Siglum: 
F-Pnm lat. 943
Summary: 
Pontifical and Benedictional produced at a southern English scriptorium, probably Christ Church, Canterbury, in the mid-to-late tenth century. Adiastematic 'Breton' notation throughout, mostly the work of a single scribe. Significative lettering: l ("levare"), h ("humiliter"), q ("equaliter"), and t ("tenere"). Text of Original layer written in English square miniscule, some additions in Anglo-Caroline. Initials in red, orange, and green. 170 folios, 32 x 20.2 cm (21.4 x 14.3 cm). Collation: 1⁴, 2-20⁸, 21⁴ , 22², 23⁸.
Description: 

The primary layer of the F-Pnm-Lat. 943, often called the "Dunstan" or "Sherborne" pontifical, is attributed to Christ Church, Canterbury during the archiepiscopate of Dunstan, between 960 and 988. By 993 the manuscript was moved to Sherborne; a list of Sherborne bishops, a letter from an Archbishop to Bishop Wulfsige III of Sherborne, and a writ by Bishop Æthelric date from the books tenure there. By the second half of the eleventh century the book was in France.

The Dunstan pontifical contains perhaps the earliest surviving examples of musical notation in an English source, including the earliest surviving version of the English coronation antiphon, Firmetur manus tua (f.67r). The manuscript also includes several antiphons for the dedication of a church whose melodies are natively Anglo-Saxon: Aedificavit moyses (f.21r), Ab oriente porte tres (f.10r), and Introibo ad altare (f.19r) are notable examples.

Selected bibliography: 

Source Catalogues

• Gneuss, Helmut and Michael Lapidge. Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: a bibliographical Handlist of manuscripts and manuscript fragments written or owned in England up to 1100. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2014) No. 879.

• Hartzell, K.D. Catalogue of Manuscripts Written or Owned in England up to 1200 Containing Music. (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2006) No. 310.

Secondary Literature

• Conn, Marie A. “The Dunstan and Brodie (Anderson) Pontificals: An Edition and Study.” PhD diss., University of Notre Dame, 1993.

• Dumville, David N. Liturgy and the Ecclesiastical History of Late Anglo-Saxon England. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1992.

• Huglo, Michel. "La Domaine de la Notation Bretonne," Acta Musicologica, 35 (1963): 54-84.

• Kozachek, Thomas. "The Repertory for Dedicating Churches in the Middle Ages: Music, Liturgy & Ritual." PhD diss., Harvard University, 1995.

• Kozachek, Thomas. "Tonal Neumes in Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Saxon Pontificals," Plainsong and Medieval Music 6 (1997): 119-41.

• Olson, Brayden. "Melodic Variance in Anglo-Saxon Pontificals." Master's thesis, Dalhousie University, 2020. https://dalspace.library.dal.ca/handle/10222/78867

• Prescott, Andrew. "The Structure of English- Pre-Conquest Benedictionals," The British Library Journal 13 (1987): 118-58.

• Rankin, Susan. "Neumatic Notations in Anglo-Saxon England," in Musicologie Médiéval: Notations et séquences: actes de la Table ronde du C.N.R.S. à l'Institut de Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes, 6-7 septembre 1982, edited by Michel Huglo, 129-44. Paris: H. Champion, 1987.

• Rankin, Susan. The Winchester Troper. Early English Church Music 50. London: Stainer & Bell, 2007.

• Rosenthal, Jane. "The Pontifical of St. Dunstan," in St. Dunstan: His Life, Times and Cult, edited by Nigel Ramsay, Margaret Sparks, and Tim Tatton-Brown, 143-63. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1992.

Notes on the Inventory: 
The index for F-Pnm lat. 943 was prepared by Brayden Olson (Dalhousie University).
Full Texts Entered by: 
Brayden Olson
Complete / partial inventory: 
complete inventory
Full source / fragment: 
Full source