The Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF) announced today that it has reunited the two parts of a precious 13th-century Greek manuscript after nearly half a millennium of their separation.

This epilogue was made possible by the right of pre-emption (pre-purchase) of the first part of the manuscript, which was sold at auction on October 5 by the Giraudeau auction house in the commune of Juet-les-Tours in central France.

It is a psalter – collection of psalms – written in Constantinople at the end of the 13th century.

The BnF describes in a press release that it is “a small manuscript written entirely in gold ink and richly decorated with colorful outlines and capitals on a gold background.”

This manuscript was sold for 130,200 euros. According to the specialized magazine La Gazette Drouot, the sellers were descendants of a French noble family, the Degres de Lou.

The BnF was particularly interested in this because it has owned since the 19th century the second part of the same manuscript, coded in its collections under the name

“Supplement grec 260”.

According to the experts of the National Library, the two manuscripts “separated before the beginning of the 17th century”. And the appearance at a public sale of the first part, unknown until now, was a surprise.

The arrival in France of this manuscript is probably the work of a French cardinal and advisor to Louis XII, Georges Amboise.

The BnF claims to have “one of the most important collections of Greek manuscripts in the world”, with around 5,000 copies.