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== Provenance ==
The manuscript's original provenance is unknown. A 13th or 14th century Arabic note on folio 1 reads: "Bound to the Patriarchal Cell in the Fortress of Alexandria. Whoever removes it thence shall be excommunicated and cut off. Written by Athanasius the humble."<ref name=McK>McKendrick, Scot "The Codex Alexandrinus: Or the dangers of being a named manuscript" in ''The Bible as a Book: The Transmission of the Greek text'' ed. S McKendrick & O. A. O'Sullivan; London: British Library & New Castle, 2003</ref> A 17th century Latin note on a flyleaf (from binding in a royal library) states that the manuscript was given to a patriarchate of Alexandria in 1098 (''donum dedit cubicuo Patriarchali anno 814 Mrtyrum''), although this may well be "merely an inaccurate attempt at deciphering the Arabic note by Athanasius."<ref>ibid. p8</ref>
The codex was brought to [[Constantinople]] in 1621 by [[Cyril Lucar Lucaris]] (first a patriarch of Alexandria, then later a patriarch of Constantinople) who then presented it to Charles I of England in 1627, through the hands of Thomas Roe, the English ambassador at the court of the Sultan. It became a part of the Royal Library, British Museum and now the British Library. It was saved from the fire at Ashburnam House (the Cotton library) on [[October 23]], 1731, by the librarian, Dr Bentley.
==Textual features==
