Title

Frater Martinus de Palencia, Liber orationum, Epistolarum et Evangeliorum pro dominicis et festis

Palencia, Martín de (Active in Burgos at the end of the 16th century)

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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 the productions of the scriptorium itself (Castro, 2020), reaching its peak at the end of the eleventh and beginning of the twelfth century (Sánchez Mariana, 1984; Boylan, 1992).

Precisely, the Frater Martinus de Palencia, Liber orationum, Epistolarum et Evangeliorum pro dominicis et festis was one of the volumes preserved in the monastery. 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 manof"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 Frater Martinus de Palencia, Liber orationum, Epistolarum et Evangeliorum pro dominicis et festis was among these codices sold in Madrid. A year later, it appeared in number 55 of the Catalogue de libres rares parmi lesquels on remarque la Bible Mazarine premier livre imprimé par Gutenberg et des manuscrits du XIe au XVIIIe siècle rédigé par M. Bachelin-Deflorenne cited as follows:

Liber Orationu, et epistolar., atque evangeliorum, que diebus principalibus dicuntur tà in dominicali quam in festivitatibus sanctori. Prout in sequenti pagina plenius continentur. Manuscrit du XVIe siècle. In-fol., rel. ais de bois recouv. de velours rouge, avec coins et milieux en argent repoussé d'un beau style.

Manuscript on velvet leather, ornamented at the beginning of a large painting by a Spanish artist. The text, calligraphed in the style of Jarry's manuscripts, is surrounded by gold-plated frames; it is filled with beautiful, tastefully painted special letters. The title is uniquely illustrated:

Scripsit frater Martinus de Polentia monachus S. AEmiliani Monasterio S. Dominici Silencis. De mandato admodum Reverendi Patris Fratris Alfonsi de Figueroa Prioris S. Martini de Madrid. Anno 1587.

It is not surprising that the volume ended up in the hands of Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, since he was 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 Sebastián Fernández was selling the Silensian manuscripts. The Frater Martinus de Palencia, Liber orationum, Epistolarum et Evangeliorum pro dominicis et festis was offered for sale in Paris on June 1, 1878 at the Hotel des Commissaires-Priseurs (Paris) and was bought by the bibliophile Auguste Lesouëf.

This manuscript was part of his collection until 1906, when he died. Lesouëf bequeathed the books to his sister and his nieces, Madeleine and Jeanne Smith. Later, in 1913, they donated the codex to the National Library of France, and it remained in the Smith-Lesouëf Library in Nogent-sur-Marne (Duhau, 2006) until 1980. It appears cited in the Inventaire sommaire des manuscrits anciens de la Bibliothèque Smith-Lesouëf à Nogent-sur-Marne of 1930 as follows:

Frater Martinus de Palencia, Liber orationum, Epistolarum et Evangeliorum pro dominicis et festis. Vel. (Silos, 1587). 57 ff. Rel. orig. espagnole en velours rouge avec ornements en argent repoussé.

In 1980 the Frater Martinus de Palencia, Liber orationum, Epistolarum et Evangeliorum pro dominicis et festis was transferred to the Department of Manuscripts of the National Library of France.

Description

The Frater Martinus de Palencia, Liber orationum, Epistolarum et Evangeliorum pro dominicis et festis consists of 57 folios. It has the original binding in red velvet with embossed silver ornaments. Inside there is an inscription indicating that it was made by Father Martin de Palencia by order of Alfonso de Figueroa in 1587.

Locations

• XVI^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 - ca. 1906

  private collection

  Auguste Lesouëf, Paris (France) *

• ca. 1906 - ca. 1980

  private collection

  Jeanne Smith y Madeleine Smith-Champion, Nogent-sur-Marne (France) *

• ca. 1980 - present

  library

  National Library of France, Paris (France)