Egerton MS 3153

MISSAL with musical notation, of unidentified use, executed probably in France, in the third quarter of the 13th cent. Contents:-

(1) Calendar in blue, red and black, predominantly French in character, and suggesting the middle of France as its place of origin. The local entries are:-(8 Jan.) Gudula V., (17 Jan.) Sulpicius Abp. of Bourges, (8 Feb.) Paul Bp. (of Verdun), (11 Feb.) Eulalia V., (12 Feb.) Eulalia V. & M., (30 April) Eutropius Bp. (of Saintes) & M., (20 May) Austregisil Abp. (of Bourges) & C., (22 May) Ausonius Bp. (of Angouléme) & M., (14 June) Anianus Bp. (of Orléans) & C., (15 July) 'Liberatio sancte ier[usa]l[e]m', (13 Aug.) Radegundis, Queen, (31 Aug.) Paulinus Bp. (of Trier) & C., (13 Sept.) Maurilius Abp. (sic, of Angers) & C., (20 Oct.) Caprasius M. (of Agen), (10 Dec.) Eulalia and Valeria Vv. & Mm., (12 Dec.) Paul Bp. (of Narbonne) & C., (17 Dec.) Nazarius, Bp. & C., (31 Dec.) Columba V. (of Sens). Late 15th cent. additions include:-(22 March) Paul Bp. of Narbonne, (14 June) Translation of Exuperius Bp. (of Toulouse) & C., (25 June) Translation of Saturninus (Bp. and patron of Toulouse), (25 Oct.) Fronto C. (Bp. of Périgueux), and four Dominican feasts, viz.:-(7 March) Thomas Aquinas, (5 April) Vincent Ferrer (canonised 1455), (29 April) Peter Martyr, (6 Aug.) Dominic C. 'patriarcha (sic) predica[torum]'. For the Dominican associations of the MS. see further below. ff. 1b-7.

(2) Temporale, Advent to 25th Sunday after the Octave of Pentecost. The Canon of the Mass is placed between Holy Saturday and Easter, ff. 82-86. At Christmas and Epiphany the special gospels of the genealogies of Christ for use at Matins are included, ff. 16-16b, 23-23b. After the main provisions for the ceremonies on Palm Sunday is a secondary set, headed 'hic est ordo processionis in ramis palmarum more sancti sepulchri in ierusalem', ff. 67-67b. For the Sundays after Pentecost, the series of Alleluia verses belongs to a group associated with the regions north of the Loire and around Paris, see S. R. Marosszéki, Les Origines du Chant Cistercien, Analecta Sacri Ordinis Cisterciensis, viii, Rome, 1952, p. 113. The use of the Alleluia verse 'Verba mea' on the 9th Sunday after the Octave of Pentecost is unusual. The Ordinary of the Mass (apparently including an invocation of St. Saturninus) and the Preface of the Virgin (twice) have been added by several 14th-cent. hands, ff. 81b-82. These hands are also responsible for additions, mainly relating to ceremonial, in the Canon. There are lacunae after ff. 52, 68, 69, 70. ff. 8-126.

(3) Mass for the Dedication of a Church. ff. 126-126b.

(4) Sanctorale, Felix in Pincis (imperf. at beginning)-Thomas Ap. None of the local feasts of the calendar appear, and the only unusual entries (none of them in the calendar) are for Nicander and Marcian, patrons of the diocese of Venafro, Audoenus of Rouen, and Germanus of Capua. Masses for the Translation of Exuperius (f. 141) and the Translation and Deposition of Saturninus (ff. 143, 163) have been added marginally in the 14th cent. A marginal note, 14th cent., on f. 154 refers to the feast of Augustine as 'precipuum'. There are lacunae after ff. 142, 144. ff. 127-165.

(5) Commune Sanctorum. ff. 165-181.

(6) Votive Masses, and Masses for the dead. The second postcommunion in the mass for departed members of the congregation contains an invocation of St Peter, instead of the usual one for the Virgin, f. 188 b. Additions at the end of the section (f. 189b) include a mass of Innocent III for the B.V.M., 13th cent., cf. Migne, Patr. Lat., ccxvii, col. 917- ff. 181-189b.

(7) Added Sequences and Masses, etc., in 13th and 14th-cent. hands, including (f. 192) a benediction for the feast of SS. Peter and Paul. ff. 190-192b. Vellum; ff. 192. 228 mm x 170 mm. Third quarter of the XIII cent. Written in France. Gatherings of 8 leaves (i has 1 cancelled, vii lacks 6, ix lacks 7 and 8, x lacks 1, 3, 5 and 6, xvii lacks 7, xix lacks 8, xx lacks 3). Ruled doubled columns of 36 lines to a page, with the original foliation in red or black on the verso of the leaves. Square musical notation on a red four-line stave. Flourished initials in gold, red and blue, and decorated initials in gold and colours, many excised. Included in the Canon of the Mass is a much damaged full-page miniature of the Crucifixion (f. 83), pl. xxvi, from whose resemblance to that in Perugia, Bibl. Cap. MS. 6, f. 190b, reproduced in colour by M. Salmi, Italian Miniatures, 1957, it has been argued that the MS. may have been executed in the scriptorium of Acre, in the Holy Land, see H. Buchtal, Miniature Painting in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, 1957, pp. 48-51, 144-145, pl. 57. This argument, however, is unsupported by the other evidence of the MS., which points firmly to execution in France, with the Crucifixion miniature as the work of a Venetian artist. The following notes have been added on f. 192:-(a) 'istud (?) missale quod ego prior prolianj [Prouille, dépt. Aude] ego (cancelled) emi propriis sumptibus emj (sic) ego dedi laurencio maurinj seruirotj meo pro seruiciis mihi impencis (sic) et in testimonium huius manus mea' (14th cent.);-(b) 'anno dominl m^oiiij^cxxx septimo et die uero xij mensis iulii et (altered to quia ipse) infirmabatur de una tibia'. Entries in the lower margins of the Calendar pages (ff. 1b-6b) and of f. 72b, record the election of consuls and other officers of the town of Limoux, dépt. Aude, 1635-1650, cf. L.H. Fonds-Lamothe, Notices historiques sur la ville de Limoux, 1838, pp. 261-262.