MS. Canon. Liturg. 275
Summary Catalogue no.: 19377
Portable Psalter with Antiphons, Ambrosian Use; Italy, Milan, 15th century, end of the second quarter (?), with additions
Contents
Fol. i is a paper fly-leaf; fol. 1 is ruled but originally blank (there is an autograph of Franciscus Castellus on the recto; see ‘Provenance’).
[item 1 occupies quires I–II]
Calendar, written in black with rubrics in red, not graded. The work of two scribes: presumably originally written with spaces left blank for entries in red (?), later filled in in black by another scribe. The months follow one another without a break. Contains Milan feasts, including Ambrose (7 December) and his deposition (5 April), and the deposition of Geruntius of Milan (5 May). Includes the feast of Nicholas of Tolentino (10 September), canonized 1446. Bernardino of Siena, canonized 1450, is an addition (20 May), suggesting a pre-1450 origin. The months are preceded by notes on the number of days and nights in each month and verses on the ‘Egyptian’ days, which correspond to Hennig’s (1955) set I. Fol. 8v is half full; fol. 9a is ruled but blank (contains erasures).
[item 2 occupies quire III]
Added alphabetical list of psalms with folio numbers and one-line breaks between groups starting with each letter. The seven Penitential Psalms 6, 31, 37, 50, 101, 129, 142 are marked with a sign similar to ‘7’ in the margin. Added table of contents (fol. 12a) in a post-medieval hand (the same hand added foliation in ink; see ‘Physical description’ (‘Foliation’)) with folio numbers, starting with ‘Psalterium incipit fo 1’ and ending with ‘Pro mortuis fo 143’. Fols. 12av and 12br–v are ruled but blank.
[items 3–6 occupy quires IV–XVII]
Te deum laudamus, written as prose.
Psalms 1–150 (Roman version), in the biblical order, laid out as prose, without numbers, with short rubrics ‘psalmus dauid’ in red. Rubric ‘Incipit psalterium’ on fol. 13v. Punctuated throughout with punctus used to mark the ends of verses and metrum. Some psalms are followed by antiphons in a smaller script, preceded by rubrics ‘antiphonum’ in red. There are textual divisions at psalms 17, 31, 41, 51, 61, 71, 81, 91, 101 and 109 (see ‘Decoration’). Subdivisions within psalms are not indicated, apart from psalm 118, subdivided into twenty-two 8-verse units.
Outline of ferial services starting with Sunday Matins (‘Incipit officium in dominicis diebus. ad matutinum’), followed by Sunday Vespers (fol. 97v), Matins and Vespers for other days of the week (fol. 100r), the Common of Saints (fol. 109v), Prime (fol. 116v), Terce (119v), Sext (fol. 120v), None (fol. 121r) and Compline (fol. 122r). Added liturgical notes in a small contemporary (?) hand (e.g. fols. 87r, 89r). Text on fol. 96r and occasionally elsewhere (e.g. fol. 113r) is smudged (?), but restored.
Office of the Virgin, (‘Incipit ofitium beate virginis marie’), ending abruptly in a collect after the 3rd lesson owing to the loss of a quire.
[items 7–10, added in the second half of the 15th century, occupy quires XVIII–XX]
Offices for the Common of Saints, with up to 12 lessons, with a rubric added in a 16th-century (?) hand: ‘Offitium monasticum Ambrosianum’.
Canticles for the year (‘Dominicis diebus cantica’):
- (1) Domine miserere nostri te enim expectauimus esto brachium ... (Isaiah 33: 2–10);
- (2) Audite qui longe estis que fecerim dicit ... (Isaiah 33: 13–16);
- (3) Miserere domine plebi tue super quam inuocatum est nomen tuum ... (Sirach 36: 14–19);
- (4) Uos sancti domini uocabimini ministri dei nostri ... (Isaiah 61: 6–9);
- (5) Fulgebunt iusti et tanquam sintille in arundineto discurrent ... (Wisdom 3: 7–9);
- (6) Reddet deus mercedem laborum sanctorum suorum ... (Wisdom 10: 17–20);
- (7) Beatus uir qui in sapientia morabitur ... (Sirach 14: 22 and 15: 3–6);
- (8) Benedictus uir qui confidit in domino ... (Jeremiah 17: 7–8);
- (9) Beatus uir qui inuentus est sine macula ... (Sirach 31: 8–11);
- (10) Audite me diuini fructus ... (Sirach 39: 17–21);
- (11) Gaudens gaudebo in domino et exultabit anima mea ... (Isaiah 61: 10–62: 3);
- (12) Non uocaberis ultra derelicta ... (Isaiah 62: 4–7).
Order of the offices on Sundays (‘Incipit officium in dominicis diebus’).
Office of the Dead. Fols. 147–148 are ruled but blank.
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
Verticals ruled in plummet with single bounding lines extending the full height of page; horizontals are usually in pale ink; written below the top line; 29 lines per page; written space: c. 95 × 67 mm.
Hand(s)
Black and brown ink; humanistic-influenced Gothic script; the work of several scribes; smaller script used for antiphons.
Decoration
3-line red KL monograms in the calendar.
9-line historiated initials in gold frames, decorated with sprays of gold leaves, at the beginnings of Te deum, psalms and the Office of the Virgin.
- fol. 13r (initial T(e)) Half-figures of two nimbed bishops with crosiers, Augustine and Ambrose.
- fol. 14r (initial B(eatus)) Half-figure of King David playing psaltery.
- fol. 123v (initial D(eus)) Virgin and Child, half-length.
Gold initials, typically nine lines high, on blue, pink and green background, decorated with white vine stems, at the beginnings of psalms 17 (fol. 19v), 31 (fol. 26v), 41 (fol. 32v), 51 (fol. 37r), 61 (fol. 41), 71 (fol. 46v), 81 (fol. 53v), 91 (fol. 58v), 101 (fol. 62r), 109 (fol. 69r) and at the start of offices (fols. 86v, 97v).
5-line gold initials on burgundy, blue and red background, marking the beginnings of offices on fols. 100r–122r.
3-line plain red initials at the beginnings of psalms and sections of offices.
1-line plain red initials at the beginnings of verses and periods.
Guide-letters are often visible by the side of illuminated and plain red initials.
Rubrics in red ink.
Binding
16th century, c. 1559, Italian, Milan: pasteboards; covering of parchment, a reversed document; no decoration on covers or spine, except for an ink title centred near top of front cover in large formal gothic script by the owner of 1559, Franciscus Castellus of Milan Cathedral; sewn on three tanned leather cords; traces of two lost pairs of fore-edge ties of dark red textile, ends splayed out under the paste-downs; edges plain. 137–9 × 105 × c. 27–9 mm. (book closed).
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Made for use in Milan, at the end of the second quarter of the 15th century (?): liturgical evidence.
Adapted for monastic use in the second half of the 15th century through the addition of items 7–10 (see ‘Text’).
Milan Cathedral (?): autograph (?) of Franciscus Castellus, ordinarius of the Milan Cathedral, 1559, fol. 1r (‘Franciscus castellus mediolanensis ecclesie ordinarius est huius opusculi posessor M. D. lix’).
Luigi Bossi of Milan, c. 1790: bookplate on the upper pastedown.
Matteo Luigi Canonici of Venice (1727–c. 1806), but not from the libraries of Soranzo or Trevisan.
Bodleian Library: bought in 1817 from Canonici’s nephew Giovanni Perissinotti.
Record Sources
Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (1 image from 35mm slides)
Bibliography
Printed descriptions:
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2024-07: Encode full description from Solopova catalogue.