Beinecke MS 609
Italy, 1478
Breviary

This manuscript has modern foliation ff. 1-6, thereafter original foliation "1"-"385". It was badly 
mutilated after the latter foliation had been applied. In the following the missing folios are 
indicated by their folio number between brackets.

1. ff. 1r-6v (modern foliation)	Calendar, one page for each month, in red and black The 
computistical data are: length of solar and lunar month, length of night and day, verses for the 
Egyptian Days and unpropitious hours (Jan.: "Prima dies Iani timor est et septima vani. / Nona 
parit bellum, sed quinta dat hora flagellum"; Walther, Initia, 14561), Golden Number (in red 
arabic numerals), Day Letter, Roman Calendar with arabic numerals, the date of the entrance of 
the Sun in the signs of the Zodiac, Equinoxes and Solstices, Claves and Termini, computistical 
and liturgical notes and verses. Note the spelling "Madius". Among the feasts: "Anniversarium 
patrum, matrum, propinquorum et benefactorum fratrum ordinis nostri" (6 Febr.), "Translatio 
prima corporis patris nostri Augustini" (28 Febr.), Herculanus bishop of Perugia (1 March), 
Translation of Monica (9 April), Monica (4 May), Conversion of Augustine (5 May), Bernardinus 
(d. 1444, canonized 1450; 20 May), "Anniversarium fratrum defunctorum ordinis nostri" (7 July), 
Augustine (28 August), "Octava sancti Augustini" (4 Sept.), Nicholas of Tolentino, of the order of 
Augustinian Hermits (10 Sept.), "Reconditio sancti Augustini" (11 Oct.), "Dedicatio basilice 
Salvatoris" (9 Nov.), "Dedicatio basilice Petri et Pauli" (18 Nov.).

Calendar for the Augustinian Hermits; see Grotefend, Zeitrechnung, v. II, 2, pp. 1-4.

2. ff. [1]r-46r (early foliation )	Psalterium Romanum for the seven days of the week, with 
Antiphones, Hymns, etc. 	f. 46v blank

3. ff. [47]r-187r	Temporale, from the 1st Sunday of Advent to the 24th Sunday after 
Pentecost, followed (f. 177r) by the Lessons for the 1st and 2nd Nocturn from August to 
November.

4. ff. 187r-191r	Rubrice nove secundum curiam Romanam; [f. 188v:] Incipit rubrica 
Parisina super Dominicas post Pentecosten usque ad Adventum; [f. 189r:] Rubrica nova; [f. 
190v:] Rubrice iste fuerunt extracte a breviario domini cardinalis de Luna legati in Hyspania.

5. ff. 191r-195v	Additions to the Lessons from the first Sunday of Advent up to 
Innocents.

6. ff. [196]r-337v	Sanctorale, from Andrew (30 Nov.) to Catherine (25 Nov.).
Decorated pages (mostly missing now) mark the feasts of Monica (4 May, f. [232]), John the 
Baptist (24 June, f. [242]), Visitation (2 July, f. [250]), Assumption (22 August, f. [279]), 
Augustine (28 August, f. [289]), Nativity of the Virgin (8 Sept., f. 300v, preserved), Nicholas of 
Tolentino  (10 Sept., f. [305]), All Saints (1 Nov., f. [325]).

7. ff. [338]r-365v	Commune Sanctorum. 

8. ff. 365v-367v	In dedicatione ecclesie. 

9. ff. 367v-371r 	Ordo officii beate Marie Virginis.

10. ff. 371r-373v	Officium in agenda mortuorum.

11. ff. 373v-377v	Ordo ad communicandum infirmum. Forma absolutionis in mortis articulo. 
Among the few saints in the litany on f. 376r appear Silvester, Gregory, Augustine, Benedict, 
Paul of Thebes the first hermit, Nicholas of Tolentino and Monica. 

12. ff. 377v-378v	 Ordo ad benedictionem mensarum. At the end: "Finis 31 Ianuarii 1478".

13. ff. 378v-379r	Benedictio panis sancti Nicolai de Tolentino, que fit Dominica quarta 
Quadragesime, que Dominica vocatur Dominica panis et piscis.

14. f. 379r-v	Ad induendum puerum sive puellam habitu alicuius sancti pro voto sive pro 
devotione.

15. ff. 379v- 380v	Ordo ad faciendum aquam benedictam.

16. ff. 380v-[384]v		Dicta sanctorum doctorum in laudibus beatissimi patris nostri 
Augustini. Hyeronymus in libro de duodecim lectoribus sic ait de eo: Augustinus, inquit, volans 
per montium cacumina quasi aquila ... Nolite, obsecro, me laudare, sed orate ut valeam usque ad 
//.

Incomplete at the end. The authorities quoted are Jerome, Gregory the Great, Possidonius, 
Paulinus of Nola, Cassiodorus, Isidore of Seville, Hilarius of Poitiers, Prosper of Aquitaine, 
Macedonius, Remigius, Audax, Basilius, "Anicena", Pope Calixtus, Alypius, Haimo, Nebridius, 
Eusebius of Cremona, Richard of Saint-Victor, "Grandius de Viallis", Julianus, Petrus Damianus, 
Anastasius.  

17. f. 385r	Computistical notes and verses. Ad sciendum quando possunt traduci uxores et 
nuptie celebrari. At the end : "6a feria hora circiter XXIII 1478 proxima Dominica  
Quadragesime [6 Febr. 1478]. Finis".

18. f. 385v	Natales Domini, Prothomartyris atque Ioannis / Et qui pro Deo pueri meruerunt 
necari / Silvestrem sequitur sacra Circumcisio Christi ... Andreas, Thomas, Trigintaquinque 
coluntur / Primus in orbe dies toto celeberrimus anno / Et que sue plebi mandarint presulis ora. 
Finis.

Unrecorded computistical poem, 17 verses.

19. f. 385v	Antiphone in octavam sancti Augustini. 


Parchment, ff. III + 6 + 360 + III, 150 x 105 mm. In the original foliation in red ink two 
consecutive leaves are numbered "50". For the missing leaves, see Decoration.

The following collation renders the structure as it was before the manuscript was mutilated: I 6 
(mod. fol. ff. 1-6), II 10 (ff. [1]-10), III-IV 12 (ff. 11-34), V 10 (+ 2 leaves, ff. 45-46; ff. [35]-46), 
VI-XXXIII 10 (ff. [47]-[325]), XXXIV 12 (ff. 326-337), XXXV-XXXVIII 10 (ff. [338]-377), 
XXXIX 8 (ff. 378-385). Horizontal catchwords between four flourishes below the inner column. 
Signatures of the type "a1"-"a5" or "a1"-"a6" in the following series (the system is not entirely 
clear, see Table below): quires II-V, VI-XX, XXI-XXXIV, XXXV-XXXIX.

Rake ruling, the bounding lines in lead, the horizontal lines in pale brown ink. Art. 1 is ruled for 
one column of 35 lines below top line, type 11; artt. 2-18 for two columns of 33 lines above top 
line, type 41, 96 x 67 mm., intercolumnar space 6 mm.

Copied by one hand in small Southern Gothica Textualis Libraria under Humanistic influence 
(frequent use of Half-Uncial d), highly abbreviated. Running titles in red on most pages.

Heightening of the majuscules in yellow; Headings in red. 1-line plain initials alternately in red 
and blue, with guide-letters, in the text (art. 2); 2-line plain initials alternately in red and blue, 
with guide-letters, placed half way in the text-block, except in col. a of the verso pages, where 
they are placed entirely in the margin. On f. 300v (art. 6, Nativity of the Virgin) a 9-line 
historiated initial with foliage extensions: Virgin and Child. All other decorated pages have been 
cut out: ff. [1] (art. 2, opening), [14] (Monday), [20] (Tuesday), [24] (Wednesday), [29] 
(Thursday), [35] (Friday), [40]-[41] (Saturday), [47]-[48] (art. 3, opening), [60] (Christmas), [75] 
(Epiphany), [142] (Ascension), [149] (Pentecost), [155] (Corpus Christi), [160]-[161] (Octave of 
Corpus Christi), [196] (art. 6, opening), [232] (Monica), 242 (John the Baptist), [250] (Visitation), 
[279] (Assumption), [289] (Augustine), [305] (Nicholas of Tolentino), [325] (All Saints), [338] 
(art. 7, opening), [384] (art. 16). 

Binding s. XIX/XX (before  1912) by P. Verburg in the workshop of Douglas Cockerell and in 
the style of the latter's bindings: blind-tooled brown morocco over cardboard, with braided 
leather ties (defective) attached to the front cover and metal catchpins; hinges and back rubbed. 
Gilt edges.

Finished 30 Jan.-6 Febr. 1478 in an Italian workshop. Ellen G. Starr, co-founder with Jane 
Addams of Hull House, Chicago. Given by her to Albert S. Cook, Professor of English 
Language and Literature at Yale 1889-1921, Professor emeritus 1921-1927, as appears from 
Starr's letter to Prof. Cook, 23 July 1912, preserved in the documentary folder of this 
manuscript. Presented Dec. 1978 by James C. Cook, Yale 1947E, in memory of Mildred E. 
Cook, Sidney A. Cook, 1915 and Albert S. Cook, 1889 Hon.

Bibliography: Shailor, "Acquisitions", p. 97.

Albert Derolez

R 05.06.08