S k a r a m i s s a l e t   –   T h e   S k a r a   M i s s a l

Skara, Skara Stifts- och landsbibliothek (Sweden)


   
Skaramisselet, 1
 
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This fascinating MS known as the "Skara Missal" was compiled around 1150-1170. Only about one eighth of the more than 300 leaves of the original Skara Missal survives. This fact makes any definitive statement of its provenance difficult; not even its association with the diocese of Skara (the oldest in Sweden) can be proven as the first bibliographic record linking it to this diocese dates from the 18th century. The structure and selection of its prayers reveal connections with sources in Fulda, Winchcombe, Echternach, as well as with some Northern French MSS (Poitiers, Bec, & Chartres). The chants are written in an early square notation of an unmistakable Norman character. The decorations of the Skara Missal consist of 2 full-page illuminations depicting the Maiestas Domini and the Crucifixum, 4 large initial letters and a large number of simpler ones. The illuminations share many elements with models than come from the environs of Saint-Amand and Tournai. The style of the figures and certain idiosyncratic traits, such as the shape of the mandorla surrounding the Maiestas Domini cannot be found among the works produced by continental scriptoria, and indicates the possibility of a Scandinavian illuminator. The established contacts of the Skara region with Norway, and the fact that it is generally assumed to be highly probable that a fully equipped scriptorium did not exist in Skara itself during the middle of the 12th c., lend credence to the theory that this beautiful Missal, the oldest surviving MS of its type in Scandinavia and one of the prize possessions of the Skara Stifts- och landsbibliotek, was produced in Norway.

 
     
Skaramissalet, 3
        
25 x 33 cm, 332 + 94 pp, clothbound. Commentary in Swedish (with English summaries) by a team of scholars: Christer Pahlmblad, Ragnar Sigsjö, Arne Sträng, Gunilla Björkvall, Thomas Rydén, Ann-Marie Nilsson, Sven-Erik Pernler, Elisabet Göransson. Complete transcription of the texts, with tables and indices.
Limited edition published by the Stiftelsen för utgivande av Skaramissalet. Clothbound.
ISBN 91-859802-7-7
 

Special OMI price: $108

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