Codex optimus

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A //codex optimus// is the best [[manuscript>>doc:stemmatology.Manuscript.WebHome]] in a manuscript tradition. What is ‘best’ is obviously a matter of definition and possibly of taste, but it usually means that it is the oldest and/or best preserved manuscript and as such best suited for an edition of the work in question. Some editions, in this lexicon referred to as [[documentary editions>>doc:stemmatology.Edition, documentary.WebHome]], select a single manuscript as the base, hence the term //best-manuscript editions[[doc:stemmatology.Edition, best-manuscript.WebHome]]//.

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Since the search for [[errors>>doc:stemmatology.Error.WebHome]] (or, more neutrally, [[innovations>>doc:stemmatology.Innovation.WebHome]]) is central to the stemmatological method, it follows that a manuscript at a higher position in the [[stemma>>doc:stemmatology.Stemma.WebHome]] usually is a better manuscript than a manuscript situated lower, other things being equal. This does not exclude the possibility of stemmatologically lower positioned manuscripts being better in terms of e.g. literary quality, but that should be regarded as a different matter. The [[text>>doc:stemmatology.Text.WebHome]] of such a manuscript may be seen as a new [[redaction>>doc:stemmatology.Redaction.WebHome]] or even [[version>>doc:stemmatology.Version.WebHome]] (and possibly be edited for its own sake).

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It is not uncommon that the oldest preserved witnesses in a [[tradition>>doc:stemmatology.Tradition.WebHome]] are fragmentary, so that the supposedly best manuscript is not found at the top of the stemma, but still closer to the origin of the tradition than later manuscripts. This is the case with the Old Norwegian //Konungs skuggsjá// ‘The King’s Mirror’ (mid-13th century), in which the fragments **β** and **γ** are located above the main manuscript, //hovedh[åndskriftet]//, which is commonly regarded as the //codex optimus//. The fragments **β** and **γ** are very short, so neither can be termed a //codex optimus// in any meaningful sense. A [[fragment>>doc:stemmatology.Fragment.WebHome]] is simply not a codex any more, even if it once might have been part of a complete codex.

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In Latin, //optimus// is the superlative of the adjective //bonus// ‘good’.

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Cf. also [[best-manuscript edition>>doc:stemmatology.Edition, best-manuscript.WebHome]].

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===== Illustration =====

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[[image:attach:HolmOlsen-stemma-1983.png]]

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Fig. 1. A stemma for //Konungs skuggsjá//, from the edition by Ludvig Holm-Olsen (1983, xiv). //Originalhåndskriftet// is the [[original>>doc:stemmatology.Original.WebHome]], now lost manuscript, while //hovedh[åndskriftet]// in the B branch is the main manuscript, København, Den Arnamagnæanske Samling, AM 243 bα fol. Above the main manuscript are located the two fragments **β** and **γ**. In this stemma, **α** is another fragment, which, if complete, would have been an obvious candidate for being the //codex optimus//.

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==== Bibliography ====

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– Holm-Olsen, Ludvig, ed. 1983. //Konungs skuggsiá.// 2nd ed. Norrøne tekster, vol. 1. Oslo: Kjeldeskriftfondet.

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==== In other languages ====

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The Latin term is generally used, or modern equivalents such as //best manuscript.//