Leaf from a gradual, circa 1230

1230
13th century
14th century

From Wilton Abbey.
12 x 18.3 mm

The last part of the "Credo," followed by two shortened verses from Mark 16: 15-16 and John 14:26.

Latin

Medieval Manuscripts

MSC0542

xfMMs.Gr3

http://aspace.lib.uiowa.edu/repositories/2/resources/514

Foliation: None

Ruling: Some graphite ruling visible, especially to outline the text block.

English book hand
Gothic hand

Musical Notation: Staves of four red lines each. Black, filled, square neumes. There is one neume on the verso that is not solid. Recto reflects monosyllabic chanting but the verso indicates some polyphonic syllables. The credo is in mode 6. The responsory chant is in mode 4. There are no measures marked. The notation appears to be thirteenth- or fourteenth-century English, as evidenced by such details as the right hand slant to the rising two-pitch pes, the B-flat clef used on the verso, and the absence of the custos, the cautionary symbol placed at the end of a line in later manuscripts to indicate the starting pitch of the next line. Staves are 8 mm high. Spaces between staves that hold text are also 8 mm high. The red lines of the stave are unequal/irregular in length and sometimes extend outside the text block rulings on both left and right.

Initials and Capitals: Recto: Alternating blue and red initials, the initials for the apostles' names. Verso: A decorated "I" at the beginning of the second line of text is blue and stretches the length of three staves in the left margin. There are red flourishes above and below the blue "I" that stretch for eight of the ten staves.

Rubrication: Recto: There are rubricated names inside the credo text: Iacobi, Matheus, Symon, Judas. Verso: Rubricated instructions at the end of the second staff and take the space of the staff and text, "Sacerdos dicatarum," as well as at the end of the folio that indicate where the procession should head next. There is also a rubricated "v" indicating the beginning of the verse that follows the Credo within the text of the fifth staff.

Marginal Notation, Annotations: Verso holds the Latin word "cantrix" (female singer) on the outside margin.

Provenance: There is information written in pencil at the bottom of the recto and verso that unfortunately has been erased. What remains legible on the recto is $5.00, and perhaps $2.00 on the verso.

University of Iowa. Libraries. Special Collections Department

Conservation Note: University of Iowa Libraries, Conservation Lab, conservator unidentified.

Scanned with Ricoh Aficio 3228C at 400 ppi, full color. Archival tiff available

References: Graduale Triplex (Rita Benton Music Library). The Liber Usualis, found online at https://archive.org/details/TheLiberUsualis1961 Altstatt, Alison. "Re-membering the Wilton Processional." Notes: the Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association 72 no. 4 (June 2016), 690-732.

2008-03-07

Material in the public domain. No restrictions on use.

Contact the Special Collections Department at The University of Iowa Libraries: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/sc/contact

xfMMs.Gr3

Text

Graduals

Musical notation
Initials

Gradual

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