Beschreibung:

Leaf from a Sequentiary, mentioning both France and Paris, in Latin, manuscript on parchment [France (probably Paris or vicinity), twelfth century (probably after 1146)] Single leaf, with single column of 13/14 lines of a proto-gothic bookhand, without biting curves but with a hairline-thin 'ct'-ligature, with music on a 4-line stave (with F-line indicated in margin), rubric underlined in red, three initials in floral penwork, the whole darkened and discoloured, scuffed and cockled in places, a few small holes, trimmed at edges and scrawled on in Early Modern period, overall fair condition, 196 by 136mm. Provenance: 1. The text here includes the sequences for the Feasts of SS. Maurice and associates, followed by the rubric introducing the Feast of St. Denis of Paris, and the first verse of the sequence composed by Adam of Saint-Victor ('Gande prole Graecia / Glorietur Gallia / Patre Dionysio / Exultet uberius / Felici Parisus / Illustris martyrio'). Adam of Saint-Victor died in 1146. 2. German private collection in 2004. 3. Acquired by Roger Martin from a private UK collector in 2018. Text: While Guido d'Arezzo (c. 991-after 1033) is credited as having invented the musical stave, and thus conveying pitch in a written form, the actual use of this musicological tool took time to gain a foothold in Europe, and they are hard to find in manuscripts before the 1120s and still rare in manuscripts from the 1150s. The present witness falls among the very earliest examples in French manuscripts.