National Library of Sweden, A 184
Prayer book; antiphonal
Germany, 15th century, middle
parchment
i, 275, iv' leaves
110 × 80–85 mm
2 units
Latin
Unit 1
Unit 2
Begins with Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary (31 Jan), and ends with the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (15 Aug.)
193r. Palm Sunday
205v: Holy Thursday
254r: Trinity Sunday
269v: Assumption
f. 253v: guidelines, but no text.
Secundo folio
mare et ipse fecitSupport
Foliation
Collation
Condition
Layout
Unit 1
Unit 2
Script
Unit 1
Hand 1
Textualis.Unit 2
Hand 2
Textualis.Additions
Binding/Endleaves
Decorations
Unit 1
Main text in black ink, rubrics in red.
(f. 1r): opening foliate initial over 7 lines.
(f. 31v), (f. 91v), (f. 107v): foliate initials over 5 lines.
(f. 55v): plain initial over 4 lines in blue, inner space decorated in red and blue.
(ff. 1r–184v): plain initials over 1-3 lines in red and blue. Some of the initials are decoreated in red and blue ink, e.g. on 44v or 82r.
Unit 2
Main text in black ink.
186r: opening puzzle initial over 8 staves in blue and gold.
186r-274v: cadels? over 4 staves and 1 line in black with details in red.
187v-273v: plain initals over 4 staves and 1 line alternating in red and blue, sometimes with flourishing in the contrasting colour.
275r: initials over 2-3 lines
Musical Notation
Unit 2
Black square notation on a four-line red staff. Sometimes word division lines. Additions of incipit markings (double vertical strokes).
Binding
Medieval or early modern binding. Brown leather over wooden boards. 3 double raised bands and endbands. Originally, two brass clasps. Spine, stamped in gold: ‘A 184’.
Simple tooling consisting of a double frame and some and triangular shapes ending in silver floral shape by the bands.
Origin
Germany, 15th century, middle. The manuscript was likely made for a Dominican monastery, perhaps St Gertrud's in Cologne. The manuscript contains an office for both St Dominic and St Gertrud, and mentions a chuch of St Gertrud on f. 178r. Both saints are also given prominence in the two litanies (f. 102v, f. 103r, f. 148v). The long list of female saints in the litanies (ff. 103r–103v, f. 148v) and the instructions for sister, on e.g. f. 173r, gives further support for a nunnary as place of origin.
Provenance
On f. SL1r there are two notes by previous owners from the 17th century: Soror Maria Elisabetha Monica Hansen and Soror Maria Anna Rosa Gesser, sisters in a Dominican convent (‘prediger ordens’). It is possible that the manuscript remained at St Gertrud's until the secularisation around year 1800. Later In the 19th century, the manuscript belonged to Bernhard Rosenblad (see note on f. SL1v). It was purchased from him by G. J. R. Gordon.
Acquisition
Purchased from G. J. R. Gordon by the National Library of Sweden in 1845.
