IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0096 MS 889
Held at: Senate House Library, University of London
Title: Diurnal
Date(s): 1428
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: 1 volume containing 209 leaves
Name of creator(s): Unknown
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
A diurnal gives the divine office for the 7 day Hours of the Catholic Church - namely Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Diurnal (Winter part only), created in Bavaria in 1428, and including the Temporale from the first Sunday in Advent to Easter Sunday; the Sanctorale from St Andrew to Saint Ambrose; the Communale; psalms, hymns and prayers for the day hours; hymns for Advent and to named saints; and prayers in a later hand. A later paper quire added at the end of the volume contains Psalm 4 and prayers.
Folio 70 is inscribed 'Explicit diurnale partis vernalis in vigili Sancte Barbare sub anno domini MCCCCXXVIII per manus Tedrici...capellani in Lype...'.
The diurnal was written in 3 separate hands; there are notes in the margins, flyleaves and endpapers, probably added at the same time as the paper quire by an early owner.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: Latin. Written in German 'bastarda' script.
System of arrangement:
Single item.
Conditions governing access:
Access to the items in the collection is unrestricted for the purpose of private study and personal research within the controlled environment and restrictions of the Library's Palaeography Room. Access to archive collections may be restricted under the Freedom of Information Act. Please contact the University Archivist for details.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copies may be made, subject to the condition of the original. Copying must be undertaken by the Palaeography Room staff, who will need a minimum of 24 hours to process requests.
Physical characteristics:
Parchment. 112 x 89 mm.
The manuscript is written on poor quality parchment, soiled throughout, especially ff.128-166; there are holes in various folios; the lower outer margin of f.86, top corner of f.135 and bottom corner of f.164 are cut away; the top of f.195 is thin and slightly holed.
A separate paper quire of 11 leaves (f.197-206), with a watermark in the shape of a bull's head, has been inserted by a modern foliator; it is loose and not part of the original binding.
There are various mising pages indicated by stubs, though the text is continuous and the missing pages cannot have been part of the original plan. Foliated in pencil in a modern hand in the top right corner; from f.91 on, many leaves are marked incirrectly with the number of the previous leaf and corrected.
The outer edges of the written area are ruled in brown ink; quires 1-6 are signed in red in the centre of the lower margin; most have catchwords. The manuscript is rubricated extensively in the hand of the text - the scribe was probably working in red and black ink at the same time; capitals are stroked in red; the text includes one, two, three and six-line plain red initials and two, three, four and six-line decorated initials. All initials appear to be in the ink of the text and therefore the work of the scribes.
German binding of calf over wooden boards, probably made soon after the book. Appears to have had studs in the corners of the back and front covers, and a clasp.
Finding aids:
See the ULL MSS catalogue entry, written by Kate Davenport, for more detail.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Acquired by the University of London Library in 1980, with the library of printed books of Dr. Dorothy K. Coveney (d 1979), through the gift of her family.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Archivist's note: Compiled by Sarah Aitchison as part of the RSLP AIM25 Project.
Date(s) of descriptions: Feb 2002