Zadar’s medieval manuscript known as Cod. Lat. Iaderensis Filippi (S. Mariae) has been rediscovered after its whereabouts were unknown following its translocation from Zadar during World War II and its acquisition in London in 1997. The most recent research on the manuscript, which was familiar to the older experts on Zadar’s hagiography, has confirmed many of the previous conclusions and suggestions, but the possibility to work on the manuscript itself after almost a century has also brought new insights about its nature and the nature of the legends contained therein. As the older experts argued, it is a segment of a once far larger liturgical codex (of some 300 pages) owned by the Benedictine monastery of St Chrysogonus. The author has accepted the conclusions of the previous researchers and suggested that the manuscript should be described as Legendarium. In its present form (consisting of only 21 sheets), the Cod. Lat. Iaderensis Filippi (S. Mariae) contains two hagiographic legends: a late antique Passio Sanctae Anastasiae and a local legend called Translatio Beati Grisogoni martyris. Based on a codicological and palaeographic analysis, as well as the stylistic and iconographic features of the preserved miniatures and other decorative elements, the author has suggested the period between the late 13th and late 14th centuries as the probable date of its making. Having thus delimited the approximate terminus ante quem for this redaction of the two legends about the saints of Zadar, the author has further suggested a link between this variant of the Passio Sanctae Anastasiae and other known medieval versions of that originally late antique legend. Based on the content, palaeography, and style of the manuscript, the codex has been compared to similar liturgical books from a wider northern Adriatic area. Having observed some analogies (primarily in terms of content and language) with a group of manuscripts from a wider Aquileian area, the author has further suggested a link between the Passio Sanctae Anastasiae preserved in the manuscript and a northern Italian redaction of the legend, thus paving the way for further research on the origins of Zadar’s cult and hagiography of St Anastasia and St Chrysogonus.

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