MS. Liturg. 60
Summary Catalogue no.: 30600
Former shelfmark: MS. Canon. Liturg. 60
Portable Psalter in Latin and French; France, Diocese of Limoges (?), 15th century, end
Contents
Fol. i is a parchment fly-leaf, blank apart from modern notes.
[item 1 occupies quires I–II]
Calendar in French, laid out one month per leaf, written in blue (major feasts), burgundy (secondary feasts) and brown (ordinary feasts) ink, approximately one-quarter full, not graded. Contains saints venerated in Limoges, including Justinian (16 July), Pardulph (6 October), Martial, bishop of Limoges (10 October) and Silvanus of Ahun (16 October), but also saints venerated in the Loire valley, including Lidorus, bishop of Tours (13 September) and Renatus of Angers (12 November). The calendar also contains Franciscan and Dominican saints: Peter of Verona (29 April), Anthony of Padua (13 June) and Francis (4 October). Each month is headed by a note on the length of the solar and lunar month.
[items 2–4 occupy quires III–XXVI]
Psalms 1–150, written with each verse starting on a new line, without titles or numbers. Imperfect at the end: the last verse of psalm 150 is missing because of the loss of leaves after fol. 183. Punctuated throughout, with punctus used to mark the ends of verses and colon used to mark metrum. The psalms are in the biblical order; subdivisions within psalms are not indicated, apart from psalm 118, subdivided into twenty-two 8-verse units. There are textual divisions at psalms 26, 38, 52, 68, 80, 97 and 109 (see ‘Decoration’). Psalm 39 starts without an illuminated initial (fol. 57r).
Weekly canticles, without titles, beginning missing because of the loss of leaves after fol. 183:
- (1) Exultauit cor meum (1 Samuel 2: 1–11) starting at ‘Donec sterilis ...’ (verse 5);
- (2) Cantemus domino (Exodus 15: 1–20);
- (3) Domine audiui (Habakkuk 3);
- (4) Audite celi (Deuteronomy 32: 1–44).
Daily canticles, prayers and creeds, without titles:
- (1) Te deum laudamus (fol. 191v);
- (2) Benedicite omnia opera (fol. 193r);
- (3) Benedictus dominus deus (fol. 194r);
- (4) Magnificat (fol. 195r);
- (5) Nunc dimittis (fol. 195v);
- (6) Athanasian Creed (Quicumque uult ...) (fol. 195v).
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
Ruled in ink with single vertical and double horizontal bounding lines, extending the full height and width of page; 19 lines per page; written below the top line; written space: c. 88 × 61 mm.
Hand(s)
Formal Gothic book hand, brown ink.
Decoration
The style of calendar illustrations is similar to Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Lat. liturg. f. 6, a book of hours probably from central France, made in the third quarter of the 15th century, and is related to the school of Anjou (Pächt and Alexander, 1966–73). Historiated initials are by at least two different artists.
Gold KL monograms on burgundy, blue and brown backgrounds, decorated with gold floral designs in the calendar. Miniatures with the Labours of the Months and the Signs of the Zodiac set in rectangular panels in the lower border, some flaking: January: man seated before a laid table, warming his feet by the fire; Aquarius (a nude figure watering plants (?)) February: man seated before a fireplace, warming his feet; Pisces (lake in a landscape with large fish) March: two men repairing a fence (?) or pruning plants trained on a fence (?), woman carrying a jar on her head, dog with a bone; Aries April: man carrying a branch with foliage; Taurus May: men on horseback, on a road in a landscape; Gemini (nude man and woman embrace) June: men mowing hay with scythes in a landscape with wagon and watermill; Cancer July: men reaping grain and tying a sheaf; Leo August: men knocking down acorns (?); Virgo September: man sowing; Libra October: man treading grapes; Scorpio November: man with a herd of pigs; underdrawing partially visible, perhaps depicting men knocking down acorns; Sagittarius December: man baking in an oven; Capricorn.
6- to 10-line historiated initials, in at least two different styles, decorated with gold foliate designs, at liturgical divisions:
- fol. 13r, Psalm 1 (initial B(eatus)), King David playing harp.
- fol. 38v, Psalm 26 (initial D(ominus)), Two men looking at a white dove in rays of light; a crowd of people and buildings in the background.
- fol. 55v, Psalm 38 (initial D(ixi)), Bearded hermit (?) saint with a book and prayer beads, looking at light shining from the sky; hermitage (?) and landscape with a town in the background.
- fol. 71v, Psalm 52 (initial D(ixit)), Fool, dressed as a jester, with a mask on a stick.
- fol. 88r, Psalm 68 (initial S(aluum)), Half-figure of King David praying in water flowing from a fountain, landscape with rocks and buildings in the background.
- fol. 108r, Psalm 80 (initial E(xultate)), Seated King David with raised hands and three angels playing musical instruments.
- fol. 126r, Psalm 97 (initial C(antate)), Men before a lectern with an open book, containing the opening words of the psalm.
- fol. 145v, Psalm 109 (initial D(ixit)),Trinity: two seated figures, holding orbs and blessing; white dove in rays of light.
2-line gold initials on burgundy, blue and brown backgrounds, decorated with floral and arabesque designs at the beginnings of psalms and canticles.
1-line gold initials on burgundy, blue and brown backgrounds, decorated with floral and arabesque designs at the beginnings of verses and periods.
Full borders on every page of the calendar and on pages with historiated initials, apart from fol. 108r (psalm 80); borders in the outer margin of every page in the manuscript, with rectos and versos being approximate mirror images of one another. The borders are made of scrolls with foliage, flowers and fruit, decorated with human figures, animals, birds, mythological beasts, grotesques, hybrid figures, apes and insects.
Borders on fols. 5r, 5v, 13r and 88r contain coats of arms (see ‘Provenance’).
Line-endings in the form of branches with buds or gold designs on burgundy, blue and brown backgrounds.
Binding
Worn speckled brown polished leather over pasteboard, French, 18th century (?). Sewn on four cords; four raised bands on spine. Panels between the raised bands are framed with gilt fillets and decorated with gilt arabesque designs. Gilt lettering on spine: ‘PSAVTI || EN || VELAIN’. ‘60’ painted white on spine. Endbands of red and blue thread. Gilt floral and arabesque designs on the edges of covers. Single clasp of yellow metal. Edges of leaves speckled red. Pastedowns of marbled paper.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Made for use in Limoges (?): evidence of the calendar. Arms on fols. 5r (lozenge-shaped shield, damaged), 5v (lozenge-shaped shield, unfinished), 13r (rectangular shield, painted over) and 88r (lozenge-shaped shield, painted over): party per pale, on the dexter side paly of six or and gules (Amboise (?)), on the sinister side party per fess in the upper part barry of six or and azure, the lower part damaged (Pächt and Alexander, 1966–73). Probably the same arms as in MS. Lat. liturg. f. 6, fol. 16r (see ‘Decoration’): on the dexter side paly of six or and gules dimidiated, on the sinister side, party per fess, in the upper part barry of six or and azure, in the lower part argent a fess fusil gules and in chief a label of six points (Summary catalogue, vol. 5, no. 29745).
Added date, 1506 (fol. 198v): ‘anno domini. m. d. u. i.’.
Bodleian Library: ‘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). Earlier shelfmark: ‘Miscell. Liturg. 60’ (fol. i recto).
Record Sources
Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (6 images from 35mm slides)
Bibliography
Printed descriptions:
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2024-06: Encode full description from Solopova catalogue.