Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.2003, Blaðsíða 30

16
Michael Chesnutt
feast (§ 3:4) is textually linked to the Gospel of the day and would be
thematically unsuitable for the Translation.29
The compilation of K from more than one book also resolves a puzzle
at the very beginning of the codex. Here the notated antiphon incipit
Tecum principium (Ps. 109:3a) has been inserted by the scribe at the top
left-hand corner of f. Ir. Its position is adjacent to the title rubric Jn pas-
sione sancti Kanuti Ad vesperas, immediately above the large decorated
initial of the word Beatus with which the chapter of First Vespers begins
(cf. edition lines 4-7 and notes). The inserted text and melody imply that
the first psalm of the Passion vigil was Ps. 109 Dixit Dominus Domino
meo sung to Gregorian Tone I. K indicates unambiguously that Ps. 109
began not only First Vespers of the Translation but also Second Vespers
of both feasts (cf. §§ 9:1, 8:1:1, and 16:1:1 respectively in the edition);
on the other hånd, the standard antiphon Tecum principium is not what
one would immediately expect at First Vespers of the Passion, for at
First Vespers of the Translation the psalms are provided with a proper
antiphon, Ave martyr gloriose (§ 9:1). The explanation is to be sought in
the rules for so-called concurrence of feasts in the liturgical calendar.
The Passion of St Knud Lavard fails on the day immediately after the
Epiphany, and in such a case it was not uncommon for Second Vespers
of the First feast to be combined with First Vespers of the subsequent
feast - the psalms being taken from the liturgy of the former and the rest
of Vespers from the latter. In the present instance we see that the scribe,
having found no proper psalm antiphon for First Vespers of the Passion
in the ordinal, moved on to the lectionary and began his work with the
text of the chapter. Later he realised that this form of presentation might
be misunderstood, and added the antiphon incipit as a (not altogether
unambiguous) reminder that the psalms of First Vespers with their an-
tiphons were to be those proper to monastic Second Vespers of the
Epiphany, viz. Pss. 109 Dixit Dominus (antiphon Tecum principium),
110 Confitebor ... in consilio (antiphon Redemptionem misit Dominus),
111 Beatus vir qui timet (antiphon Exortum est in tenebris), and 131
Memento Domine David (antiphon De fructu ventris tui). This indicates
that the Passion of St Knud Lavard was treated as almost, but not quite,
29 Compare the antiphon 577-78: granum grana centum moriendo prolulit with 535: mul-
tum fructum affert (Jo. 12:25) and 513-14. fructuque nostro multiplicato in centuplum
(concluding Matins homily of the Passion).