In the Winter Term of 2017, the students of a fourth-year seminar on the History of the Medieval Book (History, HIST 4915e) devoted themselves to becoming acolytes of manuscript culture, developing their oculus palaeographicus and working hard to master the intricacies of collation, liturgical antiphons and provenience. 

Ms. 1 has revealed itself to be a compound manuscript: the first 61 folios show distinct fifteenth-century Iberian features, and the last four suggest a different origin. The manuscript demonstrates longstanding use, repaired in numerous stages over the last five hundred years, likely continuing to be used for more than a hundred and fifty years. 

Marc Saurette

Associate Professor of Mediaeval History, Carleton University