Western Medieval Manuscripts : Gospel lectionary

Western Medieval Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This Gospel lectionary, probably produced in the second half of the 11th century or first half of the 12th, belongs in general to the fuller of the two main types, giving lections for weekdays as well as Saturdays and Sundays, except in Lent. However, in this manuscript, for the last few weeks preceding Lent, weekday lections were abandoned and only those for Saturday and Sunday given. As is quite common, the standard sequences of the <i>synaxarion</i> (lections of the mobile calendar, beginning from Easter) and <i>menologion</i> (lections for the fixed calendar, beginning from September) are followed by a series of lections for various occasions and for night vigils preceding Easter.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The manuscript has suffered the loss of numerous folios. It retained a Byzantine binding with a leather cover decorated with blind tooling, but as this was in a damaged and unstable condition, it has been rebound and the former binding retained.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Dr Christopher Wright</p>