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The Brunswick Codex |
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For several years a large book was displayed in the foyer of the old public library in Brunswick, Georgia, along with the following sign: |
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This manuscript is Catholic Liturgy copied on parchment in tempera. It was completed about 1409 and was the property of an English monastery. After Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries, the volume was owned by individuals.
Francis L. Abreu, of Sea Island, bought it in New York City. His Partner, James L. Robeson, of Brunswick, gave it to the Library in 1976.
Abreu, Robeson, Inc. were the architects of the new Brunswick-Glynn County Regional Library. |
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It is a collection of tracts and alleluia verses dating probably from the late 16th century, possibly earlier. This work, which we have come to call the Brunswick Codex, was indeed thought at first to be the product of an English monastery�s scriptorium. There is some doubt about this now, due to the mysterious decoration at the foot of the page containing the tract for the Mass of the Chair of St. Peter, and to the finding of a textual note in Spanish near the end of the codex. |
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The decoration, a wave-like set of lines cast around and made part of the foot of a lower-case �q�, upon closer examination has been determined to be the Arabic word mujahed. In our times this word (the root of mujaheddin) carries some unpleasant connotations. Its real meaning is faithful servant, one who can be depended upon to complete a task. Along with the decoration, the aforementioned note would seem to suggest that the codex, if not entirely the product of a Spanish scriptorium, was at least used in Spain. |
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The note in Spanish at the end of one of the alleluia verses is somewhat amusing. The monk in charge of lettering this text obviously had some experience with an absent-minded |
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choir, for at the end of the chant he placed the word ojo in large letters. Ojo, whose literal meaning is �eye�, is a word used in Spanish to call attention to something; �Watch out!� is an appropriate translation. And just in case the singers didn�t have enough Latin to read rubrics, he included the directions in Spanish for the next section of chant immediately following his large-lettered warning. |
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Unfortunately, the most beautiful pages, the illuminations, as often happens have all been cut out. We are left with only tantalizing hints of their glory on the facing pages where the ink had rubbed off before their removal. These illuminated pages would almost certainly have helped to determine the origin of the codex. Hopefully, the decorated capitals on the less ornate pages which remain will aid in narrowing down the possibilities.
At this writing, a facsimile of the codex is being prepared for further study. Until a more thorough investigation has been made we must content ourselves with what little information we have, and an intelligent imagination.
In the days before the printing press, all written material had to be copied out by hand. This, of course, made wide distribution of any type of writing impossible due to the intensity of the labor involved, and more importantly, the cost. Europe did not have paper as we know it. Animal skin, usually that of sheep or goats, was processed into a material called �vellum� which was quite suitable for receiving ink from quills. The pages of this manuscript are of vellum. Our manuscript cannot be classed a an incunabulum, as it was most likely produced around 1580, after the introduction of the printing press.
We are lead to ask why the monastery allocated so much labor and time to the making of such a book when it could have printed 100 of them more cheaply, and more quickly, with a printing press? There are many possible answers to this question. Monastery labor is cheap; free in fact. Monks weren�t paid for their work. Their reward awaited them in heaven. They might also have considered the scriptorium�s tedious labor to be a pennance for some sin. Perhaps the monks who worked on the book sacrificed the pains of their labors for the souls in purgatory. Could it have been that the monstery�s treasury simply wasn�t ample enough to afford a printing press, or to hire out the job to a printer�s shop? |
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to the home page. |
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End of Page One. |
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