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MS. Rawl. D. 894

Summary Catalogue no.: 13660

Guardbook: collection of fragments from ecclesiastical service books

Contents

(fol. 18)
Ferial Psalter, use of Sarum (cutting),

15th century, first half

Language(s): Latin
Evangelistary
Language(s): Latin
(fol. 32)
Missal, use of Sarum,

15th century, first quarter. Single leaf.

Language(s): Latin
(fols. 43–44)
Psalter,

14th century, beginning. Fragments.

Language(s): Latin
(fol. 72)
Missal,

14th century, first half. Single leaf.

Language(s): Latin
(fol. 73)
Book of Hours,

15th century, beginning. Single leaf.

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment, paper
Musical Notation:

Notation on staves (see van Dijk 1957).

Decoration

Initial, fol. 18. (Pächt and Alexander iii. 968)

Initials, fols. 19–20. (Pächt and Alexander iii. 407)

Fine border, initials (mutilated), fol. 32. (Pächt and Alexander iii. 879)

Good borders, initials, fols. 43–44. (Pächt and Alexander iii. 568)

Initial, fol. 72. (Pächt and Alexander iii. 963)

Good initial, fol. 73. (Pächt and Alexander iii. 852)

History

Origin: 8th century – 15th century ; English, Netherlands (?) (fols. 81–8)

Provenance and Acquisition

Richard Rawlinson, 1690–1755

Bequeathed to the Bodleian in 1755

MS. Rawl. D. 894, fols. 81-88

Order of Secular Psalter, Use of Rome; Netherlands (?), 1483

Contents

Language(s): Latin

Order of Secular Psalter
1. (fols. 81ra–86vb)

Rubric ‘Incipit officium psalmiste ad modum siue ordinarium sacre curie Romane ...’. Invitatoria, antiphons, versicles, responses, canticles, hymns, prayers, chapters and psalms for the year in secular use, with detailed rubrics, written in two columns as prose. The texts are written out in full, apart from psalms, abbreviated to their opening words, in the following order:

  • – Sunday Matins (fols. 81ra–82ra);
  • – Sunday Lauds (fols. 82ra–82rb);
  • – Sunday Prime (fols. 82rb–82vb);
  • – Prime during the week (fols. 82vb–83rb);
  • – Terce (fols. 83rb–83va);
  • – Sext (fol. 83va–b);
  • – None (fol. 83vb);
  • – Sunday Vespers (fols. 83vb–84ra);
  • – Matins and Lauds for each day of the week, from ‘feria secunda’ to ‘Sabbato’ (fols. 84ra–85vb);
  • – Vespers for each day of the week (fols. 85vb–86va);
  • – Compline (fol. 86va–b).
Rubrics such as ‘Feria secunda ad vesperas antiphone et psalmi vt infra in psalterio’ (fol. 85vb) and folio references such as ‘Require folio 61’ (fol. 82ra) or ‘Require folio 103’ (fol. 84rb) suggest that the manuscript is a quire from a psalter, probably with psalms in the biblical order (the list of Penitential Psalms on fol. 88rb has the psalms in the biblical order with folio numbers increasing sequentially).

2. (fol. 86vb–87ra)

Order of the Gradual Psalms (the opening words of psalms 119, 124 and 129, each ‘cum quatuor psalmis sequentibus’, followed by prayers, cues for versicles, antiphons, etc.).

3. (fols. 87ra–88rb)

Litany, including: Martin and Ludowic (Louis of France (?)) among the confessors; Benedict, Francis, Antony (of Padua (?)), Bernardino (of Siena (?)) and Dominic among the ‘sacerdotes’; and Clare (of Assisi (?)) and Elizabeth (of Hungary (?)) among the virgins. The litany is followed by the usual ten Roman collects (cf. Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Buchanan e. 5, fols. 118r–119v) (fols. 88ra–88rb):

  • (1) Deus cui proprium est misereri semper et parcere suscipe ...
  • (2) Exaudi quesumus domine supplicum preces et confitentium tibi parce peccatis ut pariter nobis indulgenciam tribuas benignus et pacem.
  • (3) Ineffabilem nobis domine misericordiam tuam clementer ostende ut simul nos ...
  • (4) Deus qui culpa offenderis penitencia placaris ...
  • (5) Omnipotens sempiterne deus miserere famulo tuo pontifice nostro et dirige eum secundum tuam clementiam ...
  • (6) Deus a quo sancta desideria recta consilia et iusta sunt ...
  • (7) Ure igne sancti spiritus renes nostros ...
  • (8) Fidelium deus omnium conditor et redemptor animabus famulorum famularumque tuarum remissionem ...
  • (9) Actiones nostras quesumus domine aspirando praeueni ...
  • (10) Omnipotens sempiterne deus qui viuorum dominaris simul et mortuorum ...
Prayers for a ‘pontifex’ in the petitions following the litany and in collect (5).

4. (fol. 88rb)

Order of the Penitential Psalms, including the opening words of psalms 6, 31, 37, 50, 101, 129 and 142 with folio references. Dated at the end: ‘1483’. Fol. 88v is ruled, otherwise blank.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: maria alleluia resurrexit dominus (psalter, fol. 82r)
Form: codex
Support: paper with watermarks
Extent: 8 leaves
Dimensions (leaf): c. 243 × 177 mm.
Foliation: Modern in blue crayon; 81–88.

Collation

(fols. 81–88) I (8).

Layout

Ruled in plummet for two columns with single vertical and horizontal bounding lines extending the full height and width of page; 43 lines per page; written below the top line; written space: c. 195 × 125 mm.

Hand(s)

Formal Gothic book hand, black ink.

Decoration

2- to 3-line red and blue initials, some with penwork decorations, at the beginnings of sections of text.

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

Cadels.

Rubrics in red ink.

History

Origin: 1483 ; Netherlands (?)

Provenance

Written in 1483 to accompany a psalter, perhaps in the Netherlands, for a patron with Franciscan connections (Franciscan saints in the litany), though Benedict is the first in the list of ‘sacerdotes’. The order of psalms reflects secular use. Contains prayers for a ‘pontifex’.

Bibliography

    van Dijk (1958), fol. 119b.

Additional Information

Record Sources

Summary description abbreviated from the Quarto Catalogue (W. D. Macray, Catalogi codicum manuscriptorum Bibliothecæ Bodleianæ...viri munificentissimi Ricardi Rawlinson, J.C.D., codicum...complectens, Quarto Catalogues V, 5 fascicles, 1862–1900). Decoration, localization and date follow Pächt and Alexander (1973). For fols. 81–8 based on Elizabeth Solopova, Latin Liturgical Psalters in the Bodleian Library: A Select Catalogue (Oxford, 2013), pp. 398–71.
Quarto Catalogue, vol. 2, col. 88
Quarto Catalogue, vol. 2, cols. 89–90
Quarto Catalogue, vol. 2, cols. 91–2
Quarto Catalogue, vol. 2, cols. 93–4
Quarto Catalogue, vol. 2, col. 95
Summary Catalogue, Vol. 3, p. 242

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (3 images from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

    Printed descriptions:

    S. J. P. van Dijk, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. 2: Office Books (typescript, 1957), p. 119b
    S. J. P. van Dijk, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. 3: Rituals and Directories (typescript, 1957), p. 147
    S. J. P. van Dijk, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. 5: Fragments - Mass Books (typescript, 1957), pp. 34, 61, 92, 168, 179, 188, 195, 199, 201, 213, 217, 221, 227, 250
    S. J. P. van Dijk, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. 6: Fragments - Office Books, Rituals, Directories (typescript, 1957), pp. 13, 30, 31, 115, 125, 126, 132, 139, 142, 144, 171, 196, 198, 216, 218, 220, 224, 269, 271, 272, 283, 319, 326, 328, 329, 368

    Online resources:

    Electronic Gneuss-Lapidge (entry 663)

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2024-08: Fols. 81-88: convert full description from Solopova catalogue.