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Title

Liber misticus

Generic classification
Manuscripts and illuminations
Object
Manuscript
Date
ca. 1000
Century
Early 11th c.
Cultural context / style
Visigothic
Dimensions
14,9 x 8,6 in
Material
Parchment, Ink
Technique
Illumination
Iconography / Theme
Liturgia, Música
Provenance
Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos (Santo Domingo de Silos, Burgos, Spain)
Current location
The British Library (London, United Kingdom)
Inventory Number in Current Collection
Add MS 30846
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 the year 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 peak at the end of the 11th and beginning of the 12th century (Sánchez Mariana, 1984; Boylan, 1992).

Precisely, this Liber misticus was one of the volumes produced in 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 prevent 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 misticus 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 was how he learned that Sebastian Fernandez was selling the Silensian manuscripts. The Liber misticus was offered for sale in Paris on June 1, 1878 at the Hotel des Commissaires-Priseurs (Paris) and was bought 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 Easter to Pentecost. Latin. Imperfect at the beginning, and with other leaves missing. Included also are: - Canticles and Hymns, f. 57; - "Sermo de cotididie" (sic), beg. "Eogo uos et amoneo, fratres karissimi, quotiens ad egZam [ecclesiam] oonueniti {sic) fueritis nolite otiosis sermonibus," etc. f. 132; - u Incipiunt letanias apoetolicas " (sic), f. 136; - "Passio sancta Iuliana (sic) que passa fuit in ciuitate Nicomedia sub imperatore Maximiam [Maximian] ex profecto (sic) Eluseo XIII. kalendas Martias," beg." Denique temporibus Maximiani." Imperfect, f. 175. vellum; ff. 177. In Visigothic characters, with ornamental initials, xth cent. Quarto.

Finally, in 1973 the Liber misticus became part of the British Library (London), where it is still preserved today.

Description

The first folios of the manuscript are missing, being partially incomplete. It consists of 177 folios. According to Vivancos (2007) it would be a misticus composed by two mistici, that is why one of them uses one column and the other two per page. There is no consensus about its dating. Although most authors date it to the 10th century (Clark, 1920; Pinell, 1965; Gómez Muntané, 2001), the British Library and Vivancos (2007) consider it to be from the beginning of the 11th century. Although the Liber misticus was kept in the Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos, there are doubts about whether it was copied there. González Barrionuevo (1992) considers that musical notation was added in the Silos scriptorium.

Locations
* The relative location of dealers, antique shops, art galleries, and collectors leads us to the places where they were based or had one of their main headquarters. However, this does not always indicate that every artwork that passed through their hands was physically located there. In the case of antique dealers and art merchants, their business often extended across multiple territories; sometimes they would purchase items at their origin and send them directly to clients. Similarly, some collectors owned multiple residences, sometimes in different countries, where they housed their collections. It is often difficult to determine exactly where a specific piece was kept during its time in their possession. Consequently, the main location of the dealer or collector is indicated. These factors should be considered when interpreting the map. Refer to the object's history in each case.
Bibliography
Citation:

Isabel Escalera Fernández, "Liber misticus" in Nostra et Mundi. Cultural Heritage from Castile and Leon around the world, Fundación Castilla y León, 2025. https://inventario.nostraetmundi.com/en/work/402

f. 53r

Zapke (2007): 305.

Zapke (2007): 305.

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