Psalter and New Testament, Volume III of the ‘Ranshofen Bible’; Austria (Salzburg?), c. 1140–50

Title

Psalter and New Testament, Volume III of the ‘Ranshofen Bible’; Austria (Salzburg?), c. 1140–50

Shelfmark

MS. Canon. Bibl. Lat. 76

Place of origin

Austria, Salzburg (?)

Date

c. 1140–1150

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment (paper flyleaves)

Physical extent

177 leaves

Hands

Formal proto-Gothic book hand, brown ink.

Decoration

Full-page canon tables with coloured columns and busts of Christ and the evangelists.

Historiated initials: 15-line Beatus-initial, decorated with a grape vine and a figure of a young man in a short tunic, holding a basket of grapes (fol. 1v). 12- to 19-line initials in two different styles, with full-length figures of the evangelists and apostles at the beginning of Mark (Mark, blessing, with the nimbed head of his symbol, fol. 54v), John (John, pointing to the text, with the head of his symbol, fol. 85r), James (fol. 117r), 1 Peter (fol. 119v), Jude (fol. 125v), Romans (fol. 128v), 1 Corinthians (fol. 136v), 2 Corinthians (fol. 144r), Galatians (fol. 149r), Colossians (fol. 155v), 1 Thessalonians (fol. 157v), 2 Thessalonians (fol. 159r), 1 Timothy (fol. 160r), Philemon (depicting the Conversion of Saul, fol. 164v), and the Apocalypse (fol. 169r); many defaced (rubbed and retouched in ink). 10-line historiated initial Q, with an eagle holding a book and a dragon forming the tail of Q, at 1 John (fol. 123r).

Decorated initials: 9-line initial decorated with coiled tendrils at the beginning of prologues (fol. 1r); 7- or 8-line similar initials at psalms 51 (fol. 10v) and 101 (19r). Large initials decorated with coiled tendrils at the beginning of other books and prologues (fols. 38r, 66v, 97r, 98r, 121v, 125r, 151v, 154r, 162r, 163v, 165r).

3-line initial at psalm 3 and 2-line plain red initials (often partially oxidized to a metallic appearance) at the beginning of other psalms.

Rubrics in red ink, capitals highlighted in red in the New Testament.

Musical notation

Neumatic notation added in the margins in 13th-century and later hands (fols. 20b verso–26r)

Binding

Sewn on four double/slit cords and covered with uncoloured pig skin over wood bevelled boards, decorated with blind stamp and roll designs; date 1599 stamped on the front cover; nails and stains from lozenge-shaped metal centre-pieces; two clasps decorated with flowers and leaves. Some rolls are found on other Ranshofen bindings of the 16th century in the Library of Katholisch-Theologische Privatuniversität Linz (Holter, 1996), but are different from those identified by Klemm on the binding of Clm 12601 (see ‘Provenance’). ‘Psalter: || et || N. J. XII (?) || Evang. || Cod: Mem:’, written in ink in an 18th-century hand on spine. Paper fly-leaves with a watermark (letter K within a circle, cf. Briquet, 1968, pp. 8262–5, 8268).

Acquisition

Bodleian Library: bought in 1817 from Canonici’s nephew Giovanni Perissinotti.

Provenance

The present manuscript was identified by Kurt Holter in 1984 as the third volume of the ‘Ranshofen Bible’, the other volumes being Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 23039 (vol. I) and Clm 12601 (vol. II) (K. Holter, 'Die mittelalterliche Buchkunst der Chorherrenstifte am Inn', repr. in his Buchkunst - Handschriften - Bibliotheken (1996) II.887–913 at 891–2).

On art-historical grounds the sister volumes in Munich were attributed by Klemm to Salzburg (E. Klemm, Die romanischen Handschriften der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek, Teil I, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. Katalog der illuminierten Handschriften der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek in München, Band 3 (Wiesbaden: Reichert, 1980), nos. 213–14) Perhaps made for the Benedictine Abbey of St Peter (?).

Vol. II is known to have belonged early to Ranshofen (Klemm, 1980, nos. 213–14).

In the Augustinian Abbey at Ranshofen by 1599: evidence of the binding. Two other 12th-century Canonici manuscripts belonged to Ranshofen: MS. Canon. Bibl. Lat. 60 and MS. Canon. Pat. Lat. 192.

Matteo Luigi Canonici of Venice (1727– c. 1806), but not from the libraries of Soranzo or Trevisan. Possibly acquired in April 1789: see R. Flotzinger, Choralhandschriften österreichischer Provenienz in der Bodleian Library, Oxford (Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften), 1991, p. 34.

Giuseppe Canonici, -1807

Title

Psalter and New Testament (volume III of 'The Ranshofen Bible'; volumes I and II = Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek)

Shelfmark

MS. Canon. Bibl. Lat. 76

Date

c. 1140-1150

Language

Latin

Physical extent

1 volume