by guest writer, Kayleigh Ferguson, MMus MSLIS, PhD Candidate at Maynooth University
In the western Middle Ages, the yearly calendar was often dictated by the liturgical calendar. This is to say that events in Christian denominations such as the birth of Christ (Christmas), the Resurrection (Lent and Easter), and significant feast days of saints in between determined what celebrations happened when. This is why, to do this day, Easter’s date changes every year.
Christmas, however, is permanently affixed to the 25th of December, and while many of us get the decorations out the minute Halloween is over, the liturgical calendar dictates when the holiday season “officially” starts; this is called Advent, celebrated as the first Sunday leading up to Christmas day. Not only does this kick off when we can light our candles and start making mulled wine, it was also the very start of the new liturgical year in the church. As such, in the Middle Ages, we will often see the first Sunday of Advent highlighting the first folios of many liturgical books, such as missals, in a particularly beautiful way.
MS RB54 is a missal (a service book for celebrating mass) compiled in 1529 that makes its home in the Russell Library at Maynooth. Despite not showing any visible musical notation, this is an inherently very musical book, wherein much of the text seen in this image would have been sung rather than spoken. This is something we also still do to this day, though more for the sake of music itself than anything else, but in the fifteenth- or sixteenth- century when RB54 would have been in use, it was much more practical than that. Without modern amplification, one voice could not be heard very well past the first few pews of the congregation, at least not in a cathedral. Singing was the original microphone, allowing the voice to carry farther and more clearly throughout the edifice. Here’s an idea of what this opening tune, or introit, would have sounded like (and you can even follow the text in the image with the words from the video!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC4Bg3HlMys
Though in Christmases present we have implemented hundreds of new carols and hymns to keep the festive spirit, some things never change. The rich magenta colour underlaying the large blue and gold ‘A’ in the folio above maintains a connection to the colours of the Advent season. Formal vestments are generally purple from the First Sunday, and Advent candles, whether in the cathedrals or at home, are typically purple or pink. This is the only significant use of magenta ink in RB54, making the old-fashioned festive flair that much more apparent.
Fos. 12r (left) and 13r (right), celebrating Christmas Day and St. Stephen’s Day respectively.
The above images take us later on in the Christmas season to the day itself and the delightful afters. On the left in folio 12r, the very ornate blue ‘P’ opens Puer natus est (‘unto us a child is born’), and folio 13r begins the feast day of St. Stephen, whose name can be found in red towards the bottom right column. Puer natus est goes a bit like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp-fWQxbtq0.
Wherever you are from and whatever you believe in, the beauty of medieval manuscripts such as these in the Russell Library are for all to share in. MS RB54 will be digitized for online access but in the meantime, enjoy the festive and centuries-old wonder of the season at Maynooth and beyond.
MU Library Treasures 