Saint Jerome (c. 347–420) Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus was a Roman Christian priest and historian, perhaps most famous for translating the Bible into Latin (the Vulgate)
The Chronicle was written around 380 in Constantinople, and is an incomplete Latin translation of the chonological tables of second book of Eusebius’ Chronicon, which was written in Greek. Being written in Latin, it made the chronology of the ancient world accessible to the Roman world, which helped it become popular and over the centuries many copies were made while the original Greek text was forgotten. The purpose of the work as a whole was partly to make clear the greater antiquity of Hebrew history relative to most others. Jerome's Latin translation proved popular and became the widely accepted chronographic standard. Many later authors took upon themselves to add their own updates of world history to the chronicle.
The Chronicle of Jerome manuscripts
These are the main manuscripts that preserve Jerome's tables, and how they can be traced to the original.
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O Oxford Bodleian Lat. Auct. T. II. 26
Fifth century — written in a late fifth-century Italian uncial; f. 1-32 supply the beginning of the work in a fifteenth-century hand.
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S Floriacensis fragments
Fifth century — Three fragments of an Italian uncial manuscript which was still intact in the ninth century at the Fleury Abbey near Orleans in France.
(i) 6 pages in Leiden Vossius Lat. Q 110A.
(ii) 14 pages of Paris Bibliothèque Nationale Lat. 6400 B.
(iii) 2 pages of Vatican Reg. Lat. 1709 B (fol. 34-35). -
B Bern 219
Ninth century. Complete Chronicle and well preserved, possibly written at the famous Benedictine library at Fleury Abbey near Orléans.
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A Amandinus Valentianus 495
Seventh century. Uncial. Complete copy from the monastery of Saint-Amand Abbey near Valenciennes in northern France. Descendant of S.
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O and S were likely copied from the same manuscript. There are currently more
than a hundred manuscripts of the Chronicle of Jerome, many also include the chronicles of medieval continuators:
Berlin Staatsbibliothek Phillipps 1829 and 1872
London British Library MS Add. 16974
Leiden Scaliger 14
Leiden Vossius Lat. Q 110 (Petavianus)
Lucca Biblioteca Capitolare Feliniana 490
Oxford Merton College 315 - (transl. pt 1 pt 2)
Paris Bibliothèque Nationale Lat. 4858, 4859, 4860, and 4870
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