WITH TEXT FROM THE END OF THE SANCTORAL AND BEGINNING OF THE COMMON OF SAINTS

Germany, early 13th century. 273 x 193 mm. (10 3/4 x 7 1/2"). Single column, 31 lines, text in two sizes in a gothic hand.
Rubrics in red, several one- and two-line initials in red, and two larger initials in red. A few lines with neumes, later notations in the margins (now quite faded). ◆Vellum a bit soiled and creased as expected, fading to four or five lines where the spine was placed, several notches along one edge, other imperfections due to its reuse as binding scrap, but still an excellent specimen that is almost entirely legible.

Written in a neat and attractive hand, this sizable leaf from a Missal remains mostly quite legible, with all its rubrication intact, despite having been used as part of a binding. A few lines also show musical notation from the earliest generation of neumes. They are described as "in campo aperto," which means literally "in an open field," because they and they alone occupy the space (or "field") above the text. They are also described as adiastematic because they appear in a straight line, whereas later diastematic neumes reflect changes in pitch by being placed in a higher or lower vertical position above the text. At the time the present leaf was written out, the neumes here simply served as an "aide memoire" to the singer, who had already learned the melody orally..