A catalogue of Western manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries and selected Oxford colleges

MS. Bodl. 948

Summary Catalogue no.: 3032

Contents

Antiphoner, Use of Sarum
(fol. 1)

The Proprium de Tempore

(fol. 173)
A Calendar

The calendar is unmistakably London in character

(fol. 177)

The Psalter

(fol. 215)

The Commune Sanctorum

(fol. 242v)

The Proprium Sanctorum

Some liturgical benedictions before the Matins Lessons are added on fol. 340v

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
ii + 345 leaves
Dimensions (binding): 18.75 × 14.25 in.

Condition

Worn and not quite perfect parchment. Two leaves are cut almost entirely out after fol. 39 (Office of Thomas of Canterbury), one after fols 176, 214, 266, 321; see W. H. Frere's Bibl. Musico-Liturgica (1901), p. 12

Layout

2 cols

Musical Notation:

Notation on staves (see van Dijk 1957).

Decoration

Pächt and Alexander iii. 770

Good penwork borders, initials.

Binding

'R. A.' on the sides of the plain rough brown leather binding

History

Origin: c. 1400 ; England

Provenance and Acquisition

There are several obits in the calendar, of the 15th and 16th centuries. One (June 25) is 'Obitus Johannis Sawache rectoris istius ecclesie', which points to the church of St. Andrew Undershaft, London, where the rector John Savage died in 1475 [but MLGB, p. 224, rejects the identification].

In the 1635 Appendix to the Bodleian Catalogue of 1620 the volume is entered as 'Monasterii S. Albani Antiphonarium', at p. 3

Acquired between 1620 and 1634 (Summary Catalogue I.108), perhaps about 1630: the 'R. A.' on the binding of this manuscript and MS. Bodl. 231 may be the donor's initials

Record Sources

Description adapted (August 2023) by Stewart J. Brookes from the Summary Catalogue (1922). Decoration, localization and date follow Pächt and Alexander (1973)

Bibliography

    Printed descriptions:

    S. J. P. van Dijk, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. 2: Office Books (typescript, 1957), p. 232

Last Substantive Revision

2023-08-07: Description revised to incorporate all the information in the Summary Catalogue (1922)