Diurnal of Carthusian use, in Latin, manuscript on vellum

136 leaves (2 blank), plus 4 medieval flyleaves, presumably lacks a gathering at the beginning (signature 'a'), else complete, collation: i-xvii^{8, with many catchwords and leaf signatures, 13-18 lines, written-space usually c. 130 mm. by 80 mm., written by more than one scribe in several sizes of gothic liturgical and semi-cursive hands, rubrics in red, capitals touched in red}, large and small painted initials throughout in red or blue, sometimes with contrasting penwork, some early additions, many pages rather thumbed, generally sound with wide margins preserving the prickings, contemporary binding of gently bevelled wood boards sewn on 3 tawed leather thongs, the boards covered with tawed leather (perhaps originally red), endleaves from an unfinished liturgical manuscript, stub only of a clasp strap attached by a piece of metal to the edge of the upper cover, stub only of a corresponding pin in the centre of the lower cover, medieval indexing tabs attached to edges of the pages, binding extremely worn and partly defective, rebacked, in a full green morocco fitted case, title gilt

provenance

(1) Written for an English Carthusian house, apparently in the south-east.  The temporal includes Saint Hugh (fol. 114r) and his translation (fol. 111r), with slightly later additions for Saint Bruno (fol. 115v), whose feast entered the Carthusian liturgy only in 1514.  The Litany includes Saint Hugh marked "Bis" in red, with Saint Bruno as an addition (fol. 131r).  English saints are all consistent with the diocese of London, including the translation of Saint Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey  (fol. 111v).  There were ten Carthusian houses in England, of which only two were in the south-east.  One was the London Charterhouse of the Salutation of the Virgin, founded at Smithfield in 1371, and suppressed with great suffering in 1537.  The other was the priory of Jesus of Bethlehem at Sheen, on the Thames opposite Syon, founded by Henry V in 1414 and suppressed in 1539.  These two were by far the wealthiest Carthusian houses in England; both had facilities for writing manuscripts and both possessed substantial collections of books.  The absence of any reference to Henry V, which one would expect in the Sheen liturgy, may tip the balance of probability in favour of London.

(2) There is an old number '379' on the flyleaf, and a faint pencil inscription beginning "Bibliotheca Gulielmi ...".  The book comes from a private collection, and by descent to the present owner.

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text

This is the only known English Carthusian Diurnal, a rare text which comprises the prayers for the day offices only, between Prime and None without Matins and Vespers or Compline.  We know of the existence of Diurnals in English Carthusian houses only because one was lent by the London Charterhouse to Hull, c.1500, "Item a iornall, cuius iid folium incipit, clico et nunc"; cf. A. I. Doyle, The Libraries of the Carthusians, (Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, IX, part ii), London, 2001, p. 619, no. 19.  (The second leaf here does not begin "cl[er]ico nunc", but the book does lack a gathering at the front.)  A continental Carthusian Diurnal was printed in Venice, c.1495 (GW. 8512).  We are grateful to Professor Nigel Morgan for the information that only 14 Carthusian liturgical manuscripts of any kind survive from England, almost all now in Cambridge, London and Oxford.  These are four Psalters, two Breviaries, two Customaries, a Collectar, a Calendar, and three prayerbooks.  The Carthusians were hermits, living in isolation and silence in a community.  They were active in making their own manuscripts.  Well-known Carthusian scribes in England include Stephen Dodesham (cf. A. I. Doyle in Of the Making of Books, Medieval Manuscripts, their Scribes and Readers, Essays presented to M. B. Parkes, 1997, pp. 94-115) and William Darker (cf. M. B. Parkes, English Cursive Bookhands, 1250-1500, 1979, p. 8, no. 8ii).  See also M. G. Sargent in Studies in Manuscripts and Early Printed Books in Honour of A. I. Doyle, 1995, pp. 122-41, and A. I. Doyle in A Miracle of Learning, Essays in Honour of William O'Sullivan, 1998, pp. 122-36.

The manuscript opens with the hymn for use at Prime every day, "Iam lucis orto sidere ..." (Chevalier, Repertorium Hymnologicum, no. 9272), followed by Psalms 1-2 and 6-19, the Quicumque vult (fol.19r) and the Beati immaculati (Psalm 118, fol. 22v), interspersed with weekday antiphons and followed by antiphons and hymns for holy days with 12 lections, for use between prime and none, all with extensive rubrics and variants, including days from the common of saints, the temporal from the beginning of Advent (fol. 56v), and the sanctoral from Saint Andrew (fol. 90r) to Saint Saturninus, ending on fol. 114v, "... Laus deo, Amen".  Additions include prayers to the Virgin, Saint Bruno (Lauds to Sext only), the Penitential Psalms (fol. 122r) and a Litany, and further prayers.