National Library of Sweden, A 92a
Processional for Birgittine use
Germany, Maihingen, 1499
Paper
68 leaves
190–200 × 140–150 mm
Latin, German
The contents of the processional - antiphons, responsories, tropes, glorie, and hymns – is printed by Geete as ‘Cantus sororum’ in his edition of the Birgittine liturgy as preserved in Stockholm, National Library, A 12; A 92a follows a different order from Geete's edition.
f. 14 has been incorrectly placed, resulting in a disruption in the order of the text; the correct placement of f. 14 is after f. 15. The misplacement is signalled by signes-de-renvoi on f. 13v, ff. 14r–14v, and ff. 15r–15v, with explanatory notes in German.
The last couple of items – two responsories, each with a following verse (ff. 61r–62v), for Maccabees, highlighted by the marginal note ‘Contra Turcas’, and a gloria in a different medieval hand (f. 62v) – are not included in Geete.
The index is organised by rubrics, in German, for each feast day; under each rubric follows the incipits of the material to be sung, in order, followed by the contemporary folio number on which the item in question is found.
f. 68v Guidelines but no text.
Secundo folio
Regnum mundi et omnem ornatumSupport
Textblock
Watermark 1
ff. 1–44,Watermark 2
ff. 33–68,Script
Textblock
Text in at least four different hands; main hand in hybrida.
Hand 4
(f. 62v)Semi-textualis.Additions
Binding/Endleaves
Textblock
Decorations
Binding/Endleaves
(LCI), woodcut of St Birgitta standing with her customary symbols: a book, the pilgrim's staff, and hat; frame in black filled with floral ornaments; upper left corner, a coat of arms with ‘SPQR’. The print is coloured in red, green, pink/beige, and blueish grey. For a more detailed description, see Lindqvist Sandgren.
Textblock
Notation and main text in black ink.
(f. 2r) Opening puzzle initial ‘R’ in bright and dark red ink over two staves and text lines.
(ff. 2v–64v) Plain initials in red ink over one stave and text line, some with reserved interior shapes and/or penwork in red ink.
(ff. 2r–62v) Plain initials in black ink over one stave and text line with flourishing in red or black ink, and in counter space sometimes a flower (e.g. (f. 39v)), sometimes a chequered pattern (e.g. (f. 45r)), and sometimes a face (e.g. (f. 24r)).
Musical Notation
Textblock
Square notation.
Binding
Medieval binding. White leather over bevelled wooden boards. 3 double raised bands and endbands. 1 hooked clasp with a white leather strap; both clasp and catchplate decorated with a floral motif. Lower left corner of LCO: National Library book label with current signum. LCI: paper pastedown glued on top of fragment from a 12th-century manuscript with neumes; RCI: fragment of same manuscript as on LCI glued on top of paper pastedown.
Provenance
The manuscript was most likely produced in the monastery of Maria Maihingen and remained there until the monastery's dissolution at the end of the 16th cenury (Schier (2013), pp. 269–270). According to Schier, it then probably passed into the possession of the new Franciscan monastery at Maihingen (ibid.). At the beginning of the 19th century it entered into the library of the princely family of Öttingen-Wallerstein (cf. stamp on RCI), where it remained until 1934.
Acquisition
Purchased by the National Library at auction in Halle in May 1934.
- Collijn (1945).
- Hedlund (1980), p. 43.
- Huebner (1973), p. 89.
- Huglo (2004), p. 449.
- Karl & Faber Antiquariat (1934), p. 16, no. 70.
- Krämer (1989), p. 524.
- Kurras (2001), pp. 35–36.
- Schier (2013), pp. 268–287.
- Servatius (1990), p. 59.
- Urberg (2016), pp. 150–152.
