The Greek Column of the Complutensian New Testament and the Implausibility of Vatican Manuscripts

Abstract

Did Greek manuscripts belonging to the Vatican Library serve as the basis for the text of the Greek column of the ComplutensianNew Testament? The author of the Greek preface
in Novum testamentum grece et latine indicated as much, saying they were “brought from
the Apostolic Library, sent to the Most Revered Lord Cardinal of Spain.” But did manuscripts from the Vatican Library really serve as the basis for the Greek text of the Complutensian New Testament? In the study that follows, a comparison is made of the Complutensian Greek text of the Gospel of Matthew, the eighth chapter in particular, and the manuscripts housed in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. This study offers, in place of a definitive conclusion, a reassessment of the issue concerning the sources used for the Greek column of the Complutensian New Testament, in this case, thinking in terms of what is or is not plausible. To provide some contrast, a comparison of Erasmus’ Novum instrumentum omne and minuscules 1 (AN IV 2), 2 (AN IV 1), and 817 (A III 15) is also provided, showing how the Greek text of Erasmus can be constructed using those three copies with minuscule 2 serving as the primary base text. Does the Complutensian text share the same likeness to one or more of the Vatican manuscripts as that of Erasmus to those manuscripts housed at the Universitätsbibliothek Basel?