Small parchment strips of Breviary, contains manuscript music fragments, from binding of Corpus Juris Canonici, Antw., 1569
TitleSmall parchment strips of Breviary, contains manuscript music fragments, from binding of Corpus Juris Canonici, Antw., 1569
ReferenceMS777/91
Date
n.d.
CreatorUnknown
Scope and ContentThey belonged to Francis Bevanus, as appears from name on one of leaves (cat. by Neil Ker, nos. 7-8). He was elected Fellow of All Souls in 1573. From binding of Decretals Gregorii IX Pat. 1570 in Oxford binding.
Pope Gregorius IX, 1227-1241
Note added from email correspondence of 24 September 2013
777/91 consists of strips from a very small thirteenth-century chant book, probably of the type known as a pocket Breviary. Breviaries contain materials for the celebration of the Offices (Matins, Lauds, etc – as opposed to the Mass), and some were produced in very small format so as to be portable, presumably allowing the owner to carry out the Offices wherever he happened to be. Such books could clearly only be read by one person at once, in contrast to the giant choirbooks designed to stand on a lectern to be read from by a group of singers [such as the polyphonic fragments in MS734, which I hope you'll be able to display too – it would make a great contrast!]. It’s also possible that such tiny books served mainly as reference copies, to be consulted occasionally in advance, or to be followed by those who were not actually leading the worship themselves. Pocket breviaries were increasingly owned by laypeople as well as priests towards the end of the middle ages, though the presence of musical notation in this one makes it more likely to have been owned by a cleric than a member of the laity.
Dr Helen Deeming
Department of Music
Royal Holloway
University of London
Pope Gregorius IX, 1227-1241
Note added from email correspondence of 24 September 2013
777/91 consists of strips from a very small thirteenth-century chant book, probably of the type known as a pocket Breviary. Breviaries contain materials for the celebration of the Offices (Matins, Lauds, etc – as opposed to the Mass), and some were produced in very small format so as to be portable, presumably allowing the owner to carry out the Offices wherever he happened to be. Such books could clearly only be read by one person at once, in contrast to the giant choirbooks designed to stand on a lectern to be read from by a group of singers [such as the polyphonic fragments in MS734, which I hope you'll be able to display too – it would make a great contrast!]. It’s also possible that such tiny books served mainly as reference copies, to be consulted occasionally in advance, or to be followed by those who were not actually leading the worship themselves. Pocket breviaries were increasingly owned by laypeople as well as priests towards the end of the middle ages, though the presence of musical notation in this one makes it more likely to have been owned by a cleric than a member of the laity.
Dr Helen Deeming
Department of Music
Royal Holloway
University of London
LanguageEnglish
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