National Library of Sweden, A 92
Breviary for the Birgittine monastery of Gnadenberg in Oberpfalz
Germany, Gnadenberg monastery, late 15th to early 16th century
paper
i, 175 leaves
195–215 × 140–150 mm
3 units
Latin
Unit 1
Notable feasts:
f. 1r: St Erhard of Regensburg (8 Jan.);
f. 2r: St Cunigunde (3 Mar.); St Katarina of Vadstena (22 Mar.);
f. 2v: St Adalbert of Prague (23 Apr.);
f. 3r: Translation of St Birgitta (28 May);
f. 4r: St Willibald of Eichstätt (7 July); St Birgitta (23 July);
f. 5v: St Birgitta (7 Oct.).
Obits and important events in Gnadenberg monastery are noted by the main scribe,
for example:
f. 3r: ‘Obiit frater iohannes roperger in vigilia ascensionis anno mocccc 72’;
f. 4r: ‘mccccli Inclusio regularis facta est’;
f. 5r: ‘Anno domini mocccolxxviiio combustum est mollendinum nostrum negligenter’;
f. 6r: ‘obiit dominus vincentius primus confessor huius monasterii’.
ff. 8r–49v: Ferial psalter with antiphons, prayers and canticles (Psalms on ff. 11r–12r and f. 37v added by a contemporary or
near-contemporary hand); ff. 50r–50v: major prayers, ending with two antiphons to the Virgin, Lundén (1947), pp. 151–153;
ff. 51r–54r Votive offices for:
St Mary;
the angels;
the apostles;
St Stephen;
St Willibald;
St Augustine;
St Birgitta;
St Walpurga;
St Anne;
and a hymn to St Augustine.
ff. 83v–85v: ‘Rosa rorans bonitatem’, antiphon by Nicolaus Hermanni; AH 25, no. 57.
ff. 86v–103r: Legend of St Birgitta, ‘Ecce descripsi eam tibi tripliciter’
ff. 103r–105r: Hymns to St Birgitta, ‘Salue decus feminarum’, AH 33, no. 69; ff. 105v–106r: ‘Beatarum mulierum Birgitta sanctissima’, AH 46, no. 199.
ff. 106v–113r: The Common of apostles;
ff. 113r–118r: The Common of many martyrs;
ff. 118r–124r: The Common of one martyr;
ff. 124r–125r: The Common of a pope and martyr;
ff. 125r–131v: The Common of confessor bishops;
ff. 132r–134v: The Common of confessors not bishops;
Unit 2
Support
Unit 1
Foliation
Collation
Condition
Layout
Unit 2
Layout 1
Script
Unit 1
Various hands, mostly hybrida, often difficult to distinguish.
Unit 2
Hand 8
(f. 164v)Hybrida, similar to Hand 4.Unit 3
Additions
Binding/Endleaves
Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Decorations
Unit 1
Main text in brown ink. Rubrics in red. Capitals touched in red.
Unit 2
Main text in brown ink. Capitals touched in red, underlinings in red. Rubrics in brown or red ink.
Plain initials in red over 1-2 lines. (f. 146r) Penwork initials in brown and red ink with interior reserved shapes over 2-3 lines.
Unit 3
Main text in brown-black ink. Capitals touched in red. Underlinings in red. Rubrics in brown or red.
Plain initials in red over 1-2 lines.
Musical Notation
Binding
Late medieval binding. Light brown leather over wooden boards. Two endbands and three double raised bands. Traces of five bosses on LCO and RCO. On LCI and RCI mirrored imprints of former pastedowns. On Spine, stamped in gold:‘ A 92’.
Tooled in blind with double frames on all sides with rectangular patterns in the middle. In the middle panel an X-shaped pattern with surrounding patterns of flowers and lozenges with a foliated staff in the middle.
Provenance
Gnadenberg Monastery. The Confessor General at Gnadenberg in the 1490s, Willibald Marstaller, is mentioned on f. 174v. The year 1505 is noted on f. 163v.
On f. L1r, possible provenance notes: ‘Madame de Cahier’ and ‘Madame de Racine’.
Acquisition
Purchased by the National Library in 1887 from Rosenthal's antiquarian bookshop, Munich.
- Lehmann (1937), pp. 143–144.
- Lundén (1950), p. 74.
- Hedlund (1980), p. 45.
