MS. Canon. Liturg. 49

Summary Catalogue no.: 19249

Portable Psalter and Hours, Bridgettine Use, in Latin and Italian; Italy, Florence (?), 15th century

Fol. i is a blank parchment fly-leaf.

[item 1 occupies quire I]

1. (fols. 1–12v)

Order of services for an Italian Bridgettine house (‘Incipit ordo cantus et lecture sororum ordinis sancti saluatoris in horis diurnis et nocturnis impermutabiliter obseruandus. Primo igitur sciendum est quod totus cantus ipsis sororibus ex precepto carissime matris nostre sancte brigide ...’); for other copies see Ker (1969–2002). Rubric mentioning Vadstena Abbey on fol. 12r (‘Hec sunt festa que sorores in monasterio vatzstenensi habent pro sumis festiuitatibus’), followed by a list of feasts. A list of procession days in Italian on fol. 12v (‘Delle processioni’), imperfect at the end because of the loss of a leaf.

[items 2–7 occupy quires II–XXXIII]

2. (fols. 13r–184r)

Psalms [1]–150, imperfect at the beginning, starting at 2: 8. The psalms are in the biblical order, laid out with each verse beginning on a new line. Punctuated throughout, with punctus used to mark the ends of verses, punctus elevatus used to mark metrum, and punctus or punctus elevatus used to mark minor pauses. Most psalms up to fol. 55r have short titles which do not correspond to any of Salmon’s series (1959), such as ‘x. infinem psalmus david’ (psalm 10, fol. 21r) or ‘xv psalmus inscriptio tituli ipsi david .’ (psalm 15, fol. 24r). After fol. 55r the titles are not filled in. Psalm numbers in Roman numerals in the original hand form part of the titles. Numbers in Arabic numerals are added in margins throughout in a post-medieval hand. Subdivisions within psalms are not indicated, apart from psalm 118, subdivided into twenty-two 8-verse units. The following text is missing owing to the loss of leaves:

– one leaf missing after fol. 56 (missing text 37: 22–38: 12);
– one leaf missing after fol. 72 (missing text 51: 11–53: 4);
– one leaf missing after fol. 88 (missing text 68: 1–13);
– one leaf missing after fol. 107 (missing text 79: 16–80: 12);
– one leaf missing after fol. 124 (missing text 96: 4–97: 6);
– one leaf missing after fol. 143 (missing text 108: 21–109: 3).

Missing leaves contained decorated initials at the beginning of psalms 38, 52, 68, 80, 97 and 109; the only surviving larger initial is at psalm 26 (see ‘Decoration’).

3. (fols. 184r–194v)

Canticles, with spaces left for titles; titles added in a post-medieval hand which also added psalm numbers and foliation:

(1) Confitebor tibi domine (Isaiah 12) (‘Canticum isaie Prophete’);
(2) Ego dixi (Isaiah 38: 10–21) (‘Canticum Ezechie’);
(3) Exultauit cor meum (1 Samuel 2: 1–11) (‘Canticum Anne’);
(4) Cantemus domino (Exodus 15: 1–20) (‘Canticum Moisi’);
(5) Domine audiui (Habakkuk 3) (‘Canticum Habacuc’);
(6) Audite celi (Deuteronomy 32: 1–44) (‘Canticum Moysi’).

4. (fols. 194v–203r)

Canticles, prayers and creeds, some with titles added in a postmedieval hand:

(1) Te deum laudamus (fol. 194v);
(2) Benedicite omnia opera (‘Canticum trium Puerorum’) (fol. 196r);
(3) Magnificat (‘Canticum B. M. V.’) (fol. 197r);
(4) Benedictus dominus deus (‘Canticum Zacharie’) (fol. 197v);
(5) Nunc dimittis (‘Canticum Simeonis’) (fol. 198v);
(6) Gloria in excelsis (fol. 198v);
(7) Pater noster (fol. 199r);
(8) Apostles’ Creed (Credo in deum ... ) (fol. 199v);
(9) Nicene Creed (Credo in unum deum ... ) (fol. 200r);
(10) Athanasian Creed (Quicumque uult ... ) (‘Simbolum Sancti Athanasii’) (fol. 200v).

5. (fols. 203v–207v)

Litany, including saints venerated in Tuscany and Florence: Romulus and Minias among the martyrs; Syrus, Geminianus, Zenobius, Cerbonius and Salvius among the confessors; and Reparata among the virgins. Followed by collects (fols. 206v–207v), the first using masculine grammatical forms:

(1) Liberator animarum et mundi redemptor iesu christe domine deus ... ego peccator ...
(2) Adoro te domine iesu christe in cruce ascendentem ...
(3) Deus mitissime deus iuste inuisibilis patre ...

6. (fols. 208r–324v)

Weekly office, imperfect at the beginning because of the loss of a leaf before fol. 208 (offsets of decoration on fol. 207v), with invitatoria, psalms, hymns, antiphons, versicles, responses and three readings (preceded by long rubrics) for each day of the week, with Benedicamus (fol. 319r) followed by variations for greater feasts.

[items 7–8 occupy quire XXXIV]

7. (fol. 325r–v)

Prologue of St John’s Gospel, 1–15 (‘di tuti i sancti || Initium sancti euangelii secundum iohannem’).

8. (fols. 325v–326r)

Short prayer with rubric ‘Oratione facta per lo deuoto doctore sancto bernardo. la quale papa giohanni. xxoiio. decte di indulgentia adogni pesona per ogni uolta quaranta di . oratio.’, beginning ‘O Domina glorie. O regina letitie. Fons pietatis et misericordie ...’.

Fols. 326v–327v and the lower pastedown are ruled but blank.

Language(s): Latin and Italian

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: manus tui filij (Ordo cantus, fol. 2r)

Form: codex

Support: parchment

Extent: 328 leaves

Dimensions (leaf): c. 164 × 113 mm.

Leaves were trimmed in rebinding, occasionally causing the loss of decoration.

Foliation: Modern, in pencil throughout: i + 1–327; post-medieval in ink (in the hand that added psalm numbers and titles of canticles) in the section comprising psalms, canticles and litany.

Collation

Layout

Ruled in pale ink with single vertical bounding lines extending the full height of page; 17 lines per page; written below the top line; written space: c. 96 × 73 mm. ; a single pricking is in the outer margin below the bottom ruled line and at regular intervals in the gutter margin, probably indicating the use of a ruling-frame.

Hand(s)

Gothic book hand, black ink.

Decoration

2-line blue initial on gold background, decorated with sprays of leaves and gold discs, at the beginning of psalm 26 (fol. 39r).

2-line alternating red and blue initials, decorated with contrasting purple or red penwork, at the beginnings of psalms and sections of psalm 118, canticles, litany, prayers and sections of the office.

1-line plain alternating red and blue initials at the beginnings of verses and periods (guide-letters often visible).

Rubrics in red ink.

Binding

16th century, Italian: thin wood boards; polished dark red leather of fine quality, gilt-tooled with lines, stamps, and Latin mottoes in capitals from Song of Songs 2.5, ‘Fulcite me floribus …’ (front) and 2.2, ‘Sicut lilium inter spinas …’ (back), each ending with monogrammed letters ‘[.S.] MAF . ND.’; gilt oval centrepieces, the one at the back painted with a chequered pattern (armorial?); gilt edges; spine with gilt lines and a single tool in each panel; two clasps, one strap surviving, of matching leather tooled with gilt lines. Rebacked, original spine re-laid, 20th century, Bodleian. 169–170 × 115 × c. 45 mm. (book closed).

History

Origin: 15th century ; Italian, Florence (?)

Provenance and Acquisition

Made in Italy for a Bridgettine house, possibly Il Paradiso (San Salvatore) outside Florence: Florentine saints on the litany.

‘Questo libro e del Abbate Colauacci’ (the last two words erased), 17th or 18th century, fol. 12v. Possibly the hand which added foliation in ink, psalm numbers and the titles of canticles. The leaves containing psalm initials were removed after the foliation in ink was added.

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. Earlier shelfmarks: ‘Bibl. Bodl. Liturgy. Miscell. xljx’ (upper pastedown) and ‘(49)’ (fol. i recto).

Record Sources

Elizabeth Solopova, Latin Liturgical Psalters in the Bodleian Library: A Select Catalogue (Oxford, 2013), pp. 603–7. Binding: B. C. Barker-Benfield, Bookbindings of Canonici manuscripts : a survey of early and non-standard bindings, mostly Italian, in the Canonici collection of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford (Oxford, privately printed, 2020). Previously described in the Summary Catalogue.

Summary Catalogue, vol. 4, p. 338

Summary Catalogue, vol. 4, p. 339

Bibliography

Printed descriptions:

Summary catalogue, vol. 4, no. 19249.

Legg, J. W., The processional of the nuns of Chester, Henry Bradshaw Society 18 (London: Harrison and Sons, 1899), p. vi.

Frere, no. 136.

S. J. P. van Dijk, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. 2: Office Books (typescript, 1957), p. 36b, 37

Ker (1969–2002), vol. 3. p. 6.

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2024-05: Encode full description from Solopova catalogue.

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