Parker Library On the Web

Alternative title

The Winchester Troper

Type of resource

mixed material

Extent

ff. 2 + 199

Date created

[ca. 1025-1075]

Language

Latin, English, Old (ca. 450-1100), Greek, Modern (1453- )

Material

Vellum

Layout

16 lines to a full page

Height (mm)

145

Width (mm)

90

Collation

a(2), 1(8) | 2(10) 3(8) 4(10) 5(8) 6(10) | 7(8) 8(10) 9(8) | 10(8) | 11(10) 12(8) 13(10) 14(8) 15(10) | 16(8) 17(10) | 18(10) | 19(8) | 20(10) 21(10) 22(10) (wants 10).

Writing

in a lovely minute hand

Foliation

ff. i-ii + f1 + f2 + 1-198 + b + iii-iv

Provenance

From Winchester.

Additions

The whole volume is dealt with in W. H. Frere's The Winchester Troper, Bradshaw Society 1894. The MS. is described on p. xxvii, note 2. Facsimiles are given in plates 4-26. Also in Paléographie Musicale, pl. 179.

The flyleaves (ff. f1r-f2v) are a bit of a xvith cent. document.

Summary

This small sized book, CCCC MS 473, is commonly known as The Winchester Troper; together with Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 775 (sometimes also called by this name) it attests to the musical repertory of the Old Minster Winchester in the eleventh century. It contains some of the oldest polyphonic music in the West. As well as 'tropes', musical phrases which were added as embellishments to the standard chant for the liturgical texts, it also contains sequences and other music. It would have been used by a precentor, whose job it was to lead the music at mass and the divine office. There are many signs that it comes from the Old Minster Winchester, including texts for the feasts of the Winchester saints Swithhun, Æthelwold, Justus of Beauvais, Hædde (Hedda) and Birinus. Datings from the script have varied from circa 1000 to the second quarter of the eleventh century; the earlier dating has led people to associate this manuscript with Wulfstan of Winchester OSB (fl. late tenth century), also known as Wulfstan Cantor, who was precentor of the Old Minster Winchester at around that date, and who wrote saints' lives and hagiographical poetry. A later dating, perhaps 1020s-1030s, now seems probable, but it is still likely that at least some of the material it contains is his work. Material was added to the manuscript serially over the course of the eleventh century.

Contents

The Winchester Troper

M.R. James Date

xi. med.,

Downloadable James Catalogue Record

https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/druid:zr846gj3766/MS_473.pdf

Superseded Interim Catalogue Record

https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/druid:gn008zm6518/473.pdf

Contains

• The Winchester Troper. 1r-198v

  Note

  (1r) Quire 1 has suffered from damp. The first lines of f. 1r have no neumes and are not easily legible. 1. gen morie cadire t .neit batait.2. rie hi us segrauavo. l .iii. et pater noster.3. dobia ... anda ... salutanda dorsum abyssum. 4. mu stom prouerb. alba. alleluia.5. ligati xps.6. blank.7. (Ma)gnus (deus, etc. Frere, p. 71.)<br />(1r) Here neumes begin and the hand changes.

  Incipit

  (1r) (M)agna sunt eius omnia in celo atque in terra

  Note

  (Sequence)

  Incipit

  (2r) Sonent regi nato noua cantica

  Note

  Frere, p. 71<br />These two sequences are inserted on leaves formerly blank<br />(2v) Alleluias, initials in gold and blue

  Incipit

  (2v) Alleluia. Ymera agiasme ni epifani mon Dies sanctificatus inluxit nobis

  Note

  The last is

  Incipit

  (8v) Alleluia. Cum sederit filius hominis

  Note

  After this, according to Frere, quires are lost<br />The hand changes, on f. 9r is another sequence inserted

  Incipit

  (9r) Gaude virgo mater ecclesia

  Note

  Frere, p. 71<br />(10r) Tropes (Lesser Tropes. Frere, p. 3): large plain gold initial

  Incipit

  (10r) O benefida tuis adsis

  Note

  On f. 54v are 15 settings of Ite missa est

  Rubric

  (55r) Incipiunt Kyriele per circulum anni canende

  Note

  Frere, p. 47 (Greater Tropes)<br />(70r) Tonale. Frere, p. 62<br />(73v) Greater Tropes. Sanctus and Agnus

  Rubric

  (79v) Versus ad Kyrriele

  Note

  (80v) Alphabet written in cent. xii<br />Sequences plain (upper part of f. 81r very faint)<br />(89r) Sequences with words. List in Frere, p. 71<br />(135r) Organa to Kyrie and gloria tropes. Frere, p. 85

  Rubric

  (143r) Organa super Tractus

  Note

  Frere , p. 87

  Rubric

  (153r) Organa super sequentia

  Note

  Frere , p. 87

  Rubric

  (163r) Organa ad Alleluia

  Note

  Frere , p. 88

  Rubric

  (175v) Organa super Responsoria

  Note

  Frere , p. 93

  Rubric

  (179v) Antephana ad processionem

  Note

  Frere , p. 94

  Rubric

  (180v) Organa pulcherrima incipit

  Note

  Frere , p. 94

  Rubric

  (181r) De Sancta Trinitate

  Note

  Frere , p. 94

  Rubric

  (186r) De Sancto Iusto<br />(186v) Istoria de Sancto Suuithuno

  Note

  Frere , p. 96

  Rubric

  (189v) In natali Sancti Iohannis Baptistae

  Note

  Frere , p. 96

  Rubric

  (189v) In Festiuitate Sancti Petri

  Note

  Frere , p. 96<br />(189v) (For St Denis). Frere , p. 96<br />(190v) Organa to two Alleluias (later hand). Frere , p. 97<br />(190v) Kyrie<br />(191r) Small fine hand<br />Sequences

  Incipit

  (191r) Gaude mater ecclesia

  Note

  Frere , p. 83

  Incipit

  (191v) Alme deus cui seruiunt

  Rubric

  (192v) De Sancto Suuithuno

  Incipit

  (192v) Psallat ecclesia

  Note

  (193v) Larger hand

  Incipit

  (193v) (O) redemptor summe carmen

  Note

  Frere , p. 97<br />(194v) Good round hand

  Incipit

  (194v) Gaude maria<br />(195r) (C)ommouisti

  Note

  (195v) Rougher hand

  Incipit

  (195v) Arbor decora (part)

  Note

  Frere , p. 97

  Incipit

  (195v) Ymnum canamus (part)<br />(195v) Iam Christus astra (part)<br />(195v) Iste confessor

  Note

  Frere , p. 97<br />(196v) Small hand, without musical notes. Greek with Latin gloss

  Incipit

  (196v) Aue porta

  Note

  Frere , p. 97

  Incipit

  (196v) (K)ere ipili

  Note

  (197r) Good upright hand<br />Una legio est sex milia et sexcenti ac sexaginta sex uiri. an legio iss six þusend 7 six hundred 7 six and sixtig ( Frere , p. 98)<br />(197r) Note: I . IN . D . II . A, etc. Frere , p. 98<br />(197r) Gloria (8 times, noted)

  Incipit

  (197v) Cum sederit filius<br />(198r) O christe martirum turma

  Note

  Sequences

  Rubric

  (198v) Planctus sterilis

  Note

  Frere , p. 83

  Rubric

  (198v) Simon oboediens

  Note

  (Br) blank

TJames

202

Stanley

N. 38

Repository

UK, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, Parker Library

Location

MS 473

Use and reproduction:

Images courtesy of The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. For higher resolution images suitable for scholarly or commercial publication, either in print or in an electronic format, please contact the Parker Library directly at parker-library@corpus.cam.ac.uk

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License