transilvania 4-5/2016 2 ‘Qui scripsit scripta, manus eius sit benedicta’: Scribes and Colophons from the Medieval Dioceses of Oradea and Transylvania Adrian PAPAHAGI Centrul pentru Istoria Cărții (CODEX), Facultatea de Litere, Universitatea din Cluj Centre for the History of the Book (CODEX), Faculty of Letters, University of Cluj Personal e-mail: adrian.papahagi@lett.ubbcluj.ro he research towards compiling a census of Western medieval manuscripts preserved in Romanian libraries has pointed out the appallingly low survival rate of locally authored, copied or owned codices 1 . In a recent study, I ofered a quick survey of lost libraries and surviving books from the Northern and Western regions of Romania, corresponding to the medieval Catholic dioceses of Transylvania, Cenad and Oradea 2 . he time has perhaps come to attempt a full-ledged history of the book in our part of the world, and the little team of the CODEX Centre at the University of Cluj has made it its task to compile this much needed work. he main questions we aim to answer are: what libraries and scriptoria existed in the Middle Ages on the territory of Northern and Western Romania; where were books produced; what kinds of books were produced; who owned books; what kinds of books were owned; where did they come from; how much was lost, and what was preserved; where do locally produced manuscripts survive; how does the situation compare to that in neighbouring regions, and in Western Europe? 3 And, of course: who copied books? he present article attempts to answer the last question. he period under scrutiny starts in the eleventh century, at the dawn of Latin book culture in the region. he Alba Iulia cathedral, established in 1009, the see of Cenad in the age of St Gerard (†1046), the Benedictine abbey of Cluj-Mănăştur, founded most likely in the second half of the eleventh century, the Premostratensian abbey of Dealul Orăzii, established before 1131, or the Cistercian abbey of Igriş, founded by Pontigny monks in 1179 are the earliest witnesses to the use and production of books in the region 4 . he investigation covers the period up to the third decade of the sixteenth century, when the Reformation and the appearance of the irst printing houses in Transylvania usher in the modern age. Around 1529 a printing house is mentioned in the Saxon city of Sibiu, but Transylvanian printers were already active in some of the major European workshops, and printed books had been circulating in the area since the age of incunabula 5 . he last Catholic mass in Braşov was celebrated in October 1542 6 . he swit changes intervening in the 1520s and 1530s due to the Reformation and the introduction of printing ‘Qui scripsit scripta, manus eius sit benedicta’: Scribes and Colophons rom Medieval T ransylvania he present article identiies a series of book scribes from the medieval dioceses of Oradea and Transylvania, active at home or abroad between the late fourteenth and the early sixteenth century. he study analyses the strategies of scribal identiication, the geographical and chronological distribution of manuscripts, the types of texts copieds, as well as aspects related to palaeography and colophon formulas. Keywords: Transylvania; Oradea; manuscripts; medieval; scribes; colophons.