Siglum: 
F-AS 893
Summary: 
Fourteenth-century breviary from the monastery of St.-Vaast d'Arras (Arras, France). 191 x 133 mm. Square Roman chant notation on red four-line staves; F and C clefs. Monastic cursus. 554 folios (including the six blank leaves at the beginning and seven blank leaves at the end, but not including the sixteen leaves interpolated throughout the manuscript).
Liturgical occasions: 
Ff. 7-12: Kalendar of Arras. Ff. 13-256: Temporale. 13r, First Sunday of Advent; 37r, Christmas; 45r, Stephen; 84v, Ferial Office; 98v, Septuagesima; 108v, Ash Wednesday; 148v, Holy Thursday; 157r, Easter; 190v, Pentecost; 198r, Trinity; 202v, Histories; 207v, Antiphons "ad Benedicite"; 230r, Sundays after Pentecost. Ff. 244v-247v: Office for the Dead. Ff. 248r-251v: Invitatory Tones. Ff. 254r-256v: Corpus Christi. Ff. 260r-289v: the Psalter. Ff. 289v-292r: Canticles. Ff. 294r-295v: Melodies for Responsory Verses not sung to modal formulas. Ff. 297r-489r: Sanctorale. 297r, Andrew; 311r, Nicasius; 332r, Conversion of Paul; 343v, Vedastus (and Amandus); 353, Dedication of a Church; 367r, Benedict (three Offices); 380v, Translation of Hugo; 385v, Rictrudis; 386r, Deposition of Hugo; 387v, Translation of Aichardus; 400r, Translation of Benedict; 401v, Revelation of Vedastus; 407v, Mary Magdalene; 410, James; 417v, Laurence; 432v, Translation of Hadulfus; 434v, Aegidius; 444v, Aichardus; 458r, Translation of Vedastus; 458v, Leogardius; 470v, All Saints. Ff. 489v-517v: Common of Saints. Ff. 518-547: Added Sanctorale. 518r, Elizabeth of Hungary; 520r, Translation of Christopher; 526r, Catherine; 539r, Visitation of Mary.
Description: 

Owing to the proximity of Arras and Cambrai (formerly they both comprised one bishopric), there is much overlap in their repertories of Office chant; however, because Arras 893 is a monastic breviary (unlike Cambrai 38 and Impr. XVI C 4, which are cathedral or "secular" antiphoners) it records the Offices in an expanded format. The Visitation of Mary appears in both Cambrai Impr. XVI C 4 and Arras 893. Offices that appear in all three sources include Nicasius, Vedastus, and Catherine. The Office for Catherine is printed in full in Analecta hymnica vol. 26, pp. 212-215. The full texts for the Offices of Aichardus and James may also be found in Analecta hymnica vol. 13, pp. 25-27 and vol. 26, pp. 124-126, respectively. Benedict's Office appears in Analecta hymnica vol. 25, pp. 145-149.

Each chant not found in CAO is assigned an arbitrary number prefixed by a "arr".

Sixteen leaves have been interpolated into the manuscript: they occur between 18v and 19r, 22v and 23r, 29v and 30r, 84v and 85r, 168v and 169r, 362v and 363r (five leaves), 429v and 430r, 441v and 442r (five leaves). The writing on these added leaves is later than that of the main body of the manuscript. These leaves are not numbered. The leaves following 29v and 429v record no chants, but the other fourteen leaves do. Chants found on these leaves are given sequence numbers of 18w (for recto) and 18x (for verso), etc. within the index in order to preserve the sequence order. (The five leaves after 441v are numbered 441w, 441x, 441y, 441z, 442a, 442b, 442c and 442d.) Differentiae are assigned arbitrary numbers.

Selected bibliography: 
  • Heckenbach, Willibrord. "Das mittelalterlichen Reimofficium `Praeclarum late' zu den Festen das Heiligen Benedict." Itenera Domini: Festschrift fuer Emmanuel von Severus OSB zum 80. Geburtstag. Muenster: Aschendorff, 1988; pp. 189-210.
  • Leroquais, Victor. Les Breviaires: manuscrits des Bibliothèques publiques de France. 1: pp. 53-54. Paris; Macon: Protat Freres, 1934.
Notes on the Inventory: 
The index for F-AS 893 was prepared by Keith Glaeske, Charles Downey, and Lila Collamore at The Catholic University of America.
Complete / partial inventory: 
complete inventory
Full source / fragment: 
Full source