Beschreibung:

SACRAMENTARY, for the use of Reims Cathedral, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [France, presumably Reims, third quarter of the 12th century] From a book fit for use in the Coronation Church of the French kings, perhaps made for the King ’ s son, Henry of France (d.1175), Archbishop of Reims 4 leaves, c.235×145mm, ruled very lightly in plummet for one column of 27 lines written in brown ink in a somewhat angular late Romanesque script, ruled space c.175×80mm, with one rubric and a few incipits in square capitals, illuminated with two large initial ‘D’s in gold, with red, green, and blue penwork ornament, a few three-line and smaller initials in varying combinations of colours, two initials including animal heads (with considerable damage to one or both of the upper corners of each leaf, affecting text and minor decoration to greater or lesser extents, but the major decoration barely affected). Bound in grey buckram by Bøthuns Bokverksted, Tønsberg, Norway, 2018. Provenance : (1) Produced for use at Reims cathedral, as shown by the Temporale with texts for the coronation of a king, and for St Remi; the Sanctorale with feasts of Rigobert, Remi (who also appears in the Canon of the Mass), Theodoric, and Nicasius; and, on the present leaves, mentions of an archbishop and of a pallium (worn only by archbishops and popes); made probably during the archiepiscopacy of Henry of France (1162–75), younger son of King Louis VI. (2) Beauvais Cathedral Library, suffering from water damage between the compilation of the 1464 catalogue, when it was described as ‘couvert de cuir empraint’, and the 1750 catalogue, in which it is described as ‘non relié […] n’ayant ni commencement ni fin […] aient beaucoup souffert de l’humidité’ (see H. Omont, ‘Recherches sur la bibliothèque de l'église cathédrale de Beauvais’, Mémoires de l'Institut de France , 1916). (3) Louis Le Caron de Troussures (d.1914), of the Château de Troussures, near Beauvais; his sale in Paris, 9 July 1909, lot 14 (described as having 130 leaves), bought by: (4) Léon Gruel Paris, who extracted and rebound the best 73 leaves and sold them before 1914 to Henry Walters (another 46 leaves were acquired in 1950; see L. Randall, Medieval and Renaissance MSS in the Walters Art Gallery , I, 1989, no 6, figs 11–13, with considerable further bibliography, including C. Niver, ‘A Twelfth-Century Sacramentary in the Walters Collection’, Speculum , 10 (1935), pp.333–37). (5) Sam Fogg Ltd., 1994. (6) Schøyen Collection, MS 1934. Text : The main contents of the leaves are prayers for (i) Holy Thursday (Cena Domini, The Lord’s Supper), with a long rubric detailing the preparation of holy oils, vestments, etc.; (ii) to be said before mass; (iii) for the pallium, and to be said after entering the church and after entering the choir; (iv) for the blessing of the Paschal Candle on Holy Saturday. Script : The overall aspect is decidedly angular compared to the roundness of Caroline minuscule, yet the script is not fully gothic, preserving pre-gothic features such as the e-caudata to represent the ‘æ’ ligature; the letters ‘r’ and tall ‘s’ which descend slightly below the other minims; the dotting of ‘ii’ but not ‘i’; and the use of ampersands but not the tironian ‘et’.