Sequentiary and Proser, Troper, in Latin (with a few added words in German); south-east Germany (?Heidenheim), 10th century, second half or 11th century, first half

Title

Sequentiary and Proser, Troper, in Latin (with a few added words in German); south-east Germany (?Heidenheim), 10th century, second half or 11th century, first half

Shelfmark

MS. Selden Supra 27

Date

10th century, second half, or 11th century, first half/middle

Language

Latin

Middle High German (ca. 1050-1500)

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment

Physical extent

i (19th cent. paper) + ii (paper) + 92 + ii (paper)

Hands

Written in Caroline minuscule, said by Smoje to be very close to that of St Gall; she identifies three main scribes (fols. 1v-50r; fols. 50r5–59v; fols. 60r-62, 63r5–90v), three lesser ones, and additions by five more (Smoje, 2006, pp. 2, 10).

Decoration

With enlarged foliated initials drawn in red ink for the feasts of Christmas (fols. 3r, 61v), Easter (fol. 19v, 70r), Ascension (fol. 30r), Pentecost (fols. 32v, 72v), and the Kyries and Glorias (fols. 82r, 84v).

Other 1-, 2-, and 3-line initials in plain red.

Musical notation

‘[N]otated in staffless neumes, which are based on the Saint-Gall tradition’ (Smoje, 2006, p. vii).

Binding

Sewn on three (medieval alum-tawed?) bands and bound in quarter vellum and marbled paper over pasteboards (not ‘en bois’ as stated by Smoje, 2006, p. 5), without pastedowns; 18th century (?). Rebacked; the former spine with the number ‘27’ twice, now stuck to the inner face of the front board.

Fol. 1r is far more worn than 1v, suggesting that the book existed without a binding for a significant length of time.

Acquisition

Acquired by the Bodleian in 1659 from his executors. Former Bodleian shelfmarks: ‘MS. Supra. Seld. 27.’ in 17th-/18th-century ink and ‘[kept as Arch. F.e.10]’ in 20th-century pencil (fol. iir). To judge by the various foliations, some leaves have been rearranged at least once since acquisition by the Library.

Provenance

Hartmut Hoffmann (reported in Stiftsbibliothek Sankt Gallen Codices 484 & 381, ed. Wulf Arlt and Susan Rankin (1996) I.112) dated the manuscript 'at the latest the last quarter of the tenth century'. Smoje, p. 13 suggested the middle of the 11th century. Van Dijk, followed by Pächt and Alexander, earlier suggested the second half of the 11th century.

Apparently written for use in the diocese of Eichstätt, probably for St Wunibald's, Heidenheim, as suggested by the importance accorded to Sts Willibald, Winibald, and Walburga: Willibald was first bishop of Eichstätt; his brother Winibald founded the double monastery at Heidenheim (about 50km to the south-west of Eichstätt, and within its diocese) and was its first abbot; their sister Walburga was first abbess. The two main parts seem to have been copied from different (St Gall?) models, but as the second starts in the same quire as that in which the firsts ends, they were demonstrably written as a single volume. Smoje suggests that it was owned by a succession of cantors of Heidenheim; additions were made in the 12th and 13th centuries.

Inscribed in German ‘do hutt ich unde gotefrit’, 13th(?) century (fol. 46v, upper margin).

John Selden, 1584–1654

Title

A Troper written for the monastery of Heidenheim

Shelfmark

MS. Selden Supra 27

Summary

A Troper (see MS. Bodl. 775) written for the monastery of Heidenheim, consisting of:

Fol. 3, Sequences, preceded by the prefatory letter of Notker imperfect at end, one leaf being lost, with marginal and (added) interlinear neums

Fol. 60, 'Tropi Proprii' (the first leaf wanting) throughout the year

Fol. 82, 'Tropii Ordinarii'to Kyrie Eleyson, etc.; both and with interlinear neums, in a different but contemporary hand

Among the additions are:

Part of the versus Salve lacteole (on fol. 1r, before which a leaf is lost, cp. fol. 88v)

Sequences for st. Bartholomew (fol. 90v)

St. John the evangelist (fol. 91v)

Etc., all perhaps of the 12th cent. Facsimiles of fols. 28v, 29r 75v, 76r are in E. W. B. Nicholson's Early Bodleian Music, 1913, pl. 34, 35, cp. pp. lxii-lxvi.

At fol. i is an argument by the rev. Η. M. Bannister, tending to show that this is a St. Gall Benedictine troper, written for Freising or more probably Eichstädt. [In Analecta Hymnica, vol.xlvii (1903) I accepted the Heidenheim origin as suggested by Mr. Nicholson, op.cit. H.M.B.].

Date

Written in two hands of the 11th century at Heidenheim, diocese of Eichstädt

Language

Latin

Physical facet

On parchment; in parts damaged or stained, with some elaborate capitals, etc.

Physical extent

94 Leaves

Custodial history

Manuscript 3429 acquired by the Bodleian Library