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Prayerbook, with the Psalter of the Virgin Mary, in Latin, decorated manuscript on vellum [Southern Netherlands, Tournai, Abbey of Saint-Martin, final quarter 12th century]
Details
Prayerbook and Marian hymns from the Abbey of Saint-Martin at Tournai
Prayerbook, with the Psalter of the Virgin Mary, in Latin, decorated manuscript on vellum [Southern Netherlands, Tournai, Abbey of Saint-Martin, final quarter 12th century]
A highly bespoke manuscript containing prayers from the Church Fathers and a suite of Marian hymns including the earliest known witness to the 'Ave lignum excelsum glorie' version of the Psalter of the Virgin Mary, produced at the great Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Martin at Tournai, their shelfmark E.41, in a 15th-century binding.
230 x 155mm. ii + 48 leaves, collation: 1-48, 54 (of 8, i, iii, v cancelled blanks, lacking vii), 66 , 76 (of 8, i a cancelled blank, viii the lower pastedown), two columns of 32 lines, ruled space: 153 x 50mm, rubrics in red, initials alternately in red or blue, larger coloured initials often with scalloping and penwork flourishing throughout, front pastedown from a 14th-century noted liturgical manuscript with 6 lines of text and music on a 4-line red stave (some cockling and staining, a few natural flaws in the vellum, else in very good condition). 15th-century binding of blind-stamped leather over beveled wooden boards, the stamps including rolls of foliage, fleurs-de-lys, a squirrel and a monkey, endbands exposed at foot and head of spine, brass clasps and catches survive, paper label at head of spine with shelfmark ‘E’ (some cracking to spine, lacking corner- and centre-bosses, some scuffs, scratches and losses to leather, one of the clasps with hook broken away).
Provenance:
(1) The Abbey of Saint-Martin at Tournai: ex libris, 'Liber s[anc]ti martini' written three times on front flyleaf and once on the verso of the last endleaf, with the library's shelfmark 'E' at foot (but in fact upside down and placed at head) of spine. The great Abbey of Saint-Martin, one of the principal Benedictine monasteries of northern Europe, was reestablished in 1092 and adopted the rule of St Benedict in 1095. Throughout the 12th century it was one of the most important cultural centres of the Low Countries. The manuscript appears in the Abbey's 1615 inventory where it is described clearly at shelfmark E.41, identifying the Lanfranc text at f.1v: 'Liber continens diuersas diuersorum SS. Patrum Orationes. Item habetur istis Orationibus folio primo verso intexta Sententia Lanfranci de Monachis [...] cuius tale est Exordium Indicatum est mihi quia de cuius est Monasterio recedere vis [...]' (see A. Sanderus, Bibliotheca Belgica Manuscripta, 1615, p.117, E.41). It isn't evident that it appears in the earliest inventory of the Abbey's manuscripts compiled c.1160-80 (L. Delisle, Cabinet des manuscrits de la bibliothèque imperiale, ii, pp.487-492), probably because it had not yet been written, although it could perhaps be identifiable with either no 143, 'Instituta patrum, in uno volumine', or – at least for ff.36 onwards – no 147, 'Mariale, in uno volumine'.
The French Revolution led to the dissolution of the Abbey in 1796, and its buildings were largely demolished. A substantial number of the books from the library were acquired by Sir Thomas Phillipps in 1824, his MSS. 2011-2156, including the 12th-century Tournai Pontifical, ex-Phillipps MS. 2119 and now Brussels, Bibliothèque royale, II.1013. The present manuscript, though, had not so far to travel. It ended up just 20km south of Tournai in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, in the collection of:
(2) Louis Mériaux of Saint-Amand-les-Eaux: his ownership inscription dated 1823 on second flyleaf 'Ex libris M. Ludovici Mériaux Elnonensis An[n]o MDCCCXXIIIo'.
(3) Dr Jörn Günther Rare Books, Brochure 13: Timeless Treasures, 2013, no 2, later included in Parchment and Gold: 25 Years of Dr Jörn Günther Rare Books, Cat. 11, 2015, no 4. Sold to a private Swiss collection.
(4) Dreweatts, 6 December 2017, lot 99.
Contents:
Prayerbook ff.1-34v: beginning with Julian of Toledo (642-690), Oratio ad Deum, here titled 'Oratio exulis patriam suspirantis', opening: 'Desertum idumee cecus et morbidus possessor inhabitans' and followed by prayers attributed to Lanfranc, Sententia de monachis (see Provenance above), Isidore, Boniface, Cyprian, Cassiodorus, Augustine, Jerome, Gregory the Great, Ephrem the Syrian as well as more general prayers to the cross, the trinity, etc.; Psalter of the Virgin (lacking opening), beginning: '[...] nunciavit quem sine macula protulisti' and ending 'Ave cum qua coelitus Omnis Deo / spiritus decantat alleluia / honor tibi virgini patri nato / flamini sit virtus perpetua. / Amen' ff.36-45; Marian prayers and 'rhythmic' hymns, beginning: 'Ave gloriosa Dei genitrix Maria' and ending 'Unde licet sero / veniam deposco per te potero / quod desidero virgo que / sincero paris utero tuus sum / et ero de te non despero quicquid / egero.'
The selection of prayers is doubtless tailored to the specific use of the Benedictine brothers at Saint-Martin, but what is perhaps of most interest in this manuscript is the suite of Marian hymns (ff.36-48). Not to be confused with the Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary attributed to St Bonaventure and composed later in the 13th century, these hymns were also designed to be read alongside the standard Psalms, and were sometimes called 'Psalter of the Virgin': several versions exist, notably 'Ave porta paradisi lignum uite quod amisi', sometimes attributed to St Anselm (see for example Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Latin 16565, dating from the 12th century). The version found here, beginning 'Ave lignum excelsum glorie' is extremely rare. Alison Stones has traced only four manuscripts with this text: a Psalter-Hours in the collection of Emmanuel Boussard datable to the mid-13th century; a mid-14th-century Hours at the Marian Library, University of Dayton, ML-RB Hore 1425-1450z; a late 14th- or early 15th-century Italian devotional miscellany in London, British Library, Add. MS 10826; and the now-lost 14th-century Cod. Taurinensis, Turin, Biblioteca Nazionale, K V 31 (the latter two cited in Analecta hymnica medii aevi, Register 1. Halbband A-J, 1978, no 2981, p.121, 'Ave lignum/excelsum gloriae'). Where the manuscript in the collection of Emmanuel Boussard stands alone in copying the corresponding passage in the Psalter of the Virgin at the head of each psalm, the other manuscripts – as with ours – copy the text as a continuous poem (on this see A. Stones, 'Notes on a Little-Known French Thirteenth-Century Psalter-Hours: Texts, Decoration, and Illustration', Rivista di storia della miniatura, 28, 2024, pp.48-71).
The present manuscript is the earliest extant witness to the 'Ave lignum excelsum glorie' version of the Psalter of the Virgin.
Prayerbook, with the Psalter of the Virgin Mary, in Latin, decorated manuscript on vellum [Southern Netherlands, Tournai, Abbey of Saint-Martin, final quarter 12th century]
A highly bespoke manuscript containing prayers from the Church Fathers and a suite of Marian hymns including the earliest known witness to the 'Ave lignum excelsum glorie' version of the Psalter of the Virgin Mary, produced at the great Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Martin at Tournai, their shelfmark E.41, in a 15th-century binding.
230 x 155mm. ii + 48 leaves, collation: 1-48, 54 (of 8, i, iii, v cancelled blanks, lacking vii), 66 , 76 (of 8, i a cancelled blank, viii the lower pastedown), two columns of 32 lines, ruled space: 153 x 50mm, rubrics in red, initials alternately in red or blue, larger coloured initials often with scalloping and penwork flourishing throughout, front pastedown from a 14th-century noted liturgical manuscript with 6 lines of text and music on a 4-line red stave (some cockling and staining, a few natural flaws in the vellum, else in very good condition). 15th-century binding of blind-stamped leather over beveled wooden boards, the stamps including rolls of foliage, fleurs-de-lys, a squirrel and a monkey, endbands exposed at foot and head of spine, brass clasps and catches survive, paper label at head of spine with shelfmark ‘E’ (some cracking to spine, lacking corner- and centre-bosses, some scuffs, scratches and losses to leather, one of the clasps with hook broken away).
Provenance:
(1) The Abbey of Saint-Martin at Tournai: ex libris, 'Liber s[anc]ti martini' written three times on front flyleaf and once on the verso of the last endleaf, with the library's shelfmark 'E' at foot (but in fact upside down and placed at head) of spine. The great Abbey of Saint-Martin, one of the principal Benedictine monasteries of northern Europe, was reestablished in 1092 and adopted the rule of St Benedict in 1095. Throughout the 12th century it was one of the most important cultural centres of the Low Countries. The manuscript appears in the Abbey's 1615 inventory where it is described clearly at shelfmark E.41, identifying the Lanfranc text at f.1v: 'Liber continens diuersas diuersorum SS. Patrum Orationes. Item habetur istis Orationibus folio primo verso intexta Sententia Lanfranci de Monachis [...] cuius tale est Exordium Indicatum est mihi quia de cuius est Monasterio recedere vis [...]' (see A. Sanderus, Bibliotheca Belgica Manuscripta, 1615, p.117, E.41). It isn't evident that it appears in the earliest inventory of the Abbey's manuscripts compiled c.1160-80 (L. Delisle, Cabinet des manuscrits de la bibliothèque imperiale, ii, pp.487-492), probably because it had not yet been written, although it could perhaps be identifiable with either no 143, 'Instituta patrum, in uno volumine', or – at least for ff.36 onwards – no 147, 'Mariale, in uno volumine'.
The French Revolution led to the dissolution of the Abbey in 1796, and its buildings were largely demolished. A substantial number of the books from the library were acquired by Sir Thomas Phillipps in 1824, his MSS. 2011-2156, including the 12th-century Tournai Pontifical, ex-Phillipps MS. 2119 and now Brussels, Bibliothèque royale, II.1013. The present manuscript, though, had not so far to travel. It ended up just 20km south of Tournai in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, in the collection of:
(2) Louis Mériaux of Saint-Amand-les-Eaux: his ownership inscription dated 1823 on second flyleaf 'Ex libris M. Ludovici Mériaux Elnonensis An[n]o MDCCCXXIIIo'.
(3) Dr Jörn Günther Rare Books, Brochure 13: Timeless Treasures, 2013, no 2, later included in Parchment and Gold: 25 Years of Dr Jörn Günther Rare Books, Cat. 11, 2015, no 4. Sold to a private Swiss collection.
(4) Dreweatts, 6 December 2017, lot 99.
Contents:
Prayerbook ff.1-34v: beginning with Julian of Toledo (642-690), Oratio ad Deum, here titled 'Oratio exulis patriam suspirantis', opening: 'Desertum idumee cecus et morbidus possessor inhabitans' and followed by prayers attributed to Lanfranc, Sententia de monachis (see Provenance above), Isidore, Boniface, Cyprian, Cassiodorus, Augustine, Jerome, Gregory the Great, Ephrem the Syrian as well as more general prayers to the cross, the trinity, etc.; Psalter of the Virgin (lacking opening), beginning: '[...] nunciavit quem sine macula protulisti' and ending 'Ave cum qua coelitus Omnis Deo / spiritus decantat alleluia / honor tibi virgini patri nato / flamini sit virtus perpetua. / Amen' ff.36-45; Marian prayers and 'rhythmic' hymns, beginning: 'Ave gloriosa Dei genitrix Maria' and ending 'Unde licet sero / veniam deposco per te potero / quod desidero virgo que / sincero paris utero tuus sum / et ero de te non despero quicquid / egero.'
The selection of prayers is doubtless tailored to the specific use of the Benedictine brothers at Saint-Martin, but what is perhaps of most interest in this manuscript is the suite of Marian hymns (ff.36-48). Not to be confused with the Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary attributed to St Bonaventure and composed later in the 13th century, these hymns were also designed to be read alongside the standard Psalms, and were sometimes called 'Psalter of the Virgin': several versions exist, notably 'Ave porta paradisi lignum uite quod amisi', sometimes attributed to St Anselm (see for example Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Latin 16565, dating from the 12th century). The version found here, beginning 'Ave lignum excelsum glorie' is extremely rare. Alison Stones has traced only four manuscripts with this text: a Psalter-Hours in the collection of Emmanuel Boussard datable to the mid-13th century; a mid-14th-century Hours at the Marian Library, University of Dayton, ML-RB Hore 1425-1450z; a late 14th- or early 15th-century Italian devotional miscellany in London, British Library, Add. MS 10826; and the now-lost 14th-century Cod. Taurinensis, Turin, Biblioteca Nazionale, K V 31 (the latter two cited in Analecta hymnica medii aevi, Register 1. Halbband A-J, 1978, no 2981, p.121, 'Ave lignum/excelsum gloriae'). Where the manuscript in the collection of Emmanuel Boussard stands alone in copying the corresponding passage in the Psalter of the Virgin at the head of each psalm, the other manuscripts – as with ours – copy the text as a continuous poem (on this see A. Stones, 'Notes on a Little-Known French Thirteenth-Century Psalter-Hours: Texts, Decoration, and Illustration', Rivista di storia della miniatura, 28, 2024, pp.48-71).
The present manuscript is the earliest extant witness to the 'Ave lignum excelsum glorie' version of the Psalter of the Virgin.
Brought to you by
Eugenio Donadoni
Senior Specialist, Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts