MS. Liturg. 396
Summary Catalogue no.: 30619
Former shelfmark: MS. Canon. Liturg. 396
Psalter; Flanders, Bruges (?), 13th century, middle or third quarter; one late 13th-century miniature
Contents
[item 1 occupies quire I]
Calendar (published and compared with calendars of other psalters from the Bruges–Ghent area by Carlvant, 1978, pp. 485–508), laid out one month per page, approximately one-third full, not graded, vigils included from June to December. The calendar contains Donatianus (14 October), patron saint of an important parish and collegiate church in Bruges, which in early modern times served as a cathedral of the archdiocese of Bruges, and Boniface (5 June), patron of a church in Bruges. Other feasts may indicate the patron’s connection with Ghent, particularly with the Benedictine monastery of St Bavo: Benedict (21 March) and his translation (11 July), Landoaldus (19 March), Macarius of Ghent (9 May, elevation) and Bavo of Ghent (1 October; ‘bauonis’ is written in a slightly larger script). The monastery preserved the relics of Landoaldus, Macarius and Bavo. The last page of the calendar (December) is in a different, but contemporary, hand, in paler brown ink. Unlike the rest of the calendar, the November and December leaf is not pricked in the lower margin. Its text in red and blue is in the same hand and the decoration is by the same artist as elsewhere in the calendar. The December page may have been copied from a different exemplar: it is fuller than other months and has an octave of Andrew (7 December) (octaves are not included elsewhere). December feasts include Eulalia (10), ‘Martus presbyter’ (15), Lazarus (17), Rufus (18) and Victoria (23), the last rare in contemporary calendars from Bruges and Ghent (see Carlvant, 1978, p. 507). The hand of the December page also added octaves of Stephen, John the Evangelist and the Holy Innocents in January, Bertin on 5 September, and vigils for some feasts. ‘locus bisextus’ is added on 24 February (fol. 1v) in a 15th-century hand, followed by an explanation in Netherlandish: ‘locus bissexti bissext es dat men heut tue daghe op de lettre van zente mathis daghe ende bissext gheualt alse men de iare van ons heren ghebornessen mach delen in viren eueneffene’ (‘bissext is that there are two days on the letter of Saint Matthew’s day and bissext falls when the year of our Lord’s birth can be divided equally into four parts’). There is another note by the same hand in March, about the calculation of the date of Easter: ‘Wi selen nemen de niuwe mane nar de nonen van marte ende tellen tote . xiiii . ende derste zondach die comp nar die xiiii dat es pacshdach’ (‘We must take the new moon after the Nones of March and count to the 14th (day) and the first Sunday which comes after the 14th (day) that is Easter day’). The letter ‘d’ marking the ‘Egyptian’ days is also added in darker ink, possibly by the same 15th-century hand. The calendar includes the ‘aparicio . s . marci euangieliste’ [sic] on 25 June, and ‘vigilia’ for the feast of Peter and Paul (29 June) added in a post-medieval, 16th-century (?), probably Italian hand (see ‘Provenance’).
[item 2 occupies quire II]
Miniatures, painted on the versos with the rectos left blank (see ‘Decoration’).
[items 3–7 occupy quires III–XX]
Psalms 1–150, laid out with each verse starting on a new line, without titles, with numbers added in the margins in a late medieval or post-medieval hand. The psalms are in the biblical order; the subdivisions within psalms are not indicated, apart from psalm 118, subdivided into twenty-two 8-verse units. Psalms 17 and 73 follow the preceding psalms without a break or larger initial (fols. 25v and 80r). Punctuated throughout with punctus elevatus used to mark metrum and minor pauses, and punctus used to mark the ends of verses. There are textual divisions at psalms 26, 38, 51, 52, 68, 80, 97, 101 and 109 marked by historiated initials and usually by facing miniatures (see ‘Decoration’). Verses 14–15 of psalm 113B are supplied in the original hand over erasure on fol. 121r. Fol. 15v is occupied by the Beatus-initial and the opening words of psalm 1; fol. 15r is blank.
The canticle Benedicite omnia opera, following psalms without a break or title.
Weekly canticles, without titles:
- (1) Confitebor tibi domine (Isaiah 12);
- (2) Ego dixi (Isaiah 38: 10–21);
- (3) Exultauit cor meum (1 Samuel 2: 1–11);
- (4) Cantemus domino (Exodus 15: 1–20);
- (5) Domine audiui (Habakkuk 3);
- (6) Audite celi (Deuteronomy 32: 1–44).
Daily canticles, prayers and creeds, without titles:
- (1) Te deum laudamus (fol. 154v);
- (2) Benedictus dominus deus (fol. 155r);
- (3) Athanasian Creed (Quicumque uult ...) (fol. 156r).
Litany, published and compared with the litanies of other psalters from the Bruges–Ghent area by Carlvant (1978, pp. 509–30), containing saints venerated in Bruges, such as Donatianus and Basil, patron of the chapel of St Basil and the Holy Blood in Bruges, among the confessors, and Boniface among the martyrs. Also includes saints venerated in Ghent, such as Landoaldus and Macarius among the confessors, and Amalberga, Landrada and Pharaildis among the virgins. The relics of Landoaldus, Macarius and Landrada were preserved at the Benedictine Abbey of St Bavo in Ghent (Carlvant, 1978, p. 121). The litany is followed by unusual collects (fols. 159v–160r):
- (1) Famulorum tuorum quesumus domine delictis ignosce ut qui tibi placere ...
- (2) Deus qui apostolis tuis sanctum dedisti spiritum consede [sic] quesumus plebi tue pie petitionis ...
- (3) Omnium sanctorum tuorum quesumus domine supplicatione placatus et ueniam nobis tribue delictorum ...
- (4) Mentes nostras domine paraclitus qui a te procedit ...
- (5) Da nobis quesumus domine omnium sanctorum tuorum semper ueneratione letari ...
- (6) Protege domine famulos tuos subsidiis pacis ...
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
Ruled in plummet with double vertical and horizontal bounding lines, extending the full height of page; 23 lines per page; prickings visible in the three outer margins on most leaves; written above the top line (see Oliver, 1985, p. 139 n. 27 and compare MS. Douce 49 and MS. Auct. D. 4. 3); written space: variable, c. 178 × 95–105 mm.
Hand(s)
Formal Gothic book hand, black and brown ink
Decoration
One of the oldest surviving Flemish psalters with a Christological cycle; close in style to several psalters attributed to Bruges (cf. the ‘Eerste Groep’ of Carlvant, 1978), particularly Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale MS. 5074; Saint-Omer, Bibliothèque de l’agglomération MS. 270; Baltimore, Walters Art Museum MS. W. 36; Edinburgh, University Library MS. 62; and Oxford, University College MS. 12.
Gold KL monograms on blue and pink backgrounds in the calendar; gold, pink and blue bars in the margins terminating with animal heads, usually one in green and one in yellow.
Irregularly shaped miniatures depicting the Labours of the Months: January: man warming one bare foot by the fire, drinking out of a cup, and holding his shoe in the other hand February: woman with a large candle March: man pruning a tree with an axe April: man carrying flowering branches May: man with a hawk June: man carrying wood on his back July: man mowing hay with a scythe August: man reaping grain September: man sowing October: man cutting grapes from a vine and holding a basket of grapes November: man knocking acorns from a tree for pigs December: man, slaughtering a pig, with one foot on its head.
Seven full-page prefatory miniatures forming a Christological cycle that continues with eight further full-page miniatures at liturgical divisions in the psalter, and with nine historiated initials facing the miniatures and forming part of the cycle. The miniatures are painted on the versos, leaving the rectos blank (apart from fol. 88) (see Carlvant, 1985, p. 329, n. 14). The miniatures are on gold backgrounds, in rectangular frames with gold medallions containing male heads at the corners.
- fol. 7v, Annunciation: Gabriel addressing the Virgin Mary; both holding scrolls with ‘Ave gratia plena’ and ‘Ecce ancilla’, respectively.
- fol. 8v, Nativity.
- fol. 9v, Annunciation to two Shepherds.
- fol. 10v, Presentation in the Temple.
- fol. 11v, Adoration of the Magi; the middle Magus pointing to the star of Bethlehem.
- fol. 12v, Christ among the Doctors; behind Christ a man puts his hand on a woman’s shoulder (perhaps Mary and Joseph, but neither is nimbed).
- fol. 13v, Baptism of Christ.
- fol. 14v, The Last Judgement in a different Franco-Flemish style, perhaps added later in the 13th century (Pächt and Alexander, 1966–73). Christ enthroned in the upper compartment, displaying his wounds, with a star (?) to the right of his head and a flaming sword to the left, flanked by the kneeling Virgin Mary and the Blessed to his right, and by the kneeling St John and the Damned to his left. Souls rising from graves in the smaller lower compartment. Full-length angels sounding the Last Trump in the corners of the frame.
Full-page miniatures and historiated initials at liturgical divisions in the psalter. The initials are typically 11 to 13 lines high, with gold backgrounds and in rectangular frames.
- fol. 15v, Psalm 1 (initial B(eatus)), Full-page Jesse Tree, with sleeping Jesse and a large, full-length figure of an unidentified female saint holding a palm of martyrdom and a book (?), surrounded by male heads; the corners and sides of the frame are decorated with human heads in medallions and semi-circles.
- fol. 34v, (miniature), The First Temptation: Christ seated on a mount, speaking to the Devil.
- fol. 35r, Psalm 26 (initial D(ominus)), The Second Temptation: the Devil carrying Christ on his shoulders towards the Temple.
- fol. 47v, (miniature), The Third Temptation: the Devil offering Christ riches, before a tower (?).
- fol. 48r, Psalm 38 (initial D(ixi)),Christ’s feet dried by Mary Magdalene with her hair in the house of Simon.
- fol. 59v, Psalm 51 (initial Q(vid)), The Entry into Jerusalem.
- fol. 60r, (miniature), Christ addresses the disciples.
- fol. 61r, Psalm 52 (initial D(ixit)), The Last Supper.
- fol. 73v, (miniature), Christ washing the disciples’ feet.
- fol. 74r, Psalm 68 (initial S(aluum)), Christ kneeling in Gethsemane before an angel.
- fol. 88v, (miniature), The Betrayal; Christ healing Malchus’s ear.
- fol. 89r, Psalm 80 (initial E(xultate)), Judas receiving a bag of money from the Jews.
- fol. 102r, Psalm 97 (initial C(antate)), Christ carrying the Cross.
- fol. 103r, (miniature), Flagellation.
- fol. 104v, Psalm 101 (initial D(omine)), Crucifixion, with the sun and moon, Mary and John.
- fol. 105r, (miniature), The Harrowing of Hell.
- fol. 117v, Psalm 109 (initial D(ixit)), Crucifixion, very similar to that on fol. 104v.
- fol. 118r, (miniature), Noli me tangere.
4-line gold initials on blue and pink backgrounds with white floral designs, and gold, pink and blue bars in the margins terminating with animal heads, at the beginnings of psalms, canticles and litany; similar 3-line initials to the collects.
Borders: see above.
1-line gold initials on blue and pink backgrounds, decorated with white arabesque designs, at the beginnings of verses and periods.
Red and blue penwork line-endings on fol. 111v.
Binding
Red leather over wood boards, 15th century, Netherlandish. The covers are blindstamped with an all-over pattern of lozenge, circular, triangular, square and rectangular tools. The lozenges and some squares contain fleurs-de-lis; one of the rectangles contains a dragon and another lamb-and-flag. Rebacked at the Bodleian. Sewn on 7 cords, seven raised bands on spine. Gilt lettering on spine: ‘MS. || MISC no. ELL. LITURG. || 396.’. Paper label on spine printed ‘94’. Holes left by the fittings of two clasps on the upper cover. Holes and impressions left by the catches near the foreedge of the lower cover; two holes for pins near the centre of the lower cover. Gilt edges of textblock with a painted pattern of lozenges outlined in black (the two outer rows of lozenges are painted blue and contain a fleur-de-lis in gold, while the centre row of lozenges is painted red and contains a floral shape in a darker colour (see Foot, 1993)). The bottom edge of the textblock has the shelfmark ‘396’, suggesting that the volume was formerly stored fore-edge down. The outer leaves of the first and last quires are used as pastedowns.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Probably made in Bruges in a workshop which produced other psalters with similar illumination, textual contents and codicological features, and flourished c. 1250–1270 (Carlvant’s ‘Eerste Groep’, 1978, pp. 2–12, 80–8). Psalters are the only known books to come from this workshop. Probably made for a lay patron, perhaps with connections in the Ghent area, since the calendar and litany include saints venerated in Ghent, particularly in the Benedictine monastery of St Bavo (see ‘Text’).
A miniature in a Franco-Flemish style added to the prefatory cycle, probably at the end of the 13th century (fol. 14v).
Notes in Netherlandish added to the calendar in the 15th century; 15th-century Netherlandish binding.
Italy, Venice (?): a post-medieval addition to the calendar of the feast of the discovery of St Mark’s relics during the construction of his basilica in Venice. The spelling ‘euangieliste’ suggests that the addition was made by an Italian speaker.
Bodleian Library: ‘Miscell. Liturg, 396’ (upper pastedown, spine and fol. 1r); ‘Misc. Liturg.’ collection was formed in 1860, but went on growing until 1887. The source of this manuscript and of some other ‘Misc. Liturg.’ (now MSS. Liturg.) is unknown, but ‘no doubt many ... are unidentifiable Rawlinson MSS.’ (Summary catalogue, vol. 5, p. 844). ‘G. C. 12’, ‘= Selden cupbd. 94’ (upper pastedown).
Record Sources
Availability
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Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (41 images from 35mm slides)
Microfilm
Microfilm available in the open shelf collections in the Weston Library (R. Films 101)
Bibliography
Printed descriptions:
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2024-08: Convert full description from Solopova catalogue.