A treatise on organum forms the fifth section of this composite ms, dating from the 11th to the 15th century. The contents range from Virgil’s Bucolics to a bull of excommunication. The treatise on organum has no less than 343 examples + 3 complete two-part organa. This dates from the first half of the 13th century and must in fact be a copy of 12th century material, for it is comparable with works of St. Martial type.

modern parchment over compressed cardboard, to which 1 parchment flyleaf at the front and 1 at the back belong.

rudimentary square notation

The rudimentary square notation employs two four-line staves in score as a rule, though the number of lines vary from 1-4 for the Cantus and up to 5 for the Organum. The staves may be in red or brown ink As far as the complete pieces are concerned, these are written on 16 staves per page.

The corpus of the ms consists of 80 folios numbered in 18th century ink at t.r.r. There are 2 old paper flyleaves preceding these, f. a and f. 1, though the latter, numbered in pencil, precedes the real f. 1.

parchment and paper

RISM B/IV 1: A part parchment, part paper manuscript dating from the 11th to the 15th century and meas. at the most 212 x 148 mm. The contents may be divided into 8 distinct parts, ranging from Virgil's Bucolics to a bull of excommunication. The oldest section, the sixth, is dated 1081. The fifth section is a treatise on organum with no less than 343 examples + 3 complete two-part organa. This dates from the first half of the 13th century and must in fact be a copy of 12th century material, for it is comparable with works of St. Martial type. The history of the ms is unusually well-known from the beginning of the 17th century on. It bears the call-number C 54 of the library of Paul Petau in Paris, who died in 1614. The codex was sold with the library of his son in 1650, and many rare volumes, including this one, went to Queen Christina of Sweden in Stockholm. From her library, where it bore the number 1248, the codex went to the Vatican Archives, and remained there till c. 1704. Along with 52 more manuscripts it was stolen from the Vatican about this time, and somehow came into the possession of the English Baron Philip de Stosch. In 1759 the Baron's library was purchased for the Vatican, and so the present codex was incorporated this time into the Ottoboni collection. The binding is of modern parchment over compressed cardboard, to which 1 parchment flyleaf at the front and 1 at the back belong. The corpus of the ms consists of 80 folios numbered in 18th century ink at t.r.r. There are 2 old paper flyleaves preceding these, f. a and f. 1, though the latter, numbered in pencil, precedes the real f. 1. The rudimentary square notation employs two four-line staves in score as a rule, though the number of lines vary from 1-4 for the Cantus and up to 5 for the Organum. The staves may be in red or brown ink As far as the complete pieces are concerned, these are written on 16 staves per page. Clefs are c in the upper part and f in the lower. Apart from the typical 12th century bar-lines, which go through both staves of a two-part score, a Cantus note is often preceded by a short stroke.

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