National Library of Sweden, A 184
Offices and rites; antiphonary
Germany, 15th century, middle
Parchment
i, 275, iv' leaves
110 × 80–85 mm
2 units
Latin
Unit 1
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 initial over 7 lines.
(f. 31v), (f. 91v), (f. 107v): foliate over 5 lines.
These four inititals are have marginal borders of flowers (lilies, columbines etc), berries and oak- and acanthus leaves. The initial is placed on a golden field with concave corners. The letter is painted in blue with white highlights. The letters are filled by stylized six- or three-lobed flowers and leaves in gold, green, rose, red, blue, violet, and orange.
(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 decorated with stylised flowers in red and blue ink, e.g. on (f. 44v) or (f. 82r).
Unit 2
Main text in black ink.
(f. 186r): opening puzzle initial over 8 staves in blue and gold with embellishments of thin lines of pen-work in red and violet, and fillings in green with red and violet contours. These letters also have marginal stems in the same kind of pen-work, filling the inner margin, in an angular design where the horizontals and verticals are emphasized.
(ff. 186r–274v): cadels over 4 staves and 1 line in black with details in red.
(ff. 187v–273v): plain initals over 4 staves and 1 line alternating in red and blue, often with complex flourishing in the same style as the opening initial.
(f. 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. The mention of two ‘Katherina’ in the litany, indicates that one of them should be Catherina of Siena, who was canonized in 1461. This may give a terminus post quem for the manuscript.
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.
