Manuscript Identification
settlement
Bergen University Library, Art and Humanities Library
repository
Bergen University Library
idno
MS 1549, 1, e
altName
Gjerløw: Br 4, along with fragments 1549, 1a-d
even though they do not seem to come from the same manuscript.
Manuscript Content
Three Alleluias with verses and an Offertory, none of which complete, for
a celebration of Virgin Mary, possibly the Assumption (15 August) or the
Nativity (8 September). On the dark and unreadable verso side the rubric
Off(ertorium) and the initial red R is visible. Towards the margin it is
possible to see the letters “go” and “ma”. This fits very well with the
Offertory Recordare virgo mater. All the liturgical elements in the
fragment are commonly found, and what could possibly be a clue to
finding out the fragment’s origin is the sequence of the Alleluia
verses.
[Alleluia.] Vers. Post partum
Alleluia. Vers. Ave Maria
Alleluia. Vers. Salve virgo
Offertorium: Recordare virgo mater
Lay-out: No ruling is visible apart from the staffs of the musical
notation. It is not possible to say much about original lay-out or size
because of the limited size of the fragment. The original manuscript had
9 lines or more to the page, and was at least in quarto format.
Script: Gothic textualis formata with no particular marking of the i’s or
u’s. Several letters are relatively round in character, although the
angularity of gothic script is definately present. Rubricated.
Musical notation: Square notation on four red lines. Clef: f.
Initials: Three red initials are visible, quite plain with the exception
of a small floral ending to the left. The Alleluia verse begins with a
smaller, black initial decorated with a red line.
Condition: The fragment is in poor condition. The recto side is so worn
and darkened it’s illegible, with the exception of the top line. There
are four holes from a binding, which seems to be of a rather thick book,
ca 6 cm across the back. The four lines of smaller script in the lower
left corner on the verso side seems to have rubbed off from another
fragment, 1549, 1a, which was used in the same binding.
France(?), 14th century(?). The fragment was used in the
same binding as fragments 1549, 1a-d, which come from a breviary of
English origin. This could point to England also for the
current fragment. At a workshop in Bergen in October 2005 it was suggested that the
place of origin might be France. The order of the Alleluia verses could bring us
closer to finding the origin.
Secondary provenance unknown. The fragment appears to have been used
in the binding of the same book as 1549, 1a-d, but which book and
where it was bound is unknown.
MS 1549, 1a-e was a gift to the museum of Bergen from cand. theol. H.
Daae in 1829. The H. Daae in question is probably Hans Daae
(1808-65), born in Leikanger as son of the minister there. He began
his theology studies in Christiania in 1825. In 1831 he was employed
as a chaplain in Korskirken (the Cross Church) in Bergen, where he
stayed until 1850. The circumstances for the gift, or where Daae
acquired the fragments, is not known.
Legg, Wickham J. (ed.) 1916: The Sarum missal, edited from three early manuscripts,
Oxford.
Tveitane, Mattias et. al.: Bergen University Library Manuscript
Catalogue [unpublished]