Add MS 42503

ORDINAL, of Genoese use, for the Office and Mass; 1st half 15th cent. Probably compiled for the cathedral church of St Lawrence at Genoa, as is indicated by the directions (f. 22) for the procession on Palm Sunday from the 'ecclesia maior' (cf. also f. 27 b) to the church of St Syrus, the former cathedral, and by the reference to the 'campane Sancti Laurentii' on f. 73. Genoa was probably one of the cities where the system of a 'double cathedral' was in force (cf. Hubert, 'Les cathédrales doubles et l'histoire de la liturgie', Atti del I Congr. Intern. di studi longobardi, 1951, p. 167). The rubrics include frequent references to the 'prelatus' and 'cantor' in the second person (ff. 4 b, 4ob, etc.), also to the 'pontifex' as celebrant, e.g. at the Easter ceremonies (ff. 27b-29b). Contents:-

(1) Temporale, from Advent to the last Sunday after Pentecost, here kept as the feast of the Trinity. This custom was not uncommon, despite the decree of John xxii that the feast should be kept on the first Sunday after Pentecost (H. Thurston, The Catholic Encyclopedia, xv, p. 58). ff. 1 -42 b.

(2) 'In dedicatione ecclesie'. ff. 42b-43.

(3) Sanctorale, St Stephen to St Thomas the Apostle, including SS. Valentine (f. 5 5 b), Sylus [sc. Syrus] (f. 6 1 b), Felix (f. 6 1 b) and Romulus (f. 7 1), all bishops of Genoa. On Genoese festivals see D. Cambiaso, 'L'Anno Ecclesiastico e le Feste dei Santi in Genova nel loro svolgimento storico', Atti della Società Ligure di Storia Patria, vol. xlviii, 1917. A number of festivals which fell out of use in Genoa after the 14th cent. (e.g. Eulalia, Juliana, Venerius, Felix and Fortunatus, Minias, Eligius, Zeno) are omitted in the present MS., but a few such (e.g. Paulinus of Treves, Paragorius, Parthaeus and Parthenopaeus, Antoninus of Piacenza, Syrus of Pavia) are included. Notable omissions are Desiderius of Langres, Bernard, and the Conception of the B.V.M.; all three are included in a list of festivals promulgated by the Archbishop of Genoa in 141O, and the first two also occur in a list of civil holidays dating from 1375 (Cambiaso, op. cit., pp. 13-16). The present MS., therefore, would seem to reflect the liturgical use of the cathedral church circ. 1400.

1n general, the festivals included agree closely with those in a calendar (written between 1313 and 1321) of the cathedral church of Genoa published by Cambiaso, op. cit., pp. 289-347. ff. 43-78.

(4) Commune Sanctorum. ff. 78-84b. Colophon (f. 84b) 'Explicit usus ecclesiasticus Ianuensis per totum anni circulum'. Beneath it are added, in a different hand, blessings at Matins. A number of tropes are indicated in the MS. to be sung before the Introit at Mass (ff. 2, 6, 9, etc.). Vellum; ff. iii+ 84. 229 mm. x 15 7 mm. First half xv cent. Gatherings of eight leaves (il2) with signatures N(a-k) on the first leaves, and catchwords, both added by later hands. Written in Italy, presumably in Genoa. Rubrics and initials in red throughout. The hand becomes somewhat larger and coarser after f. 20. A few marginal additions in a contemporary hand. Used in the binding are:-(a) at the beginning (ff. i, ii) a notarial document, imperfect,

relating to proceedings at Genoa before the royal Vicar and Vice-Vicar (of Robert of Anjou, King of Naples)' dated 27 Oct. 1320, in which Franceschinus Vicecomes (Visconti) sues Petrus Adurnus (Adorno) 'et socii', bankers, for money due to him;-(b) at the end (f. iii) a leaf, 14th cent., containing the end of a tract on the four cardinal virtues (text ends 'contempnet ignavitatem' followed by the colophon 'Explicit tractatus quatuor uirtutum cardinalium et cuiuslibet earum instructio'). Contemporary binding (rebacked) of dark brown leather over wooden boards, blind-tooled, with strap and clasp. Sotheby's sale-cat., 9-10 Mar. 1931, lot 46.