Untitled works or fragments — c. 1067–1068 (?); French, Moissac, Cluniac abbey

Title

Untitled works or fragments — c. 1067–1068 (?); French, Moissac, Cluniac abbey

Shelfmark

MS. D'Orville 45

Place of origin

French, Moissac, Cluniac abbey

Date

c. 1067–1068 (?)

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment

Physical extent

245 fols.

Hands

Five hands are to be distinguished.

Decoration

Fine coloured initials (fols. 18, 63, 71v, 80, 89, 99, 109v, 119, 123v, 167, 188v) and tables. (Pächt and Alexander i. 432, pl. XXXV)

Musical notation

Occasional diastematic Aquitanian point neum notation (fols. 157, 187, 215v ff.).

Acquisition

Acquired by the Bodleian in 1804

Provenance

Fols. 14-17 (the bifolia sewn together to open out into a large square) contain a paschal cycle from 1026 to 1557. A red dot before the year 1068 suggests that the table was transcribed between Easter 1067 and Easter 1068; on this means of dating see Bannister, Mélanges Chatelain. The Benedictine abbey of Moissac, from which the MS evidently comes, became Cluniac in 1053 and the kalendar is decidedly Cluniac in character. An original connection with Moissac is shown by comparison with other books from there and by liturgical evidence.

On fol. 246 is a note 'que yeu Raimon de beluese ay reliat [bound] aquest libre . . .' (s.xiv?). This binding does not survive.

At Moissac until the 16th or 17th century: fol. 246v: 'Aquest libre es del couuen de moysac. . .' (s.xiv/xv). Fly leaves from 14th and 15th-cent. monastic records. Fol. 2: 'ex Abbatia Moissiacensi' (s.xvi or xvii).

N. J. Foucault: his armorial bookplate.

Jacques Phillippe D'Orville of Amsterdam (1690–1751)

Jean D'Orville, b. 1734, his son, by descent

Jean D'Orville, son of Jean, by descent

Sold to the Rev. John Cleaver Banks (1765/1766–1845): purchased from him by the Bodleian

Title

A Psalter in Latin, with liturgical accessories, written apparently for the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul at Moissac (Moissiacum) in the Diocese of Cahors (Cadurcum)

Shelfmark

MS. D'Orville 45

Summary

The chief contents are:

(fol. 1v) A calendar with coloured calendarial tables, wanting the tables for October, all for November, and the calendar for December. The names of stt. Amand (Feb. 6), Ansbertus (Sept. 30) and Leotadius (Oct. 23) prove an original connexion with Moissac: and those of stt. Maiolus (May 11), Odilo (Jan. 1) and Consortia (June 22) suggest Cluny. Moissac became Cluniac in A.D. 1067

(fol. 12v) A litany, with some of the original names of saints altered.

(fol. 14) Calendarial tables, Greek letters being used for dates: one series extends from A.D. 1026 (*8 κ ς) to A.D. 1539 (8 Φ λ θ), showing the probable date of the writing of this volume. A Greek alphabet is given on fols. 14v, 17r.

Also comprises (fol. 18) introductory pieces, including:

Letter of Damasus to st. Jerome, with answer, '... Versus Damasi ...' (beg. 'Nunc Damasi monitis')

'...Versus sancti Hieronimi ...' (beg. 'Psallere qui docuit')

Various prefaces, 'Tituli psalmorum', '... inquisicio qualis psalmus primus fuerit cantatus', 'Scriptum Alcuini ad Karulum imperatorem' (beg. 'Beatus igitur Dauid')

liturgical rules for the recitation of the Penitential Psalms, with some collects, capitula, a litany and prayers, etc.

Also comprises (fol. 51) The Psalter, wanting the first leaf, followed (fol. 142v)by Canticles, including:

The Te Deum, here called 'Canticum sancti Hilarii'

The Lord's Prayer with a short commentary

The Apostles' and Athanasian creeds.

Also comprises:

(fol. 155) A Commune Sanctorum for the Hour services.

(fol. 167) A Hymnale, with two later hymns on fol. 165.

(fol. 197) The Breviarium Psalmorum of st. Prudentius bp. of Troyes (with no title or author's name): pref. beg. 'Cum quedam nobilis matrona', the work beg. 'Domine Ihesu Christi rex altissimi filius.'.

(fol. 210) A Proprium de Tempore and Proprium Sanctorum (in one series) for the Hour services, followed by:

(fol. 231) Orationes

(fol. 233) Capitula

Also comprises from (fol. 237) minor offices:

(fol. 239v) Minor offices: The office for the visitation of the sick, the burial of the dead

(fol. 242v) 'Exorcismus salis'

(fol. 243) Orationes 'in oratorium', 'in vestiario', 'in dormitorio', etc.

(fol. 244v)(added) 'Ordo ad monachum benedicendum', etc.

Although leaves are missing after fols. 50 and 245, there are several fine illuminated capitals left, as at fols. 167, 18, 63, 71v, 80, 89, 99, 109v, 119, 123v, 188v, some showing traces of Hiberno-Saxon influence. The fly-leaves are some 14th and 15th cent. monastic records, probably from Moissac, in French.

On fols. 187v, 216v and elsewhere there are some musical notes.

[On palaeographical grounds I believe the MS. to be some half century later. And S. Odilo, who died 1 Jan. 1049, is in the Calendar (written by a single hand) as well as over an erasure in the first litany. Of 5 Abbats of Moissac who were saints, only Amandus and (over an erasure) Ansbertus appear in either litany, and none in the Proprium Sanctorum: 3 Abbats of Cluny who were saints are inserted over an erasure in the first litany, but none in the second, and only Maiolus in the Proprium Sanctorum.

The two Proverçal entries on f. 246v I read:

Aquest libre es del couuen de moysac [then in another hand] lausat sia Dieu que la donat ['praised be God that he has given it'] amen

Sapiἀci [= Sapian si ?] tots que yeu Raimô [= Raimon] de beluese ay reliat ['have bound'] aeqst libre. Gratis pro deo [i.e. gratis for the service of God], E.W.B.N.].

Date

written in about A.D. 1025 in or near Moissac (?) in South France

Language

Latin

Physical facet

On parchment, with illuminated capitals

Physical extent

247 Leaves

Custodial history

'Cest libre es du conuen de moysac ...' (about A.D. 1400?): another inscription seems to testify that 'Raim. de beluese [?]' owned the book early in the 15th cent. (?). The armorial bookplate of N. J. Foucault (d. 1721) is in the book.