Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.2003, Page 31

Liturgy of St Knud Lavard - Introduction
17
equal in rank to the feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord, whereas the
Translation, being provided with a proper psalm antiphon for First Ve-
spers, enjoyed higher rank than the feast of St John the Baptist on the
previous day.30
Matins in K is a service of twelve lessons, showing - like the Vespers
psalmody just discussed - that we have to do with a monastic as op-
posed to a secular liturgy. It is therefore overwhelmingly likely that art.
1 in the codex was copied from the liturgical hooks of the Benedictine
monastery at Ringsted, which was the resting-place of the saint and the
natural centre of his cult. The scribe, who went on to copy the Roskilde
Chronicle, may as already suggested have been a Roskilde man; evi-
dently he had been charged with recording the Ringsted liturgy for re-
ference purposes within his diocese. The small format of K proves that it
was not meant for use in choir (though very possibly as an aid when in-
struering other singers, who would have leamed the music by rote); the
unusual combination of contents reveals that the scribe, or the patron
who commissioned him, had both liturgical and historical interests.31
Copying, as Gertz already surmised, at first hånd from the original,32 he
30 Cf. J. B. L. Tolhurst (ed.), The Monastic Breviary of Hyde Abbey, Winchester (Henry
Bradshaw Society 69-71, 76, 78, 80), London 1932-42 [MBHA], I fo. 41r-v, and com-
mentary VI 150-51. As I understand the rules given here, the Epiphany would have been
commemorated at the end of First Vespers of the Passion of St Knud Lavard with the pro-
per antiphon Ab oriente (cf. Antiphonale pro diumis horis [ADH] 331, Ad Benedictus). -
The antiphons and psalms at monastic Second Vespers of the Epiphany are the same as
those at secular Second Vespers of the Nativity, omitting however Ps. 129 De profundis of
that service; cf. Liber Usualis [LU] 412-13.
31 In Michael H. Gelting (transi.), Roskildekrøniken, Højbjerg 1979, [83], it is proposed
that the chronicle in K should be understood as ‘background reading’ to the Vita altera.
This is a little ambiguous. The chronicle, in contrast to the Vita, is hostile to Knud Lavard’s
father, Erik Ejegod, and well-disposed to Magnus, the duke’s murderer, whom it refers to
as flos Danie and - more surprisingly - constancie amator; it also tries to excuse Magnus’s
crime as the work of the Devil (SMHD I 25,9-15, 29,8-11, 27,1 —4). Its inclusion in the
codex is if anything to be seen as the juxtaposition of two contrasting views of the politi-
cal situation during the reign of King Niels. For the latter see Helge Paludan, “Flos Danie.
Personer og standpunkter i dansk politik under Kong Niels,” in: Historie. Jyske Samlinger,
Ny række 7, 1966-67,497-525.
32 Or rather originals, namely the Office books and Missal of the church at Ringsted. Cf.
VSD 177: “da Teksten er saa god, om end ikke helt fejlfri, er der snarest Anledning til at tro,
at [K] er en Afskrift paa første Haand, taget umiddelbart efter selve Originalhaandskriftet.
Jeg er ogsaa temmelig sikker paa, at det maa være skrevet i selve Ringsted eller dog et Steds
paa Sjælland [...].” Not being aware of the compilatory process involved in art. 1, Gertz al-
lows here for the theoretical possibility that it was copied outside Ringsted. I think a good
case can be made for arts. 1 and 3 having been copied in Ringsted and art. 2 in Lund.