Choir Psalter with Antiphons, Carthusian Use; Italy, North (Mantua (?)), 14th century, late

Title

Choir Psalter with Antiphons, Carthusian Use; Italy, North (Mantua (?)), 14th century, late

Shelfmark

MS. Canon. Liturg. 377

Place of origin

Italian, North( Mantua(?))

Date

14th century, end

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment; paper fly-leaves

Physical extent

201 leaves Leaves were trimmed in rebinding, occasionally causing the loss of decoration; lower outer corner is damaged by rodents (?)

Hands

Large formal Gothic book hand, black ink, smaller script used for antiphons

Decoration

3-line Beatus-initial (fol. 1r) with half-figure of Christ (?) and border (left and right margins) decorated with coiled tendrils, foliage, animal heads and gold discs (badly rubbed).

Border: see above.

2-line initial, on gold background (rubbed), decorated with geometric designs, foliage and gold discs, at the beginning of psalm 26 (fol. 21r).

3-line blue initials, decorated with red penwork, at the beginnings of psalm 109 (fol. 109r), hymnal (fol. 165r) and various hymns, e.g. fols. 167v, 173v, 176r, etc.

2-line blue or red initials, decorated with contrasting red or purple penwork, at the beginnings of psalms, canticles, prayers and hymns. Penwork occasionally includes anthropomorphic and zoomorphic designs, such as birds and human profiles.

1-line alternating red and blue initials, decorated with contrasting purple or red penwork, at the beginnings of verses and periods. Guide-letters for the illuminator often survive.

Added hymns on fols. 188v–189v and 194r–196r have 2-line red or black penwork initials.

Medieval and later drawings in the margins, including floral designs, hands, human heads and profiles, e.g. fols. 28v, 72r, 82v, 98r, 121r.

Rubrics in red ink.

Musical notation

Square notation on staves of four red lines.

Binding

Brown leather over wood boards; one of the standard Canonici styles, Italian, 18th century. Blind roll floral border, outlined by blind fillet lines round the outer edge of both covers. Rectangular frame, containing a diamond-shaped figure, both formed by blind roll floral designs on both covers. Floral decorations on the sides and in the corners of the frame and inside the diamond-shaped figure. The designs used are identical with those on MS. Add. D. 47. Five raised bands on spine. Panels between the bands are framed with gilt fillet lines. Brown leather label on spine, framed by gilt fillet lines and gilt arabesque designs, with gilt lettering ‘PSALTERIV. || DAUIDI- || CUM || COD. MEM.’. ‘377’ written in white paint on spine. Pastedowns and fly-leaves made of laid paper, no watermarks.

Acquisition

Bodleian Library: bought in 1817 from Canonici’s nephew Giovanni Perissinotti. Earlier shelf-marks: ‘Miscell. Liturg. CCCLXXVII’ and ‘377’(fol. i verso), cf. upper pastedown and fol. 1r.

Provenance

Owned by and probably made for a Carthusian house near Mantua, presumably the Charterhouse of the Holy Trinity: inscribed in a formal script ‘Cartusie Mantue 72’ (15th century), with a cross on a trifoil base with a horizontal letter ‘S’ above it, stamped over the inscription (the Triumphant Cross, symbol of the Carthusian Order) (fol. 1v, centre of lower margin).

An inscription, 16th century (?), comprising a cross and ‘die xv septembris’ (fol. 69r, lower margin).

A description of the manuscript in an Italian, 18th-century (?) hand, but not the hand of Canonici or any of the earlier owners and librarians whose handwriting is illustrated in Mitchell (1969). Similar descriptions in the same hand are also found in: MS. Canon. Bibl. Lat. 42, MS. Canon. Bibl. Lat. 85, MS. Canon. Pat. Lat. 88, MS. Add. D. 47, MS. Canon. Liturg. 105, MS. Canon. Liturg. 155 and MS. Canon. Liturg. 393: ‘Psalterium Chorale. Cod. membran. in fol. saec. XIV. ad usum Monasterii cujuspiam Benedictini. In fine Cantica Biblica, Hymni per annum, aliaeque preces. Videtur in Gallia descriptus’ (fol. ii recto).

Matteo Luigi Canonici of Venice (1727–c. 1806), but not from the libraries of Soranzo or Trevisan (see Mitchell, 1969).

Title

A Carthusian Psalter

Shelfmark

MS. Canon. Liturg. 377

Summary

A Carthusian Psalter, with canticles, etc., followed by a Hymnal (fol. 176). Fols. 190-3 are supplied in a late hand, and a leaf is lost after fol. 38. There are musical notes. Stt. Blandina and Euphemia occur in the litany at fol. 162.

Date

Written in the 14th century in North Italy

Language

Latin

Physical facet

On parchment, with a small miniature, border, capitals, etc.

Physical extent

199 Leaves

Custodial history

'Cartusie Mantue 72' (15th cent.: fol. 1v).