The fragment preserved parts of the Matins of the Mary Magdalene office, a very rare cycle all over Europe, unknown in medieval Hungarian sources. The chants are documented in the international chant databases (CANTUS, Cantus Index) only from South-German sources (Augsburg, Klosterneuburg, Regensburg, Salzburg), withouth a stable liturgical position. Among the sources in Hesbert’s Corpus Antiphonalium Officii, only the 13th century Rheinau antiphoner (R) contains it. The introduction of the Analecta Hymnica, Vol. XLV cites the Fundans Sion in sapphiris versified antiphon – which also appears in the fragment – from an 11th century Seckau breviary. Based on all this, the provenance of the fragment should be looked for in the South-German region. This is confirmed by the mainly faint, but in some places legible Messine-German Gothic notation with a cursive manner of writing. In the notation, both puncta and virgae (occasionally with a small curved heel) may occur as syllabic base neume.
Gabriella Gilányi
Zsuzsa Czagány