Title

Liber canticorum

Anonimous

Generic classification

Object

Date

Century

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Inventory Number in Current Collection

Object history

The origin of the library of the monastery of San Sebastián de Silos, later called Santo Domingo de Silos, can be found in the reconstruction carried out by the Castilian Count Fernán González in the middle of the 10th century. In 954 the count donated numerous lands and possessions to the monastery, as well as some books relevant to the cult (Senra, 2002). However, the peak of the monastery took place with the abbot Domingo Manso, who had been a monk of San Millán de la Cogolla. In 1041 Fernando I put him in charge of San Sebastián de Silos and under his mandate the monastic complex grew considerably. The library increased thanks to the donations received and to the productions of the scriptorium itself (Castro, 2020), reaching its maximum apogee at the end of the 11th and beginning of the 12th century (Sánchez Mariana, 1984; Boylan, 1992).

Precisely, this Liber canticorum was one of the volumes that were produced in the second half of the 11th century (Férotin, 1912; Vivancos, 2007). The Silense library suffered great losses throughout its history, such as this copy. Rodrigo Echevarría, the last abbot of the monastery before the exclaustration of 1835, was in charge of jealously preserving the manuscripts that were still treasured in Silos. According to Besse (1897), he was a man of "uncommon prudence and firmness, combined with an extensive knowledge, a great knowledge of the world and noble and distinguished manners". There is no doubt that his decision to protect the manuscripts helped to keep them from being dispersed at first. However, their fate changed when he was appointed bishop of Segovia in 1857. Echevarría had to leave the monastery, and from then on the codices fell into disrepair.

Anastasio Rodrigo y Yusto, archbishop of Burgos, was impressed when he visited the Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos. Its dilapidated state led him to appeal to the former monks of the abbey. It was at that moment that Sebastián Fernández, one of the exclaustrated monks and vicar of the church of San Martín (Madrid), intervened. Although he was responsible for protecting the manuscripts in the capital, he failed to appreciate their true value, which led him to contact a marquis in Madrid "plus ou moins authentique" who worked with Aunt Jesusa, a woman well known for selling antiquities (Besse, 1897; Ruiz and Gonzalez de Linares, 1978). Thus it was that in 1877 she sold 69 manuscripts for 16,000 pesetas, a figure that undoubtedly pleased the parish priest.

The Liber canticorum was among these codices sold in Madrid. It was acquired by Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, an antiquarian specializing in the sale of antique and rare books. Although his main store was located in Paris, at 10 Boulevard des Capucines, he had branches in London and Madrid. That is how he learned that Sebastian Fernandez was selling the Silensian manuscripts. The Liber canticorum was offered for sale in Paris on June 1, 1878 at the Hotel des Commissaires-Priseurs (Paris) and was purchased on the 15th by Bernard Quritch for the British Museum (Whitehill, 1976; Fernández de la Cuesta, 1985). In the Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum in the Years 1876-1881 it is mentioned as follows:

Offices and Masses of the Mozarabic Liturgy, from the Annunciation of the Virgin [de la O, 18 Dec.] to St. Peter in Cathedra [22 Feb.], together with the Nativity (f. 57), Circumcision (f. Ill), Epiphany (f. 125), and Ascension (f. 149). Latin. Imperfect, leaves being lost in several places. Preceded by "lectiones" or homilies for the Nativity, etc., imperfect at the beginning,1-32; and followed by "Lectiones de letanias canonioas (sic) legende per (sic) duabus u[icibus] in diebus letaniarum canonicarum" f. 170 b. Vellum; ff. 177, mutilated and decayed at the edges. In Visigothic characters, with ornamental coloured initials, Xth cent. Large Quarto.

Finally, in 1973 the Liber canticorum was added to the collection of the British Library (London), where it is still preserved today.

Description

This manuscript consists of 177 folios divided into two columns of 22-27 lines each. Although Liber canticorum was kept in the Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos, there are doubts as to whether it was copied there. Díaz (1983) considers that it has influences from La Rioja, so it is possible that it comes from a scriptorium in La Rioja. The volume has chants, readings and prayers. Some folios have been lost, and the manuscript is incomplete.

Locations

• Second half of the XI^th c. - ca. 1857

  monastery

  Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos, Santo Domingo de Silos (Spain)

• Mid XIX^th c. - 1877

  parish priest

  Sebastián Fernández, Madrid (Spain)

• ca. 1877 - ca. 1878

  dealer/antiquarian

  "Aunt Jesusa", Madrid (Spain) *

• ca. 1878

  dealer/antiquarian

  Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Paris (France) *

• ca. 1878

  dealer/antiquarian

  Bernard Quaritch, London (United Kingdom) *

• ca. 1878 - ca. 1973

  museum

  The British Museum, London (United Kingdom)

• ca. 1973 - present

  study center

  The British Library, London (United Kingdom)