Western Medieval Manuscripts : Missal, Use of Sarum (The Braybrooke Missal)

Western Medieval Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This manuscript contains all of the liturgical material required to conduct mass rituals, including songs, prayers, and mass forms proper to particular occasions, either relating to saints' days (including collects for St. John of Beverly on f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(492);return false;'>261v</a>) or significant life events, such as masses for the dead (ff. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(474);return false;'>252v-258v</a>). Among the latter is an English version of St. Gregory's Trental, an unusual liturgical practice for the saving of a soul (f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(486);return false;'>258v</a>, beginning 'Ordo trigintalis...'), which is of particular note because it is separate from the more geographically widespread 'Gregorian Trental'. The English St. Gregory's Trental extends beyond simply celebrating consecutive masses for the repose of a soul, and contains ten feasts that were to be repeated three times. What is also notable is that the practice and understanding of the trental was conflated with verse tales about a papal character (not necessarily Gregory in all cases) which date from between the 13th and 15th centuries. Further liturgical and literary idiosyncrasies are discussed in more depth by Richard Pfaff (see Bibliography below). </p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Made in the fourth quarter of the 14th century, MS Add. 451 bears the epithet 'The Braybrooke Missal' after Robert Braybrooke, bishop of London from 1382 to 1404. He was apparently the first intended owner or commissioner of this manuscript and his coat of arms is visible in the bottom margin of f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(19);return false;'>11r</a>: a shield of seven red diamonds on a white ground, hanging from and encircled by a blue border vine decoration, and set within on a burnished and incised gold ground. The red pigment on f. 11r appears to match that of the holly leaves around it and has bled through the parchment in a similar manner, probably ruling out the possibility that the coat of arms was painted over those of an earlier owner. The same coat of arms appears as part of a more modestly decorated catchword on f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(34);return false;'>18v</a>, where red and black ink were used to render the coat of arms on a faintly marbled ground encircled with a lettered scroll.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The border on f. 11r forms a partial frame, embellished with orange, pink and blue holly leaves, black sprays and gold details. Elsewhere in the manuscript, similar decorative approaches are taken, such as on f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(68);return false;'>35v</a> which contains an initial 'P' of orange, pink and blue foliage, decorated in white, on a ground of burnished and incised gold leaf. The treatment of catchwords is indicative of the liveliness of the decorative scheme: on ff. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(50);return false;'>26v</a>, <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(168);return false;'>90v</a> and <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(198);return false;'>106v</a>, they are paired with context-appropriate drawings of a staff ('muneribus'), chalice ('hic est enim calix'), or cross ('super crucem'). On f. 26v in particular, the illustrator's attention to shadows lends a realistic depth to the scroll. Throughout the manuscript, flourishing in fine purple and red lines embellishes lesser initials and fills the margins. Within the text, one finds stylised, geometric line fillers in blue and gold. There are also signs of the cross, which instruct the reader to make this gesture at certain points in the liturgy. Examples of both, together with a large illuminated initial and full border may be seen on f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(231);return false;'>124r</a>. </p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Within about a century, the manuscript had passed into the possession of the Hungerford family of Down Ampney, Gloucerstershire. The obits of several family members, women and men, have been added to the calendar (see ff. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(9);return false;'>6r</a>, <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(13);return false;'>8r</a>, <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(16);return false;'>9v</a> and <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(18);return false;'>10v</a>). The name 'Hungerford' has also been inscribed by a 16th-century hand on an otherwise blank leaf (f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(493);return false;'>262r</a>). The production of the calendar was especially elaborate, with entries of various degrees of importance written in burnished gold leaf, blue or red pigments, and ink. The feast day of Thomas Becket (29 December) has been utterly expunged, and that of his translation (7 July) deliberately smudged. Such interventions are indicative of a manuscript having been in England and in use during the Reformation. An explanation for losses elsewhere is less clear, however. While 'pape' has apparently been washed or scrubbed off against the names of Clement (23 November) and Silvester (31 December), elsewhere it has been left intact, as for Leo (28 June), Calixtus (14 October) and Linus (26 November). Some changes at least are due to the degradation of the pigments, red especially: see f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(7);return false;'>5r</a> for January, for example. The same may also be the case for the entries for Gregory (12 March), Ambrose (4 April), Erkenwald (30 April), Barnabus (11 June), Paul (30 June), Mary Magdalene (22 July), Anna (26 July), Jerome (30 September), Luke (18 October), Katherine (25 November) and Nicholas (6 December), where the pigment has gone but traces of the letters are still visible on the page. Elsewhere, scarcely legible fragments of text remain: Philip and James (1 May), Augustine of Canterbury (26 May), Augustine of Hippo (28 August), Matthew (21 September) and Stephanus (26 December).</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The manuscript's binding may be original: plain alum-tawed covers such as this are common coverings during the 14th and early 15th centuries, before the shift to polished leather and blind tooling later on. This plain, suede-like leather cover is marked with a circular stain on the front cover, perhaps caused by an inkwell. One can also see (particularly on the front) the nails and holes for pins that secured two fastening straps. The nails pass through the wooden board to the inner cover and holes in ff. 1 and 263 align with these, confirming that these leaves were originally pastedowns. Now lifted, they reveal the slips of eight sewing supports, which run through channels in the wooden boards and are held in place by wooden pegs. This structure is relatively rare: across J.A. Szirmai's study of 810 Gothic manuscripts, only two have eight or more sewing stations. </p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The text was written in textura quadrata script, bearing the characteristic diamond-shaped serifs that come with this high-grade script. It was the work apparently of a single hand, however a blank page between the Order and Canon of Mass (f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(230);return false;'>122v</a>), and the presence once of a frontispiece at this location, suggests a possible division of production: one scribe copying the Temporale from Advent I to Easter Eve, the other working concurrently on the Temporale from Easter to the Sunday before Advent. Such arrangements were common in the manufacture of liturgical books such as missals or breviaries, and accomplished scribes - such as those seen here - could execute a set bookhand to a consistently high standard and make it indistinguishable from another's work. The pages are populated heavily with musical arrangements and rubrics written in red ink, which form a large portion of the mass service in practice. Folios <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(215);return false;'>115r</a> and <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(218);return false;'>116v</a> display these two features particularly heavily, for example: they describe the baptismal rite and provide detailed instructions for the celebrant's and congregation's roles. </p><p style='text-align: justify;'>On one of the originally blank endleaves at the front of the volume (f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(5);return false;'>2r</a>), one or more 15th-century hands have added five medical recipes. They follow a familiar, instructional format, specifying the ingredients and preparatory procedures the reader should use. The presence of both English and Latin, and the ease with which the writer(s) switch between them, reflects the multilingual culture of late medieval England. Such additions in a non-medical or non-scientific context is not unusual and it may merely reflect the use of blank parchment that was conveniently to hand. However, the recording of recipes in manuscripts that were evidently precious to their owners may also indicate a more conscious decision to copy them in a place where they were more certain to be preserved. Other examples of this approach are found in <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-II-00006-00002/1'>Cambridge, University Library, MS Ii.6.2</a>, where a medical recipe and charms have been inscribed into a Book of Hours by its 16th-century owners (see ff. 2r, 108r, 110r), alongside prayers that address their spiritual concerns. </p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Niamh Vienne Bannan<br />Wolfson College, Cambridge</p><p style='text-align: justify;'><b>References</b><div style='list-style-type: disc;'><div style='display: list-item; margin-left: 20px;'>R. Pfaff, 'The English Devotion of St. Gregory's Trental', <i>Speculum</i> 49 1974), 75-90</div><div style='display: list-item; margin-left: 20px;'>J.A. Szirmai, <i>The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding</i> (New York, 1999) </div></div><br /></p>