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

MS. Liturg. 402

Summary Catalogue no.: 29451

Former shelfmark: MS. Canon. Liturg. 402

Portable Psalter, Premonstratensian Use; Germany, diocese of Regensburg, 13th century, last quarter

Contents

Psalter (Premonstratensian Use)

Fol. i is a blank paper fly-leaf. For fol. 1r see below.

(fols. 1v–7r)

Calendar for the use of Premonstratensian canons in the diocese of Regensburg, laid out one month per page, written in red and black, not graded, approximately half full. The following saints are in red: Kunegunda (2 March and 9 September (in black)), Castulus (26 March), Ulrich, bishop of Augsburg (4 July), Augustine (28 August with octave in black) and his translation in black (11 October), Denis, bishop of Paris (9 October, relics venerated in Regensburg), Gereon of Cologne (10 October), Wolfgang of Regensburg (31 October), Elizabeth ‘electe’ of Hungary (19 November) and her translation in black (2 May), Sabinus (30 December, with octave in black). The calendar also includes Erhard of Regensburg (8 January), Atto, confessor (9 February), Rupert of Salzburg (27 March) and his translation (24 September), Peter of Verona (29 April, with a note ‘De ordine predicatorum’, written in red in the original hand), Otto, bishop of Bamberg, one of the founders of the Premonstratensian Abbey in Windberg (30 June), Emmeram of Regensburg (22 September), Francis (4 October) and the translation of Corbinianus (20 November). Added 16th-century obits (see ‘Provenance’). Each month is headed by a note on the length of the solar and lunar month, e.g. ‘Ianuarius habet dies xxxi lunam xxx’.

(fols. 1r, 7v, 8r-v)

Additions: the ‘O Antiphons’ (fol. 1r), pericope from St John’s Gospel (1: 1–14) (fol. 7v) and ‘Lectiones’ from the Old Testament (fol. 8r–v, dated ‘1503’) in three different late 15th-century or early 16th-century hands. See also fols. 166r–171v.

(fols. 9v–133v)

Psalms 1–150, laid out as prose, without numbers or titles. Punctuated throughout with punctus elevatus used to mark the minor pauses, punctus elevatus or punctus used to mark metrum, and punctus used to mark the ends of verses. Subdivisions within psalms were not indicated by the original scribe, but are marked in the margins in a later hand (e.g. psalms 9 (fol. 15r), 17 (fol. 21v), 77 (fol. 75r), 103 (fol. 97r), etc.). Psalm 118 is subdivided into eleven 16-verse units (in addition verse 137 (‘Iustus . . .’) is marked with a larger initial (fol. 116v)). Psalms 148–150, a sequence for all Lauds during the week in both monastic and secular use, are written as a single text without a break. There are textual divisions at psalms 26, 38, 51, 68, 80, 97, 101 and 109. Psalm 109 starts on a new quire. The text contains many corrections in medieval and later hands. Antiphons are added in the margins in a 15th-century hand (e.g. fols. 12v, 41r, 106v, etc.). Fol. 9v is occupied by a full-page miniature of the Nativity (see ‘Decoration’); fol. 9r is blank, apart from a partly erased inscription (see ‘Provenance’).

(fols. 133v–141v)

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).

(fols. 141v–147v)

Daily canticles, prayers and creeds, without titles: (1) Benedicite omnia opera (fol. 141v); (2) Benedictus dominus deus (fol. 142v); (3) Magnificat (fol. 143r); (4) Nvnc dimittis (fol. 143v); (5) Te deum laudamus (fol. 143v); (6) Pater noster (fol. 144v); (7) Aue maria (fol. 145r; added in the margin in a 15th-century hand); (8) Apostles’ Creed (Credo in deum . . .) (fol. 145r); (9) Athanasian Creed (Quicumque uult . . .) (fol. 145v).

(fols. 147v–152v)

Litany for the use of the diocese of Regensburg, containing saints prominent in the calendar, including Sabinus (second), Emmeram, Denis and Gereon among the martyrs; and Rupert, Ulrich, Wolfgang and Erhard among the confessors; Serena (last) among the virgins. Followed by collects (fols. 151v–152v):

Incipit: Omnipotens sempiterne deus dirige actus nostros in beneplacito tuo
Incipit: Concede quesumus omnipotens deus ut intercessio nos sancte dei
Incipit: Ecclesie tue quesumus domine preces placatus admitte ut destructis
Incipit: Omnipotens sempiterne deus qui facis mirabilia magna solus
Incipit: Ineffabilem misericordiam tuam domine nobis ⟨quesumus⟩ clementer inpende ut simul nos
Incipit: Fidelium deus omnium conditor et redemtor animabus omnium fidelium defunctorum
Incipit: Omnipotens sempiterne deus qui uiuorum dominaris et mortuorum . . .
(fols. 152v–165v)

Office of the Dead with the first four rubrics in German. The responsories correspond to nos. 14, 72, 24, 32, 57, 28, 68, 82, 38 in Ottosen (1993), found, though not exclusively, in Premonstratensian manuscripts. Imperfect at the end because of a loss of a quire (?) after fol. 165.

(fols. 166r–171v, quire 21)

15th-century or early 16th-century additions in several different hands:

Blessings at Matins during tlhe week and for the year with rubrics (fols. 166r– 169r), including blessings for the feast of St Bernard on fol. 169r. Punctuation includes punctus flexus in red.

Antiphons and a response in honour of the Blessed Sacrament (fols. 169v–170r.

Collects for the dead, some with feminine forms (fols. 170r–171v).

Fol. 172 is a blank paper fly-leaf.

Language(s): Latin, with some rubrics in Middle High German and minor additions in German

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: consurge in nocte
Secundo Folio: lectiones (fol. 8r)
Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: 173 leaves (i, 1–172)
Dimensions (leaf): c. 151 × 105 mm.
Leaves were trimmed in rebinding, occasionally causing the loss of text and decoration.

Collation

(fols. 1–8) I (8) | (fols. 9–17) II (8+1) fol. 9 (miniature) is a singleton | (fols. 18–145) III–XVIII (8) | (fols. 146–165) XIX–XX (10) | (fols. 166–171) XXI (6+2 (?)) last two leaves inserted (?) Quire signatures in Arabic numerals in pale brown ink, presumably contemporary with the present binding, in all quires except the last.

Layout

Ruled in ink, with single vertical and double horizontal bounding lines, extending the full height and width of page; 20 lines per page; written below the top line; written space: c. 105 × 69 mm.

Hand(s)

Two main formal Gothic book hands, black and brown ink; the second scribe takes over on fol. 137v.

Additions (fols. 1r, in hybrida and textualis by three hands.

Decoration

Decoration is related in style to that of other liturgical manuscripts produced in Regensburg in the late 13th and early 14th centuries (Suckale, Hernad, cited below, Provenance).

Full-page (psalms 1 and 109) and nearly full-page miniatures on gold background in rectangular frames at liturgical divisions (flaking, some defaced).

  • (fol. 9v) Psalm 1: Nativity; Joseph in Jews’ hat, standing (recto originally blank).
  • (fol. 29r) Psalm 26: Betrayal.
  • (fol. 41r) Psalm 38: Christ before Pilate
  • (fol. 52r) Psalm 51: Flagellation.
  • (fol. 64r) Psalm 68: Christ carrying the Cross.
  • (fol. 78v) Psalm 80: Crucifixion.
  • (fol. 91v) Psalm 97: Descent from the Cross
  • (fol. 105v) Psalm 109: Entombment.

Half-page to one-third of a page high red and blue initials, decorated with red and green penwork, and green and yellow wash at psalms 1, 26, 38, 51, 68, 80, 97, 101 and 109.

4-line red initial, decorated with penwork, at the beginning of the litany (fol. 147v). 2-line red initials, plain or with simple penwork designs, at the beginnings of psalms, canticles, prayers and the Office of the Dead.

1-line plain red initials at the beginnings of verses and periods. The initials in the last line on a page are often decorated with penwork designs extending into the lower margin (e.g. fols. 18v, 20r, 22r, etc.).

Rubrics in red ink in the Office of the Dead and 15th-century additions.

Binding

Worn brown leather over wood boards, German, 16th century (?), using a piece of a 14th- or 15th-century manuscript as a spine lining (visible on the inner face of the upper board). Border made of blind fillet lines round the outer edge of both covers. Floral decoration at the centre of the upper cover; four stamps, shaped as shields, on the upper cover and four stamped circles with flowers inside on the lower cover. Five brass bosses on each cover; two clasps. Rebacked in the Bodleian with the original spine relaid. Three raised bands on spine. Two paper labels on spine, one circular, inscribed in ink, the other rectangular with handwritten ‘MS || Misc. Liturg. || 402’. Paper pastedowns and fly-leaves.

History

Origin: 13th century, third quarter; additions, c. 1500 (partly dated 1503) ; Germany, diocese of Regensburg

Provenance and Acquisition

Made for the use of Premonstratensian canons in the diocese of Regensburg, possibly for the Abbey of the Virgin Mary in Windberg; attributed by Suckale to a workshop or a group of workshops in Regensburg, responsible for the production of other illuminated liturgical manuscripts in the late 13th and early 14th centuries (R. Suckale, ‘Die Regensburger Buchmalerei von 1250 bis 1350’ in Regensburger Buchmalerei: von frühkarolingischer Zeit bis zum Ausgang des Mittelalters, Ausstellung der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek München und der Museen der Stadt Regensburg [exhibition catalogue] (Munich: Prestel- Verlag, 1987), pp. 79–92, at nos. 73, 74 (p. 90); B. Hernad, Die gotischen Handschriften deutscher Herkunft in der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek, Katalog der illuminierten Handschriften der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek in München 5, Teil 1, 2 vols. (Wiesbaden: L. Reichert, 2000), vol. 1, pp. 8, 19).

The addition of monastic subdivisions within psalms, of blessings, including those for the feast of St Bernard (fols. 166r–169r), and other liturgical texts in the late 15th or early 16th centuries.

Kunigund Neydenfelserin (of Neidenfels in south-western Germany).

Agnes Pehemin, nun (‘Agnes pehemin Conventfrau \ in s.ld[. . .] / ’ [perhaps Saldental, i.e. Seligenthal, see below], fol. 171v), early 16th century, author of inscriptions in German on the upper and lower pastedown, and obits in the calendar:

  • ‘[. . .]re psallter gehort zw Kunigund neydenfelserin sy hat der pehaimin glihen in leben lang [gap] gaudes’ (upper pastedown)
  • ‘den psallter der ist der Kunigunt Neydenfellserin den hat Sych der agnes pehaymin gelichen ir leben lang requiscat in pace vnd ain aue Maria vnd requiem dar zwe im l jar’ and ‘michel’ (scratched, lower pastedown)
  • Obits in the calendar for the father (13 or 14 January, 1500), sister ‘margretha’ (29 March), Michael Linthart (20 May, 1526), Michahel Lyntthart (31 August) and mother ‘margareta behaymin’ (1 November 1499).
See also prayers for female use on fol. 170r.

Michael Linthart may be identifiable as the monk of the Cistercian abbey of Raitenhaslach (dioc. Salzburg) who was confessor at the Cistercian nunnery of Seligenthal, Landshut (dioc. Regensburg), although another source gives his death as 19 March (rather than 20 May) 1526: Germania Sacra 019–01997-001 and Germania Sacra NF 11 (Erzbistum Salzburg 1), 379; but for 19 May 1526 see MGH Necr. IV.489. Note also that 'Margaretha Pehaymin' appears at 1 Nov. in the Seligenthal necrology (MGH Necr. IV.505)

‘Exuperius de dantorff lamp[. . .]’, 16th century, fol. 169v and partly erased on fol. 9r.

William Chadwick Neligan, rector and vicar of the parishes of St Mary Shandon and St Catherine in the City and Diocese of Cork from 1837, antiquarian (Brady, 1864). 19th-century notes, including ‘17 March St Patrick’s Day – At last’, perhaps by him (upper pastedown).

His sale at Sotheby’s, 28 January 1884, lot 147, bought by the Bodleian for £4 10s (Summary catalogue, vol. 5, 1905). Blue-edged paper label with handwritten lot (?) number and price-codes: ‘1154 || £R [?] || £H [?]’ (upper pastedown). Earlier Bodleian shelfmark: ‘MS. Misc. Liturg. 402’ (fol. 1r).

Record Sources

Description adapted by Matthew Holford (Jan. 2021) from Elizabeth Solopova, Latin Liturgical Psalters in the Bodleian Library: A Select Catalogue (Oxford, 2013), pp. 432–7; with additional information on Michael Linthart and Seligenthal. Previously described in the Summary Catalogue.

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)
Digital Bodleian (9 images from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

Last Substantive Revision

2021-01-29: Description revised to incorporate full text from Solopova catalogue.