Royal MS 2 B IV

TROPER and Gradual for St. Albans Abbey, in Latin. Some account of the MS. is given by Rev. W. H. Frere in his Winchester Troper (Hen. Bradshaw SOC., 1894), PP. xxxi, 132-139. The notation is Guidonian, on a four-line stave, except at ff. 107 b, 108, where there are some neums. Contents:-

1. Farsed Kyries, see list in Frere, pp. 132, 133. Beg. 'Te pater supplices' (Chevalier, Rep. Hymn. no. 20182). f. 1.

2. Farsed Glorias, see list in Frere, pp. 134-137. Beg. 'Gloria in excelsis . . . Laudemus dominum quem laudat' (Chev. no. I0230). f. 24 b.

3. Gradual : the temporale and sanctorale combined. f. 55. Not all festivals were originally included, and the MS. is now very defective by loss of leaves, viz. (a) From the night mass before Christmas Day to

Palm Sunday, missing after f. 68;-(b) From Ascension Day to Whit Tuesday, missing after f. 98. After this should follow the misplaced quire ff. 199-208;-(c) From Trinity Sunday to SS. Peter and Paul, missing between f. 208 and f. 99;-(d) From the Octave of the Assumption to Michaelmas Day, missing after f. 118. The inclusion of the Invention of S. Alban (2 Aug.) points to the St. Albans origin of the book, and this is confirmed in the case of several of the grails, &c., by comparison with the St. Albans MS. Missal at Oxford (Laud Misc.

279), as collated by Dr. Wickham Legg in the notes to his Missale Westmonasteriense (Hen. Bradshaw Soc., 1897). For S. Andrew (f. 130 b) alternative sequences (Chev. nos. 24370, I7733) are given. The Commune begins at f. 139. At the end, after Dedicatio ecclesiae, are a few additional sequences, 'de s. Cruce' (f. 173 b, Chev. no. 10360), 'de s. Maria' (f. I77, Chev. no. 10012), and 'in veneratione s. Mariae' (ff. I78 b, 182, Chev. nos. 2045, 1879).

4. Sanctus tropes, see Frere, pp. 137, 138. Beg. 'Sanctus. Pater ex quo omnia'. f. 184.

5. Agnus tropes, ib. p. 139. Beg. 'Quem Iohannes in deserto'. f. 195. The correct order of leaves at the end is ff. 195-198, 213, 214, 209-212, 2I5.

6. Appendix to art. 3, viz. Commune unius abbatis and one sequence (Chev. no. 21505). f. 209 b. In a 13th cent. hand is added (f. 211 b) the prosa (by Adam de S. Victore?) 'Ave mundi spes Maria' (Chev. no. I974). In a late 15th cent. hand on f. 194 b is the anthem 'Regina celi letare' (Chev. no. 17170).

Vellum; ff. 215. 10.1/4 in. x 61 in. XII cent. Gatherings usually of ten leaves. The collation is (not as given by Frere) : a12 b10 ca (two cancels) d-f10 g8 A-C1O G-H1O K1O L1O (several cancels) M-RIO E1O (misplaced) S7 (leaves misplaced). Sec. fol. 'tunobis'. Ornamental initials in gold (e.g. ff. 93b, 195) or colours, often with small round patches of gold. Not identiflable in the old catalogues.