MS. Add. A. 188
Summary Catalogue no.: 29157
Lectionary/Missal; western Germany, 12th century, second quarter
Contents
In addition to the epistle and gospel readings of a Lectionary, there are the opening words with superscript musical notation for the introit, gradual, Alleluia versicle or tractus, offertory and sometimes also of the communion antiphon.
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, cites other Bodleian MSS. with this combination of letters, but not the present MS.): Matthew (fols. 54r–58v), Mark (fols. 60r–63v), Luke (fols. 64v–68r), and John (fols. 69v–72r).
The Exultet given in full, noted (fols. 72v–73v).
With the complete baptismal rite on Holy Saturday (fol. 75v–81v), ending with a short litany. Next to the rubric ‘Hic ponantur cerei ardentes in fontem & insuffletur in eundem fontem ad similitudinem huius figurę’ is a large marginal Greek letter psi: Ψ (fol. 80r).
The volume has been partly adapted into a noted missal by near-contemporary marginal additions from Easter to the 11th Sunday after Pentecost, but coloured initials and musical notation are often lacking (fols. 82v–117v).
The litany (fol. 81r-v) has Severinus (venerated at Cologne and elsewhere) second among the confessors, after Martin.
The feast of the Purification (2 February) with the blessing, lighting, and processing of the candles (fols. 138r–139v).
St Severinus’s 23 October feast appears at fol. 153r–v.
Miscellaneous additions:
Two Evangeliary readings on Marian themes, 13th-century: ‘In illo tempore. Stabat iuxta crucem Ihesu …’ (John 19:25–27); ‘In illo tempore. Factum est dum loqueretur Ihesus ad turbas …’ (Luke 11:27–28, for the eve of the Assumption, 14 August)
Ownership note, 13th-century, of St Mary and St James, Lahneck (see Provenance)
Old Testament reading, 15th-century: ‘Ab inicio et ante secula …’ (Ecclesiasticus 24:14–16, likely continuing the Marian theme)
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
Ruled in plummet for 28 lines; ruled space 195 × 115 mm.
Hand(s)
Proto-gothic bookhand, accented for reading aloud; the parts with music in smaller script.
Adiastematic German neums.
Decoration
One fine large foliate initial drawn in brown ink, embellished with red (fol. 1r).
Two-line initials in plain red.
Binding
17th-century German binding. Sewn on three bands laced into wood (beech?) boards, covered with red leather, the back cover formerly with corner-pieces and a large centre-piece and clasp fittings (all now missing), the front cover with simple blind fillets; the spine with lozenge-shaped gilt ornaments; the edges of the leaves gilt. Extensively repaired.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Regular canons of St Mary and St James, Lonnig (west of Koblenz), transferred in 1326 to the regular canons of Mayen (west of Koblenz); with 15th century inscription: ‘Notum sit omnibus presens scriptum visuris in perpetuum quod iste liber est ecclesie sancte Marie virginis sanctique Iacobi apostoli Lůneche quem si quis furto detraxerit aut in vadio exposuerit …’, and in a 17th(?)-century hand, ‘1326. Hic liber cum caeteri Maioniam [Mayen] translatus sub Baldewino archiepiscopo.’(fol.167v)
Thomas Boone, London bookseller, with his price-code in pencil (fol. 168r, upper left corner); bought by the Bodleian on 29 October 1879 for £10. Former Bodleian shelfmarks: ‘MSS. Bodl. Addit. A. 188’ (fol. iir).
MS. Add. A. 188 – lifted pastedowns (fols. i, 168)
Contents
Gregory IX, Decretals, with the glossa ordinaria of Bernard of Parma: fragment (first leaf)
The first few lines cropped at the top of the leaf, and further lines cropped at the lower edge.
Physical Description
Layout
Main text in two narrow columns, surrounded by the gloss on all sides; the number of lines not readily apparent due to cropping at top, bottom, and across the middle.
Hand(s)
Southern Gothic textualis (Bononiensis)
Decoration
Closely related to Vienna, ÖNB, Cod. 2063 and a large group of other MSS. (Pächt and Alexander ii, no. 122)
(miniature, fol. i verso) An enthroned pope (Gregory IX?), with a prostrate bishop touching his feet; another bishop, two tonsured clerics, and two others, stand behind. To the right, a teacher seated with a book on his desk; in front of him students seated on benches at desks with open books, two tonsured. Below is a wide shallow panel with two bishops and a lawyer, flanked by two tonsured scribes writing at desks.
(fol. 168r) (fol. 168r) Historiated initial ‘R(ex pacificus)’ with a half-figure of a young man with his hand to his face.
(fol. 168r, borders): The Creation of light & dark, heaven & earth, etc.?: Christ holds a gold platter-like disk with concentric circles and areas of highlight and shade, flanked by two prophets, in a landscape; below is the Creation of Animals(?): Christ holding and blessing(?) two birds held on his hand.
History
Additional Information
Record Sources
Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)
Digital Bodleian (1 image from 35mm slides)
Bibliography
Online resources:
Bodleian Library catalogues:
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2021-07-19: Corrected transcription and identification of 'Lůneche' in ex libris, fol. 167v.