A remarkably early 14th century Coptic manuscript from Mamluk-era Egypt

[Coptic Orthodox Church]. Theotokarion [Prayers to the Virgin].

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Prayers to the Virgin: a Coptic manuscript of the Theotokarion from Mamluk Egypt. This manuscript is notably early for a Coptic codex, and features many of the hallmarks of the Coptic manuscript tradition, including illustrated capitals in the shape of birds and knotwork designs as section headers. The work is partial, wanting leaves at the beginning and ending, and each leaf is professionally mounted in modern archival paper.

Beyond the professional scribe's avian initials, this manuscript also includes an interesting piece of marginalia by a less studied hand: three figures appear in a blank area of the first leaf, one perhaps a horned devil.

Prior to the first wave of Islamic conquests across North Africa, Coptic was the most widely spoken and written language in Egypt, then ruled by Byzantium, and remained in use among the Coptic Christian community throughout the medieval period, and up the present day. Today Coptic is still, as it is used here, the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church.