Description of UB Bergen MS 1549, 7a

Introduction

The fragments catalogued under MS 1549, 7 were found underneath the floorboards in the choir of the stave church of Kaupanger in Sogn (Western Norway), during the excavation and restoration of the church in 1964-1965. Immediately after the excavation, the fragments were given to Bergen University Library by Hans-Emil Lidén. This is one of the rare cases where fragments are found on site, not in some archive or bookbinding. It is likely that the missal the fragment came from was used in Kaupanger in the Middle Ages. The script is a fine Carolingian minuscule from the second half of the 12th century, with plain, red initials.

Manuscript Identification

settlement

Bergen University Library, Art and Humanities Library

repository

Bergen University Library

idno

MS 1549, 7a

altName

MS 410, 7a

altName

Gjerløw: Mi 91

altName

The fragment is repeatedly called MS 1549, 4a in the literature on the stave church of Kaupanger.

Manuscript Content

The contents is from the liturgy of the Mass for Thursday and Friday after the fourth Sunday of Lent. Hans Buvarp (1969, p. 60) has completed the fragmentary texts of fragment 1549, 7 using the later, printed Missale Nidrosiense (1519). The parts added from the printed missal are put in brackets. Other additions are in parentheses. (The transcription and additions are taken from Hans Buvarp 1969.) The lines follow the fragment.

Parchment, one fragment ca. 11,3 x 5,8 cm.

Lay-out: The ruling is hardly visible. Size and more specific lay-out of the page is difficult to specify because of the limited size of the fragment.

Script: The script is a fine Carolingian minuscule from the second half of the 12th century. The m- and n-abbreviations are wavy, the d’s are straight. Ampersand is used for “et”. However, there is no example of the ae-ligature e caudata, which pushes the date forward. Rubricated. There is no musical notation, but the sung parts are written in a smaller script.

Initials: The visible initial is plain, in an orange red colour. The first letter of the Verse Exsurge domine is decorated with a red filling.

Condition: The fragment is not in a very good condition. The inner side appears to have been cut with a knife, but the lower part seems more to have been ripped. Something has eaten away a corner. There is also a hole in the margin. The script on the recto side is relatively well preserved, although the upper half is quite faded. The script on the verso side has almost completely disappeared.