Dubrovnik, Franjevacki samostan, Codex Badija X

Cantus Siglum

HR-Dsmbb Codex Badija X

Holding Institution

Dubrovnik, Franjevacki samostan (HR-Dsmbb)

Manuscript/Print

Manuscript

Summary

Late thirteenth-century Dominican antiphoner, produced in Emilia-Romagna (Italy) for the Dominican church of St Dominic in Zadar (Croatia). Square notation on red four-line staves, eight staves per page. Secular cursus. Winter Sanctorale. 144 parchment folios, 1 paper leaf, 480 × 340 mm with a principal writing space of 380 × 250 mm.

Liturgical Occasions

Pp. 5–192, Winter Sanctorale from St. Andrew to the Annunciation of Mary; 193–282, Common of Saints; 282–292, Votive Office for Mary. Later additions: p. 292, Antiphons for St. Stephen I, King of Hungary; additional paper leaf with the Common of Matrons, Widows and Penitent Women.

Description

The four-volume Dominican antiphoner (Badija III, V, X, and XI) forms part of the Badija collection of medieval choir books housed in the library of the Monastery of the Friars Minor in Dubrovnik. Together with the corresponding volumes of the gradual–kyriale–sequentiary (MSS Badija IV and Badija XII), these choir books constitute a complete liturgical set for Mass and Office. The volumes came into the possession of the Dubrovnik friars in 1949, after the Second World War, when the Franciscan monastery on the island of Badija, near Korčula, was expropriated and the medieval choir books from its library were transferred to the Monastery of the Friars Minor in Dubrovnik.

Based on the analysis of the Litany of the Saints in the gradual Badija XII, it has been possible to establish Zadar as the provenance of the entire liturgical set. This provenance, however, refers only to the place where the manuscripts were in use until 1807, namely the Dominican convent of St Dominic in Zadar.

A detailed examination of the liturgical content, which corresponds to the codex exemplar of the Dominican liturgy (Rome, Santa Sabina, XIV L1), suggests that the Badija choir books were produced between 1256 and 1300. On the basis of their illumination, Andrea Improta has proposed a date between 1260 and 1280, probably in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, owing to similarities with choir books illuminated by the Master of Bagnacavallo (in particular the antiphoner Bagnacavallo, Biblioteca Comunale Taroni, MSS 1–3). This dating has been further corroborated by a palaeographical analysis of the square chant notation, which has shown the Badija choir books to be highly concordant with the five-volume antiphoner copied for the Dominicans of Imola around 1275 (Imola, Museo Diocesano, Corali 5, 6, 7, 9, 10).

Selected Bibliography

Beban, Hrvoje. “The Dominican Antiphoner from the Badija Franciscan Monastery near Korčula: The Question of Provenance.” In Cantus Planus: Papers Read at the 16th Meeting, Vienna, Austria, 2011, edited by Robert Klugseder et al., 33–37. Purkersdorf: Verlag Brüder Hollinek, 2012.

Beban, Hrvoje. “Srednjovjekovni koralni kodeksi Badijske zbirke samostana Male braće u Dubrovniku kao svjedoci ukinutog dominikanskog samostana u Zadru.” Arti Musices 52, no. 2 (2021): 277–314. With an English summary.
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Beban, Hrvoje. “Medieval Dominican Liturgical Chant Books from Dalmatia: New Insights with Focus on the Graduals.” In Dominikanci na hrvatskim prostorima 1221–2021, edited by S. Slišković and A. Biočić, 221–261. Zagreb: Dominikanska naklada Istina – Katolički bogoslovni fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, 2024.

Notes on the Inventory

The inventory for HR-Dsmbb Codex Badija X was completed by Br. Bartol Mihael Beban during work for his Master's degree (Sveučilište u Zagrebu). Proofreading by Franz Karl Prassl (Universität Graz).

Full/Partial Inventory

Full Inventory

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Complete (or mostly complete)