Manuscript leaf from an Antiphonal, in Latin, produced in Spain

Text: From an Antiphonal, in Latin

Script: Textualis Formata (Rotunda)

The text shows plainsong and has six/seven lines of music. The words are written in a black and red Rotunda script of very high quality - there is faint black line ruling. The music is written on five-line staves drawn in red ink.

Two large initials, ‘C’ and ‘G’, written in black, show fine cadelles. The initial ‘G’ has added pen decoration and is touched with yellow.

In the top right corner of the recto side is the Roman number ‘xiii.’.

Much medieval music is written using four parallel red lines. Occasionally extra lines were added, more often above the original four lines. This may be the case here, with an extra line added above. In which case all the staves are in the C clef - the middle line being C. (See Andrew Hughes, Medieval Manuscripts for Mass and Office, p107-111.)

Although the leaf was acquired as having been written circa 1500 it could have been written at any date up to the seventeenth century.

Transcription

Recto side:

1 -niti sanantur ce-

2 ci surdis auditus redditur .

3 p(salmus) Et debilis qui-

4 sque so-

5 spes regre-

6 ditur v(ersus) C atervati-

7 m irruunt populi cer-

Verso side:

1 nere cupientes que per eum

2 fiunt mirabilia . p(salmus) .

3 Et debilis . v(ersus) G loria

4 patri et filio et

5 spiritui sancto . p(salmus) .

6 v(ersus) Amavit eum d(omi)n(u)s . cętera alia

7 necessaria per alias horas ut in

8 Et de . natale unius confessoris po(n)ti(ficis) .

9

Ad v(espera)s . An(tiphon)ę laudum . pi( ). uni(us) ep(scop)i

10

In octavo sancti andreę . Cap(itu)l(u)m .

11 Fratres corde creditur . ut in primis u(n)i(u)s . R(esponsorium)

Notes:

A Letters: a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u/v.

Capitals: A,C,E,F,G,I,R.

Cadelles: C,G.

B Alternative forms of letters ‘d’(2), ‘m’(2), ‘r’(2), ‘s’(3) and ‘u/v’.

Note the trailing ‘s’ in ‘confessoris’ (verso, line 8) and the

sideways ‘m’ in ‘Capitulum’ (verso, line 10).

C Fusion between letters ‘de’, ‘oc’, ‘pe’ and ‘po’.

D Elision between letters ‘fi’, ‘fr’, ‘gr’, ‘ti’ and ‘tu’.

E Some letters ‘i’ have a hairline diacritic.

F Hairlines on some letters ‘a’ and ‘t’.

G Use is made of ‘e’ caudata (ę), e.g. in ‘andreę’ in verso, line 10,

with ‘ę’ representing the diphthong ‘æ’.