MS. Liturg. 153

Summary Catalogue no.: 30609

Former shelfmark: MS. Canon. Liturg. 153

Portable Secular Psalter; England, Diocese of Norwich, 15th century, first quarter (after 1415)

Fol. i is blank apart from early modern and modern notes.

[item 1 occupies quire I]

1. (fols. 1r–6v)

Calendar, laid out one month per page, written in brown and red, approximately half full, not graded. ‘Dedicacio ecclesie cathedralis norwicensis’ is in red on 24 September. Includes Augustine of Canterbury in red (26 May and 27 May), David and Chad (1 and 2 March), Felix of Dunwich (8 March), John of Beverley in red (7 May), Anne in red (26 July), Augustine in red (28 August), Winifred (3 November), Thomas Becket (29 December) and his translation (7 July) in red, Leonard (6 November). Additions and liturgical notes in 15th- and 16th-century hands, including Easter added at 30 March. Thomas Becket and the titles ‘pape’ are not defaced.

[items 2–5 occupy quires II–XVIII]

2. (fols. 7r–130r)

Psalms in the biblical order, laid out as prose, without titles, imperfect at the beginning, starting at 3: 13. Single leaves missing after fol. 60 (lacking 67: 22–68: 4) and fol. 74 (lacking 79: 3–80: 3). Punctuated throughout, with punctus used to mark the ends of verses and punctus elevatus used to mark metrum. There are textual divisions at psalms 26, 38, 52, 68, 80, 97 and 109 (the beginnings of psalms 68 and 80 are missing, but offsets of their decoration survive). Subdivisions within psalms are not indicated, apart from psalm 118, subdivided into eleven 16-verse units. Added (17th-century (?)) trefoil signs in the margins mark the starts of 8-verse units. Psalm 19 starts without a break after psalm 18 (fol. 19v). Corrections, marked by red crosses in the margins. Psalm numbers added in the margins in a 16th-century (?) hand.

3. (fol. 130r–130v)

Weekly canticles, without titles:

(1) Confitebor tibi domine (Isaiah 12);
(2) Ego dixi (Isaiah 38: 10–21), imperfect because of the loss of the final leaf of quire XVII and probably another quire; ending with ‘responde pro’.

4. (fols. 131r–133v)

Daily canticles, prayers and creeds, without titles: (1) Benedicite omnia opera (fol. 131r), imperfect at the beginning, starting at ‘nia azaria misael domino laudate ...’

(2) Benedictus dominus deus (fol. 131r);
(3) Magnificat (fol. 131v);
(4) Nunc dimittis (fol. 162r);
(5) Athanasian Creed (Quicumque uult ...) (fol. 132r).

5. (fols. 134r–137r)

Litany, including Augustine (fourth), Swithin and Birinus among the confessors, followed by collects or cues for collects (fols. 137r–138r):

(1) Deus cui proprium est misereri semper et parcere suscipe ...
(2) Omnipotens sempiterne deus qui facis mirabilia magna solus ...
(3) Deus qui caritatis dona per gratiam sancti spiritus tuorum cordibus fidelium infundis ...
(4) Deus a quo sancta desideria et recta sunt ...
(5) Ineffabilem misericordiam tuam nobis quesumus domine clementer ostende ut simul nos ...
(6) Fidelium deus omnium conditor et redemptor animabus omnium fidelium defunctorum ...
(7) Pietate tua quesumus domine nostrorum solue uincula omnium delictorum ...

Fol. 138v is ruled but blank.

[items 6–11 occupy quires XIX–XXI]

6. (fols. 139r–145r)

Office of the Dead, imperfect because of the loss of one leaf after fol. 139; responsories correspond to nos. 14, 72, 24, 32, 57, 28, 68, 90, 38 in Ottosen (1993).

7. (fols. 145r–146v)

Commendation of the Souls, beginning ‘Beati immaculati in via . . .’ (Psalm 118).

8. (fols. 146v–147v)

The Prayer on the Seven Last Words.

9. (fol. 148r–148v)

Daily hymns of the Little Hours written as prose, with alternating red and blue initials marking the beginning of stanzas:

Nunc sancte nobis spiritus (Chevalier, no. 12585);
Rector potens uerax deus (Chevalier, no. 17061);
Rerum deus tenax uigor (Chevalier, no. 17328).

10. (fols. 149r–150r)

Preces, different from those on fol. 137r, written without breaks, with alternating red and blue initials, marking the beginning of each. Fol. 150v is ruled but blank.

11. (fols. 151r–156v)

Fifteen O’s of St Bridget (‘O Domine iesu christe eterna dulcedo ...’) (ed. Wordsworth, 1920, pp. 76–80). Fols. 157r–158v are ruled but originally blank (see Provenance).

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: tende voci oracionis mee (psalter, fol. 8r)

Form: codex

Support: parchment

Extent: 159 leaves

Dimensions (leaf): c. 155 × 105 mm.

Foliation: modern, in pencil; i + 1–158.

Collation

(fol. i) fly-leaf conjoint with the upper pastedown | (1–6) I (6) | (fols. 7–13) II (8−1) missing 1 | (fols. 14–53) III–VII (8) | (fols. 54–60) VIII (8−1) missing 8 | (fols. 61–68) IX (8) | (fols. 69–75) X (8−1) missing 7 | (fols. 76–123) XI–XVI (8) | (fols. 124–130) XVII (8−1) missing 8 | [missing quire (?)] | (fols. 131–138) XVIII (8) | (fols. 139–145) XIX (8−1) missing 2 | (fols. (146–153) XX (8) | (fols. 154–158) XXI (6) the last leaf of the quire serves as the lower pastedown. Catchwords survive, not always matched by the first word on the next quire (on fols. 123v and 153v the first word on the next quire is the word which follows the catchword in the text); leaf signatures survive throughout, except in the calendar and quire XVI, in two series, the second beginning at fol. 139r, both beginning with a cross ‘+’ followed by a, b, etc.

Layout

Ruled in ink with single vertical and double horizontal bounding lines, extending the full height and width of page; written below the top line; 20 lines per page; prickings survive; written space: c. 92 × 56 mm.

Hand(s)

Formal Gothic book hand, black and brown ink.

Decoration

A change of style and palette from fol. 139r onwards.

Blue KL monograms with red penwork in the calendar.

6- to 7-line historiated initials (partly defaced) on gold background, and three-quarter or full (psalm 109) borders, decorated with foliage and gold discs, at liturgical divisions:

fol. 25r, Psalm 26 (initial D(ominus)), King David seated, pointing to his eyes.
fol. 37v, Psalm 38 (initial D(ixi)), King David seated, pointing to his mouth.
fol. 49v, Psalm 52 (initial D(ixit)), Fool with a bladder on a stick.
fol. 88r, Psalm 97 (initial C(antate)), Clerics singing from a book open on a lectern.
fol. 102v, Psalm 109 (initial D(ixit)), Seated Christ and God-the-Father.

Borders: see above.

4-line gold initials, decorated with floral sprays and gold discs, at the beginnings of the Office of the Dead and the Fifteen O’s.

3-line gold initial, decorated with floral sprays and gold discs, at the beginning of Commendation of the Souls (fol. 145r).

2-line blue initials with red penwork, occasionally incorporating an animal or human head (e.g. fols. 23v, 45v, 70r) at the beginnings of psalms, litany, canticles, prayers, sections of the Office of the Dead and the Fifteen O’s.

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

Rubrics in red ink.

Binding

Contemporary English binding; dark brown polished leather over wood boards. Blind fillet lines on both covers, forming rectangular borders with lattice design in the middle. Sewn on four slit thongs; four raised bands on spine. ‘153’ painted white on spine. Three holes on the edge of the upper cover, with traces of yellow and green fabric, and one hole in the middle of the lower cover, left by the fittings of a strapand- pin clasp (now lost).

History

Origin: 15th century, first quarter (after 1415) ; English, Diocese of Norwich

Provenance and Acquisition

Made for a lay patron in the diocese of Norwich after 1415 (?): the calendar is not graded, subdivision of psalm 118 is secular, and the calendar includes the dedication of Norwich Cathedral and saints promulgated after 1415 under Archbishop Chichele (Pfaff, 2009, pp. 438–41).

Nicholaus Millton (early 16th century), inscribed with his name four times (fol. 158v and lower pastedown).

‘George Clarke’, 16th century (fol. 157v).

John Harris (1607): ‘Hic Codex est meus Festis est Deus Si quis rogatur [Joh(ann)is inserted] Harris no(m)i(n)atur. Anno D(omi)ni. 1607. [Added: P(er) me Joh(ann)em Harris’] (fol. 157r).

‘shelf 6. 18’, 16th century (?) (fol. i recto).

‘5. || 3. || 6’ overwritten with ‘86 || 1’ in ink and ‘E’ in pencil (fol. i recto).

Bodleian Library; earlier shelfmark: ‘E codd. Bodl. Miscell Liturg. 153’ (fol. i verso).

Record Sources

Elizabeth Solopova, Latin Liturgical Psalters in the Bodleian Library: A Select Catalogue (Oxford, 2013), pp. 232–6. Previously described in the Summary Catalogue.

Summary Catalogue, Vol. 5, p. 850

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (13 images from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

Select bibliography to 2009:

Frere, no. 146.

Summary catalogue, vol. 5, no. 30609.

S. J. P. van Dijk, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. 2: Office Books (typescript, 1957), p. 62

Pächt and Alexander (1966–73), vol. 3, no. 848, pl. LXXXI.

Scott, K. L., ‘Limning and book-producing terms and signs in situ in late-medieval English manuscripts: a first listing’ in R. Beadle and A. J. Piper, New science out of old books: studies in manuscripts and early printed books in honour of A. I. Doyle (Aldershot: Scolar Press, 1995), pp. 142–88, at p. 166 n. 29.

Scott (1996), vol. 2, p. 75; Table I.

Scott (2000–02), vol. 2, no. 732.

Pfaff, R. W., The liturgy in medieval England: a history (Cambridge: CUP, 2009).

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2024-06: Encode full description from Solopova catalogue.

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