Finding Aid
Antiphonal and Breviary Miscellany. – [15–?]-[17–?] , [Spain]. – 37 leaves : parchment, partially bound ; 35 x 50 cm or smaller. – Manuscript. – Latin, [Catalan?]. . – Manuscript 116.
Fragment A:
Antiphonal leaves. – [1500s?-1600s?]. – 2 leaves. – Latin, [Catalan?]. – Title from contents.
Proper chants for the feast of St. Jerome [fols. 1r-2r]. – Incomplete, end only.
Proper chants for the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels [fols. 2r-2v]. – Incomplete, beginning only.
Written by the same scribe as Fragments D and F. The feast of St. Jerome, held on 30 September, was not instituted as a widely celebrated feast until 1579, suggesting that this text was written sometime after that date. Jerome, however, was particularly connected with the area of Monserrat in Catalonia. The bottom of fol. 1v includes a short note written [in Catalan?]: “La comunicanda de aq[uesti?] offici qui comence Gaudium tibi erit es ap[re?]s lo Alleluia de sent Iheronym at al senyal T.” The feast of the Guardian Angels was celebrated on 2 October and was typically associated with Spain in the sixteenth century until extended to the entire church in 1608. Black square Gregorian notation on 4-line red staves, of which there are ten on each side of the leaf. Bifolium. Rubrics are in red ink.
Fragment B:
Antiphonal leaves. – [1500s-1600s?]. – 15 leaves. – Latin, [Catalan?]. – Title from contents.
Invitatory chants for the Divine Office [fols. 3r-14v, 16r-17v]. – Incomplete (one excised leaf).
[Proper chant for the feast of the Lord's Passion?] [fols. 18r-18v]. – Complete.
This text begins with eight settings of the invitatory antiphon Venite exultemus [Psalm 94 in Vulgate], with which were associated eight numbered tags. Fol. 15, bearing the sixth tag, is now missing. Each setting contains substantially exactly the same text, but the music differs. The third setting lacks one line, deserto ubi tetaverunt, through scribal error in the transition between fols. 8 and 9. The fifth setting has inserted a duplicate Quoniam magnus dominus verse, again through scribal error. The back of tag 4 bears small inscriptions in cursive document hand reading “apostol” and “ad pasqua” [in Catalan?]. Following these antiphons is a psalm typically chanted during the office of the feast of the Lord's Passion. Black square Gregorian notation on 4-line red staves, of which there are seven on each side of the leaf. The leaves themselves are foliated with arabic numerals in the upper right corners 1-12, with the remaining four leaves having no numbers. Lettering has inconsistent tendency to slant toward right not in keeping with rotunda hand. Fol. 14v has a small addition to the music and text in the margin. Few rubrics, in red ink generally, but also in blue ink [for setting 7], or both [for setting 4]. Some initial Vs in word Venite traced first in lead before inking. Initial V for Venite associated with tag 4 partially erased. Four-leaf gatherings. Fol. 9 is detached but still present.
Fragment C:
Antiphonal leaves. – [1500s?-1700s?] – 4 leaves. – Latin. – Title from contents.
Proper chants for the feast of the Five Wounds [Fols. 19r-22v]. – Incomplete, beginning only.
This feast was celebrated during Lent and was particularly associated, among others, with the area of Huesca in Aragon. Fol. 19r is an elaborate title page, with historiated initial M in the word Missa. Fol. 20r has a tag labelled R. Most of the initials, including the initial M, were outlined but left untinted or only partially tinted. One portion of text has been erased, with the same text rewritten in a hand, dating to the eighteenth century. Black square Gregorian notation on 4-line red staves, of which there are seven on each side of the leaf. Four-leaf gathering.
Fragment D:
Antiphonal leaves. – [1500s-1600s?]. – 5 leaves. – Latin. – Title from contents.
Proper chants for the feast of St. Catherine of Siena [23r-27v]. – Incomplete, end only.
Written by the same scribe as Fragments A and F. This feast was celebrated on 29 April. Black square Gregorian notation on 4-line red staves, of which there are seven on each side of the leaf. Four-leaf gathering with first leaf affixed singly. Rubrics in red or blue.
Fragment E:
Breviary leaves. – [1523- ca. 1670s?]. – 9 leaves. – Latin. – Title from contents.
Office of the feast of St. Antoninus of Florence [28r-35v]. – Complete.
Office of the feast of the Holy Rosary [35v-36v]. – Complete.
The feast of St. Antoninus occurred on 10 May. Antoninus was canonized in 1523, placing the writing of this text after that date. The feast of the Holy Rosary, generally celebrated on 7 October but here in a rubric noted as being at Easter, was instituted in 1573 for churches possessing altars dedicated to the Holy Rosary. The feast was exended to the whole of Spain in 1671. The final leaf of Antoninus, fol. 35, is in a different and less accomplished hand than the rest of that office but in the same hand as the Holy Rosary hand, suggesting that the final leaf of Antoninus had been rewritten to accommodate the Holy Rosary text in the original breviary. This fragment is composed of a single leaf, followed by a six-leaf gathering and a bifolium. Fol. 28 was affixed at the spine edge to fol. 35, with the six-leaf gathering interposed at the juncture. This format supports the view that the original last leaf of Antoninus was excised from an 8-leaf gathering and replaced with a bifolium in order to facilitate the addition of the Holy Rosary text. Black square Gregorian notation on 5-line red staves, of which there are six on each side of the leaf.
Fragment F:
Antiphonal leaves. – [1500s?-1600s?]. – 2 leaves. – Latin. – Title from contents.
Proper chants for an unknown feast [37r]. Incomplete, end only.
Proper chants for the feast of the Seven Joys [37v-38v]. – Incomplete, beginning only.
Written by the same scribe as Fragments A and D. The first text includes verses of Mark 16:17-18 and Revelation 2:17. The feast of the Seven Joys, associated with the Franciscans, was generally celebrated in late August. Fol. 38r has an inscription in blue ink, subsequently erased, at the top of the leaf. Black square Gregorian notation on 5-line red staves, of which there are ten on each side of the leaf. Bifolium.
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