{"id":5051,"date":"2022-06-19T00:41:54","date_gmt":"2022-06-19T00:41:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/?p=5051"},"modified":"2022-08-23T00:41:51","modified_gmt":"2022-08-23T00:41:51","slug":"folio-4-with-latin-blessings-for-holy-water-and-an-exorcism-for-salt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/folio-4-with-latin-blessings-for-holy-water-and-an-exorcism-for-salt\/","title":{"rendered":"Folio 4 with Latin Blessings for Holy Water and an Exorcism for Salt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Folio 4 from an ‘Italian Missal’ in Latin<\/h2>\n
\"\"

Private Collection, Single Leaf from a Latin Missal. Folio 4r, Detail. Photography Mildred Budny. Reproduced by permission.<\/p><\/div>\n

Single Leaf on Vellum
\nCirca 222 \u00d7 158 mm
\n<written area circa 150 \u00d7 104 mm><\/h3>\n

Single columns of 18 lines,
\nstarting below the top ruled line,
\nwith rubricated elements<\/h3>\n

Blessings of Holy Water and Salt
\nand the title for an Exorcism of Salt
\n[qui inimici ru<\/em>-\/]gientis seuitiam seperas<\/em> . . .
\nExorcisimus ad catecuminum salis faciendum<\/em>. [\/]<\/h4>\n

Italy?\u00a0 Southern France?\u00a0 circa 1400\u20131450<\/h3>\n

Budny Handlist<\/em> 10<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

[Posted on 20 June 2022<\/em>]<\/p>\n

We post a report of a leaf from a Private Collection which we examined and photographed a few years ago, as part of a larger study for an Illustrated Handlist<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The leaf was recorded briefly, with a description supplied by its owner, in C. U. Faye and W. H. Bond, Supplement to the Census<\/em> of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada<\/em> (1962)<\/a>, page 284, number 5.\u00a0 There it is described as part of an “Italian Missal”.\u00a0 The owner acquired the leaf by an unknown route, perhaps by gift already framed, before the preparation of that description for the Census<\/em>.<\/p>\n

At the owner’s request several years ago, we removed the leaf first from its plain wooden frame and then from its stained and darkened backing mat, onto which parts of the original script had offset. The leaf was photographed at several stages and examined in detail.\u00a0 We show views of the leaf while still on the mat and afterward.<\/p>\n

The Leaf Before<\/h3>\n

Here are both sides of the leaf as it was mounted to the backing mat.<\/p>\n

The Front, or Forward-Facing, Side of the Leaf as Mounted for the Frame<\/h4>\n

For the frame, the leaf faces front with lines in script in black ink and red pigment.<\/p>\n

\""Folio\"<\/a>

positioned as the front-facing page for the viewer. Private Collection. Folio 4v facing front on the former mat. Photography \u00a9 Mildred Budny. Reproduced by permission.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Other Side, Partly Lifted<\/h4>\n

Turning over the leaf, we can see the pair of hinged gauze mounting tapes which attach the edge of the leaf to the mat.<\/p>\n

\"Folio<\/a>

Private Collection. Folio 4r still attached to the mat with a pair of hinged gauze tapes. Photography Mildred Budny. Reproduced by permission.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Leaf apart from the Mat<\/h3>\n

The Original Recto<\/h4>\n

The recto has a modern folio number, an upright arabic 4<\/em>, entered in dark brown ink at the top right.\u00a0 The different expanses of the upper and lower margins imply that the short upper margin was trimmed at some stage, whilst the lower and outer margins appear to retain all or most of their original extents.\u00a0 The accumulated dirt along the upper edge attests to an extended duration when the former manuscript, closed, stood upright on a shelf or in storage.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Private Collection, Single Leaf from a Latin Missal. Folio 4v with Guide. Photography Mildred Budny. Reproduced by permission.<\/p><\/div>\n

This side of the leaf shows offsets or show-through of enlarged initials at the right-hand side of the column, as well as rubricated script at points within it.\u00a0 The initials, in reverse, show the forms of a P<\/em> and a D<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Most of these elements can be accounted for by the rubrications and the enlarged initial P<\/em> on the other side of the leaf, so that they constitute show-through.\u00a0 For the other, we must recognize that its offset must derive from contact with a formerly adjacent leaf.<\/p>\n

The Original Verso<\/h4>\n
\"\"

Private Collection, Single Leaf from a Latin Missal. Folio 4r. Detail. Photography Mildred Budny. Reproduced by permission.<\/p><\/div>\n

On this page, an enlarged and decorated initial P, partly inset within two indented lines of text, comprises an enlarged Capital P<\/em> (for Presta<\/em>) rendered in blue pigment, with penline flourishes and extensions in red pigment.\u00a0 In both curved and parallel straight lines, those flourishes fit between the initial and the indented letters, fill the bow and ‘footrest’ of the P<\/em>, and extend in the margin above, beside, and below the initial.<\/p>\n

A staple of the flourishing appears to be the sets of narrowly spaced parallel lines.\u00a0 Characteristic, too, are the short, arrowhead-tipped elements which, separately, press into the cusps of parts of the flourishing below the right-hand side of the bow of the letter and in a whorl of three around the circular extension at the upper left of the letter.<\/p>\n

The Text<\/h2>\n

The set of texts on the leaf provide directions for Exorcisms and Blessings of Salt and Water.\u00a0 At an appropriate point, a sign of the cross (rendered within the outlines of a box-like frame, all in red) stands within the text to indicate its sign, or signing, as part of the ritual.<\/p>\n

Specimens of such texts in medieval sources of various dates and from various places are edited, for example, in these bibliographical resources:<\/p>\n