The second volume of the 13th-century notated breviary of Esztergom (Breviarium notatum Strigoniense — Pars sanctoralis, BNS II) preserved in completely fragmentary form. Around 1692, Aleksandar Mikulić (1688–1694), the bishop of Zagreb, commissioned a uniform binding of the cathedral’s printed books, and the breviary in question – along with at least 21 other medieval manuscripts – was used as raw material by a local bookbinder. He cut the leaves of BNS II into pieces and glued them onto the book boards as dust covers. The majority of the surviving fragments, namely 258, are found on the boards of 15th–17th-century printed books at the Metropolitanska knjižnica Zagrebačke nadbiskupije in Zagreb. Two additional fragments are preserved in the library of the Franciscans in Zagreb, eight in the library of the Archdiocesan Seminary in Zagreb, and four among the detached fragments at the ELTE University Library in Budapest. This makes a total of 272 fragments.
Fortunately, in July 2025, another host volume of BNS II was discovered at the Franciscan library in Slavonski Brod, Croatia, bringing the number of identified fragments of the codex to 274. The host volume, under the shelfmark RIV-8°-7, is in very good condition, and the characteristic red and green splashed edge painting of the special binding type (‘Mikulić binding’) is also intact. It was catalogued at the convent library of Slavonski Brod in 1828, and according to the possessors’ notes, it was previously used by Johannes Koosz, a canon of Čazma. The first owner may have been Domonkos Turecsek, a Franciscan friar. According to the historia domus, he was studying at the convent in Baja between 1779 and 1781.
The currently visible pages of the fragments show texts from BNS II: on the front cover, readings for the feast of St. Paulinus (22 June) and the vigil of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist (23 June), while on the back panel, readings for the feast of St. Barnabas the Apostle (June 21) are seen.
Gábriel Szoliva OFM