Princeton Ethiopian, Eritrean, and Egyptian Miracles of Mary (PEMM) project

British Library, "Orient" Collection, Manuscript No. 645

This Geʿez language manuscript was created between 1650 and 1699. This date is estimated, based on a print or electronic catalog entry about the manuscript.

This manuscript is held in the repository of British Library in their "Orient" Collection in London, UK. This manuscript's last known location in Ethiopia was South: taken from King Tewodros's royal library in Magdala.

To view the manuscript, go to the digital copy.

This manuscript has a typical number of Marian miracle stories: 35.

This manuscript has a lot of paintings of Marian miracle stories: 48. To see the paintings in this manuscript, go to its PEMM Paintings by Manuscript page.

Fortunately, these paintings are digitized and available online in color.

This manuscript has a total of 158 folios. It has 2 columns per page and approximately 13 lines per column.

The stories in this manuscript were cataloged by Dorothea Reule.

The PEMM abbreviation for this manuscript is BOr (BL) 645.

The Beta Maṣāḥǝft abbreviation for this manuscript is BLorient645. Other shelfmarks and/or abbreviations for this manuscript include British Library Orient 645; British Library Or 645.

Regarding this manuscript's repository:

The British Library collection of over 600 Ethiopian/Eritrean manuscripts is one of the largest and most studied collections outside of Ethiopia and Eritrea. The acquisition of manuscripts began under the auspices of the British Museum in 1753. The collection has over 30 Täˀammərä Maryam manuscripts. This collection includes 349 manuscripts looted by British forces from the Ethiopian stronghold at Magdala in 1868. Multiple catalogs of this large collection have been prepared, by August Dillmann (1847), William Wright (1870), and Stefan Strelcyn (1978). View more information about this collection. Unfortunately, due to a ransomware attack in October 2023, almost none of these manuscripts are still online.

For more information about understanding this table, see Using This Site. If you think any of the information on this page is incorrect (e.g., the location, date, folios, story IDs), please use our PEMM Feedback Form to let us know. We depend on users like you to improve the site.

BOr (BL) 645

Order in MS	Story Title	Location in MS	Paintings	Story Recension	Incipit	Other Aspects	Story ID
1	Bishop Ildefonsus (Daqseyos) of Toledo who collected stories and compiled them into the Book of the Miracles of the Virgin Mary	f. 15r-18v, col. 2	2	-	-	-	13
2	The laborer who complained to the Virgin Mary because she did not reply to his Hail Mary	f. 20r-21r, col. 1	1	-	-	-	187
3	An old monk from Egypt whom the Virgin Mary made young again	f. 23r-24v, col. 1	1	-	-	-	161
4	The monastic scribe who used to write the Virgin Mary's name in golden ink	f. 26r-27r, col. 1	1	-	-	-	162
5	The former pagan, the Bishop of Rome, who cut off his hand because of a lustful thought and the Virgin Mary healed him	f. 29r-30v, col. 1	1	-	-	-	163
6	The Egyptian monk Issac who prayed every night for seven years that the Virgin Mary would appear to him	f. 32r-33v, col. 1	1	-	-	-	19
7	Maryam, an Egyptian child from Defra, who wanted to receive Communion but whose family locked her in the house when they went to church	f. 36r-37v, col. 1	1	-	-	-	27
8	The French artist knocked off his scaffolding by Satan (who was angry because of how he was being painted) is caught by the Virgin Mary	f. 39r-41r, col. 1	1	-	-	-	33
9	Dabra Nagadeyan's dying monk prays in front of her icon to go to Jerusalem and the Virgin Mary takes him from Lower Egypt to all around the holy land	f. 43r-44r, col. 1	2	-	-	-	54
10	A young man who used to crown the icon of the Virgin Mary with roses	f. 46r-49r, col. 1	2	-	-	-	153
11	The two women who were attacked by robbers on their way to church	f. 51r-52r, col. 1	1	-	-	-	154
12	Dabra Qalemon's gifts from two Arabs who, journeying on the Nile in Egypt, fall into the water due to a storm and are saved from crocodiles	f. 54r-55v, col. 1	2	-	-	-	16
13	The church of the Virgin Mary that moved by itself to the shore of the Mediterranean Sea.	f. 58r-59r, col. 1	2	-	-	-	46
14	John Bakansi, the blind Egyptian monk, whose eyes the Virgin Mary healed with her breast milk	f. 61r-63r, col. 1	1	-	-	-	43
15	The rich man from Colossae who was shot in the eye with an arrow while fighting the Qwez	f. 65r-66v, col. 1	1	-	-	-	48
16	Elizabeth, the blind Egyptian girl from Badraman, whose eyes the Virgin Mary healed with her breast milk	f. 68r-70v, col. 1	1	-	-	-	59
17	A widow who could not find husbands for her three daughters	f. 72r-74r, col. 1	1	-	-	-	57
18	The two brothers who were scribes and while copying the Miracles of the Virgin Mary fell into sin	f. 76r-77r, col. 1	1	-	-	-	61
19	George the Younger, the martyr, was visited in prison by the Virgin Mary	f. 79r-80r, col. 1	1	-	-	-	68
20	Katir, the old priest from Al-Kasus, who was mistreated by a church custodian, is restored to strength by the Virgin Mary	f. 81r-82v, col. 1	1	-	-	-	82

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pricenton ethiopian eritrean & egyptian miracles of marry project

The Princeton Ethiopian, Eritrean, and Egyptian Miracles of Mary (PEMM) project is a comprehensive resource for the 1,000+ miracle stories written about and the 2,500+ images painted of the Virgin Mary in these African countries, and preserved in Geʿez between 1300 and the present.

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