Montréal, McGill University - Rare Books and Special Collections - Manuscript Collection, MS Medieval 0212

Cantus Siglum

CDN-Mrb MS Medieval 0212

Holding Institution

Montréal, McGill University - Rare Books and Special Collections - Manuscript Collection (CDN-Mrb)

Manuscript/Print

Manuscript

Summary

Psalter, one leaf. No musical notation. Time and place of origin unknown.

Description

Single page from a psalter with parts of psalms 137/8 and 138/9. 240 x 165 mm; written area 165x107 mm. 19 lines. No musical notation. Foliated 138 in upper right. Missing a small rectangle in upper margin (possibly from removal of a decorative figure?). Text in a moderately curving Northern Textualis suggesting origins in France or England, late 13th century/early 14th century, although it is dated later in the library's description and placed in Germany. Richly decorated, with each verse having a one line initial with gold leaf and ending with an exuberant line filler with human or animal heads. The initial beginning psalm 139/9 likewise contains an illustration of a human head, and the lower margin of the recto has an archer-rabbit hunting a falcon-like creature, reminiscent of the illustrations in the (much more luxurious) Breviary of Renaud de Bar (Metz, 1300), or Walters, W.102 (England, ca. 1300), which also has anthropomorphic line fillers.

Described by the library in 2018 as follows:

"One leaf, on vellum, in latin. In mid-14th century textualis gothic. Flemish or northern German. Brown ink. 240x165 mm., writing surface 165x107 mm. One column, 19 lines, lined.

Contents: r. gloria Domini. Quoniam excelsus Dominus et humilia rescipit....(Ps. 137, 6) Ecce Domine tu cognovisti omnia novissima et antiqua: tu formasti me et posu- v. isti super me manum tuam. (Ps. 138, 5) Confitebor tibi quia terribiliter magnifi- (Ps. 138, 14)

Decoration: Gold leaf one-line initials at the incipits of each paragraph, on square grounds, painted, alternatively, in ultramarine and light-crimson colors. Line-fillers at the end of each paragraph in ultramarine, light-crimson, light-green and/or light-red, and gold leaf, on disks or wavy shapes. Zoomorphic or anthropomorphic heads, in light-grey, appear at the end of the line-fillers, and, in two cases, in the fillers themselves. A three-quarter border appears on the recto. It is narrow (006 mm.), straight, and carries stripes in ultramarine, light-red and gold leaf, all dotted. Lines 11 and 12 of recto text, carry an initial (D) in ultramarine, with white circlets and white wavy lines. The initial is historiated and contains a young male face in grey. It rests on square ground, partly in gold leaf, partly in light-crimson. The edges of the initial extend into the border. The top of the border carries a zoomorphic figure, a hare in grey, resting on top the border. The border begins on the right upper corner, with two acanthus leaves, in light-green and dark-crimson, with a disk in gold leaf, in between. The lower part of the border carries a zoomorphic figure in light-green and dark-crimson. At the end of the border stands, on its hind legs, a hare-like creature in grey and light-green, holding, ready to shoot, an arrow-less arch. The border ends in a snail-like shape, in dark-crimson, with two light-green edges, resting on irregular ultramarine ground. Top right of the leaf (seeing it from the recto), a rectangular piece (022x013 mm.) has been cut off. Late foliation (138).
P.W. and J.C. Redpath Fund, 1939"

(Holland, Anne Marie, compiler. "MS Medieval 212". Long Descriptions Ms Medieval Manuscript Antiphonals, Missals and Graduals. Digitization and Cataloguing Project- Antiphonals, Missals and Gradual. Updated December 6, 2018), 31.

The current (2025) description is similar:

"One vellum leaf from a 14th-century Flemish or German Psalter ; texts in brown ink ; liturgical rubrics in red.

The top edge is marred by a narrow rectangular cut out, possibly containing the image of a bird, extending down into the top decorative ink border.

Psalm texts.

Decoration: zoomorphic and anthropomorphic line-fillers complete most lines ; on recto: three-sided bar border incorporating zoomorphic images (1 bird, 2 rabbits) and historiated initial ("D" in Domine): a male head (possibly a representation of David) being blessed by the right hand of God (pinkie and ring finger drawn to the thumb, the other 2 fingers extended) ; text lines begin with a decorated initial in an inked frame ; on recto: the frame around each initial connects the border with the second letter of the text ; on verso: no border ; frames of non-historiated line initials filled in with alternating pink and blue ink designs.

Annotations on recto: "138" in the upper right hand corner and a small marginal cross to the left of the historiated initial D, together indicating where Psalm 138 (Septuagint numbering) begins."
See: https://mcgill.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1296127933

Description Entered by

Anna de Bakker

Full/Partial Inventory

Full Inventory

Complete Source/Fragment

Fragment

Fragmentarium ID

F-bd8q

DACT ID

D:0bd8q