Codex Marshall 691 (abbreviated Marsh. 691) is a Mandaic manuscript currently held at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. It is the oldest Mandaic manuscript that is currently held at a European institutional library. The contents of the manuscript remain unpublished. Its colophons have been studied in detail by Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley.[1]
Codex Marshall 691 is a small leatherbound codex with 116 pages[2] that measures approximately 4 inches by 5 inches.[1]: 55 As a prayerbook ("Qolasta"), it contains various Mandaean prayers. According to its colophons, it was copied in September 5, 1529 A.D., in Huwayza[3]: 70 by Adam Zihrun, son of Bihram Šitlan.
Thomas Marshall's servant had donated the book (obtained by Marshall via Dutch merchants) to the Bodleian Library in 1689 or 1690, after Marshall's death.[2]
The codex contains three colophons. In the third colophon of the codex, a blessing is given to Sayyid (Sultan) Badran (whose rule began in 1514) and his family, the Musha'sha' Shi'ite/Ghulat ruler of Khuzestan during the Safavid dynasty. Blessings given to Muslim rulers are rarely found in Mandaean colophons.[1]: 56
