MS. Canon. Bibl. Lat. 45
Summary Catalogue no.: 18938
Gospel lectionary. 11th century, second half, with added drawing, 12th century, middle; Austria (?), Salzburg (?)
Contents
Temporale, from Christmas eve to the last Friday of Advent, containing the Purification of the Virgin
For major feasts, see Decoration.
The Passion narratives with superscript letters: t = Christ, c = Narrator, a = the Jews (cf. K. Young, ‘Observations on the origin of the mediæval Passion-play’, PMLA, 25.2 (1910), 309–54 at 316): Matthew (fols. 35r–40r), Mark (fols. 41v–46r), Luke (fols. 46r–50r), and John (fols. 53v–57r).
Sanctorale from St Silvester to St John the Evangelist (31 Dec. – 27 Dec.)
Dedication of a church
Votive masses:
The days of the week
Ordinations, consecrations, and the blessing of brides
Other purposes
Masses for the Dead
Fol. 120v, and most of 120r, blank
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
Ruled in feint plummet for 26 long lines; the written area c. 150 × 95 mm.
Hand(s)
Late Caroline minuscule, rubrics and incipits in majuscules
Decoration
Major feasts and other Sundays with initials (typically 4- or 3-line respectively, but letters with ascenders/descenders, and ‘I’s, are often much taller) in gold, outlined and ornamented with orange, on a blue ground; in the first quire they also use a silver metal; initials for minor feasts (typically 2-line) and rubrics in gold on an orange ground; major feasts with 1-line capitals in gold.
Blank spaces, doubtless for miniatures, sometimes framed, precede major feasts:
- Christmas (fol. 1v)
- Epiphany (fol. 5r)
- Purification (fol. 9v)
- Palm Sunday (fol. 34v)
- Last Supper (fol. 50v)
- Good Friday (fol. 53v)
- Holy Saturday (fol. 57r)
- Ascension (fol. 65v; full-page)
- Pentecost (fol. 67v; full-page)
The framed space before Easter day (fol. 57v) is filled by a 12-cent. drawing in brown with orange elements: The Empty Tomb and Noli me tangere: from left to right, the cave-like sepulchre with the discarded burial cloth; the angel sitting on the stone that has been rolled away (Matt. 28:2); Mary Magdalene kneeling before Christ, who blesses her and holds the cross of the Resurrection.
Binding
Italian, 18th-century. Sewn on four bands laced into pasteboards covered with reddish-brown leather, each cover blind-tooled with a central lozenge within a panel and a border of scrolling leaves; the spine with two green leather title-pieces lettered in gilt capitals ‘Evangelia | de | tempore’ and ‘Cod. mem. | saec. XII.’, the other compartments each with a gilt stamp of a sprig of leaves and flowers.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Localization and date after Pächt and Alexander; localization presumably based on the added drawing.
‘Prov.: Italie’ in R. Grégoire, ‘Repertorium Liturgicum Italicum’, Studi medievali, Ser. 3, 9 (1968), pp. 465–592 at 551, citing T. Klauser, Das römische Capitulare evangeliorum (Münster, 1935), p. CV no. 236.
Unidentified (late?)18th-century Italian owner(s), responsible for the binding and the title ‘Evangelia de Tempore & Sanctis’ (fol. 1r)
Matteo Luigi Canonici, 1727–1805, Venetian Jesuit and bibliophile; to his brother:
Giuseppe Canonici , -1807, on whose death to their nephew: Giovanni Perisinotti, from whom over 2,000 books were:
Purchased by the Bodleian in 1817. Former Bodleian shelfmark: ‘Bibl. Can 45.’ (fol. ir), cancelled by encircling.
Record Sources
Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)
Bibliography
Online resources:
Printed descriptions:
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2021-05: Description revised for Polonsky German digitization project.