Leaf from antiphonary, with historiated initial D with a Cistercian monk praying God, Germany, ca. 1260.

Leaf from an antiphonary.
Recto: several antiphons including ‘Domine nonne bonum semen seminasti…’ (fifth Sunday after the Epiphany).
Later marginal inscriptions:
In black ink: 'Ad Magnum VIII Toni' and further down 'Ad Magnum in Toni'.
In pencil: 'Simile est regnum coelorum fermentum vide in Supplem[enta] [antiphonarii?] in psalterio.'

Verso: historiated 18-line initial ‘D’ showing a Cistercian monk, dressed in a white habit shaded with blue, kneeling in prayer. God’s head appears in the upper part of the initial amidst clouds. The initial’s ascender is in the shape of a bird extending into the margin. In the bottom border, quire signature ‘.viio.’
Text: ‘Domine ne in ira tua arguas me…’ (Sundays, Ferial Office).
Later inscriptions:
In light brown ink, within the historiated initial: 'Fr. Iordan' (i.e. Brother Jordan.
In ink, in the top left corner: '112'.

Text written on 10 lines.
Stave height: c.2 cm
Every second and fourth line is ruled alternately yellow and red. The remaining text, on lines ruled in light brown ink, takes up space approximately equivalent to two staff lines. Initials and rubrics in red.

Part of a group of 'illuminations' bought from Spithower in Rome on 18 December 1860 (now Museum nos 1487-1537).
Cuttings from the same manuscript in the V&A collection: Museum nos 1517, 1520.

Medieval books had no contents page or index and as such decorative initials (and sometimes miniatures) were used as a means of signalling key divisions in the text or, in this case, music. There was a hierarchy to the decoration - the important/major initials might be historiated (that is, with a figurative picture) or elaborately decorated while the lesser/minor initials might be made of coloured letters on coloured or gold grounds, often with flourishing in ink of a contrasting colour or even simply a letter slightly larger than the main body of text and picked out in a contrasting colour (e.g. red or blue).

This page comes from an Antiphoner that was presumably once owned by a Cistercian monastery, since the decorated initial shows the figure of a Cistercian monk. Medieval books had no contents page or index and so there was usually a hierarchy of initials marking important divisions in the text or music. The most important initials might be historiated with a figurative picture (istoire being the term for a story) or with decoration. Sometimes, as in this one, they might include depictions of people associated with the book such as a patron.

An Antiphoner was a choirbook which contained the sung part of the Divine Office, the daily devotions performed by clergy or the religious orders and split into the eight canonical 'hours' of the day. Antiphoners were often large so that they could be used by a whole choir.

1517