Minuscule 16 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 449 (Soden).[1] It is a diglot Greek-Latin minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on 361 parchment leaves, dated palaeographically to the 14th-century.[2] It has full marginalia and was prepared for liturgical use.
The codex contains almost complete text of the four Gospels with lacunae (Mark 16:14–20). The text is written in two columns per page, 26 lines per page.[2] [3]
The text is divided according to the Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κεφαλαια (chapters), whose numbers are given at the margin, with the Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τιτλοι (titles of chapters) at the top of the pages. There is also a division according to the Ammonian Sections, with no references to the Eusebian Canons.
It contains the Eusebian Canon tables (Latin) at the beginning, tables of the Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κεφαλαια (tables of contents) before each Gospel, lectionary markings at the margin (for liturgical use), and subscriptions at the end of each of the Gospels.[4]
The text of the codex is written in four colours. "The general run of the narrative is in vermilion; the words of Jesus, the genealogy of Jesus, and the words of angels are in crimson; the words quoted from the Old Testament as well as those of the disciples, Zachariah, Elizabeth, Mary, Simeon, and John the Baptist are in blue; and the words of Pharisees, the centurion, Judas Iscariot, and the devil are in black."[5] It contains only one picture.
In the Greek text Mark 16:14–20 and in the Latin text Mark 9:18–16:20 were lost. Latin texts of Mark 9:18–11:13, Luke 5:21–44; John 1:1–12:17 were added by a later hand.
The Greek text of the codex is mixed but the Byzantine text-type is predominant. Hermann von Soden classified it to the textual family Iβb, it means it has some the Caesarean readings. Aland did not place it in any Category.[6]
In 2014, Kathleen Maxwell demonstrated minuscule 16 to be dependent upon minuscule 1528. There are red crosses at various points throughout 1528 corresponding to the locations of illustrations in 16.[7]
Textually it is close to the manuscripts 119, 217, 330, 491, 578, 693, 1528, and 1588. They create textual Group 16 with following profile:
Luke 1: 8, (9), 13, 23, 28, 34, 37, 43.
Luke 10: 3, 7, 15, 19, 23, (25), 58, 63.
Luke 20: 4, 13, 19, 50, 51, 54, 55, 62, 65.[8]
Codex 16 forms a pair with codex 1528 which adds reading 3 and lacks 9 in Luke 1, and lacks 19 and adds 64 in Luke 10.
The Latin text in Matt. 7:13 has textual variant: "lata via et spaciosa est lila quae"; in Mt 13:3 "Ecce qai exiit Seminare Semen suum, et dum seminat quaedam cecid."[9]
The manuscript is dated by the INTF to the 14th-century.
Formerly the codex was in the hands of Strozzi family, then of Catherine de' Medici. It was examined by Wettstein, Scholz, and Paulin Martin.[10] C. R. Gregory saw the manuscript in 1884.
It is currently housed at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Gr. 54) at Paris.