Medieval Manuscripts in the d'Alzon Library: 3. Hymns from a liturgical book (Common of Virgins)

Origin: Europe, ca. 1300 or later

Provenance: Purchased in France and donated to the d'Alzon Library by Fr. Donat Lamothe A.A. ca. 2000.

Physical description: 47 x 35 cm. Square notation on red three-line staff with C clef. Gothic textualis with round d's, suggesting a 13th through 16th century Italian style (see Brown 47). Lombards in alternating red and blue ink. Multiple erasures, including a large rectangle on the upper left corner of the recto side; some erasures corrected. Doodles on the second letter of each hymn. Water damage. A "V" tab (for virginum?) is pasted along the outer edge, probably added no earlier than 1500.

Further information: This fragment probably comes from an antiphonary or breviary, the two genres of chant manuscripts most likely to contain collections of hymns. The rubric on the bottom half of the recto side makes it clear that the following hymns are to be sung in nativitate virginum – on the feasts of the nativities of virgin martyrs such as Saints Agnes and Lucia – at vespers and lauds. Note that only the first verse of the hymn Jesu corona virginum is notated; unlike antiphons, hymns consist of multiple strophes to which the same melody is repeated.

The fragment contains Jesu corona virginum, a hymn for the Common of Virgins, in its entirety:

Jesu corona virginum is preceded by the hymn Jesu corona celsior (for the Common of Confessors) and followed by Virginis proles (also for the Common of Virgins).