Special Collections & Archives: MS.F.4.13: Officium coronae domini, etc.

LUL MS.F.4.13: Dominican Antiphoner. In Latin. Pisa. c.1330; 15th century additions.

Physical description: On parchment. i + 66 + i leaves, 325 x 235 mm. Imperfect.

Contents: Mass and Office with music of the feast of the Crown of Thorns (ff.5r - 46v). Contemporary additions in a second hand include the Dies irae and Marian antiphons (ff.1-4v). Later (15th century/16th century) additions include prayers to St Matthew and the Blessed Virgin (ff.47r-66v).

Decoration: Illuminations associated with the school of Francesco Traini (active 1321-1365).

Historiated (f.5, the Crowning with Thorns and f.32v Christ in Glory flanked by saints holding instruments of passion and crown) and decorated initials in blue or pink on gold and colours, extended into margins. F.5 extensions from a continuous border with corner roundels of the four Evangelists' symbols. Initials of pink on decorated deep blue, with extensions into margins; 2-line and 1-line (some unfilled) blue/red or red/violet. Penwork initials in later section: f. 47, 49v, 52 and historiated intial of St Matthew, f.49; 2-line and 1-line red with blue or blue with red.

Binding: early 19th century half leather binding with decorated paper over boards. Received conservation treatment by Sharon Oldale in September 2018.

Provenance 1330-1332: written in Pisa for the church of S. Maria del Pontenovo, renamed S. Maria della Spina on the acquisition of a single thorn in 1332.

Provenance 1400-1600: later section (f.47-66v) added.

Provenance 1837-1837: inscription "Pauline J. Trevelyan Pisa Sept. 1837 from W.C.T.", i.e. Sir Walter Calverley Trevelyan.

Provenance 1895-1895: sale of property of Miss Reynell at her father's sale; C.W. Reynell 15 May 1895, lot 10 at Sotheby's.

Provenance 1895- : Henry Young purchase at Reynell sale (catalogue slip inside cover)

Provenance 1950-1950: The gift of Sir Adrian Boult (1889-1983) to the University of Liverpool, 1950, from the collection of his father, Cedric Boult (1853-1950). Accession no. G35608.

Published citations:

• 2019: Yossi Maurey, The Dominican office and mass for the crown of thorns / introduction and edition. Institute of Medieval Music v.65/29 (Ontario, 2019). Score. ISBN: 9781926664514.
• 1987: J. Blezzard, S. Ryle, and J. Alexander, 'New perspectives on the Feast of the Crown of Thorns', Journal of the Plainsong and Medieval Music Association  10 (1987), 23-45.