National Library of Sweden, A 84
Cantus sororum - antiphonary for the Birgittine sisters (‘Codex Borghese’)
Italy, Sweden?, Vadstena Abbey?, 15th century, second half
Parchment
i, 63, i' leaves
290–295 × 210 mm
3 units
Latin
Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Support
Foliation
Condition
Unit 2
Some holes in the parchment have been repaired before the production of the book, see e.g. p. 65. Pages have been trimmed resulting in some loss of text, see p. 101.The pages are dirty and worn in the lower outer corners, some of which have been repaired, see e.g. p. 45, 79. Some corners missing, no loss of text.Layout
Script
Unit 1
Hand 1
Southern textualis (rotunda).Unit 2
Hand 2
Textualis.Unit 3
Hand 3
Textualis.Additions
Binding/Endleaves
Unit 2
Unit 3
Decorations
Unit 1
Main text in brown ink. Rubrics in red. Capitals touched in red.
Unit 2
Notation and text in black ink. Capitals touched in red. Staves and rubrics in red.
(p. 3): Puzzle initial ‘T’ over the entire stave and the text line, in blue and red with red pen-flourishing inside the letter. (pp. 3–105): Plain initials over the entire stave in alternating colours: red, black and blue. Some have reserved interior shapes (e.g. (p. 78)), some are both black and red with added pen-flourishing or drawings (e.g. p. 64, 103). (pp. 106–121): Plain initials over the entire stave in alternating blue and red ink, sometimes with flourishing in contrasting colour (e.g. (p. 117)). (pp. 121–122): Plain initials over 2 lines in alternating red and blue with pen-flourishing in contrasting colour.
Unit 3
Notation and text in black ink. Staves and rubrics in red. Plain initials in red and blue over 2 lines with reserved interior lines.
Musical Notation
Unit 2
Square notation with occasional liquescents.
Unit 3
Square notation.
Binding
19th-century binding. Brown leather over medieval wooden boards. 4 double raised bands and 2 end-bands. 2 pin clasps attached to leather straps going from the RCO. Spine, stamped in gold: ‘A 84’.
2-line blind tooling along the outer edges of the volume, creating a panel which is further divided by 2-line tooling in the form of an ‘X’.
Origin
Unit 1
Unit 2
Origin unknown, Sweden?, Vadstena Abbey?. 15th century, second half. According to Nilsson (1992), p. 28, the hand is not Italian and the hymn melodies seem to conform to the Swedish tradition. Lindqvist Sandgren claims that it was produced at Vadstena Abbey with the exception of the first and the last two folios which were made in Italy. Servatius (1990), pp. 53–54, on the other hand, does not rule out an Italian origin for the whole manuscript.
Unit 3
Provenance
Belonged to the Borghese family, see bookplate of Marcantonio V Borghese on LCI. Earlier provenance is unknown but Geete (1895), p. lxxviii suggests the Birgittine monastery Paradiso near Florence, as does Servatius (1990), p. 53, who also mentions Scala Coeli in Genoa or a house in Valencia as other possibilities.
Acquisition
Purchased by the National Library of Sweden in Rome, in February 1893 at the book auction of Paolo Borghese, Prince of Sulmona, see addition on LCI. The auction catalogue number mentioned there does not correspond to the number in the Borghese auction catalogue, where it is listed as no. 4564.
- Geete (1895), pp. lxxvi–lxxviii.
- Moberg (1947), p. 154.
- Nilsson (1990), pp. 235–258.
- Nilsson (1992), pp. 17–30.
- Servatius (1990), pp. 53–54.
- Urberg (2016), passim.
- Vuori (2018), pp. 77–93.
