Lot 1

Fragments from a Sacramentary in Beneventan Minuscule, in Latin, on vellum

Estimate

3,000 - 5,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

4 fragments, each approximately 43-57mm. by 145-69mm., with remains of 4 lines from a single column (120mm. wide) in black ink in an early and accomplished Beneventan miniscule hand, capitals touched in red, rubrics in red touched with yellow and green, remains of eight large initials infilled with yellow, green, red and blue (all except one of fragments having at least one of these on recto and verso), all recovered from bindings and hence somewhat defective with folds and small holes caused by reuse as spine supports

Catalogue Note

Substantial fragments written in Beneventan Minuscule, the strange and ancient script practised uniquely in the south of Italy, centring on the monastic communities of Monte Cassino and Bari, and in Dalmatia. For E.A. Lowe "it is a script difficult to read; but for all that is one of the remarkable achievements of the Middle Ages – both as to calligraphy and ornamentation" (Handwriting. Our Medieval Legacy, 1969, p. 27). The script was developed in the middle of the eighth century from forms of Roman cursive as written by the Langobards, and is marked by its angularity and numerous ligatures between letters. Unlike many of its contemporaries it was not swept aside by the Carolingian reforms of script in the late eighth and ninth century, but flourished in the eleventh century (the period of the present fragments), reaching its mature form during the office of Abbot Desiderius of Monte Cassino (c. 1026-1087, later Pope Victor III), and continued in popular use until the thirteenth.

The present fragments are catalogued by V. Brown, 'A Second New List of Beneventan Manuscripts (II)', Mediaeval Studies 50 (1988), p. 612, then in the Luisè collection, with the note that they were recovered from the binding of a copy of Boethius, De Consolatione Philosophica, Venice, 1498.