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MS. Canon. Liturg. 393

Summary Catalogue no.: 19474

Psalter in Latin and French; Italy or Southern France (?), 13th century, end

Contents

Fols. i, iii are paper fly-leaves and fol. ii is a strip of paper pasted to fol. iii recto, all containing early modern and modern notes (see ‘Provenance’).

[item 1 occupies quire I]

1. (fols. 1–7v)

Summary of Christian faith and practice in passages alternately in Latin and French.

Incipit: Nos debemus scire quare et omnes debemus esse filii dei. et ad hoc ut nos simus [or sumis] filii dei quod orportet nos quatuor habeamus
Incipit: Nous deuons sauoir que nos deuons estre tout fils de deu et acen que nous sonnes fil de deu couint que nos quarte chose aions
Explicit: Tertii sunt miserrimi qui sciunt et nolunt operari
Explicit: Sachies certainemant que ceste est sainte et dere et pure et uiue et saine

[item 2 occupies quire II]

2. (fols. 8r–13v)

Calendar, laid out one month per page, written in brown and red, approximately two-thirds full, not graded, with the names of the months in French. Contains feasts characteristic of the Mosan region and Liège (the calendar of the Mosan region and a list of local feasts of the Mosan region and Liège are published by Oliver, 1988, Appendix 1): Amandus of Maastricht (5 February), Gertrude of Nivelles (17 March), Remacle of Tongres in red (3 September), Lambert of Liège in red (17 September, ‘lambertus episcopus & martyr Leodij’) and Hubert of Liège in red (3 November). Also includes Lucian of Beauvais (8 January), Taurinus of Evreux (11 August), Philibert of Tournus (20 August), Francis (4 October), Denis in red (9 October), Eleven Thousand Martyrs of Cologne (21 October), Melor (22 October), Leonard of Limousin (6 November), Edmund (‘Famundi’, 20 November) and Saturninus of Toulouse (29 November). The following feasts are added in 15th-century hands: Anthony of Padua (13 June), Eligius (‘aloy’, 25 June), Dominic (‘martyr’; 5 August), Donatus (of Muenstereifel (?), 7 August) and Elizabeth of Hungary (19 November).

[items 3–8 occupy quires III–XXVII]

3. (fols. 14r–v)

Sentences of the Fathers in French (misbound leaf).

Incipit: Sains augustis dist quant li mauais mourt il ne fine pas quar il mourt sans fien en uiuant
Explicit: Et dist que religions est une uertus qui donner et aporte coraige de deu amer
4. (fols. 15r–193v)

Psalms 1–150 in the biblical order, in Latin and French (alternating verses), laid out in two columns, written as prose, without titles, with numbers in red Roman numerals for psalms 2–3. The numbers of other psalms are added in brown ink in Roman numerals (15th century (?)). Punctuated throughout, with punctus used to mark the ends of verses and punctus elevatus used to mark metrum and minor pauses.

There are textual divisions at psalms 26, 38, 52, 68, 80, 97 and 109 (see ‘Decoration’).

Subdivisions within psalms are not indicated, apart from psalm 118, subdivided into twenty-two 8-verse units. Notes in French (fol. 25v) and Latin (40v, 66r, 81r, 91r, 113r, etc.) on the recitation of psalms, added in the margins in a 15th-century hand.

5. (fols. 193v–203v)

Weekly canticles in Latin and French, without titles, with added numbers in Roman numerals continuing the numbering of psalms, laid out with Latin verses alternating with French verses:

  • (1) Confitebor tibi domine (Isaiah 12) and Sire ie moi confesserai a toi (Sonet, 1956, no. 2032);
  • (2) Ego dixi (Isaiah 38: 10–21) and Je dis emileu de mes iors (Sinclair, 1979, no. 2993);
  • (3) Exultauit cor meum (1 Samuel 2: 1–11) and Mon cuer sesleecha en nostre saignour (Sinclair, 1979, no. 3192);
  • (4) Cantemus domino (Exodus 15: 1–20) and Chanton a nostre saignour (Sinclair, 1979, no. 2631);
  • (5) Domine audiui (Habakkuk 3) and Sire ie ou ta uois et cremi (Sinclair, 1979, no. 3700);
  • (6) Audite celi (Deuteronomy 32: 1–44) and Les chieus oies les choses que ie parolle (Sinclair, 1979, no. 3700).

6. (fols. 203v–211r)

Daily canticles, prayers and creeds, in Latin and French, without titles, written with Latin verses alternating with French verses:

  • (1) Te deum laudamus (fol. 203v) and Nous loion toi deu (Sinclair, 1979, no. 3237);
  • (2) Benedicite omnia opera (fol. 205r) and Toutes les oures nostre saignour dites (Sinclair, 1979, no. 3788);
  • (3) Benedictus dominus deus (fol. 206r) and Nostre sire deu disrael (Sonet, 1956, no. 1261);
  • (4) Magnificat (fol. 207r) and Mon ame magnifie ou loie nostre saigneur (Sonet, 1956, no. 1144);
  • (5) Nunc dimittis (fol. 207v) and Sire or laisse en pais ton serf (Sinclair, 1979, no. 3740);
  • (6) Ave maria (fol. 207v) and Deus toi saut maria pleine de grasce (Sinclair, 1982, no. 4255);
  • (7) Pater noster (fol. 208r) and Nostre peres qui es el chiel ((Sinclair, 1982, no. 3225);
  • (8) Apostles’ Creed (Credo in deum ... ) (fol. 208r) and Je croi en deu le pere (Sinclair, 1982, no. 2984);
  • (9) Athanasian Creed (Quicumque uult ...) (fol. 208v) and Quicunques ueut estre sauf deuant toutes choses (Sinclair, 1982, no. 3530).
Ave maria is followed by the Latin alphabet, including variant forms of letters d, g, r and s, followed by Tironian ‘et’ and two other abbreviations (fol. 208r).

7. (fols. 211r–213v)

Litany, including saints venerated in Liège, such as Lambert among the martyrs; Servatius, Remacle, Hubert, Mengoldus, Domitian and Amand among the pontifices; Libertus (of St-Trond (?)) among the confessors; and Gertrude among the virgins. Also includes Saturninus (of Toulouse (?)), Antoninus, Firminus (of Amiens (?)), Genesius (of Arles (?)), Adalbert (of Madgeburg (?)), Antropus, Edmund and Nicasius (of Rouen (?)) among the martyrs; Macarius, Martial (of Limoges (?)), Robert, Dominic, Francis, Antony (of Padua (?)), Asper and Medard (of Noyon (?)) among the pontifices; and Oda, Aldegundis, Clare (of Assisi (?)) and Genofeva among the virgins. The litany is followed by collects, the fifth for St Bartholomew (fol. 213v):

  • (1) Deus a quo sancta desideria recta consilia et iusta sunt ...
  • (2) Deus cui proprium est misereri semper et parcere suscipe ...
  • (3) Omnes sancti quesumus domine nos hic et ubique letificet ut dum eorum merita ...
  • (4) Fidelium deus omnium conditor et redemptor animabus famulorum famularumque tuarum remissionem ...
  • (5) Omnipotens sempiterne deus qui huius diei uenerandam sanctamque letitiam in beati apostoli tui bartholomei ...
  • (6) Ure igne sancti spiritus renes nostros ...

8. (fol. 214r)

Liturgical additions in Latin in 14th-century hands or hand (writing in two different styles) on fol. 214r, including antiphon ‘Omne quod dat michi pater ad me ueniet ...’, words of the Absolution (‘Non intres in iudicium cum seruo tuo ...’), versicles and responses from Ordo commendationis animae (‘Propitius esto parce ei domine ...’) and prayer ‘Deus cui omnia uiuunt et cui non pereunt moriendo corpora nostra sed mutantur in melius te supplices deprecamur ut quiquid animabus famulorum tuorum uitiorum ...’. Fol. 214v is blank.

[items 9–10 occupy quires XXVIII–XXX]

9. (fols. 215r–224v)

Dominican Office of the Dead (Ottosen, 1993) in Latin with most rubrics in French (‘Ici comencet les uespre des mors & tout lautre offisse’).

10. (fols. 224v–236av)

Sentences of the Fathers in French.

Rubric: Ici comencent auctorites
Incipit: Sains ysodores dist que tout ausi que toutes uolentes charnees sont restraintes par abstinenence. ausi toutes uertus del ame sont destruites par le uisce destre vsous
Explicit: Ienecces [Senecces (?)] dist que cil quicon uoite estre rices il est mis en nombre o les riches

[items 11–12 occupy quires XXXI–XXXIII]

11. (fols. 237r–256v)

Full-page miniatures with rubrics in French (see ‘Decoration’). Fol. 236b, an added leaf, is blank, except for pen trials.

12. (fol. 257r–v)

Sentences of the Fathers in French.

Incipit: Le promir mestir de religion est que l’en soi repente des pechies. que l’en a fait qui bien soi ueut repentir il li couint toute conuoitise geter hors et refraindre tous fous corages par diuerses soufrances
Explicit: Saint Gregore dist que l’omme religious ne doit pas estre usous ou sains labour quar le dyable le gaite tous iours por li metre en temptation

Fols. 258–259 are paper fly-leaves, blank apart from modern notes.

Language(s): Latin and Old French

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: pisces rem proximi tui (summary of Christian faith, fol. 2r)
Form: codex
Support: parchment, prepared in the southern manner; paper fly-leaves
Extent: 263 leaves
Dimensions (leaf): c. 219 × 156 mm.
Leaves were trimmed in rebinding, occasionally causing the loss of text and decoration.
Foliation: modern, in pencil; i–iii + 1–236a + 236b + 237–59.

Collation

fol. i is a fly-leaf conjoint with the upper pastedown; fol. iii is a paper fly-leaf; fol. ii is a strip of paper pasted to fol. iii | (fols. 1–7) I (8−1) missing 8 (?) | (fols. 8–13) II (6) | (fols. 14–22) III (8+1) fol. 14 is a misbound singleton | (fols. 23–62) IV–VIII (8) | (fols. 63–70) IX (8) 2 and 7 are singletons | (fols. 71–214) X–XXVII (8) | (fols. 215–222) XXVIII (8) | (fols. 223–228) XXIX (6) | (fols. 229–236a) XXX (8) | (fols. 236b–243) XXXI (8−1) fol. 236b is a replacement | (fols. 244–249) XXXII (6) | (fols. 250–257) XXXIII (8) | (fols. 258–259) fol. 258 is a paper fly-leaf with a photograph pasted on the verso; fol. 259 is a paper fly-leaf conjoint with the lower pastedown. Catchwords survive on fols. 94v, 142v and 158v

Layout

Ruled in plummet for two columns, with single vertical bounding lines for each column extending the full height of page; 26 lines per page; prickings often survive; written below the top line; written space: c. 154 × 123 mm.

Hand(s)

Formal southern French (?) book hand; brown and black ink.

Decoration

Illumination includes historiated initials and a cycle of forty miniatures illustrating the Old (the first six) and New Testament narratives (the rest). The initials are in black ink with red, blue, yellow and white wash, and the miniatures are in black ink with an occasional use of red, in a style reminiscent of Romanesque painting (a copy of an earlier Italian exemplar (?)). The miniatures and initials are probably by the same artist, as suggested by similarities in the execution of facial features and hair (e.g. Christ in the initial on fol. 153v and on fol. 238r; profile heads on fols. 215r and 238v), body (e.g. kneeling King David in the initial on fol. 153v and Christ on fol. 250r), furniture (e.g. stool on fols. 153v and 250r), drapery, rectangular crowns (fols. 153v and 241r), books (fols. 15r and 239r) and decoration of Christ’s nimbus. The rubrics which accompany the miniatures are in the same hand as the rubrics elsewhere in the manuscript.

Red and blue penwork KL monograms in the calendar.

Miniatures (fols. 237r–256v):

  • the creation of Eve (fol. 237r)
  • Adam and Eve in Paradise (fol. 237v)
  • Adam and Eve cast out of Paradise (fol. 238r)
  • the building of Noah’s Ark (fol. 238v)
  • Jacob, Abraham and Isaac, seated, holding books (fol. 239r)
  • Prophets who prophesied the coming of Christ (fol. 239v)
  • Annunciation (fol. 240r)
  • Nativity (fol. 240v)
  • Herod speaking to three kings (fol. 241r)
  • three kings kneeling before the Virgin and Child (fol. 241v)
  • Massacre of the Innocents (fol. 242r)
  • Baptism of Christ (fol. 242v)
  • Presentation in the Temple (fol. 243r)
  • the Finding of Christ among the Doctors (fol. 243v)
  • the Wedding at Cana (fol. 244r)
  • Christ, standing on the shore with another disciple, speaking to Sts Peter and Andrew in a boat on the sea (fol. 244v)
  • Christ speaking to Zacchaeus in the sycamore (fol. 245r)
  • Christ and the woman taken in adultery (fol. 245v)
  • Mary Magdalene drying Christ’s feet with her hair (fol. 246r)
  • Christ healing ten lepers (fol. 246v)
  • the resurrection of Lazarus (fol. 247r)
  • the temptation of Christ (fol. 247v)
  • the entry into Jerusalem (fol. 248r)
  • Christ preaching in Jerusalem (fol. 248v)
  • the Last Supper (fol. 249r)
  • Christ washing the feet of the disciples (fol. 249v)
  • Christ praying in the Garden of Gethsemane (fol. 250r)
  • the Betrayal (fol. 250v)
  • Flagellation (fol. 251r)
  • Christ carrying the Cross (fol. 251v)
  • Crucifixion (fol. 252r)
  • Descent from the Cross (fol. 252v)
  • Entombment (fol. 253r)
  • the Harrowing of Hell (fol. 253v)
  • Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene (fol. 254r)
  • Christ appearing to two disciples travelling to Emmaus (fol. 254v)
  • Christ appearing to the apostles (fol. 255r)
  • Christ and St Thomas (fol. 255v)
  • Christ instructing the apostles (fol. 256r)
  • Ascension (fol. 256v).

Historiated initials at liturgical divisions and the beginnings of texts. The cycle is different from the Liège cycle (see Oliver, 1988, vol. 1, pp. 51–77), but there are some similarities, e.g. the depiction of the psalmist, pointing to his eyes, and standing next to Christ in psalm 26, and possibly a reference to mass in the illustration of psalm 97.

  • fol. 1r Summary of Christian faith (initial N(os)), Approximately 12-line initial with a bearded saint, addressing a crowd of people, and pointing up at Christ, seated, holding a scroll.
  • fol. 15r, Psalm 1 (initial B(eatus)), 13-line initial infilled with nimbed King David (?), kneeling (?) before a seated man; seated Christ above, holding a book.
  • fol. 42v, Psalm 26 (initial D(ominus)), 7-line initial with standing Christ, holding a book, and a young man in a short tunic, pointing to his eyes.
  • fol. 61r, Psalm 38 (initial D(ixi)), 7-line initial with a man kneeling before Christ, who holds a book.
  • fol. 77v, Psalm 52 (initial D(ixit)), 7-line initial with the Fool, as a bearded man in a short tunic, speaking to standing Christ.
  • fol. 94r, Psalm 68 (initial S(aluum)), 8-line initial with nimbed kneeling King David with outstretched hands in the lower part of the initial, and seated Christ, holding a book, in the upper part of the initial.
  • fol. 115v, Psalm 80 (initial E(xultate)), 7-line initial with nimbed King David, kneeling with outstretched hands in the lower part, and half-figure of Christ, holding a book, in the upper part.
  • fol. 134r, Psalm 97 (initial C(antate)), 7-line initial with a man holding a chalice (?) and a book, kneeling before seated Christ.
  • fol. 153v, Psalm 109 (initial D(ixit)), 7-line initial with nimbed King David kneeling before Christ.
  • fol. 215r, Office of the Dead (initial D(ilexi)), 6-line initial with a male and a female mourner, standing next to a bier with a body.

One 7-line initial with penwork flourishing at the first weekly canticle (fol. 193v), and simpler 3-line initials at the 4th and 5th collects (fol. 213v).

2-line red and blue initials, plain, or decorated with penwork, at the beginnings of psalms, canticles and prayers.

1-line plain red and blue initials at the beginnings of periods and verses.

Rubrics in red ink; guide-letters for the rubricator often survive.

Binding

Soranzo’s binding: parchment over pasteboard; small stiff flaps on the fore-edges of covers. ‘393’ written in black ink on spine. Brown leather label on spine, framed with gilt arabesque decorations, with gilt lettering ‘PSALT. SEU BREV || AD USUM GALLIC. || ET VITA CHRISTI || DELINEATA || COD. MEMB.’. Sewn on four cords. Pastedowns and fly-leaves of paper with brown, blue and yellow floral designs (carta bassanese). Fragment of a printed text used under upper pastedown.

History

Origin: 13th century, end ; Italy (?) or Southern France (?)

Provenance and Acquisition

Made in Italy or southern France for use of Liège (?). The calendar and litany appear to have been copied from a Liège original; a mixture of Latin and French suggests a French exemplar and scribe, though the dialect is not that of Liège (Wallon), but the standard literary language of the period (Franco-Picard scripta). The miniatures may be based on an earlier Italian exemplar and the parchment is prepared in the southern manner. St Bartholomew is in red in the calendar, and the litany is followed by a collect in his honour. The litany and the calendar include Dominican and Franciscan saints, and the Office of the Dead is of Dominican use. The psalter was probably made for a lay patron as suggested by the absence of grading in the calendar, the presence of elementary prayers, such as Pater noster and Ave Maria, of the Latin alphabet, texts explaining the basics of Christian doctrine and the use of the vernacular (including rubrics for miniatures).

‘Lodouiqu’ on fol. 236av in a near-contemporary hand in red ink.

15th-century additions of Franciscan saints in the calendar; the addition of St Eligius of Noyon with a French form of his name.

15th-century notes on the recitation of psalms in Latin and French.

A strip of paper pasted to fol. iii recto with a short description of the manuscript: ‘Psalterium. Codex membran. in 4o saec. circ. xiv. Continet praeviam Decalogi expositionem lingua Gallica; post Psalterium orationes variae ad privatum usum; et 40. icones, quae mysteria exhibent Veteris et Novi Testamenti’. The description is in an Italian, 18th-century (?) hand, but not the hand of Canonici or any of the earlier owners and librarians whose handwriting is illustrated in Mitchell (1969). Similar descriptions in the same hand are also found in MS. Canon. Bibl. Lat. 42, MS. Canon. Bibl. Lat. 85, MS. Canon. Pat. Lat. 88, MS. Add. D. 47, MS. Canon. Liturg. 105, MS. Canon. Liturg. 155, MS. Canon. Liturg. 377.

Jacopo Soranzo (1686–1761): binding; ‘Breviarium, seu Psalterium ad usum Gallicum’ written by Soranzo’s librarian Francesco Melchiori on fol. iii recto. After Soranzo’s death by about 1780 at Cá Cornèr at San Maurizio, Venice (Mitchell, 1969).

Matteo Luigi Canonici of Venice (1727–c. 1806): bought soon after 1780.

Bodleian Library: bought in 1817 from Canonici’s nephew Giovanni Perissinotti. Earlier shelfmark in pencil: ‘Miscel. Liturg. 393’ (fol. iii recto and verso).

Record Sources

Elizabeth Solopova, Latin Liturgical Psalters in the Bodleian Library: A Select Catalogue (Oxford, 2013), pp. 461–8. Previously described in the Summary Catalogue.
Summary Catalogue, vol. 4, p. 398

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (7 images from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

    Online resources:

    JONAS: Répertoire des textes et des manuscrits médiévaux d'oc et d'oïl

    Select bibliography:

    Summary catalogue, vol. 4, no. 19474.
    Frere, no. 465.
    Sonet, J., Répertoire d’incipit de prières en ancien français (Genève: E. Droz, 1956).
    S. J. P. van Dijk, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. 2: Office Books (typescript, 1957), p. 96b
    Pächt and Alexander (1966–73), vol. 2, no. 1051, pl. LXXXV.
    Sinclair, K. V., French devotional texts of the Middle Ages: a bibliographic manuscript guide (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1979) and First Supplement (1982).
    Oliver, J. H., ‘Medieval alphabet soup: reconstruction of a Mosan psalter-hours in Philadelphia and Oxford and the cult of St Catherine’, Gesta 24/2 (1985), pp. 129–40.
    Unger, R. W., The art of medieval technology: images of Noah the shipbuilder (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1991), fig. 20.
    Ottosen (1993), pp. xxiv, 108.

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2024-06: Encode full description from Solopova catalogue.