copied
‘for’ a particular church or monastery. That is, if
a commissioner, sponsor or donor is mentioned, a particular
location for the manuscripts is usually also given, as in the
very first example I quoted – Belgan bestowing a
manuscript on the church of Mar Yohannan
in the village of Dawedaya. The large number of such references
indicates that this was indeed the most important reason for
women to commission a manuscript.
Thirty-nine MSS. were copied for,
three others were donated to churches and monasteries.
In addition, seven donations were made to churches and
monasteries, varying from paying for repairs (no. 38),
restoration of a MS. (no. 59), and donating money and
goods directly (nos. 9 and 10). Only eight colophons do not
indicate for which church or monastery the MS. was intended,
although three of these did end up in church collections (no.
33 in Jerusalem, no. 51 in the Chaldean monastery in Baghdad,
no. 63 in Dohuk), whereas one is in London (no. 61). The four
others may be interpreted as commissioned for private use,
although it is not impossible that the persons for whom these
MSS. were copied were supposed to donate them to a particular
church or monastery (for these, see note 28).
This is also confirmed by
the contents of these manuscripts. The large majority of these
are of a liturgical nature and belonged to the essentials of
every village church: the lectionaries (the Psalter, Gospel
lectionary, Epistle lectionary, and the ktābā
qeryānē mparrshē, i.e. OT and other NT
readings),
Of these the Gospel lectionary was the most
popular: it occurs seven times (nos 2, 5, 15, 21, 27, 29, 43).
the
taksā
d-kahnē or the
taksē
d-quddāshā (the liturgies of Addai and Mari,
Theodore and Nestorius), and the other office books, the
ktābā d-hudrā
(office book with hymns and other variable parts of the liturgy
for all Sundays and feast days of the year), the
ktābā d-gazzā (later additions to the
hudrā), the
kashkol (extract from the
hudrā),
Of these, the
taksā d-kahnē occurs five times in
our list (nos. 30, 44, 47, 48, 60), the
hudrā six times (9, 10, 12, 18, 40, 57),
the gazzā five times (14, 20, 31, 55, 38), and
the kashkol once (no. 33). Note that the
hudrā is by far the
largest of all liturgical books, but despite its size (and
presumably its considerable price), it is almost as popular as
the Gospel lectionary. On the difference between the various
office books, cf. J. Mateos, Lelya-Sapra. Essai
d’interprétation des matines
chaldéennes, OCA 156 (Rome: Pont. Institutum
Orientalium Studiorum, 1959), 3-14, on the liturgy see further
G. P. Badger, The Nestorians and their Rituals
(London: Joseph Masters, 1852, vol. ii), and A.J. Maclean,
East Syrian Daily Offices (London: Rivington, Percival
& Co., 1894).
the ktābā
d-
c
unyātā,
Various hymn books (church hymns of a later
date than those included in the
hudrā or gazzā) occur five
times in the list (nos. 7, 37, 44, 49, 52).
and the
liturgies for funerals and the Rogation of the
Ninevites.
Funeral madrashe (nos. 41, 65),
bacuta [d-Ninwāyē] (nos.
16, 51).
Among the books dedicated to churches, there
are few non-liturgical works.
A commentary on the Psalms for a monastery
(1710, no. 32), a ‘Book of Saints’ Lives’ for
the church of Mar Miles in Tel-Hash (1697, no. 22), the
ktābā d-rīshānē (‘Book
of Governors’) of Thomas of Maraga for the church of Mar
Isaac in Tella (1701, no. 25).
Despite the fact that a
further interpretation of the selection of books that were
commissioned and donated is still awaiting a study of the
larger context of manuscript commissioning in this period,
there can be little doubt that the prime purpose of sponsoring
the production of manuscripts was to enlarge the number of
liturgical books in the churches and monasteries of the region,
thereby contributing to the rebuilding of church life in the
Ottoman period. The Gospel lectionary and the office books of
the
hudrā and
gazzā were the most popular contributions,
presumably because these were considered the most important
books of the regular Sunday liturgy.
[16] I
assume, therefore, that it is first and foremost religious
devotion that inspired these generous donations made by the
women of the colophons. These women, like the men that were
involved in the commissioning and production of the
manuscripts, must have believed that such material support to
the life of the church constituted an essential act of piety,
which would benefit them here and in eternal life. One of the
few colophons to give us some information on this
subject
Most editors of the colophons did not bother
to give the extensive and detailed information on the donors;
much more will probably be found when the original MSS. are
studied.
is the one about Kanzadeh who redeemed a
manuscript from robbers (around 1660, no. 14). Of her the
scribe says: “May Christ our Lord and God give her reward
and repay her hundred to one, and let her inheritance be with
Martha and Maryam and with all the companions of the virgins
and the just and righteous women, Amen.”
V. Rosen and J. Forshall, Catalogus
codicum manuscriptorum orientalium qui in Museo Britannico
asservantur; Pars I, Codices syriacos et carshunicos
amplectens (London: 1838), 56.
A similar
phrase refers to Alpo in 1808: “may Christ give her an
inheritance with Sara, I say, Ripqa and Rachel […] and
with all the holy righteous women, Amen.” (no.
59).
A third example might be found in no. 62
(1813).
In at least two cases, the donation is given
in connection with a deceased person: the first by Dormlik,
daughter of Harun of Nisibis, who donated a Gospel lectionary
to the church of Mar Yacqub in Nisibis “on
behalf of her late husband Darwish” (1569, no. 5), the
second in a manuscript that was commissioned by Hanna, son of cAbd Allah, his wife
Hane, daughter of Maqsud, and their
relatives Kanun, cIsa, Jemca, and
Hormizd, to commemorate the death of Hanna and Hane’s son
cAbd al-Masih on 25 August
1726, for the church of Mart Maryam in Karamlish (1727, no.
40). It is likely that such donations were supposed to secure
peace after death for the deceased, as one might also from two
inscriptions in which the phrase “may the Lord give her
rest” occurs.
Nos. 13 and 35. In the last case, this
phrase follows immediately on the reference to her financial
contribution.
Apart from the spiritual benefits
centering on the expectation of blissful life after death, it
seems likely that immediate social benefits also resulted from
generous contributions to the life of the church. The mere fact
that these acts of piety were recorded in the manuscripts or on
the church walls indicates that public knowledge and
recognition of these gifts constituted an essential part of the
economy of giving.
[17] The
above overview of some of the most salient features of
women’s presence in the literary remains of the years
between 1500 and 1830 indicates that women, especially those
from the more influential and literate families, took an active
part in the religious life of the era. Not only did a
significant number of them choose to live a celibate, religious
life, and do we know of a few that were able to read and
contribute to the religious literature of the time, many others
contributed to the reawakening of the life of the church by
paying for repairs of churches and monasteries, by donating
money or land to the church, and, most importantly, by
commissioning and sponsoring liturgical manuscripts that were
essential to the worship-life of the church of this region. In
this way they not only sought to secure religious benefits for
themselves or their kin, they also confirmed the importance of
their role in the community as a whole.
Such a contribution to the community is
lovingly described in the funeral inscription of Nazekhatun
(1631, no. 13).
[18] The
study of the colophons raises one more important issue, that of
the literary genre of the colophons themselves. The colophons
constitute the largest body of Classical Syriac texts of this
period,
Note that only very few traces of
Neo-Aramaic occur in the colophons. Although the modern
language was used for poetry in the same period, it was hardly
used in correspondence or other types of ‘free
writing’ such as the colophons.
but so far they have been studied and edited
mainly from a strictly historical point of view: what names,
dates and incidents are referred to. The literary genre of the
colophons with its flowery language of praise and humility, as
well as the colophons’ possible function in the social
and ecclesiastical structures of the times have hardly been
considered worthy of separate attention. It seems to me that a
verbatim edition of the colophons would help us to expand our
knowledge of the period considerably, not only in the field of
Classical Syriac linguistics and literary forms, but also in
the field of the religious life of the Church of the East.
Appendix: Women in the colophons of the Church of the East
between 1500 and 1830
The list is set up as follows:
(No.)
date
name of the woman [pg no. Wilmshurst]
catalogue information.
date, place and copyist of the MS.
content of the MS.
part of the colophon in which the woman is
mentioned, literally if possible.
other relevant information.
(1)
1521
Tamar and Shmuni, daughters of the
priest Ephrem (Aprem), son of the priest
Yaʿqub [97]
Mosul 74 (Scher, Bidawid).
copied in 1521 by the priest Aprem, son of the
priest Yaʿqub, in Ahtus in the region of Seert, in the country
of the Sherwaye.
discourse on the monk Mar Shamli by
Brikhishoʿ, metrical homily on
penitents by Ephrem, Book of the Centuries by
Eliya of Anbar.
the copyist copied this MS. for his “propres
et savantes filles Tamar et Shmoni” (Scher).
(2)
1542
Maryam, nun, daughter of the priest
Hormizd, son of Sulaiman [259]
N.D. des Semences: Dawra Syr. 39 (Haddad), Scher
17, Vosté 20.
dated 12 November 1542, by the priest
ʿAttaya, son
of the priest Faraj, son of the deacon Marqos of
Alqosh, in Gazarta.
Gospel lectionary.
the MS. was commissioned by the nun (in the Arabic
of the catalogue: ar-rāhiba) Maryam,
daughter of the priest Hormizd, son of Sulaiman, for
the monastery of Rabban Hormizd.
(3)
1550 ca.
Putta, sister of the priest Daniel,
daughter of chief ʿAttallah of Harab Olma
[404]
Mosul 1003 (Bidawid), cf. also Fiey, Mossoul
chrétienne, 113.
copied in the 16th c., possibly in
Harab Olma (near Mar Pethion,
Mardin region) by the priest Daniel, son of
ʿAttallah of
Harab Olma.
“collections diverses” (Fiey).
the MS. was copied for Putta, the sister of the
copyist.
(4)
1559
Maryam, daughter of Mima, of Erbil
[260]
Vosté, “Inscriptions”, 271.
record of the restoration of a wall of Rabban
Hormizd, in 1559, by Shlemun of Bet Arijai, brother of
Mar ishoʿyab, directed by the monk
ʿIsa of Alqosh.
—
at the expense of the priest Isaac and Maryam,
daughter of Mima, of Erbil.
(5)
1569
Dormlik, daughter of Harun of Nisibis,
wife of the late Darwish [44]
Mardin 10 (Scher).
dated 17 March 1569, by the priest Yohannan, son of the priest Bairam, son of
Barhaimshah of Erbil, in Nisibis.
Gospel lectionary.
the MS. was donated to the church of Mar
Yaʿqob in Nisibis (which was
rebuilt in 1562), “on behalf of her late husband
Darwish.”
(6)
pre-1581
anonymous woman, buying East Syrian
hospice in Jerusalem [69]
Giamil, Genuinae Relationes, 97-6.
—
According to Wilmshurst, in 1581, “Eliya
Asmar Habib from Gazarta (a
traditionalist center), appealed for Cardinal
Caraffa’s help in recovering” the hospice
(probably the monastery of Mart Maryam) in Jerusalem,
that had been “appropriated by a rich East Syrian
woman, probably a traditionalist, ‘who had the
ear of the Turk’”. Whether the woman
appropriated (bought?) the hospice for her own use or
for the use of the non-uniate community in Jerusalem is
uncertain.
(7)
1586
Maryam, daughter of
Elisabeth and wife of Maroge, of Nisibis
[77]
Mardin 42 (Scher).
dated 10 December 1586, by Mar Hnanishoʿ, metropolitan
of Mardin, in Mardin.
ktābā
d-cunyātā.
commissioned by Maryam, daughter of Elisabeth and
wife of Maroge, of Nisibis, for the church of Rabban
Hormizd in Tabyatha.
(8)
1593 ca.
Seltana, ba(r)t
qyāmā
, daughter of Belgana from
Bet Megali (Gazarta) [71, 124]
Jerusalem Syr. 15 (Chabot).
dated 8 August 1593, in the monastery of Rabban
Hormizd.
Psalter.
The monk Abda from Araden bought the MS. from the
scribe (for 10 shahiyi), later Seltana
ba(r)t qyāmā of Bet Megali
(Gazarta), bought the Psalter for 60 msrt’. She gave it to the
“monastery of the Nestorians”, Mart Maryam,
in Jerusalem.
(9)
1613 ca.
Shazemana, wife of Yazdan [60]
Vatican Syr 83, 19 October 1537, Gazarta (Assemani,
vol. ii, 467).
note in the MS. dated to 7 September 1613, states
that the MS. was brought to Sharukhiya in 1613 by the
deacon Constance and his father Giwargis, who paid 200
silver dinars (“denariorum argenti”) for
it, in the presence of the priests Giwargis, Luke and
Hormizd.
ktābā d-hudrā and other liturgical
texts.
the second note is on Shazemana: according to
Wilmshurst, she donated “a valuable golden cup
and a house in Sharukhiya to the church of Mar Pethion
in Amid, partly for the priests of that church, and
partly for the table of the bishop.” Note,
however, that the Assemani says that she donated a
silver cup worth a hundred drachmas (“calicem
argenteum, centum drachmi pentantem”). Whether
Wilmshurst corrected the Latin according to the
original is not clear. In addition, there is a further
note: “Dilengius the merchant gave some land
“next to the large field” in Sharukhiya to
the church of Mar Pethion in Amid.”
(10)
1624
Lady Ahlijan, wife of Aspania son of
Yannan, daughter of Nahma, son of Hanna, brother of Mar Eliya bar Tappe
[96]
Seert 34 (Scher), with note of 1624.
dated Saturday, 6 April 1922 (1611) in the
monastery of Mar Yaʿqub
Hbisha.
ktābā d-hudrā.
Ahlijan died April 10 1935 (1624), she “gave
two pairs of oxen to the monastery, with land and
appurtenances.”
further notes include two more deaths: the nun
Hatun (see below, no. 12, in
1629) and Mar Eliya [Bar Tappe?] on March 1, 1929
(1618), third Sunday of Lent. He was succeeded in the
same year (1930/1618) by his nephew
Ishoʿyab, who constructed the nice
gate of the sanctuary (presumably of the monastery of
Mar Yaʿqub Hbisha). The remaining notes date to 1701
and 1754.
(11)
1624
Maani Gioerida of Mardin [185]
Chevalier, Montagnards chrétiens,
47.
—
—
—
The Italian traveler Pietro Della Valle married a
“demoiselle babylonienne”, Maani Gioerida,
eighteen years old, born and raised in Baghdad,
although the merchant family (with Catholic
connections) was originally of Mardin. Her nephew was
the priest Ferdinand Gioerida, who had been educated at
the College of the Propaganda in Rome and was involved
in contacts between Pope Innocentius X and Mar
Shimʿun XI (1638-1656).
(12)
1629
Hatun, nun
(‘religieuse’) in Mar Yohannan Nahlaya
[92]
Seert 34 (Scher), with note of 1624.
dated Saturday 6 April 1922 (1611) in the monastery
of Mar Yaʿqub Hbisha.
ktābā d-hudrā.
the nun Khatun (cf. Scher, or Hatun?) died in 1940 (1629) in the convent
of Mar Yohannan Nahlaya (Seert region), where she was buried,
during Mar Ishoʿyab (metropolitan)
and Ibrahim, priest of that convent.
(13)
1631
Lady Naze (or: Nazekhatun), daughter of
the glorious Aumig of Salmas and wife of
Masʿud, son of Denha [327]
Duval, “Inscriptions”, 57-62.
tombstone in Salmas, July 1631, probably a
sanduqa (rectangular)
—
“This is the tomb and the resting place of
Nazekhatun, handmaiden of Christ, who died in the month
Tammuz [July], the Lord grant her rest among the just
women. Nazekhatun was a blessed woman, she supported
orphans and widows. She left behind sons and daughters,
she left them in sadness, she passed away in the year
1642. She was excellent in this world, without iniquity
or wrong-doing. She vanished as in a dream, may Christ
refresh her in the resurrection at the appointed time.
She left grieve in this world and sadness without end.
This stone was engraved for Nazekhatun, daughter of the
glorious Aumig of Salmas and wife of
Maʿud, son of the honorable
Denha.”
(14)
1660 ca.
Kanzadeh, daughter of the deacon
Sulaiman [466, 216]
British Museum Syr 34 (Rosen Forshall).
copied by the deacon and architect Hormizd, in the
church of Mar Shemʿon bar
Sabbaʿe, Mosul.
ktābā d-gazzā.
the MS. originally belonged to the church of Mar
Yareth, Barbitha, which was destroyed in 1659, when the
MS. was stolen en subsequently brought to Mosul where
it was bought by Kanzadeh, daughter of the deacon
Sulaiman, and donated to the church of Mar
Shemʿon Bar
Sabbaʿe, Mar Giwargis and Mart
Meskinta in Mosul. Kanzadeh paid twelve and a half
qarushe for the gazza and is praised
by the copyist.
(15)
1667
Asmar, daughter of
Nasimo and Haushep, mother of the scribe
ʿAbdishoʿ, who is
married to Naubar [441]
Athens 1801 (Brock).
copied 18 March 1667 by
“ʿAbdishoʿ,
son of the priest Isaac, son of the priest Haushep, and his mother is Asmar and his
wife Naubar from the village of Supergan under the
protection of Mar Giwargis. [..] Written today in the
region of Salmas in the village of Rugamesh under the
protection of Mar Sargis. [..]”
Gospel lectionary.
The colophon is somewhat unclear, but gives
detailed information on the family tree of the scribe.
It seems that Asmar, his mother, is the one who
commissioned the manuscript.
(16)
1671
Maryam, mother of the priest and chief
David of Barbitha [118]
Mosul 6 (Magdasi) and Bidawid 3119, cf. also Fiey,
Mossoul chrétienne, 113-4.
dated 13 April 1671 by Paul of Sheben (aged 12),
nephew of the priest Yohannan,
of Sheben, Gwerkel district, “then living in
Barbitha.”
ktābā
d-bācutā.
the MS. was commissioned by Maryam, mother of David
(priest, chief of Barbitha) for church of Mart Maryam
in Barbitha, Qaimar district, Gazarta region.
note: Fiey (114) has a different description,
containing nothing about David or Mart Maryam, but
adding: “Le livre fuit ensuite offert aux trois
églises [of Mosul] de
Shimʿun as
Safa, mar Guorguis et Meskinta,
par la famille du chammas Hidr,
pour le repos de son âme.”
(17)
1671
Maryam, believer [120]
uncatalogued MS.
dated 11 May 1671.
—
commissioned by a “believer named Maryam for
the church of the village of Deir Abun”, Khabur
district, Gazarta region.
(18)
1681
Kuli, wife of the deacon Abraham, son of
superior Hormizd [234]
Batnaya 13 (Haddad) and perhaps also Batnaya 8
(1707, Haddad).
both MSS. were copied by the priest Giwargis son of
the priest Israel, son of the priest Hormizd, son of
the priest Israel of Alqosh, in Alqosh, the first dated
to 28 June 1681, the second to 12 September 1707.
1681: ktābā d-hudrā, 1707: ktābā
qeryānē mparrshē.
The first MS. (1681) was commissioned by the
superior Hormizd, paid for by his son the deacon
Abraham and his wife Kuli, whereas the second (1707)
was commissioned by the priest and chief
ʿAbdo and the priest Maku of
Telkepe, at the expense of Kuli, both for the monastery
of Mar Abraham the Mede (Batnaya), Mosul region.
(19)
1682
Shmuni, daughter of the priest Quriaqos,
wife of Abraham, son of Mako [224]
Telkepe 17 (Habbi).
MS. dated 24 December 1682, by the priest Giwargis
son of the priest Israel son of the priest Hormizd son
of the priest Israel of Alqosh, in Alqosh.
ktābā d-qeryānē
mparrshē.
commissioned “in 1682 by Abraham, son of
Mako, and his wife Shmuni, daughter of the priest
Quriaqos”, for the church of Mar Quriaqos in
Telkepe, Mosul region.
(20)
1686
Rihana, wife of the deacon Bako
[224]
Telkepe 24 (Habbi).
MS. dated 28 August 1686, by the priest Giwargis,
son of the priest Israel, son of the priest Hormizd,
son of the priest Israel of Alqosh, in Alqosh.
ktābā d-gazzā.
MS. commissioned by the deacon Bako and his wife
Rihana, for the church of Mar Quriaqos in Telkepe.
(21)
1690
Elfiya, mother of chief Kina [238]
N.D. des Semences: Dawra Syr 43 (Haddad),
Vosté 23.
MS. dated 26 January 1690, by the priest Giwargis,
son of the priest Israel, son of the priest Hormizd,
son of the priest Israel of Alqosh, in Alqosh.
Gospel lectionary.
commissioned by “by the chief Kina, son of
Shemʿon, and his mother Elfiya, at
the expense of its the priest Hanna” for the church of Mar Giwargis
in Pioz, Mosul region.
(22)
1697
Zize, a believing woman from Alqosh
[143]
Cambridge Add 2020 (Wright).
MS. dated 18 October 1697, by the priest Hormizd,
son of the priest Hadbshabba,
son of the priest Israel of Alqosh, in Alqosh.
tashcyātā d-qaddishē
w-sāhdē d-lā busar – collection of Saints’
lives.
MS. commissioned by the priest Yalda
qankāyā (‘sacristan’)
and by the believing Zize from Alqosh, for the church
of Mar Miles in Tel-Hash
(Hesh), Dohuk district, Amadiya
region.
(23)
1700 ca.
anonymous daughter of the priest
ʿAbdishoʿ son of
Zangish [300]
note in Berlin Syr. 32 (Sachau), in a later and
different hand than that of the copyist.
undated MS., probably from Telkepe, around 1700,
unknown copyist.
ktābā d-qeryānā
mparrshā.
“This lectionary came into the possession of
the sincere (shpē
recy
ānā) priest
(qa
shshī
shā)
ʿAbdishoʿ,
honorable and upright, son of the deceased believer
Zangish, witnessed by the honorable priests
(kāhnē zahyē) David, Iyyub, and
Yahb-Marya. He received this life-giving book from
Yohannan Satnaya, it was dowry
(mahrā) for his daughter” (Sat is a
village in Jilu, Hakkari).
(24)
1700 ca.
anonymous daughter of the priest
Hanna of Shah [119]
note in Mingana 421.
copied in 1548 by the priest cIsa son of
the priest Abraham, son of Hormizd of Oz (Gazarta
region). On fo. 3a two notes are found, of which the
first dates from around 1700 (date partly illegible),
which might also provide a rough date for the second
note on the dowry (see under d for both notes).
funeral madrashe and ktābā
d-pardaysā d-Eden (‘The book of the
Paradise of Eden’) of
ʿAbdishoʿ of
Nisibis.
MS. was bought by Khoshaba around 1700 for the
church of Virgin Mary of Shakh, for 5 piasters,
witnessed by the priest Hanna
and the deacon x (illeg.). Note of dowry taken by the
priest Hanna for his daughter,
with the priest Maroge, Dawo of Bet Qoza (= Zoza?),
Jajjo Qardahe
(‘smith’) and Hassino of the family of
Sheikhʿali as witnesses, written by
the priest
ʿAbdishoʿ son
of Zangish (cf. above, no. 22).
(25)
1701
Shmuni, daughter of
Naʿazar [146]
N.D. des Semences: Dawra Syr 541 (Haddad), Scher
109, Vosté 190.
dated 12 September 1701, by the priest Yalda, son
of the priest Daniel, son of the priest Eliya, son of
the priest Daniel of Alqosh, in Alqosh.
ktābā d-rīshānē
(‘Book of Governors’) of Thomas of
Maraga.
commissioned by Shmuni daughter of
Naʿazar, for the church of Mar
Isaac in Tella (Shemcon, Amadiah region).
(26)
1701
anonymous lady, daughter of
ʿAbdishoʿ
Alqoshaya, sister of the priest Yohanna [251]
Cambridge Add 1994 (Wright).
dated 22 September 1701, by the deacon Hoshaba, son of the priest Daniel, son of
the priest Eliya, son of the priest Daniel of Alqosh,
in Alqosh.
ktābā d-shettat yāumē
– Hexaemeron of Rabban
ʿEmmanuel.
“The MS. was commissioned (rnāt deyn
w-yespat, w-akpat lāh
b-maktbānuteh) by the believing lady,
daughter of the upright believer and deceased
ʿAbdishoʿ of
Alqosh, thanks to her money and the work of her hands
(men meddem dīlāh w-men pulhānā d-īdēyh). And
it was written so that her brother the priest
Yohanna could read from
it.”
(27)
1704
Gozal, mother of the copyist the deacon
Giwargis [472]
note in British Museum Syr 30
(Rosen-Forshall).
MS. dated to 2 October 1498 in Mosul, with two
notes, one of 1702 when the MS. was restored by a
deacon Giwargis, son of the priest Daniel. The second
note, of 1704 or 1804 mentions a deacon
“Giwargis, son of the believing woman
Gozal.”
Gospel lectionary.
“In this year Ali Pasha came to Shangar
[Baranduz district, Urmi region], in the year
two-thousand and hundred (w-emmā) fifteen
of the blessed Greeks, Amen. Thus wrote the deacon
Giwargis, son of the believing woman Gozal – may
Christ pardon the sins of his parents,
Amen.”
(28)
1705
ʿAzize, daughter of,
and Baghdad, wife of Isaac son of
Giwargis [143]
Mar Yaʿqob 15, and Fiey,
Assyrie chrétienne II, 720.
dated 17 February 1705, by the deacon Giwargis, son
of the priest Daniel, son of the priest Eliya, son of
the priest Daniel of Alqosh, in Alqosh.
—
the MS. was commissioned by “Isaac, son of
Giwargis, his daughter ʿAzize and
his wife Baghdad (originally of Alqosh) for the
monastery of Mar Yaʿqob,
Qashafir” (Dohuk district, Amadiya region).
(29)
1706
Shona, daughter of
Oshaʿna and Nasrat
[164]
Aqra 10 (Habbi) and Vosté 6.
dated 9 September 1706, by the priest Yosep, son of
the priest Giwargis, son of the priest Israel, son of
the priest Hormizd of Alqosh, in Alqosh.
Gospel lectionary.
the MS. was commissioned by Shona, daughter of
Oshaʿna, and her mother Nasrat, for
the church of Mart Maryam in Barzane (Zibar district,
Aqra region).
(30)
1707
Belgan from Alqoshta (Berwari)
[139]
Cambridge Add 1984 (Wright, vol. I, 283ff.)
dated 17 June 1707, by the priest Yosep, son of the
priest Giwargis, son of the priest Israel Alqoshaya, in
Alqosh.
taksā
d-kahnē with
huttāmē.
“this book ... was written thanks to the
money and labor (men meddem dīlāh w-men
pulhānāh) and by
the work of Belgan, a believing woman from Alqoshta,
and she bestowed it upon the holy church of Mar
Yohannan in the blessed village
of Dawedaya, in the region of Sapna (Amadiah region). From now on,
everyone is required to read from it.”
(31)
1707
Gozal, daughter of the smith
Hanna of Mosul [222]
Dawra Syr 196 (Haddad).
dated 18 July 1707, by the deacon Yohannan, son of the priest Eliya son of the
deacon Mika, in Mosul.
ktābā d-gazzā (for all
holidays and saints’ days).
commissioned by Gozal, daughter of Hanna (smith) of Mosul, for the monastery of
Mar Giwargis of Bet ʿAwire (Mosul
region).
(32)
1710
Hatun and her
mother Sette, daughter of the priest
Eliya, of Telkepe [222]
Telkepe/ N.D. des Semences: Dawra Syr. 64 (Haddad),
Scher 28, Vosté 35.
dated 7 February 1710, by the deacon
Sabrishoʿ, son of
ʿEdjmaya
(ʿAjmaya), in Telkepe
ktābā d-cellātā
d-zmaryātā d-tubānē d-Dāwid
(commentary on the Psalms of David, and varia).
commissioned by the believing ladies of Telkepe,
Hatun and her mother Sette,
daughter of the priest Eliya, of Telkepe, for the
monastery of Mar Giwargis of Bet
ʿAwire (Mosul region).
(33)
1710
Eddne (Ezdne), daughter of the priest
Maroge [262]
Jerusalem Syr 5 (Chabot).
dated 28 May 1710, in the monastery of Rabban
Hormizd, copyist unknown.
t
aksā
d-hudrā
d-yāumātā shhīmē (kashkol.)
commissioned by (or “at the expense of”
Eddne [or Ezdne]), daughter of the priest Maroge.
(34)
Shmuni, daughter of the chief and the
deacon Gabriel of Semmer, wife of Safar, and her
mother-in-law Dalle [141]
Dohuk 39 (Haddad – not identified).
dated 26 June 1718, by the priest Yalda, son of the
priest Daniel, son of the priest Eliya, son of the
priest Daniel of Alqosh, in Alqosh.
—
commissioned by Shmuni, daughter of the deacon
Gabriel, chief of Semmer, her husband Safar and her
mother-in-law Dalle, for the churches of Mar
Zayʿa and Mar
ʿAbda in
Maʿalta, Dohuk district.
(35)
1718
Hazmi, daughter
of the priest Hoshaba, and her
daughter Dalle, daughter of the priest
Israel [246, 262]
Dawra Syr 52 (Haddad).
dated 2 November 1718, by the priest
ʿAbdishoʿ, son
of the priest Hoshaba, son of
the priest Israel, son of the priest Hormizd of Alqosh,
probably in Alqosh.
ktābā d-egrātā
d-shlīhe tubānē.
commissioned by Hazmi,
daughter of the priest the priest Hoshaba and her daughter Dalle, daughter of
the priest Israel, for the monastery of Rabban Hormizd.
[Note that Hazmi is the sister
of the copyist, the priest
ʿAbdishoʿ.]
(36)
18th
ca.
anonymous wife of Amr [326-7, 488]
Duval, “Inscriptions”, 56.
undated inscription in the church of Mar Quriaqos
in Salmas somewhere in the 18th, probably
preceding an inscription of 1770 (Duval,
“Inscriptions”, 54-5), and following
another undated inscription: “The builder of this
church was master mason ʿAbda,
whereas they also built the church of the Armenians in
the same year, in the time of Mar
Ishoʿyab, metropolitan of
Salmas” (Duval, “Inscriptions”,
56-7).
—
“This church was renovated by the wife of
Amr, may the Lord give her rest” (Duval,
56).
(37)
1722
Shmuni, daughter of the priest
Hoshaba (of the Abuna Family)
[250]
Alqosh 23 (Sana).
dated 3 February 1722, by the priest Yosep, son of
the priest Giwargis, son of the priest Israel of
Alqosh, (of the Shikwana family), in Alqosh.
ktābā d-huggāyā
d-oshacnā.
commissioned by Shmuni, daughter of the priest
Hoshaba, brother of Mar Eliya,
for the church of Mar Giwargis and Mar Mikha in
Alqosh.
(38)
1723
Sara and Maryam, wives
of Hanne en Kammo [160-1]
Cambridge Add 1980 (Wright).
copied in 1723 by the priest Eliya, son of the
priest Yalda, son of the priest Daniel, son of the
deceased the priest Eliya of Alqosh, in Alqosh.
ktābā d-gazzā with
hymns.
This book came into the possession
(itawhy) of the holy church of Mar
Ahha ʿAllana
which is in the village of Shelmat, may the Lord
protect her. The honorable priest (kahnā
zahyā) qashshīshā
Hormizd and qashshīshā Denkha and
the chief (rēbānā) Yalda of the
village of Shelmat commissioned (īsep) the writing of this book of the
gazza, whereas the price for this book of the gazza was
given (ya(h)bw tīmāwy) from their own money
(men meddem dīlhon) by the believer
Hanne, the believer Kammo and
their righteous wives Sara and Maryam.
(39)
1723
anonymous women from Urmi region
[313]
note of 1723 in Telkepe 43 (Vosté, not
identified)
—
—
the note mentions “that several East Syrian
women had been captured during a recent raid in the
Urmi region by the Bany Pushtadar tribe, and had been
ransomed by the patriarch Eliya XII.”
(40)
1727
Hane, daughter of
Maqsud, wife of
ʿAbd Allah, mother of
ʿAbd al-Masih
[219]
Karamlish collection (not identified) and Fiey,
Assyrie chrétienne II, 411.
copied in 1727 by the priest Yosep, son of the
priest Giwargis, son of the priest Israel, son of the
priest Hormizd of Alqosh, in Alqosh.
ktābā d-hudrā (Fiey, Assyrie
chrétienne, 411: “magnifique
Hudra complet, encore en
usage.”)
the MS. was donated to the church of Mart Maryam
(in Karamlish, Mosul region) by Hanna, son of ʿAbd
Allah, his wife Hane, daughter
of Maqsud, and their relatives
Kanun, ʿIsa,
Jemʿa, and Hormizd, to commemorate
the death of Hanna’s son
ʿAbd al-Masih on 25 August 1726. Fiey notes that the
tomb of ʿAbd al-Masih can still be seen in the graveyard of
Salmas.
(41)
1731
Helen, daughter of Nisan [146]
N.D. des Semences: Dawra Syr 463 (Haddad), Scher
75, Vosté 105.
dated 11 February 1731, by the priest
Shemcon, son of the priest Yalda, son of the
priest Daniel of Alqosh, in Alqosh.
Funeral offices for lay people.
commissioned by Helen, daughter of Nisan of Dizzi,
for the church of Mar Christopher in Dizzi (Deze)
(Shemkan, Amadiah region.)
(42)
1732
Helen, daughter of
ʿArbo [239]
Dawra Syr 48 (Haddad).
dated 6 November 1732, by the priest and pilgrim
Giwargis, son of the priest Daniel, son of the priest
Eliya of Alqosh, in Alqosh.
lectionary for the whole year.
commissioned by the priest Isaac, son of Abraham,
the deacon Hoshaba, son of
Mattai, the deacon Israel, son of Talya, and the layman Adam, son of Kirona,
at the expense of Helen, daughter of
ʿArbo, for the church of Mar
ʿAbdishoʿ in
Naseriya (Mosul region).
(43)
1735
Lady Shahmalak, daughter of Habash [235]
Tel Isqof 3 (Haddad).
dated 23 April 1735, by the priest Giwargis, son of
the priest Daniel, son of the priest Eliya of Alqosh,
in Alqosh.
Gospel lectionary.
commissioned by the lady Shahmalak, daughter of
Habash, and Arzano, son of Kazum
of Tel Isqof, for the church of Mar Giwargis in Tel
Isqof (Mosul).
(44)
1738
Lady Azdiya, daughter of Safar, married
to Hoshaba son of Giwargis, mother
of patriarch Mar Eliya [250, 262, 507]
N.D. des Semences: Dawra Syr 226 + 235, Scher
63.
the first (226) is dated to 15 April, the second
(235) to May 20 of 1738, both by the priest Yosep, son
of the priest Giwargis, son of the priest Israel, son
of the priest Hormizd of Alqosh, the second certainly
copied in Rabban Hormizd, the first uncertain.
ktābā d-taksā (226) + qāle
d-shhīmē auket
d-cunyātē (235).
both MSS. were commissioned by the lady Azdiya,
daughter of Safar of Alqosh, “mother of patriarch
Mar Eliya” and married to Hoshaba, son of Giwargis, and both were
intended for (the church of) the monastery of Rabban
Hormizd.
(45)
1739
Maryam, the deaconess
(mshammshanita) of the monastery of Mar Augin,
Nisibis [47]
Mingana 166.
dated in April 1739 by the priest
Shemʿon, son of the priest Yalda,
son of the priest Eliya of Alqosh, in Alqosh.
‘Life of Mar Augin.’
commissioned by Maryam, mshammshanitā
of the monastery of Mar Augin, Nisibis, together with
the layman Hoshaba, in
Maʿarre.
(46)
1740
Merot, daughter of the priest Hormizd
[161]
N.D. des Semences: Dawra Syr 620 (Haddad),
Vosté 210.
dated 10 October 1740, by the priest
Shemʿon, son of the priest Yosep,
son of the priest Giwargis, son of the priest Israel of
Alqosh, in Alqosh.
ktābā
d-tashʿyātā (Book of
histories: of Onésimus, Yohannan b. Malke,
Rabban Hormizd, Maranʿammeh.)
commissioned by Merot, daughter of the priest
Hormizd, for the church of Mar Ahha and Mar Saba, Shelmath (Sapsapa
district, Aqra region).
(47)
1740
Shahzo, daughter of
Jemʿa [143]
Telkepe 42 (Vosté), Habbi 66.
dated 18 November 1740, by the deacon Yalda, son of
the priest
ʿAbdishoʿ, son
of the priest Hoshaba, son of
the priest Israel of Alqosh, in Alqosh.
taksā
d-quddāshā (eucharistic liturgies).
MS. commissioned for the church of Mar Quriaqos in
Telkepe by the priest Gabriel and the pilgrim Thomas,
son of the deacon Yalda, at the request of the
believing woman Shahzo, daughter of
Jemʿa, and at the expense of the
church of Mar Miles in Tel Hesh,
for the church of Mar Quriaqos, Telkepe, Mosul.
(48)
1744
Amat, her daughter
Maryam, Helen,
Teka, and Elfiya, the
believing women [222]
Paris BN Syr 310 (Nau).
dated 25 October 1744, by the priest Yalda, son of
the priest
ʿAbdishoʿ, son
of the priest Hoshaba, son of
the priest Israel of Alqosh, in Rabban Hormizd near
Alqosh.
taksā
d-quddāshā.
“He commissioned this book thanks to the
money and the labor of these women, Amat and her
daughter Maryam, Helena, Teka, and Elfiya, the
believers, he, the priest
ʿAbdishoʿ, son
of the believing Kanun, of the blessed village of
Telkepe, and he bestowed it upon and gave it to the
holy monastery of Mar Giwargis of Bet
ʿAwire.”
(49)
1745
Helen, daughter of the deacon Kazum
[232]
Batnaya 40 (Haddad).
dated 25 March 1745, by the priest
Shemʿon, son of the priest Israel,
son of the priest Giwargis, son of the priest Israel of
Alqosh, in Alqosh.
cunyātā
d-mdabbrānutēh d-Māran d-Gīwargis
Wardā – hymns of Giwargis Warda (and
others) on the life of our Lord.
commissioned by Helen, daughter of the deacon
Kazum, of Batnaya, for the church of Mar Quriaqos in
Batnaya.
(50)
1751
Maryam, daughter of the priest David
[226]
Telkepe 13 (Habbi).
dated 5 September, by Mar
ishoʿyabh or his brother Maroge,
son of the priest Abraham, son of the priest
Hoshaba and brother of the
patriarch Mar Eliya of Alqosh, in Alqosh.
ktābā d-egrātā.
commissioned by Maryam, daughter of the priest
David, for the church of Mar Quriaqos in Telkepe.
(51)
1755
Kandi, daughter of the priest Yalda
[518]
Dawra Syr 320 (Haddad).
copied in 1755, by the priest Denha, son of the priest Eliya, son of the
priest Yalda, son of the priest Daniel of Alqosh, in
Alqosh.
mēmrā
d-bācutā.
commissioned by Kandi, daughter of the priest
Yalda.
(52)
1766
Naze, daughter of
Shmuni [162]
Aqra 76 (Habbi) and Vosté 54.
dated 31 December 1766, by the deacon Israel, son
of the priest Shemʿon, son of the
priest Israel, son of the priest Giwargis of Alqosh, in
Alqosh.
ktābā d-turgāmē, by
ʿAbdishoʿ of
Nisibis and others.
commissioned by the believers Naze, daughter of
Shmuni, and David, son of Hosho,
for the church of Mar Shaddad in Guppa (Geppa) (Nahla
district, Aqra region.)
(53)
1767
Teresa, daughter of the priest
Khadjador, son of the deacon
ʿAbdelkarim, son of the priest Bakos,
son of the priest Khadjo, son of the priest Bet
Sabrishoʿ of ʿAyn
Tannur, fifteen years old [61]
Diarbakir 155 (Scher) – Note: Arabic MS.
dated 9 February 1767, by Teresa, daughter of the
priest Khadjador, son of the deacon
ʿAbdelkarim, son of the priest
Bakos, son of the priest Khadjo, son of the
priest Bet Sabrishoʿ of
ʿAyn Tannur, born 2 Novembre 1766,
in ʿAyn Tannur.
John of Damascus’ Hundred homilies, Book of
Philosophy, Logic and Rhetoric, and Five Discourses
Against the Heretics; two treatises by Paul of Antioch,
bishop of Saida.
—
“during the pope Clement XIII, patriarch Mar
Yosep IV, and Mar Yohannan
metropolitan of Amid” (indicating that Teresa
belonged to the Catholic movement in the region).
(54)
1770
Sanam, mother of
ʿIsa, of
Daralik [523]
Berlin Syr 107 (Sachau).
dated 20 August 1770, by Slibo son of Jammo of Taimar, “then
living in Salmas”, probably in Salmas.
ktābā d-hermē d-natturē.
Wilmshurst: “commissioned by
ʿIsa and his
wife Sanam, of Daralik, Sulduz district, Urmi
region,” but according to Sachau’s notes,
ʿIsa is
mentioned several times as the “son of
Sanam”. In the most extensive note, the MS. is
said to have been written for
“ʿIsa
son of Kabgi and the lady Sanam from the village of
Daralik.”
(55)
1773
Lady Stambul and her daughter
Anisa [215]
Mosul: Magdasi 17, Scher 49, Bidawid 317 and Fiey,
Mossoul chrétienne, 114.
dated 3 January 1773, by the deacon Homo, son of
the priest Hanna, son of the priest Homo, son of the
priest Daniel, son of the priest Eliya of Alqosh, in
Alqosh.
ktābā
d-gazzā (possibly a Catholic
version).
commissioned by “by Lady Stambul for her
daughter Anisa, at the request of the deacon Thomas,
son of Slibo”, for the 3 churches Mart Meskinta,
Mar Shemʿon bar
Sabbaʿe and Mar Giwargis in
Mosul.
(56)
1774
Elfiya, daughter of Yagmur [226]
Telkepe 14 (Habbi) and Vosté 24.
dated 22 July 1774, by the priest Homo, son of the
priest Hanna, son of the priest
Homo, son of the priest Daniel, son of the priest Eliya
of Alqosh, in Alqosh.
Epistle lectionary.
commissioned by Elfiya, daughter of Yagmur, of
Telkepe, for the church of Mar Quriaqos in
Telkepe.
(57)
1777
Qudsiya Hormez, grandmother of Giwargis
son of Zahor [215]
Mosul 46 (Scher).
copied in 1777, by the priest Homo, son of the
priest Hanna, son of the priest
Homo, son of the priest Daniel, son of the priest Eliya
of Alqosh, in Alqosh.
ktābā d-hudrā.
commissioned by Giwargis, son of Zahor, in the name
of his grandfather Behnam, son of
ʿAbd al-Karim, and his grandmother
Qudsiya Hormez, for the churches of Mart Maryam, Mar
Shemʿon Bar
Sabbaʿe, Mar Giwargis and Mart
Meskinta in Mosul.
The MS. includes a note of 1824.
(58)
1778
believing ladies of Telkepe [222]
Mosul 98 (Scher), Bidawid 6016.
copied in 1778, by the priest Yalda, son of the
priest
ʿAbdishoʿ, son
of the priest Hoshaba, son of the priest Israel of
Alqosh, in Alqosh.
Homilies of Isaac of Nineveh.
commissioned by a “some pious ladies of
Telkepe”, for the monastery of Mar Giwargis of
Bet ʿAwire.
(59)
1808
Alpo, probably from Hassan [119]
note in Berlin Syr. 31 (Sachau).
MS. dated to 14 July 1591, but with a long note
dated to 28 August 1808 (see Sachau for the full text),
when the MS. was restored “in the monastery [..]
Mar Mushe in the [..] village of Hassān, the village of Noah, where he
planted grapevines and made wine and drank it and
became drunk. [...]. This MS. was bound together and
pressed [..] by the feeble, sinful and wretched hands
of the metropolitan Mar Yosep of the blessed village of
Shakh. [...]”, who came to live in the monastery
in Hassan because of wars and
unrest.
New Testament in Peshitta version.
“A perfect and upright believing woman named
Alpo commissioned and took pains from her own money for
the binding, the binding together and the pressing of
this book of the life-giving and reviving Gospel
– may Christ give her an inheritance with Sara, I
say, and Ripqa and Rachel [..] and with all the holy
righteous women, Amen.”
(60)
1809
Marta, daughter of Haye [139]
Mosul 42 (Scher), cf. also Fiey, “Sanctuaires
et villages”, 59.
copied in 1809 by the priest
ʿAbdishoʿ, son
of the priest Thomas, son of Mushe of Gissa, then
living in Ishnik (Sapna).
taksā
d-kāhnē.
commissioned by Marta, for the church of Mar
Zayʿa in
ʿAqdesh (Sapna, Amadiah region).
(61)
1809
Bane, daughter of the priest Sabro and
sister of the priest Giwargis, from the Tiari village of
Darosh (Dadosh) [292]
BL Or. 14324 (not identified).
dated 22 May 1809, copied by the priest Haydeni,
son of the priest Yabho, son of Mushe of Gissa (thus a
cousin of the copyist of the preceding MS.), in Gissa
(Thuma district, Hakkari
region).
—
commissioned by Bane, daughter of the priest Sabro
and sister of the priest Giwargis, from Darosh
[probably Dadosh] in Upper Tiari.
(62)
1813
Daris Sargis and
Banusheh (vocalization uncertain)
[338]
Athens Syr. 1805 (Brock).
dated 17 May 1813, by archdeacon Giwargis of the
family of the bishop Mar Yohannan in the church of Mar Giwargis in
Shibane, Tergawar district.
Psalter.
commissioned by “Hnanishoʿ, son of the
deceased Petros, his mother was called Banusheh, of
Gulpasha[n]” (in Baranduz). In a different hand
it is stated that the MS. was written for the believing
woman “Daris Sargis, that the scholars will read
and recite from it in the church, for the sake of her
and her parents’ reward [or: 'salvation'
(purqānā)], Amen.”
(63)
1820
Helen, daughter of Yonan [141]
Dohuk 2 (Haddad), Vosté 44 (Dohuk) –
not identified.
dated 6 October 1820, by Gabriel, son of the priest
Hoshaba, son of the deacon Yosep
of Alqosh, in Alqosh.
commissioned by Helen, daughter of Yonan, for Mar
Zayʿa in
Maʿalta, Dohuk district, in
‘catholic period.’
(64)
1824
Shmuni, nun, daughter of Marqos, of the
Kubyar family [555]
Mingana Syr 426.
dated 1 July 1824, by Yohannan, son of the priest
ʿAbdishoʿ, son
of Gauro (Gabriel) of Alqosh, probably in Alqosh.
Book of the seven hours (Roman Catholic monastic
literature, in use in the Chaldean monasteries).
commissioned (rnāt deyn w-yespat w-akpat lāh) by Shmuni,
btultā zahyā (‘honorable
virgin’), daughter of the believing Marqos who is
of the house of Kubyar.
(65)
1826
Gozal, daughter of Kafo of Bidwil
[146]
Alqosh 21 (Sana).
dated 18 March 1826, by the priest
ʿAbdishoʿ, son
of the priest Yonan, son of the priest
ʿAbdishoʿ, son
of the priest Hormizd of Alqosh, in Alqosh.
ktābā d-cuppīyā
d-kahnē.
commissioned by Kafo of Bidwil (Shemkan district),
for his daughter Gozal, 1826.
(66)
1850 ca.
Shmuni, daughter of Hormizd
Denha, of Artun [163, 578]
note in Aqra 4 (Habbi).
MS. of 1810, by the deacon
Shemʿon, son of Peter, son of Denha
of the Asmar family of Telkepe, in Telkepe.
—
the MS. was purchased by Shmuni, daughter of
Hormizd Denha, of Artun, for the
church of Mar Giwargis in Artun (Nahla district,
ʿAqra region). Unclear why
Wilmshurst dates the note to 1850.
_______
Notes
_______
Bibliography
Assemani, S.E. and J.S.
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