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Harley MS 2928
- Record Id:
- 040-002048759
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002048759
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000761.0x0000c7
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100056046705.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 2928
- Title:
- Psalter; Expositio Hymnorum; an Old Occitan translation of the Gospel of St John (Chapters 13 to 17); a Benediction in verse; Alcuin, De Laude Psalmorum; the canon Si Quis Suadente from the II Lateran Council (1139)
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
This 12th-century manuscript from the South of France (Aquitaine) consists of a Psalter with litanies, hymns and an Old Occitan version of the Gospel of St John (chapters 13 to 17). It ends with Alcuin's treatise about the use of the book of Psalms, followed by a canon from the II Lateran Council and a responsory with neumes.
The manuscript is decorated by four full-page miniatures, now damaged, and four other full-page miniatures were added at a later period. They are attributed to an Italian illuminator from Bologna (the Master of 1285) working during the late 13th century. The neumes, perhaps from Northern Italy (ff. 194v-196r), might have been added at the same time and suggest that the manuscript might have been in Italy in the late 13th century.
ff. 1r-3v: A liturgical calendar.
ff. 4r-12v: Eleven prayers preceded by pen trials, beginning: 'Domine Ihesu Christe omnipotens Deus, qui elegisti locum istum ad serviendum tibi'; a space left blank at the end of this prayer (f. 4v), and another prayer (ff. 5r-6v) beginning: 'Adoro te Domine Deus omnipotens Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus'. Prayer De Sancta Cruce (About the Holy Cross) (ff. 6v-7v); two prayers Ad Sanctam Mariam (prayers for Saint Mary the Virgin), one is in verse (ff. 7v-10r); a prayer for baptism, 'Exorcismus salis' (ff. 10r-11r); orationes ad visitandum infirmorum (Prayers for the visiting of the sick) (ff. 11r) beginning with an Antiphon for Matins at the Nativity, beginning: 'Suscepimus, Deus omnipotens, misericordiam tuam in medio temple tui' (ff. 11r-v); a prayer beginning: 'Dominus Iesus Christus apud te sit ut te defendat', followed by several benedictions from the Roman rites (ff. 11v-12r); three prayers for the absolution of the penitents (ff. 12r-v), beginning: 'In ea auctoritate et potestate fidentes'.
ff. 19r-98r: A Psalter preceded by Pseudo-Augustine's prologue on Psalms (ff. 19r-v), the beginning of the Prologue (f. 19r): 'Laus Psalmorum. Canticum psalmorum animas decorat'; the beginning of the Psalter with Psalm 1:1 (f. 19v): 'Beatus vir qui non habit in consilio impiorum'; followed by Canticles from the Old Testament and New Testament (ff. 90v-96r) and hymns (ff. 96r-97v); ending with the Athanasian Creed (ff. 97v-98r).
ff. 99r-109v: Litanies and prayers, preceded by a table of contents citing the saints and themes related to the litanies (ff. 99r-100r), beginning with a litany of all Saints: 'Ut misericordia et pietatis tua nos semper custodiant. Ut ecclesiam tuam sanctam et immaculatam regere et defendare digneris'; ending with the general prayer (Oratio generalis) (f. 109v).
ff. 109v-187v: Expositio Hymnorum (Hymnal or Book of Hymns), arranged according to the liturgical day and year, beginning: 'Primo dierum omnium'; it includes collects from the Gospels and homilies of St Ambrose and St Gregory. It includes 12th-century neumes from southern France (ff. 127r-287v).
ff. 187v-191v: An Old Occitan translation of the Gospel of St John (Chapters 13 to 17), beginning: 'Incipit sermo domini nostri Ihesu Christi quem fecit in cena sua quando pedes lavit discipulis suis. Avan lo dia festal de la Pasca sabia lo Salvadre que la soa ora ve que traspasse s'aquest mun au Paer', ending: 'que la amors per cal tu me amest sia en euz e seu en euz'.
ff. 191v-192r: A Benediction in verse, beginning: 'Ineffabilis Dei pietas'.
ff. 192v-194r: Alcuin, De Laude Psalmorum, beginning: 'Qui etiam (sic) prophetie non semper eorum mentibus presto est', ending: 'et ad medulam intimam intellectus per dei gratiam perveneris'. This text has been edited from other manuscripts in Black, 'Psalm Uses in Carolingian Prayerbooks' (2002).
f. 194r: Added in a contemporary hand, the canon Si Quis Suadente from the II Lateran Council (1139), also called the privilegium canonis, which states that everyone who laid violent hands upon a clerk or a monk would be excommunicated.
ff. 194v-196r: Responsory with slightly later neumes perhaps from northern Italy, imperfect.
Decoration:
Four damaged full-page miniatures in gold and colours (ff. 13v, 14v, 17r, 18r).
Added four full-page miniatures of the Raising of Lazarus, the Assumption of the Virgin, the Baptism of Christ, and the anointing of Christ's feet by Mary Magdalene (ff. 15r, 15v, 16r, 16v), in gold and colours attributed to the Master of 1285, according to Conti, La Miniature Bolognese (1981).
Eleven historiated initials in gold and colours, some with foliate and knotwork motifs (ff. 19v, 30r, 36v, 43r, 50r, 58v, 66v, 74v, 77r, 81v, 90v).
Numerous initials in red; some with simple penwork decoration. Display script in red, following historiated initials. Simple initials and rubrics in red.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- England and France 700-1200 Project
Harley Collection - Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002048759", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 2928: Psalter; Expositio Hymnorum; an Old Occitan translation of the Gospel of St John (Chapters 13 to 17); a Benediction in verse; Alcuin,…" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002048759 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 2928 : Psalter; Expositio Hymnorum; an Old Occitan translation of the Gospel of St John (Chapters 13 to 17); a Benediction in verse;… - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[2929]/040-002048759
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- A parchment codex
- Digitised Content:
- https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100056046705.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
Occitan, Old - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1100
- End Date:
- 1149
- Date Range:
- 1st half of the 12th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 160 x 90 mm (text space: 130 x 60 mm).
Foliation: ff. 196 (+ 4 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and 3 at the end).
Script: Caroline minuscule.
Binding: Post-1600. 'Harleian' binding of gold-tooled red leather.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Southwestern France.
Provenance:
? Limousin, Aquitaine, France: Old Occitan text showing numerous features from Aquitaine and perhaps more precisely from the Limousin, according to Wunderli, La plus ancienne traduction provençale (1969).
?Bologna, Italy: perhaps linked to Bologna based on the added miniatures painted by the Master of 1285 and the Italian neumes (ff. 194v-196r).
Added, early 16th-century notes (f. 196v).
Andrew Hay (d. 1754?), dealer: acquired from him for the Harley Collection (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972)).
The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley '13 die mensis Julij, A.D. 1723' (f. 1).
Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta Cavendish, née Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d.1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library.
- Information About Copies:
-
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk.manuscripts/.
- Publications:
-
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts, in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: [n. pub.], 1808-12), II (1808), no. 2928.
Libri Psalmorum versio antiqua gallica e Cod. MS in Bibl. Bodleiana asservato una cum versione metrica aliisque monumentis pervetustis, ed. by Franciscus Michel (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1860), pp. 369-76.
Walter de Gray Birch and Henry Jenner, Early Drawings and Illuminations: An Introduction to the Study of Illustrated Manuscripts (London: Bagster and Sons, 1879), p. 10.
James Mearns, Early Latin Hymnaries: An Index of Hymns in Hymnaries before 1100 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1913), p. xv.
Clovis Brunel, Bibliographie des manuscrits littéraires en ancien provençal (Paris: Librairie E. Droz, 1935), no. 17.
Stephen Joseph Peter Van Dijk and Joan Hazeldon Walker, The Origins of the Modern Roman Liturgy: The Liturgy of the Papal Court and the Franciscan Order in the Thirteenth Century (London: Darton, Longman, and Todd, 1960), pp. 271 n. 2, 539.
The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by C. E. Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), II: 1723-1726, p. 248 n. 6.
Peter Wunderli, La plus ancienne traduction provençale (XIIe siecle) des chapitres XII à XVII del’évangile de saint Jean (BM Harley 2928), Bibliothèque française et romane, Série D: Initiation, Textes et Documents (Paris: Klincksieck, 1969), pp. ix-xxxiv and 3-41 [text edition].
C. E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), p. 183.
Alessandro Conti, La Miniature Bolognese: Scuole e botteghe 1270-1340 (Bologna: ALFA, 1981), pp. 25-26.
Mise en page et mise en texte du livre manuscrit, ed. by Henri-Jean Martin and Jean Vezin (Paris: Cercle de la Librairie-Promodis, 1990), p. 231.
Carl P. E. Springer, The Manuscripts of Sedulius: A Provisional Handlist, Transaction of the American Philosophical Society, 85 (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1995), p. 147.
Jonathan Black, 'Psalm Uses and Carolingian Prayerbooks: Alcuin and the Preface to De psalmorum usu', Mediaeval Studies, 64 (2002), 1-60 [on the text].
Dizionario biografico dei miniatori Italiani. Secoli IX-XVI, ed. by Milvia Bollati (Milan: Sylvestre Bonnard, 2004), pp. 470-71.
Maria Careri, Christine Ruby and Ian Short, Livres et écritures en français et en occitan au XIIe siècle: Catalogue illustré, Scritture e libri del medioevo, 8 (Rome: Viella, 2011), no. 38.
Margriet Hoogvliet, 'Encouraging Lay People to Read the Bible in the French Vernaculars: New Groups of Readers and Textual Communities', Church History and Religious Culture, 93 (2013), 239-74 (p. 242, n. 5).
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Notes:
- This manuscript is part of The Polonsky Foundation England and France Project: Manuscripts from the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, 700-1200.