TEXT FROM THE FEASTS OF STS. PETER AND PAUL, MARY MAGDALENE, ST. AFRA, AND OTHERS

A NEARLY COMPLETE MEDIEVAL VELLUM MANUSCRIPT LEAF FROM A SEQUENTIARY IN LATIN, WITH AN EXCELLENT WHITE-VINE INITIAL

Published by 12th century, Germany

About this Item

353 x 218 mm. (13 7/8 x 8 5/8"). Double column, 37 extant lines in an attractive late Caroline hand. Rubrics in red, numerous one-line initials in red, four very large red initials, and ONE EIGHT-LINE ROMANESQUE WHITE-VINE INITIAL outlined in red and filled with blue and green wash. Heavily annotated with interlineal neumes by an early hand; a couple of corrections in a different hand; one naturally occurring hole. â About half a centimeter trimmed from outer column (affecting the beginnings of lines on verso and most of the ends of lines on recto), lower margin trimmed close, but with nothing lost, a few minor wormholes, faint staining along top and inner margin from binder's glue, other very minor imperfections, but a surprisingly clean and even beautiful specimen, especially given its previous use in a binding, the vellum very bright, the ink dark and legible, and the Romanesque initial perfectly preserved. Containing an impressive white-vine initial and an especially handsome script, this leaf comes from a rare type of manuscript called a Sequentiary, containing songs that were sung after the Alleluia chant and before Gospel readings during Mass. The sequences here include those dedicated to Sts. Peter and Paul (29 June), the Translation of St. Benedict (11 July), Mary Magdalene (22 July), St. Afra (7 August), and St. Lawrence (10 August). Each sequence commences with a very large initial, the most elaborate of which is the white-vine initial "P" which begins the verse "Petre, summe Christi pastor et Paule gentium Ecclesiam doctor." It is an exceptionally well-preserved example of Romanesque decoration, and makes a beautiful statement on the page. According to "The Cambridge History of Medieval Music," "in contrast to most Mass Proper chants, repertories of sequences were open to change, expanding and contracting . . . as the genre was cultivated and renewed aesthetically and stylistically over several centuries," and were often specific to the location where the manuscript was used. In the present case, the Feast of St. Afra, patron saint of Augsburg, is an interesting inclusion, and could be a clue to the original manuscript's origins and use. An early hand has vigorously added musical notation to the sequences in the form of interlineal adiastematic neumes, which appear more or less in a straight line with no indication of melodic shape, thus acting as an "aide memoire" for singers who would have already committed the melodies to memory. Sequentiary leaves are very rare on the market: a recent search on RBH shows just four examples, three of which were, like our leaf, used as binding waste--though they were not nearly as well preserved as ours. Seller Inventory # ST19837

Bibliographic Details

Title: TEXT FROM THE FEASTS OF STS. PETER AND PAUL,...

Publisher: 12th century, Germany