Codex Claromontanus is a 6th-century manuscript in an uncial hand on vellum of the Epistles of Paul and the Epistle to the Hebrews in Greek and Latin on facing pages (thus a "diglot" manuscript, like Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis).

It was named by Theodore Beza because he procured it in the town of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis, Oise, in the Picardie region north of Paris. The Codex is preserved at the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.

The Calvinist scholar Theodore Beza was the first to examine it, and he included notes of some of its readings in his editions of the New Testament. Later history of its use by editors of the Greek New Testament can be found in the links and references.

The Greek text of this codex is highly valued by critics as representing an early form of the text in the "Western" manuscript tradition, characterized by frequent interpolations and, to a lesser extent, interpretive revisions presented as corrections to this text. Modern critical editions of the New Testament texts are produced by an eclectic method, where the preferred reading is determined on a case-by-case basis, from among numerous variants offered by the early manuscripts and versions. In this process, Claromontanus is often employed as a sort of "outside mediator" in collating the more closely related, that is mutually dependent codices containing the Pauline epistles: Codex Alexandrinus, Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus, and Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus. In a similar way, Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis is used in establishing the history of texts of the Gospels and Acts.

The Codex Claromontanus contains further precious documents:

• A stichometric catalogue of the Old Testament and New Testament canon, of uncertain date, has been inserted in the codex. The list omits Philippians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and Hebrews. probably due to scribal error. It includes several works no longer considered canonical: Epistle of Barnabas, The Shepherd of Hermas, Acts of Paul , and Revelation of Peter. [1].

• Two palimpsest leaves (nos. 162 and 163) are overwritten on fragments of the Phaethon of Euripides faintly legible under the Christian text. They have been detached from the codex and are designated Cod. Gr. 107 B.

External links

• Michael D. Marlowe, Bible Research: Codex Claromontanus
• Michael D. Marlowe, Bible Research: Codex Claromontanus: the inserted catalog
• List of New testament codices: Codex Claromontanus

Further reading

• Hatch, W. H. P. The Principal Uncial Manuscripts Of The New Testament, 1939, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
• Aland, Kurt and Barbara Aland, The Text Of The New Testament : An Introduction To The Critical Editions and To The Theory and Practice Of Modern Text Criticism, 1995, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
• Metzger, Bruce M., The Text Of The New Testament : Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration, 1968 etc, Oxford University Press. pp49 - 51, etc.
• Trobisch, David, The Oldest Extant Editions of the Letters of Paul 1999 (e-text online)]
• Berschin, Walter, "Greek Manuscripts in Western Libraries" ch. 6 of Greek Letters and the Latin Middle Ages : From Jerome to Nicholas of Cusa: diglot mss in the West