MS. Lyell 45
Contents
With one saint or more for almost every day. Feasts in red include: Vincent (22 Jan.), with octave; ‘Yvonis confessoris’ (19 May); ‘Aaronis confessoris’ (22 June); ‘Translacio sancti Martini episcopi’ (4 July); ‘Translacio sancti Maclovii’ (11 July); ‘Michaelis in Monte Gargano’ (29 Sept.); ‘Michaelis in Monte Tumba’ (16 Oct.); ‘Dedicatio ecclesie Macloviensis’ (30 Oct.); ‘Maclovii episcopi et confessoris’ (15 Nov.); Presentation of the Virgin (21 Nov.). Other local saints commemorated include all of those listed by Duine Brev. et missels des eglises et abbayes bretonnes, 1906, p. 79, in his description of the 15th cent. Saint-Malo missal at Rennes, with the exception of ‘Melorii mart.’ (1 Oct.). ‘Martini abbatis’ is put on 20 Dec. The inclusion of the feast of the Presentation of the Virgin suggests a date after 1430; see Duine, p. 69.
From first Sunday in Advent to third Sunday after Pentecost, breaking off imperf. fol. 129v, in middle of the Gospel. The proses are generally the same as those listed by Misset and Weale, from the printed Saint-Malo missal of 1503, in Anal. Liturg. II, 2, Fasc. XII (1894), 391–2, but their nos. 13–14, 16–21, 23, 26–9 are omitted, and in our MS. the prose for the Christmas Mass ‘in aurora’ (fol. 15) beg.: Sonent regi nato nova: Chevalier 19215. The prefaces (fol. 116), with square notation on staves of four red lines, and Canon of the Mass (fol. 123) are inserted after the proper for the Saturday after Pentecost, which ends fol. 115va, after which a column and a half are left blank, followed by a catchword, which gives the beginning of the preface for Christmas (not the rubric which actually precedes it). The Canon of the Mass ends (fol. 126ra) with the prayers: Quod ore sumpsimus..., Agimus tibi gratias, etc. Placeat tibi sancta trinitas, followed by the Gloria, with musical cues ‘De festis duplicibus’, ‘De beata Maria’, ‘De communi’. Ends fol. 126vb ; most of the column is left blank.
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
2 col. of 33 lines, ruled in ink.
Hand(s)
Two sizes of liturgical text hand. Among the blue pen flourishes of an initial on fo1. 124v is written: Galt(erus?) scripsit hunc librum missalle[sic]. In other initials the scribe has similarly written: Gault. (fol. 24v), Galt. (fol. 47, 48, 48v, 61) or simply G. (fol. 6, 10, 41v).
Square notation on staves of four red lines.
Decoration
On fols. 7r, 122r, large painted initials in blue and pink on gold infilled with foliage, joined to bar borders decorated with acanthus leaves and hairline ink scrolling with painted daisies and other flowers, and small gold leaves and discs, extending into all the margins on fol. 122r, three sides only on fol. 7r. On fol. 123r, a large gold initial with pink and blue background, hairline scrolling, flowers, and gold leaves. Some similar smaller initials; a few others in gold flourished in red and blue; the rest are red or blue flourished in blue or red. (Pächt and Alexander i. 677)
Binding
Binding of c. 1470 with bevelled wooden boards covered with calf, blind stamped with six concentric rectangles of small stamps. Four stamps are used: a crowned ‘M’, a fleur-de-lis (both repeated); a dog (?); an ermine in a lozenge. Two straps fastening to studs on lower cover probably added later. The spine (repaired) is crosshatched and also has the ermine stamp.
Accompanying Material
The front pastedown and flyleaf (fol. i) are part of an erased document, made quite illegible by reagent. Some later notes on fol. i, also largely obliterated, are perhaps accounts.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
The MS. was probably written for the Cathedral of Saint-Malo, which was dedicated to St. Vincent.
On fol. i verso (flyleaf) is written: Pro Magistro Guillelmo Garruargen (?) (15th cent.). A Dom. Guil1elmus de Garennes from the diocese of Le Mans was a bachelor at the University of Paris in 1455 (Samaran-Van Moé, Auct. Chart. Univ. Paris. v, 1942, col. 654).
Fo1. 1: Noveril Villegiller (?) (19th cent.).
Bought by Lyell from Davis and Orioli in May 1938 and said to have been brought direct from Paris.
Chosen as one of the hundred manuscripts bequeathed to the library by Lyell in 1948.
Record Sources
Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (1 image of binding from 35mm slides)
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2017-07-01: First online publication.