| | S k a r a m i s s a l e t – T h e S k a r a M i s s a l Skara, Skara Stifts- och landsbibliothek (Sweden) |
| |  click image to see a music page | |
| | This
fascinating MS known as the "Skara Missal" was compiled around
1150-1170. Only about one eighth of the more than 300 leaves of the
original Skara Missal survives. This fact makes any definitive
statement of its provenance difficult; not even its association with
the diocese of Skara (the oldest in Sweden) can be proven as the first
bibliographic record linking it to this diocese dates from the 18th
century. The structure and selection of its prayers reveal connections
with sources in Fulda, Winchcombe, Echternach, as well as with some
Northern French MSS (Poitiers, Bec, & Chartres). The chants are
written in an early square notation of an unmistakable Norman
character. The decorations of the Skara Missal consist of 2 full-page
illuminations depicting the Maiestas Domini and the Crucifixum, 4 large
initial letters and a large number of simpler ones. The illuminations
share many elements with models than come from the environs of
Saint-Amand and Tournai. The style of the figures and certain
idiosyncratic traits, such as the shape of the mandorla surrounding the
Maiestas Domini cannot be found among the works produced by continental
scriptoria, and indicates the possibility of a Scandinavian
illuminator. The established contacts of the Skara region with Norway,
and the fact that it is generally assumed to be highly probable that a
fully equipped scriptorium did not exist in Skara itself during the
middle of the 12th c., lend credence to the theory that this beautiful
Missal, the oldest surviving MS of its type in Scandinavia and one of
the prize possessions of the Skara Stifts- och landsbibliotek, was
produced in Norway. | |
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| 25 x 33 cm,
332 + 94 pp, clothbound. Commentary in Swedish (with English summaries)
by a team of scholars: Christer Pahlmblad, Ragnar Sigsjö, Arne
Sträng, Gunilla Björkvall, Thomas Rydén, Ann-Marie
Nilsson, Sven-Erik Pernler, Elisabet Göransson. Complete
transcription of the texts, with tables and indices. Limited edition published by the Stiftelsen för utgivande av Skaramissalet. Clothbound. ISBN 91-859802-7-7 Special OMI price: $108 OMI - Old Manuscripts & Incunabula PO Box 6019 FDR Station, New York NY 10150 tel/fax 212/ 758-1946 http://www.omifacsimiles.com • immels@earthlink.net |
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