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Gradual?

Chants for All Saints Day or the common of several martyrs

F-3zhx

Odense, Syddansk Universitetsbibliotek, RARA M 197

Charlotte Epple, Fragmentarium, 2026 (Born Digital)

General Information

Title Gradual?
Shelfmarks RARA M 197
Former Shelfmarks Herlufsholm 446.7
Page/Folio Reference Covers
Material Parchment
Place of Origin England?
Date of Origin 1101-1200
Script, Hands

Pre-gothic hand. Straight-backed d, f and tall s on the baseline, letters rarely touching.

Original Condition

Number of Columns 2
Number of Lines at least 15
Ruling Red ruling for full musical notation, four-line staves

Current Condition

Extent Two partial leaves
Dimensions 320 x 154 mm
More about the Current Condition

The fragment on the front cover is placed on the binding so that the text is upside down in relation to the host volume's text.

Book Decoration and Musical Notation

Description

Small, simple initials in black with some red.
  • Musical Notation

    Mostly square notation. One alleluia and verse on the back cover fragment are written in neumes.

    • Content

    • Content Item
      • Text Language Latin
      • Title Chants for All Saints Day or the common of several martyrs
      • Content Description

        The chants are mostly alleluias and verses, as well as the gradual Timete dominum (g00478), suggesting this fragment is from a gradual or notated missal. The full musical notation makes the former more likely. As stated in Hope's report, according to the Cantus Database, the chants are mostly associated with the common of several martyrs and All Saints Day, though some of them are also used for various individual martyrs as well. 
      • Front cover r

    History

    Origin

    Michael Gullick has suggested that this fragment is of English origin based on palaeographic criteria (as quoted in Holck, 2022).
    Provenance

    The primary provenance of the fragment is unclear. The host volume belonged to Herlufsholm Skole, a private Latin school located in Næstved, Sealand founded in 1565 on the grounds of a secularised Benedictine monastery, St Peders Kloster. The old library of Herlufsholm was transferred to the University Library of Southern Denmark in 1968-69.

    This book is part of a tranche of books acquired by Peder Pedersen Hie, who was rector of Herlufsholm between 1610-13. It bears a spine label with the letters BVH for Bibliotheca Vetus Hienniae, as well as an inscription on the title page reading Hic liber in usum Scholæ Herlovianæ acquisitus est Rectore Petro Petrejo Hiennio, most likely added later by a librarian. 

    Before that, the book belonged to Danish humanist intellectual Erasmus Laetus (Rasmus Glad, 1526-82). The book is stamped with his name and the year 1580. 

    Host Volume

    Title Plotini divini illius è platonica familia philosophi de rebus philosophicis libri lIIII. [...]
    Date of Origin/Publication 1559
    Place of Origin/Publication Basel, apud Peter Perna
    Shelfmark RARA M 197
    Remarks

    The binding is a 16th century half binding made from light leather, likely with paste-laminate boards underneath the parchment fragments. It is decorated with a palmette border. It is possible, as Holck (2022) suggests, that the binding was commissioned by Erasmus Laetus from a Copenhagen bookbinder. This would imply that the parchment was procured locally in Denmark/Scandinavia.

    However, the letters of his name are somewhat clumsily stamped, going beyond the allotted space. This could mean that Laetus got the book already bound, simply adding his name and the year when he bought it. 

    Bibliography

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