E-ZAahp Archivo Histórico Provincial de Zamora 001

Archive
E-ZAahp Archivo Histórico Provincial de Zamora
Shelfmark
001
Siglum

E-ZAahp Perg. Mus. 1

Source type
Breviary
Subcategory of source
Noted breviary
Category
monophony
Completeness
fragment
Document type
manuscript
Date
early 13th century
Contents

Chants for the last part of the feast of St Thomas Becket, Bishop of Canterbury are found on the recto. Its hymn text is currently known only in this fragment, and the antiphons in only a few sources. There is no chant content provided in the fragment for the following Translation of St James.

Type of notation
Aquitanian
Description of the notation

Aquitanian notation. Page ruling lines were used to provide single line staves to orient the notation with yellow tint added to highlight the single-line staves.

Decoration

Flourished initials with zoomorphic forms and using blue, red, green and purple tints.

Inscriptions

A faded two-line inscription may be noticed underneath the right column on the verso, written as if following approximately the ruling lines of the page. The year of the notary's book (1540) was added across the faded inscription, and, in the left margin, the name of the notary. Also on the verso, in the upper left margin, the date was written again but in a large ornate script. More inscriptions, mainly in margins, can be observed on both sides of the fragment. On the recto, lower margin, the Zamora AHP stamp with pencilled siglum PM 1 identifies the parchment fragment in the right hand corner, with AHP numbering also written in pencil on the left.

Material
Parchment
Condition of document

Damaged. The folio sustained damage while in use as a book binding. Damage includes loss of parchment and content from the top of the folio probably from trimming as well as from wear. Other damage includes water or other fluid damage, holes made during sewing, and extensive fading or obscuring from the outside of the binding (the verso side of the folio). Inscriptions also added.

Page layout

The folio measures up to approx. 510 x 370 mm. Two columns per page, approx. 380mm x 100mm. 40 lines per page. Page ruling visible in some places.

Remarks

This fragment is noteworthy for its early transmission of rare or unique chants for the feast of St Thomas of Canterbury. It is also one of the earliest witnesses of specific lessons for the Translation of St. James. The single folio fragment was preserved through its use as the outer cover in the binding of a collection of notary documents from mid-sixteenth-century Toro produced by the notary Francisco Gonzalez de Valderas (written as Balderas on the fragment verso). This and fragment E-ZAahp Perg. Mus. 3 have significant features in common: the two fragments may once have been part of the same book. The pictures were supplied on request by the Archive.

References

NELSON, Kathleen E., Medieval Liturgical Music of Zamora, Ottawa: Institute of Mediaeval Music, 1996. SUÁREZ GONZÁLEZ, Ana, Fragmentos de libros, bibliotecas de fragmentos, Zamora: Instituto de Estudios Zamoranos Florián de Ocampo, 2003. Includes colour reproduction of large initial on recto: plate 12, p. 49. CAVERO DOMÍNGUEZ, Gregoria et al., Tomás Becket y la península ibérica (1170-1230), León: Instituto de Estudios Medievales (León), 2013, pp. 163-69.  NELSON, Kathleen E., "Studying the Pergaminos Musicales of the Archivo Histórico Provincial of Zamora", in Santiago Ruiz Torres and Mª Elena Cuenca Rodríguez (Eds.), Virtus ex pulchro sono: miradas caleidoscópicas sobre las música ibérica medieval y renacentista, University of Salamanca, forthcoming.

Description author/s
Kathleen Nelson
Manuel P. Ferreira
Indexed by
Kathleen Nelson
Reviewed by
Manuel P. Ferreira