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PROCESSIONAL OF NONNBERG ABBEY, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON PAPER
PROCESSIONAL OF NONNBERG ABBEY, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON PAPER [Salzburg, c.1505-15] 194 x 145mm. i + 134 leaves: 1-2 1 2 , 3-4 1 0 , 5 9 (of 10, lacking vi), 6-12 1 0 , 13 1 2 (of 10 + xi & xii), 1 blank leaf with four verticals ruled in red f.1, 6 lines of text in a round gothic book hand in black ink between music in Hufnagelschrift neumes on six four-line staves ruled in red, justification: 140 x 106mm, rubrics in Latin with a few in German, one-line painted initials in pink, red, blue, green or orange with pen-flourishing some with faces or coloured foliate infill throughout, forty-six one-line initials painted red, blue, purple, green or in gold on foliate grounds of the same colours with white tracery and pen-flourished frames, some in gold, 128 one-line initials in gold or colours on foliate grounds with gold or silver frames with pen-flourishing and foliage and ribbon extensions into the margin, SIX LARGE INITIALS in gold on painted foliate grounds highlighted in white, or in colours on gold grounds with scrolling foliate and ribbon extension into margin and pen-flourished gold or coloured frames, THREE LARGE HISTORIATED INITIALS in gold on coloured grounds with foliate extension, ONE LARGE HISTORIATED INITIAL WITH THREE-SIDED BORDER of flowers, bezants and the arms of the Pfäffinger of Salmanskirchen, Bavaria, Marckdorff and von Kuenburg families (some marginal decoration cropped, some stains and spotting, a small paper slip pasted over an error in the musical notation on f.6v). Austrian late 16th-century pigskin over pasteboards tooled in blind to a panel design of triple filets filled with rolls of heraldry and half-length figures of the Evangelists with their names inscribed beneath framing central panels of the Crucifixion with a snake (upper cover) and the prophet Samuel anointing David who kneels with his harp on the ground (I Samuel 16:1-13) (lower cover), with the date 1591 and initials 'M.V.K' stamped and gilt on upper cover, two clasps on leather thongs, three raised double spine bands and four blind-tooled compartments (corners bumped, small holes on lower cover). AN ATTRACTIVE ILLUMINATED LITURGICAL MANUSCRIPT OF THE BENEDICTINE CONVENT OF NONNBERG ABBEY, SALZBURG, CONTAINING THE ARMS AND PORTRAIT OF ITS PATRON PROVENANCE: 1. Made for, and very possibly at, the Benedictine Abbey of Nonnberg, Salzburg, the oldest women's religious house in the German-speaking world, which was founded around 714 by St Rupert of Salzburg, and whose first abbess was St Erentrude of Salzburg: with two hymns for each saint on ff.57v-58v, 114-116, and 118v-119, and inscribed 'Auß der Nun(n)bergerischen librarj' and 'Chreuzgang Buch Durch Das ganz Jahr' on ff.1v and 2 (for the manuscripts of Nonnberg's library see H. Tietze, Die illuminierten Handschriften in Salzburg , 1905, pp. 83-8). This volume contains the processional chant used by a nun of Nonnberg, probably called Margarethe Marckdorff, whose family arms ( argent , a leopard gules ; Rietstap, Armorial général illustré , 1903-26, 4, pl.CXLII) and portrait in Benedictine habit appear before her patron St Margaret on f.52. The occurrence of the Pfäffinger arms ( or , a demi-wolf naissant sable , langued gules ; Rietstap, 5, pl.XLVI), alongside those of the Marckdorff on the first page, suggest that Margarethe commissioned it (or wrote it herself?) during the abbacy of Regina Pfäffinger (1504-14, died 23 April 1516). Abbess Pfäffinger is renowned for overseeing the last phase of major building works in the abbey's complex. Her gravestone with portrait and arms is erected in the north side-aisle of the church (see M. Walz, Die Grabdenkmäler von St. Peter und Nonnberg zu Salzburg , 1867-75, I, no 133, and H. Tietze, Die Denkmale des Stiftes Nonnberg in Salzburg: mit archivalischen Beiträgen von Fr. Regintrudes von Reichlin-Meldegg , 1911, pp.XXV-XXVI, and p.41 fig.56). 2. The rebinding of the book in 1591 was most likely paid for by Margarethe von Kuenburg (died