c1500 Manuscript Antiphonal for the Mass of the Dead (Missa Pro Defunctis) on Vellum

48 leaves - 20 x 14cm approx in later c1800 binding

Handwritten on vellum with red and blue lettering and decorative Lombard initials to some sections. Music on 4 lines with Gregorian chant notation and 6 staves per page.

Lovely script ?Italian in Origin. Staining and toning (sometimes significant) to some pages. Staining more marked on first and last few pages.

The Antiphonal contains the mass for the office of the dead. A prayer cycle to read in memorial of a loved one. These prayers would include the usual hours - Matins, Lauds, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline, Alongside Psalms, Canticles and Prayers.

The book is in a smaller format so would have been likely used by a Priest to lead a service, or for personal prayer, rather than a lager format Antiphonal that could be read by a whole choir.

Death was common in the Middle ages and early modern period so the text would have been well used both a home and at church to help remember a loved one and to pray for their soul on its journey after death.

Chants include: In Paradisum, Subvenite, Sancti Dei, Credo, Qui Lazarum Resuscitasti, Memento Mei Deus, Libera mei Domine, Nunc Dimmitis, Ave Gratia Plena.