Psalter with Passion readings
Psalterium
F-8zdo
General Information
Humanistic minuscule
Fine and well-formed humanistic minuscule, slightly clubbed, with generous word separation. Consistent punctuation and abbreviations confined to commonly occurring words.
Each line begins with an initial in red or blue, flourished in penwork alternately rose or violet, now much faded.
Original Condition
Dismembered, leaves dispersed.
Current Condition
Cropped, tension mounted and framed.
Content
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Content Item
- Text Language Latin
- Title Litany
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Content Description
Excerpt of the Priests and Religious listed in the two litanies:
- State Library of South Australia, 091 M489 b, verso - beginning at column 2: line 9
- Trinity College, MS. O.7.46, f 139r - beginning at column 1: line 4
…Sancte. siluestre.Sancte. martine.Sancte. gregori.Sancte. augustine.Sancte. ambrosi.Sancte. hieronyme.
Sancte. seuere.Sancte. eleucadi.Sancte. gulielme.Sancte. gaudenti.Sancte. rofille.Sancte. mercurialis.
Sancte. egidi et prophete.
Sancte. leonarde.Sancte paterniane.* Adelaide text ends here.
[Sancte mauriti.
Sancte benedicte.Sancte maure.Sancte ilare.Omnes sancti confessores.] -
- Secondary Literature Refer to attached PDF files for transcriptions of the full litanies.
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Remarks
A sister manuscript transcribed by Pietro Ursuleo (Cambridge: Trinity College, MS. O.7.46) provides a model of the original Psalter useful for comparison. The section of the litany preserved in the Adelaide fragment is virtually identical to that of the Trinity College manuscript. It is notable that both litanies should reflect identical devotional interests.
The invocations to local bishops could help to localise the Psalters. The Maggs Bros catalogue suggests the regional saints listed in the litany associates the Psalter to a patron from NE Italy, specifically singling out Confessors Eleucadius (Ravenna), Mercurialus (Forli), Paternianus (Fano or Bologna) and Gaudentius (Rimini). Peter Kidd in his blog Medieval Manuscripts Provenance (17 October 2015) narrows the locality, proposing the Psalter was associated with Ravenna.
M. R. James (1862-1936) on the other hand conjectured that references in the Kalendar of the Trinity College manuscript to the feast days of two Bishops of Naples linked the Psalter to that diocese – Severe (30 April), and A[g]nelli (14 December). He missed a further two Neapolitan bishops: Januarius (19 October), and Saint Louis (26 August).
Another potential link to Ravenna that requires further exploration are the 26 invocations to Christ that open the litany, arranged by an alphabetical acrostic, and a further 11 lines lauding Christ closing the litany. The 'abecedaria' is a distinctive feature. It appears in a litany included by Girolamo Rossi (frequently cited by his Latinised name, Hieronymus Rubeus) in his Historiarum Rauennatum first published in 1572. The association with Ravenna is uncertain. One of the earliest known sources of the 'abecedaria' is a 11th century Missal associated with Hamburg (Rome, Bibl. Vallicelliana, Cod. B 141), edited by Niels Rasmussen.
The abecedaria opening the litany of the Trinity College Psalter.
[f. 137v]
...Saluator mundi. Miserere nobis.
Pater de celis deus. Miserere nobis.
Fili redemptor mundi deus. Miserere nobis.
Spiritus sancte deus.
Trine et une deus.
Rex regum.
Rex exercituum.
Archangelorum eternitas.
Bonitas patriarcharum.
Karitas sacerdotum.
Diuitie prophetarum.[f. 138r]
Electio apostolorum.
Fides martyrum.
Gloria confessorum.
Hereditas leuitarum.
Iuste iudex.
Karitas potestatum.
Lux gentium.
Misericordia captiuorum.
Nauigantium gubernatio.
Orphanorum pastor.
Pacis conditor.
Qui es inducltor.
Remissio peccorum.
Sanitas infirmitatum.
Tutela uiginum.
Veneratio uiduarum.
Excitatio mortuorum.
Initium seculorum.
Zelus et coronoa martyrum.
Saluator totius mundi.
Pacem et concordiam bonam concede.
Gratiam tuam concede nobis domine.
History
This leaf was offered for sale in Maggs Bros Catalogue 1059 Papyrus to Paper: Papyri, illuminated initials and leaves, paleographical specimens, Books of Hours and other manuscripts [undated, c. 1985] (no. 57).
The leaf is probably from a Psalter once in the library of John Boykett Jarman (1782-1864), auctioned by Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge 13-14 June 1864 (lot 161). It later passed to London book seller James Tregaskis (1850-1926), and was offered for sale between 1912-1913 (catalogues 717, 720, 743). In 1916, the manuscript was broken and leaves sold individually (catalogue 777), with small sections acquired by various members of the book trade in London.
Bibliography
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Maggs Bros. Ltd., Catalogue 1059. Papyrus to Paper: Papyri, illuminated initials and leaves, paleographical specimens, Books of Hours and other manuscripts, London [undated, c. 1985], page 33.
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Peter Kidd, "A Leaf of Pietro Ursuleo's Psalter-Passion Sequences in Eagle Rock", Medieval Manuscripts Provenance (17 October 2015).
https://mssprovenance.blogspot.com/2014/05/a-leaf-of-pietro-ursuleos-psalter.html -
Montague Rhodes James, The Western Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge a Descriptive Catalogue, Volume III, University of Cambridge Press, 1902, pages 384-385.
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Niels Rasmussen, "An early "Ordo Missae" with a "Litania abecedaria" addressed to Christ (Rome, Bibl. Vallicelliana, Cod. B 141, XI. cent.)", Ephemerides liturgicae, 98 (1984), 2, pages 198-211.
Other available descriptions
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Maggs Bros. Ltd., Catalogue 1059. Papyrus to Paper: Papyri, illuminated initials and leaves, paleographical specimens, Books of Hours and other manuscripts, London [undated, c. 1985].
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