Add MS 52359

From the Catalogue of Additions (2000):

'Breviary, of Sarum Use, with musical notation, written and illustrated in England; circa 1300-1319. See D. H. Turner, 'The Penwortham Breviary', B.M.Q., xxviii, 1964, pp. 85-8 and F. Procter and C. Wordsworth, Breviarium ad usum . . . Sarum, 3 vols., 1879-1886. Preserves one of the oldest and most complete examples of the text and music of the Divine Office according to Sarum Use.

In the border decoration of f. 31 are introduced four coats of arms, from left to right those of the Despenser, Warren, [Fitzwilliam?] and [Constable?] families and on f. 395b that of the Ferrers family. The shields are attached to the decoration using black ink lines. It is possible that they formed part of the original decoration, but more likely that they represent near-contemporary additions. The Warren, Despenser and Fitzwilliam families were linked by marriage. With the exception of Fitzwilliam, members of all these families were created Knights of the Bath with Edward, Prince of Wales, afterwards Edward II, at Whitsuntide 1306: see W. A. Shaw, The Knights of England, 1906, i. pp. 111-22. D. H. Turner, op. cit., p. 86, associated the litany with the Augustinian Canons of St Victor. A special interest in St Anthony is indicated by the additions of the rare feasts of the Translation and Invention of St Anthony the Great (17 Mar. and 11 June) to the calendar in two different mid-fourteenth century hands. One interpretation of this may be that the MS. is connected with the church of St Anthony at Cartmel Fell, co. Lanc., a dependency of the Augustinian Priory of Cartmel. However, the Canons of Cartmel are not known to have followed the Victorine observance. None of the recorded Victorine houses in England has been found to have particular associations with either St Anthony or any of the families whose arms appear in the present MS. Likewise, none of the four churches dedicated to St Anthony in England had any connections with the Victorines or the families in question. Turner, op. cit., p. 87 argued that another possible hypothesis might be to connect the MS. with the Hospitallers of St Anthony, who were constituted Augustinian canons in 1297. Obits for Thomas Machyn (29 Apr. 1412) and Agnes atte Mede (14 May 1412) added to the calendar in a fifteenth-century hand. A memorandum on f. 500b records the donation of the MS. in 1486 by Thomas Harwode, chaplain, to the parish church of Penwortham, co. Lanc., with conditions for its preservation and use. Harwood inherited lands in Blackburn, 1479: see V.C.H. Lancs., vi, p. 479. Recorded under Penwortham by N. R. Ker, Medieval Libraries of Great Britain, 2nd ed., 1964, pp. 222 and 324. The parish church at Penwortham was staffed with three monks and a chaplain by the local cell of the Benedictine monastery of Evesham: see V.C.H. Lancs., pp. 104-6. Ownership inscription of Agnes Forschaw is on f. 214v; the obit of Agnes (12 September 1489) has been added to the calendar in a 15th century hand, as has that of her husband Thurstan Forschaw (30 November 1489). Thurstan made a feoffment of his lands in 1453-4: see V.C.H. Lancs., vi, p. 60. Ownership inscription of Sir Thomas Lemyng, f. 209b. Lemyng was possibly Vicar of Croston, co. Lanc., in 1559: see V.C.H. Lancs., ii, p. 50. In the 17th cent., the MS. belonged to Richard Wroe, Warden of Christ Church, Manchester 1684-1718: see E. Bernard, Catolgi . . . , 1697, ii, p. 222, no. 7159. Bookplate on f. i of Le Gendre Pierce Starkie, presumably Le Gendre Pierce Nicholas Starkie, of Huntroyde, co. Lanc. (d. 1807), a descendant of whom sold the MS. Lot 137 at Sotheby's, 10 December 1962. Purchased from Alan G. Thomas, catalogue 12, 1963, item 1.

Vellum; ff. iv+501. 215 x 134 mm. Cropped. Text space 160 x 100 mm. Sec. fol. '-gamur adversis'. Gatherings (66) of 8 except xvi6, xxi6, xxii6, xxx6 (wants 3 and 4), xxxi6, xxxvi6, xxxvii6, xxxvii6, xxxviii10, xl6, xlii10, lv6, lviii6, lxiv4, lxvi2 (wants 1). Gatherings xlvii-xlviii are misbound and should follow quire lxiii. Catchwords on final versos. Vellum strips incorporated as placemakers on ff. 438, 466. Folio 501 (gathering lxvi) is a fragment of a leaf from the Temporale of a late fourteenth-century breviary with musical notation which was apparently used as a pastedown or flyleaf in an earlier binding of the MS. Pricked and ruled, in ink, for two columns of forty-lines within triple bounding lines. The script is littera gothica textualis semi-quadrata media, in black and red, by one hand. Gothic square neumatic notation in ink upon a red four-line stave provides tones for versicles, Psalm tones, hymns, ferial antiphons, antiphons, responsories, invitatories, and canticle tones. Such musical apparatus is rare in 'portable' liturgical books of this sort. The adherence to the 15 September date for the Feast of Relics gives a terminus ante quem of 1319. Early 19th cent. Binding of diced russia, gilt tooling on spine and boards, red edges.

Contents:

1. ff. 1-232b. Temporale. See Proctor and Wordsworth, op. cit., i, pp. i-mcccclxxxix.

2. ff. 233-238b. Calendar, in black, red and blue. See Proctor and Wordsworth, op. cit., i, pp. iii-xiv.

3. ff. 239-283. Psalter. See Proctor and Wordsworth, op. cit., ii, pp. 5-219; some lacunae and differences in arrangement of the text, as follows: omissions of pp. 42-69 (f. 245), pp. 84-95 (f. 249), pp. 109-12 (f. 252b), pp. 126-8 (f. 256b), pp. 145-9 (f. 261), pp. 165-9 (f. 265b), pp. 186-91 (f. 270); pp. 45-6, 57-68, are interpolated (ff. 271-274); and following p. 219 are interpolated pp. 32-3, 110, 126, 187, 27, 46 (ff. 279-279b).

4. ff. 283-284b. Litany, not of Sarum Use. The inclusion of SS Victor, Genevieve, and Cloud indicates probable Parisian influence, perhaps related to the type used by the Augustinian Canons of St Victor. Followed by short prayers and benedictions.

5. ff. 285-356, 373-466. Sanctorale. See Proctor and Wordworth, op. cit., iii, pp. 1-1119. The Feast of Relics, 15 September, occurs on f. 414. Although the calendar was later altered, no notice is taken in the Sanctorale of changes in use introduced by Bishop Roger de Mortival in 1319. Ff. 357-372 are misbound and should follow f. 488.

6. ff. 466-488b, 357-363b (misbound). Commune Sanctorum Reliqui Tem-poris. See Proctor and Wordsworth, op. cit., ii, pp. 364-431.

7. ff. 363b-372 (misbound), 489-491 (imperfect). Canticles.

8. ff. 493-500b. Additions by a slightly later hand, incorporating extracts from the Sanctorale for the Feast of Relics, followed by the feasts of King Edward, and SS Hugh, Anianus and Christina. St Christina is usually commemorated on 24 July, but here follows the November feasts. Christina (d. 1085), sister of Queen Margaret of Scotland and buried at Romey, is commemorated on 26 Nov., and may be the Christina who is recorded here, although she does not appear in the Sarum Use.

9. ff. 501-501b. Fragment from a late fourteenth-century breviary with musical notation, apparently used as a pastedown or flyleaf in an earlier binding, containing part of the Temporale, 'In die sancto paschae', Lauds. See Proctor and Wordsworth, op. cit., i, pp. dcccxiv-xv.

The decoration consists of 2 column miniatures, 13 historiated initials and numerous decorated initials, all with full or partial bar borders with cusped and stylized foliate decoration, grotesques, and a bas de page hunting scene on f. 239, all in gold and colours, and pen-flourished minor initials, occasionally extending into pen-drawn grotesques, and geometric line-fillers, all in red and blue. A humorous dragon and human-headed grotesques are particularly favoured. Stylistically the MS. may be considered part of the 'East Anglian' group, although somewhat less developed and accomplished than other members. The present MS. is not listed in L. Freeman Sandler, Gothic Manuscripts 1285-1385, 1986.'