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One problem is determining "late" versus "early." While readings found in sources of a given date are at least as old as the witnesses involved, silence in the earliest period (due to a paucity of evidence) does not require rejection of readings solely because they lack early attestation. When extant testimony decreases, some loss of attestation is to be expected, and readings lacking attestation in the early period cannot be summarily dismissed. Methodological failure on this point neutralizes Westcott and Hort, since subsequent discoveries established the early existence of many readings which they had considered late and secondary. Had such information been available to them, those readings could not have been as easily dismissed. Indeed, if most sensible readings were in existence by AD 200,75 caution should be applied when establishing the antiquity of a reading based solely on extant representatives. Chronologically "late" MSS are known to preserve earlier non-Byzantine texts well into the minuscule era; there is no reason to assume that minuscules preserving a Byzantine type of text fail to reflect a similar "early" character.76 Where, indeed, might one make a demarcation? While some may prefer a fourth-century boundary, there is no compelling reason to disqualify the fifth or sixth century, or even the ninth or tenth century. The real issue appears to be an opposition to any authoritative inroad for the Byzantine Textform. There are valid reasons for considering all MSS extending into the late tenth or early eleventh century as "early" in regard to their texts. An explanation is in order:

59. Apart from colophon information which would date the time of writing and the age of the exemplar, one cannot establish the actual antiquity of the text in any given MS. Since colophons of such detail do not exist, other means of assessing textual antiquity must be considered. Pertinent to this point are two major disruptions within transmissional history: "copying revolutions," wherein numerous ancient MSS were subjected to massive recopying efforts, replacing their previous exemplars en masse.

60. The first "copying revolution" occurred when Christianity was legitimized under Constantine. The church of the early fourth century moved from a persecuted minority to an approved entity with governmental sponsorship. It is no coincidence that a change in writing material (from cheap and fragile papyrus to costly and durable vellum) occurred at this time. The earliest extant vellum MSS (i.e., the fourth- and fifth-century uncials , A, B, C, D, and W) and many later uncials would have been copied directly from papyrus exemplars. This is demonstrated by the lack of stemmatic or genealogical ties among the early vellum and papyrus witnesses.77 The common archetypes of closely-related uncials such as EFGH or SUVW as well as those of the relatively "independent" uncials up through the ninth century all are likely to have been early papyrus exemplars. This principle would not have been missed had the later uncials not been Byzantine in character. If correct, then all vellum uncials should be utilized when attempting to restore the original text of the NT. Most extant vellum uncials or (at least) their immediate archetypes would have been copied from papyrus exemplars, many of which would have preceded the change of writing material engendered by the altered political status of the previously persecuted church.78

61. The second "copying revolution" occurred in the ninth century when handwriting switched rapidly from uncial to minuscule script.79 This change likely was initiated by Theodore of Studium and was swiftly accepted throughout the Greek-speaking world as a replacement for the more ponderous uncial script. Within a century and a half uncial script had ceased to exist among continuous-text NT MSS and soon after that disappeared even from the more traditional and conservative lectionaries. The upshot of this copying revolution was similar to what transpired following the papyrus-to-vellum conversion of the fourth century: uncial MSS of far earlier date were recopied in great quantity into the new and popular minuscule script and then destroyed.80 As Streeter noted,

In the ninth century there was a notable revival of learning in the Byzantine Empire. A natural result of this would be to cause Christian scholars to seek a better text of the Gospels by going back from current texts to more ancient MSS ... An analogy may be found in the effect of the revival of learning under Charlemagne on the text of the Latin classics. MSS of the seventh and eighth centuries ... are full of corruptions which do not occur in MSS of the subsequent period.81

62. A very strong presumption exists that the exemplars of the earliest genealogically-unrelated minuscule MSS were uncials dating from a much earlier time. These include the minuscules of the ninth and tenth centuries, and likely many within the eleventh century as well. Their exemplars were certainly not any contemporary uncials that only recently had been copied (the destruction of recent exemplars would be economically problematic), but far earlier uncial exemplars dating from the 4th-6th centuries. These would have been sought out for both their general accuracy and antiquity.82 The disappearance of those uncial exemplars was due to "instant obsolescence" following the transfer into the new minuscule script. Once copied, the uncial exemplars were apparently disassembled and utilized for scrap and secular purposes, or washed and scraped and reused for palimpsest works both sacred and secular.83 Such is the proper understanding of the "orphan" status of the early minuscules as stated by Lake, Blake, and New:84 they did not claim that every exemplar at all times was systematically destroyed after copying, but that, during the conversion period, once a minuscule copy of an uncial exemplar had been prepared, the immediate uncial predecessor was disassembled and reused for other purposes.85 That this procedure occurred on the grand scale is demonstrated by the dearth of uncial MSS when contrasted to the large quantity of unrelated minuscule MSS as shown in the following chart:86

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63. This is evidenced even during the earliest portion of the minuscule era when both scripts coexisted.87 The minuscule MSS from the ninth through perhaps the first half of the eleventh century are very likely to represent uncial exemplars far earlier than those uncials which date from the ninth-century. Thus, many early minuscules are likely only two or three generations removed from papyrus ancestors of the fourth century or before, perhaps even closer. There are no indicators opposing such a possibility, and the stemmatically independent nature of most early minuscule witnesses (their "orphan" status as per Lake, Blake, and New) increases the likelihood of such a case.88 It becomes presumptuous to suppose otherwise, especially when many minuscules are already recognized by modern eclectics to contain "early" texts (defined, of course, by their non-Byzantine nature). As Scrivener noted in 1859,

It has never I think been affirmed by any one ... that the mass of cursive documents are corrupt copies of the uncials still extant: the fact has scarcely been suspected in a single instance, and certainly never proved... It is enough that such an [early] origin is possible, to make it at once unreasonable and unjust to shut them out from a "determining voice" (of course jointly with others) on questions of doubtful reading.89

64. It is basically an a priori bias against Byzantine uncials and early minuscules which prevents their recognition as preserving a very early type of text. If such MSS in fact are bearers of ancient tradition, one cannot set an exclusionary date before the mid-eleventh century. Note that the Byzantine-priority theory does not rise or fall upon a late cutoff period; the theory could proceed in much the same form were the end of the sixth century made the cutoff date.90 However, if a strong presumption exists that (at least) the earliest minuscules preserve a much more ancient text, this could not be done except at risk of eliminating the evidence of many "late" MSS containing texts which are representative of "early" exemplars spanning a broad chronological and geographical range.

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