Dubrovnik, Franjevački Samostan (Franciscan Monastery), Cod. C Nr. 4

Cantus Siglum

HR-Hf Cod. C Nr. 4

Holding Institution

Dubrovnik, Franjevački Samostan (Franciscan Monastery) (HR-Hf)

Manuscript/Printed

Manuscript

Summary

Part of a four-volume, fifteenth-century Franciscan antiphoner, likely written at a scriptorium in Venice for use by a male Franciscan monastery in Dubrovnik. 309 pages. Varying sizes of parchment leaves. Italian-type square notation on four-line staves with C- or F- clefs. Seven staves per side.

Liturgical Occasions

Pp. 1-309, Temporale: 1, Advent; 140, Christmas Eve; 149, Christmas Day; 177, Stephen the First Martyr; 194, John the Baptist; 214, Holy Innocents; 262, Epiphany.

Description

This manuscript is one part of a four-volume antiphoner comprised of HR-HF Cod. C, D, E, and F, written by the same scribe. This manuscript contains the first part of the Temporale, from the first Sunday of Advent to the second Sunday after Epiphany. The manuscripts are not numbered in liturgical order, as their connection was not recognized at the time of cataloguing.

Although now held at a Dominican monastery (in the library of the monastery of Friars Minor in Dubrovnik, Croatia), the manuscripts are of Franciscan origin, as described by Ana Čizmić, despite not including material for the feasts of St. Francis, St. Anthony of Padua, and St. Clare. A fourteenth-century antiphoner from a nearby Franciscan monastery in Ston also does not include the feasts for these saints, suggesting that this antiphoner is in concordance with the regional rite of Bosnian Franciscan Friars. An inscription in Codex C confirms that the manuscripts were used by the Franciscan friars in Dubrovnik: “TABULA OFFICIORUM HUIUS ANTIPHONARII SPECTANS AD CHORUM SANCTI FRANCISCI RAGUSII [Dubrovnik].”

A psalter, now also held in the Franjevački Samostan in Dubrovnik (Codex B Nr. 1), was written in a similar hand and bears the colophon: “Explicit psalterium secundum ritum romane ecclesie. Fratrum sancta marie gratiarum de venetiis. Ordinis obseruatine eximii doctoris sancti hieronymi, scriptum per me uenc fratrem ludouicum ferra eiusdem ordinis professum. Anno domini MCCCC nonaginta die sabb (…).” This inscription reveals the provenance of the psalter, the scribe (friar Ludovico Ferra), and year of completion (1449). While the antiphoner was not written by the same scribe, as evidenced by slight differences in majuscule letters, it likely also dates from the second half of the fifteenth century, possibly also from an Italian scriptorium.

Differentiae are identified within each mode by their last note and an arbitrarily-assigned number, e.g., G1, D2, F1, etc. Minor variations are recognized by an alphabetic suffix, e.g. G1b, A1a, F1a, etc.

Selected Bibliography

• Čizmić, Ana. “The Dubrovnik Antiphoner.” In Papers Read at the 15th Meeting of the IMS Study Group Cantus Planus, Dobogókő/Hungary, 2009. Aug. 23-29. Vol. 2, 619-628. Wissenschaftliche Abhandlungen/Musicological Studies, No. 100. Lions Bay, BC: The Institute of Mediaeval Music, 2013.

Notes on the Inventory

The inventory for HR-Hf Cod. C was prepared by Ana Čizmić (University of Graz), with editorial assistance from Debra Lacoste (The University of Western Ontario). Manuscript description written by Rebecca Shaw (Dalhousie University), with editorial assistance from Debra Lacoste (University of Waterloo).

Full/Partial Inventory

Full Inventory

Complete Source/Fragment

Complete source