Collectarium, in Latin, manuscript on parchment [southern central Italy (perhaps Sulmona), c. 1200]

Ɵ Three small cuttings from a single leaf from a portable Collectarium with the Offices for St. Bartholomew and the Decollation of St. John the Baptist, in Beneventan minuscule, in Latin, from a liturgical manuscript on parchment[southern central Italy (perhaps Sulmona), c. 1200] Three fragments, with remains of a single column of 15 and 6 lines in a good and angular Abruzzi type Beneventan minuscule (from a double column manuscript), capitals edged in red, small initials in graceful red penstrokes touched with bright yellow wash, remains of bottom half of one large initial 'A' in coloured acanthus leaves, infilled with red, yellow and blue, all recovered from reuse in bindings and hence scuffed and stained, with folds and small tears and holes, repaired at edges with modern paper, the larger two 135 by 68mm. the smaller piece 65 by 40mm.; in cloth-covered card binding Provenance: Schøyen Collection, London and Oslo, their MS 1780; acquired in Sotheby's, 6 December 1993, lot 11, and 21 June 1994, lot 5 (part). Text:The parent volume of these cuttings was probably a Collectarium, containing psalms, litanies, prayers and hymns, the precursor of the modern breviary. They are uncommon survivals from the Middle Ages, even in fragmentary form. Published: V. Brown, 'A Second New List of Beneventan Manuscripts (III)', Mediaeval Studies, 56 (1994), pp. 318. BMB. Bibliografia dei manuscritti in scrittura beneventana, 1994.