Iowa City, University of Iowa Rita Benton Music Library Rare Book Room, M2149.6 1475

Cantus Siglum

US-IO M2149.6 1475

Holding Institution

Iowa City, University of Iowa Rita Benton Music Library Rare Book Room (US-IO)

Manuscript/Print

Manuscript

Physical Status

Complete (or mostly complete)

Summary

Processional, Cistercian Use. 55 parchment leaves with 5 later additions of paper leaves. Germany, Lower Rhineland, c. 1475-1600 [after 1476]. Some decorated initials. German Gothic and late Rhenish notation on 5-line staves with F- and C-clefs. Written by one original hands, with additions in four more hands. Contains some German rubrics, especially in later hands (see f. 55r). Later received by a women's community, as reflected in marks of female ownership.

Liturgical Occasions

The processional contains liturgies for the four earliest feasts of the Cistercian use: Palm Sunday and the Feasts of the Purification, Ascension, and Assumption, and does not deviate from their chants as prescribed by the Order. The Feast of the Nativity, added to the Cistercian calendar in 1289, and the Feast of the Virgin Mary’s Conception are labelled together in the manuscript with a single rubric: Gloriosissime Virginis in Nativitate et Conceptione, and share a single processional order. The processional assigns atypical chants to the Feast of Corpus Christi, added to the Cistercian calendar in 1318. Assignments for the Feast of the Visitation of Mary are also atypical. The processional also transmits chants for the Dedication and an added section of chants for the Mandatum. Additions include aspersion and Marian chants for Paschaltide, Saint Bernard of Clairveaux, and the Crown of Thorns. The added antiphon, the Eucharistic unicum "Ecce mundi precium," may have been sung before the sacrament house at Altenberg, or a similar stationary tabernacle.

Description

The manuscript was first described by Renaud-Giquello & Associates (Paris) in 2006. This description was expanded by Text Manuscipts / Les Enluminures for use in its "MSS in the Curriculum" program. Its design and musical contents were further studied by Alison Altstatt in 2026.

Paleographic, decorative, and repertorial evidence presented by Alison Altstatt supports an origin at the Cistercian Abbey of Altenberg near Cologne. From Altenberg, the book moved to an undetermined women’s community—many in this area could plausibly have received it. Altenberg maintained close ties with the city and diocese of Cologne. Its urban residence in the city, known as the Altenberger Hof, had its own chapel from 1323. Among the six women’s houses incorporated into Altenberg, Mechtern had a particularly close relationship with the abbey, because Alternberg provided it with clergy. Mechtern relocated in 1477 to St. Apern, a location close to the Altenberger Hof in Cologne. This makes this church of Mechtern a strong candidate as the recipient of the processional. It should be noted that the Altenberg Rituale (Düsseldorf, Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek, MS C-38 [RISM: D-DÜl MS C-38]) contains not only the Cistercian rituals for nuns’ vesting and profession, but also the equivalent ceremonies for Augustinian canonesses. This suggests that the monks of Altenberg were responsible for serving Augustinian or perhaps even Premonstratensian women’s houses, who followed the Rule of St. Augustine, increasing the number of communities that could have received the manuscript.

Selected Bibliography

• Altstatt, Alison. “A Cistercian Processional from the Lower Rhine, University of Iowa, Rita Benton Music Library, Canter Rare Book Room M2 1496.6 1475.” In Barbara Haggh-Huglo, ed. Traditions, Memory, and Community in Western Chant and its Books in Memory of Michel Huglo. Brepols, 2026.
• "Processional (Use of the Cistercians)." Les Enluminures. Available from https://www.textmanuscripts.com/curatorial-services/manuscripts/processional-cistercian-60481 [accessed 2 Oct 2026].
• Renaud-Giquello & Associates. Vente aux Enchère Publiques Mercredi 8 février 2006 à 14 h. Livres et Manuscrits (Paris: Paul Renaud-Alexandre Giquello Commissaires-Priseurs habilités, 2006), accessed 15 Nov 2022 but no longer online from .

Notes on the Inventory

The inventory for US-IO M2149.6 1475 was prepared by Alison Alstatt (University of Northern Iowa). Latin texts were edited by Kerry McCarthy, and records were proofread by Debra Lacoste (Dalhousie University).

Full/Partial Inventory

Full Inventory