russia; 19th century. Simple tooling

First piece is pedes musicarum notation and the second has square ligatures and longs

22v - 23v

iii paper + 98 parchment + iii paper

RISM B/IV 1: A 13th-14th century vellum Gradual meas. 260 x 190 mm. and containing 98 folios. This manuscript was till recently in the collection of Athelstane Riley, lord of Trinity Manor in the Isle of Jersey, and apparently he bought it in 1890, if we are to judge by the date which accompanies his signature. 'The description on a piece of paper stuck to the first flyleaf is presumably from the bookseller's catalogue. The binding of "russia", to quote the bookseller, dates from the 19th century and employs simple tooling; there are 3 flyleaves at each end. According to Bannister, who examined the ms in 1915, the codex is a Premonstratensian source from a monastery in East Flanders, possibly between Liege and Antwerp. Three added saints are Francis (1225), Elizabeth (1235) and Louis (1297), hence Bannister dates the ms early 13th century. However, certain features of the script suggest the second half of the century. The ms is misbound, since, apart from the fact that we start after Whitsuntide and suddenly come to Christmas in the middle, an old foliation on f. 1 (modern numbering) starts at 85 (t.m.r.). This goes as far as f. 45 (modern numbering), i.e. the old f. 129. The old f. 84 is not the end of the book but the new f. 88. Apart from the Proper, the ms also contains a small Ordinary section which shows signs of hard wear (f. 66v-73). Turning over has in fact worn away the corners, and on f. 68 a piece of paper with square notation in a 17th century hand has repaired the losses. An important sequentiary (f. 73-80 and 90-97v) is followed by the Spiritus et alme on f. 98 in square notes, which tend to become oblique infrequently. The script too is a little more Gothic than in the corpus and may date from as late as 1400. The plainsong notation is in Metz neumes on red four-line staves. Red ink is applied frequently for rubrication and initials, blue less often just for initials and green very rarely. The two polyphonic pieces are two-part sequences complete with initial Alleluia in plainsong. The script is quite different from that of the plainsong corpus with its tall, slender initials, though the first piece employs the characteristic pedes muscarum notation while the second is in longs and square ligatures. The first piece appears to be unique. As in 12th century sources, a wavy line divides the two parts in score. The staves are in black ink; as for accidentals, flats are not infrequent in the first piece.

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