THE VAL-DES-CHOUX ANTIPHONARY, Winter part, in Latin, richly decorated manuscript on vellum. [France (Burgundy), 12th century (2nd half)]

THE VAL-DES-CHOUX ANTIPHONARY, Winter part, in Latin, richly decorated manuscript on vellum

[France (Burgundy), 12th century (2nd half)]

177 leaves, c. 475 × 350mm, collation: 1⁸ (fols. 1–8), 2^8-1 (2nd leaf missing; fols. 9–15), 3–13⁸ (fols. 16–103); 14–22⁸ (fols. 104–175), 23² (fols. 176–177), contemporary quire signatures I–XXIIII on the last page of each quire except the last, and the first page of quire XVIII, show that two quires are missing after quire 19; written with 11 lines of text in early gothic script and music in square notation on four-line red staves, LAVISHLY DECORATED THROUGHOUT with many enlarged initials to antiphons, responses, verses, etc., in red, blue, green, or ochre, with penwork in red, typically four of five on each page and sometimes as many as fifteen on a page; ordinary feasts with multi-coloured decorated foliate two-line initials on grounds of solid colour, more important feasts with three-line initials, and the most important with four-line initials, often with ascenders or descenders extending much of the height of the page; with general wear and signs of handling throughout, especially in the lower outer corners, but still in very handsome and impressive condition. In a late medieval (?) binding: sewn on five wide tawed bands laced into heavy oak boards (re-used, as shown by the previous lacing-channels visible in the back board) covered with undecorated (pigskin?) leather, with metal corner-pieces and clasp-fittings, the lower cover with two cross-shaped bosses in opposite corners (of an original eight) and two lage pins from strap-and-pin fastenings (the straps missing); rather battered but sturdy, and an interesting example of re-used medieval boards; in a fitted brown cloth-covered felt-lined box with leather spine and gilt leather title-piece on the front cover.

PROVENANCE

1. Perhaps written for a Cistercian monastery, to judge by the series of Canticles (fols. 101r–103v), the absence of gold in an otherwise lavishly decorated book, and the punctus flexus punctuation, although the mention of a bishop in the very last rubric suggests that the book may have been made for use in a cathedral.
2. Probably by the late Middle Ages, and perhaps much earlier, at the Valliscaulian priory of St Mary and John the Baptist at Val-des-Choux, in the diocese of Langres, roughly half-way between Dijon and Troyes, founded in 1193 by a monk from the Carthusian house at Lugny: in a few places flaws in the vellum have been patched with pieces of a 15th-century manuscript, and one such patch at fol. 21r preserves the words ‘[M]arie Valliscaul[ium]’ (i.e. St Mary’s, Vallis Caulium; Valley of Cabbages; Val-des-Choux in French). According to the research of Philip Adamo, the monks of Val-des-Choux followed the Carthusian customs until 1224, when they appealed to Pope Honorius III for permission to change their liturgy to an adapted form of the Cistercian Ecclesiastica officia (Adamo, 2014, p. 289); it may therefore be that the present manuscript was acquired by the house after they adopted Cistercian customs.
3. Apparently still in use (or perhaps just used for antiquarian interest) in the 18th century, when running titles and marginal notes were added.
4. Sold by Denesle, Rouen, 26 June 1991, lot 50, and by Sam Fogg in December 1991 to:
5. The Boehlen Collection, Bern, MS 1200.

TEXT

(fols. 1r–101r) Temporale, from the evening before the first Sunday in Advent to Holy Saturday (‘Sabbato ante primam dominicam adventus domini ad vesperas …’), until Holy Saturday.

(fols. 101r–103v) Canticles for Sundays and the feast of St Michael, for Christmas, and for the Common of saints; apparently a Cistercian series (cf. Weinmann, 1905, pp. 18–19)

(fols. 104r–151v) Sanctorale for major feasts: Sts Andrew, Stephen, John the Evangelist, Innocents, Agnes, Conversion of Paul, Commemoration of Paul, Purification, Agatha, Peter’s Chair, and Benedict, ending imperfect.

(fols. 152r–166v) Common of saints.

(fols. 166v–177r) Hymns, for Christmas to Epiphany; Epiphany; Holy Week except Palm Sunday; Palm Sunday; and for the feasts of Sts Stephen, John the Evangelist, Agnes, the Virgin, and Agatha; and Common of saints.

(fol. 177r) At the very end is a rubric stating that at mass on Sundays and feast days, between the bishop saying ‘Per omnia seculorum’ and ‘Pax domini sit semper vobiscum’, the deacon should chant ‘Humiliate vos ad benedictionem’ and the choir should respond ‘Deo gratias, Ite missa est requiescat in pace, Amen’.

There are no surviving Valliscaulian choirbooks with which to compare the text of the present volume, so it is impossible to say precisely how the liturgy of the Valliscaulian Order differed from that of the other orders such as the Carthusians, from whom the Valliscaulians were descended, and the Cistercians whose liturgy they adapted and adopted after 1224.

DECORATION

The initials show great variety, some filled with spirals terminating in animal-heads or foliage, versions of lush ‘Byzantine blossom’, of lion-masks, human-headed dragons, etc., and often extending to fill part of the adjacent margin. The palette is bright, with dark green, red, ornamented and accented with white, and a pale yellow-orange.

The decorative repertoire of the large painted initials suggest a date in the third quarter of the 12th century, but they are probably somewhat retardataire and of slightly later date, perhaps c. 1170–90: they have the spirals of foliate and octopus-like leaves that become common in the Channel Style from the 1170s, but with the white lions or elongated figures and animals that become standard features of the fully developed style. The penwork of the medium-sized initials was apparently added in the early 13th century, creating the overall impression of a slightly later date.

The most important feasts have initials equivalent in height to four lines of text and music, i.e. the first Sunday of Advent (fol. 1v) and Christmas (fol. 22r); some have three-line initials, i.e. Epiphany (fol. 32v), Purification (fol. 131v), and St Benedict (fol. 107r); and the rest have two-line initials. Some initials with ascenders or descenders are taller than average, and some initials ‘I extend the full height of the text, or more (fols. 27r, 29r, 53v, 81r), in one case an initial ‘I’ is five lines high but also turns 90 degrees and occupies the width of the lower margin (fol. 86r).

REFERENCES

C. Weinmann, Hymnarium Parisiense: das Hymnar der Zisterzienser-Abtei Pairis in Elsass (1905).

R. Folz, ‘Le monastère du Val des Choux au premier siècle de son histoire’, Bulletin Philologique et Historique du Comité des Travaux Historiques et Scientifiques, 1959, pp 91–115

Christian Denesle, Rouen, Beaux livres anciens provenant des collections de Monsieur B.L... et du docteur V... manuscrits ... reliures ..., 26 June 1991.

P.C. Adamo, New Monks in Old Habits: The Formation of the Caulite Monastic Order, 1193–1267 (Toronto, 2014).