Manuscripts

Manchester, John Rylands University Library, MS Lat. 116 Psalter of St. Maximin, Trier

  • Latin
  • s. ixmed
  • Continental manuscripts
A manuscript whose core is a psalter of the mid-9th century, together with preliminary matter, canticles and prayers as well as a calendar, in addition to material which it accrued in the ensuing centuries. Provenance: St. Maximin, Trier. Some features of Celtic Latin interest include the 12th-century insertion of a calendrical obit for Israel the grammarian (obiit Israhel episcopus), who became a monk at St. Maximin's at the end of his life, and the names of Patrick and Brigit that appear in the litany of the saints on f. 112.
Identifiers
Shelfmark
Lat. 116
Title
Psalter of St. Maximin, Trier
Type
psalters religious calendars prayers and hymns
Provenance and related aspects
Language
Latin
Date
s. ixmed
Origin, provenance
Origin: Trier, St. Maximin
Trier, St. Maximin

Former Benedictine monastery located outside the walls of the city, founded perhaps c.700; destroyed by viking attacks in 882 but re-established in Carolingian times and reformed from Gorze in the 10th century.


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Hands, scribes
Palaeographical information
Illumination
M. R. James: “The book furnishes magnificent examples of the Continental-Celtic style of decoration. No gold is used: the elements of the colour scheme are bright red, purple, black, green, yellow. The rosettes and interlacings of the Celtic school are combined with acanthus-leaf, and foliage-terminations. Birds' heads are a frequent feature. The general appearance of the large pieces of ornament is light, bright, and gay.”
Table of contents
Legend
Texts

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Locus

While it is not a reality yet, CODECS seeks consistency in formatting references to locations of texts and other items of interest in manuscripts. Our preferences may be best explained with some examples:

  • f. 23ra.34: meaning folio 23 recto, first column, line 34
  • f. 96vb.m: meaning folio 96, verso, second column, middle of the page (s = top, m = middle, i = bottom)
    • Note that marg. = marginalia, while m = middle.
  • p. 67b.23: meaning page 67, second column, line 23
The list below has been collated from the table of contents, if available on this page,Progress in this area is being made piecemeal. Full and partial tables of contents are available for a small number of manuscripts. and incoming annotations for individual texts (again, if available).Whenever catalogue entries about texts are annotated with information about particular manuscript witnesses, these manuscripts can be queried for the texts that are linked to them.

Sources

Primary sources This section typically includes references to diplomatic editions, facsimiles and photographic reproductions, notably digital image archives, of at least a major portion of the manuscript. For editions of individual texts, see their separate entries.

[dig. img.] Manchester digital collections, Online: Manchester University, ?–present. URL: <https://www.digitalcollections.manchester.ac.uk/collections>.
[ed.] Roberg, Francesco, Das älteste ‘Necrolog’ des Klosters St. Maximin vor Trier, MGH Libri memoriales et necrologia NS, 8, Hanover: Hahnsche Buchhandlung, 2008.
 : <link>
69–157 Edition of ff. 1v-7r.

Secondary sources (select)

Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí, Early medieval Ireland, 400–1200, Longman History of Ireland, London: Longman, 1995.
213 After Löfstedt, refers to the etymological expositions of Alleluia and gloria.
Roberg, Francesco, Das älteste ‘Necrolog’ des Klosters St. Maximin vor Trier, MGH Libri memoriales et necrologia NS, 8, Hanover: Hahnsche Buchhandlung, 2008.
 : <link>
Löfstedt, Bengt, and B. McMenomy [appendix], “Miscellanea grammatica: 1. Fragmente des Virgilius Maro grammaticus; 2. Zum grammatiker Terrentius; 3. Zur grammatischen Schwindelliteratur; Appendix”, Rivista di cultura classica e medioevale 23 (1981): 159–164, 165–168 (appendix).
163 On the fanciful etymological expositions of Alleluia (Chaldean and Hebrew) and gloria (Chaldean) and their relationship to the genre of Schwindelliteratur as exemplified, perhaps popularised by the Epitomae and Epistolae of Virgil Maro Grammaticus. Lists three other manuscript witnesses, for example the psalter of BL, Vespasian A 1.
Coens, Maurice, “Anciennes litanies des saints”, in: Maurice Coens, Recueil d’études bollandiennes, 37, Brussels: Société des Bollandistes, 1963. 129–322.
214–215 Includes a reprint of the article below.
Jullien, Marie-Hélène, “Les sources de la tradition ancienne des quatorze Hymnes attribuées à saint Ambroise de Milan”, Revue d'Histoire des Textes 19 (1989, 1990): 57–189.  
abstract:
The article presents a chronological account of the indirect witnesses and the direct manuscript sources (8th to 10th centuries) which form the basis of the new critical edition of the fourteen Hymns attributed to Saint Ambrose of Milan (an edition to be published in 1990 by Editions du Cerf). The inquiry is extended here to the eleventh century (a total of 76 manuscripts have been consulted, of which 54 are hymnals). As several types of hymnal were in use in the West from the inception of this liturgical book until the eleventh century, the manuscripts have been grouped typologically according to the contents of their collections of hymns, and the principal characteristics of each group have been described.

The Hymns attributed to Ambrose were never grouped together as a single corpus until the 19th century. The present examination of their sources throws light both on the individual tradition of each hymn as well as the specific traits of the manuscripts in which they are dispersed. The diffusion of the Hymns of S. Ambrose was confined almost exclusively to Benedictine monasteries, where they were used during the celebration of the office or for teaching purposes. Their transmission and use are largely dependant upon that of the hymnal ; nonetheless, they also preserve the singularities of diverse rites and numerous local peculiarities.

An annex provides a list of the contents of 18 manuscripts hymnals for which no description previously existed.
100–101
Coens, Maurice, “Anciennes litanies des saints (suite) [pt 2]”, Analecta Bollandiana 55 (1937): 49–69.  
VII. Litanies de Saint-Amand en usage à Tournai; VIII. Litanies paraissant provenir de Lobbes; IX. Litanies d’Hastière-Waulsort; X. Litanies de Cambrai; XI. Litanies de Trèves; XII. Litanies d’Utrecht; XIII. Litanies de Cologne.
64–66 On the litany of the confessors which is found on f. 112.
James, Montague Rhodes, A descriptive catalogue of the Latin manuscripts in the John Rylands Library at Manchester [MSS Lat. 1-183], 2 vols, Manchester: at the University Press, 1921.
211–217
Contributors
C. A., Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
July 2020, last updated: August 2023