Add MS 46174

MARIENBERG HOURS

HOURS, etc., in Latin, written probably for a nun of the convent of Marienberg, near Boppard on the Rhine, in the diocese of Trier. Contents:-

(1) Calendar. At 1 Sept. is the Feast of the Invention of St Matthias, patron of Trier, whose body was found there in 1127 in the abbey afterwards named after him (see the Gesta Treverorum, printed in Migne, Patr. Lat., cliv, col. 1223), and the following early Bishops of Trier are present: Celsus (twice, first, with an Octave, on the day of his death, 4 Jan.; secondly, on that of the finding of his body in 978, 23 Feb., see Gesta Trev., op. cit., col. 1167); Agricius (13 Jan., the first historical Bishop; according to legend he was sent to Trier with the relics of St Matthias and others by St Helena, see Gesta Trev., op. cit., 1133-1135); Marus (26 Jan.); Valerius (29 Jan.); Bonosius (17 Feb.); Modowaldus (12 May); Cirillus (19 May); Maximinus (twice, first on 29 May, the date not of his translation as stated in the Acta SS. Maii, vii, p. 13, but of his death according to the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, edited by H. Delehaye in Analecta Bollandiana, xxxii, p. 394; secondly, on 12 Sept., the date of his death according to the Acta SS. Maii, vii, pp. 21 and 98, note 2); Eucharius (8 Dec.), with an Octave. Other local saints mentioned include: Paul (8 Feb., Bp. of Verdun, sometime hermit in the diocese of Trier, see Gesta Trev., op. cit., 1148, and Vita Pauli, edited by d'Achery and Mabillon in Acta SS. O.S.B., ii, p. 273); Castor (13 Feb., hermit at Carden on the Moselle, see Acta SS. Feb., ii, p. 663); Severus (15 Feb., priest at Interocrea in the Abruzzi, whose relics were brought to Münster-Maifeld, in the diocese of Trier, in the 10th century, see Gesta Trev., op. cit., coll. 1165, 1169, and J. E. Stadler, Heiligen Lexicon, v. p. 277); Goar (6 July, priest at Oberwesel on the Rhine, see 'Vita S. Goaris' in Scriptores Rerum Merovingicarum, iv. pp. 402-423); Modesta (4 Nov., niece of St Modowaldus, first Abbess of Horreen, see 'Virtutes Gertrudis' in Script. Rer. Merov., ii, p. 465); Gregory (24 Dec., priest and martyr at Spoleto, whose relics were brought to Trier in the 10th century, see Gesta Trev., op. cit., col. 1169 and Stadler, op. cit., ii, pp. 517, 518). The Presentation of the B.V.M. is on the unusual date of 20 Nov. and there is no Octave of her Nativity. St Joseph, with an Octave, has been added on 19 March and St. Sophia erased on 22 May. The feasts of the Divisio Apostolorum (15 July) and St. Katherine (25 Nov.) are in red and on those of St Anne (26 July) and the Invention of St Stephen (3 Aug.) the Saints' names have been gone over with red. The Calendar may be compared with that in Egerton MS. 1146, a Book of Hours of the use of Worms; see also P. Miesges, 'Der Trierer Festkalender', Trierisches Archiv, xv, 1915. ff. 1-12b.

(2) Hours of the Virgin. The use has a resemblance to that of Rome (cf. V. Leroquais, Les Livres d'Heures Manuscrits, i, 1927, p. xxxviii). The whole of Compline has been obliterated by a correction (see below) except Pss. 4, 30 (the first 6vv.) and 130. Sometimes after their original composition the Hours were corrected apparently to agree with the use of the congregation of Bursfeld, which Marienberg probably joined in 1459 at the same time as her patron, the Abbey of St Matthias at Trier (see Gallia Christiana, xiii, 550). The Bursfeld Office was first approved in 1445 (see the Preface to the Breviarium O.S.B. observantie Bursfeldensis, Spires, 1496, and U. Berlière, 'Les Origines de la Congrégation de Bursfeld', Revue Bénédictine, xvi, 1899, p. 407). After each Hour is a memorial of the Passion or Hour of the Cross (cf. Breviarium, 1518, f. 70, and J. B. L. Tolhurst, The Monastic Breviary of Hyde Abbey, vi, pp. 134-137). This is followed by the 'Salve Regina', which has been altered to the version of Bursfeld, in fact its original version, by the deletion of 'mater' before 'misericordie' (f. 48, cf. op. cit., f. lxviii). ff. 16-94.

(3) The fifteen gradual psalms. ff. 94b-100b.

(4) Miscellaneous items, consisting of various antiphons and collects, etc., and including:- (a) special endings for hymns at various feasts, including those of SS. Eucharius, Valerius, and Matthias;- (b) Collect 'Pietate tua' containing the words 'abbatem nostrum et abbatissam nostram' and 'omni congregacione et familia sancte marie'. Marienberg was reformed for the first time by Johann Rode, Abbot of St Matthias at Trier, and on 19 May 1437 the last Mistress, Isengard von Greiffenklau, became the first Abbess (see J. Nick, 'Regesten des adeligen Frauenklosters Marienberg', Studien und Mittheilungen aus dem Benedictiner- und dem Cistercienser-Orden, xv, 1894, pp. 24-39, and V. Redlich, Johann Rode, 1923, pp. 86-94). ff. 100b-110b.

(5) Office of the Dead. The original use here (of Trier?) is similar to that in the Bursfeld Breviary, op. cit., 1496, Psalterium, ff. lviii b-lxb, and this fact may have some bearing on the genesis of the latter as the reformer John Dederoth, Abbot of Bursfeld, received a copy of the constitutions of St Matthias and four monks from Johann Rode (cf. Berlière, op. cit., p. 398). After the Benedictus on f. 43b some material, probably including Ps. 5, has been erased. After the Office proper is a long prayer in another hand 'Obsecro te dne. ihesu christe per tuam inestimabilem bonitatem' for all the departed (ff. 147, 148). ff. 111-148.

(6) The seven penitential psalms, Litany of the Saints and Suffrages. The Litany includes the names of SS. Eucharius, Valerius, Maternus, Celsus, Cirillus, Agricius and Maximinus. According to the Gesta Trev., op. cit., 1116-1126, Maternus was sent with Eucharius and Valerius by St Peter to evangelize Gaul and Germany. Cologne and Tongern claim him as their first Bishop and he is also said to have succeeded Valerius at Trier. His relic were venerated in the church of St. Paulinus there (cf. Gallia Christiana, xiii, 373-375, and Stadler, op. cit., iv, pp. 300-303). The litany may be compared with that in Paris, Musée Condé MS. 8 (1376), a 12th cent. Psalter of the use of Trier, ff. 160b-161b (see Leroquais, Les Psautiers Manuscrits, i, 1940-1941, p. 138). Among the Suffrages are prayers 'pro abbatissa nostra' and 'pro congregacione' (ff. 167b, 168). A final collect for the same intention asks for the intercessions of the Apostles John and Matthias, SS. Eucharius, Valerius, Martin, Nicholas, Agricius and Celsus. ff. 149-171b.

(7) Antiphons and psalms at the anointing of the sick, Lesser Litany, commendation of the dying and order of burial. ff. 171b-196.

(8) Antiphons and psalms for Prime throughout the week according to the monastic rite. Between ff. 197 and 198 are missing leaves which must have contained psalms 2 (part of), 6-13, 14 (part of) with their antiphons. ff. 197-209.

(9) Litanies and prayers for the sick and dead. ff. 209b-218.

(10) Antiphons and psalms for Vespers throughout the week according to the monastic rite. ff. 218-241.

(11) Hymns for Prime, Terce, Sext and None. Those for Lent have been partially erased and were not used in the Bursfeld Breviary (cf. Chevalier, Repertorium Hymnologicum, i, 1892, pp. 260, ii, 1894, pp. 373, 661). ff. 241-243b.

(12) Antiphons, chapters and collects 'Subveniat domine plebi tue' and 'Magna est apud clemenciam tuam' of the B.V.M. and collects 'Deus qui conspicis omni nos virtute' and 'Gracie tue quesumus domine', for Sext and None on Sundays written in the same hand as ff. 147, 148. ff. 243b-245. Vellum; ff. iv+ 246. 120 mm. x 85 mm. Mid xv cent. Gatherings irregular. The following leaves are palimpsest, mainly containing a German devotional treatise of a not much earlier date than the Book of Hours: ff. 16-29, 31-51, 53-71, 73-76, 79-87, 89-100, 165-184 and 187-189. Ff. 102-109 were once part of a liturgical calendar written in German. The greater part of the Book of Hours is in a book-hand of a medium thickness, but a second and finer hand appears (e.g. ff. 147, 148, 214b-218, 243b-245) which has made some corrections of the first (e.g. on the added f . 30 or on f . 210). The first scribe was also corrected (e.g. f . 27) by the painter of the blue and red initials in the MS. There are foliated initials on ff. 16, 111, 149 and 197. A third and coarser hand is that of the corrector of the use, which has also undertaken some textual correction of the original MS. (e.g. on ff. 18b and 7lb). Illustrations in the MS. are:- (1) coat of arms (added later, unidentified), arg., 3 bars gu., f. 15b;- (2) the Betrayal, f. 47b;- (3) Christ before Pilate, f.56b;- (4) the Scourging, f. 62;- (5) the Crucifixion, f. 73;- (6) the Descent from the Cross, f. 85b;- (7) the Entombment, f. 89b. Each of the last six miniatures has pendent from the frame two small shields, one bearing the above arms, the other arg., a wyvern gu. Binding of German panel stamped leather, mid 16th cent. Probationes on ff. 245, 245b. On f. i occurs the following partially effaced inscription: 'Gratiosus Dominus F[i]lius Senior ... de Klettenberg petiit hunc libellum inferi nostræ Bibliothecæ anno 1711'; one of the two inscriptions on f . iii includes the pressmark 'Ad Repositoriam Sub Litt. A. Num. 8'. F. ii is the fragment of a label formerly pasted down on inside upper cover containing a short description of the MS., written in an 18th-19th cent. hand. Similar labels occur in Add. MS. 40151, a Breviary of Augsburg use, and Egerton MS. 2901, Decretals, which belonged (17th cent.) to the monastery of St Maximin at Trier (f. 1). Presumably belonged to William Townend of Manchester, who gave it (1832) to William Piercy of Hull (see memorandum on f. ivb). Presented by Miss M. M. Herbert with the aid of the Friends of the National Libraries. Purchased with the assistance of the National Art-Collections Fund.