Office of the Dead
Indiana University and the Morgan Library have both contributed additional leaves from the Office of the Dead, bringing to the total number of represented leaves from this liturgy to nine.
Indiana University’s leaf (see left) has provided an additional section of Vespers, immediately preceding the leaf held by the University of Saskatchewan.
The leaf held by the Morgan (whose image is not yet available) contains a section of the First Nocturn of Matins, which is notable for the presence of Psalm 12 (“Usquequo, Domine . . .”) and a set of related responses just before the first reading (“Parce mihi . . .”).
Ordinarily, Psalm 7 would appear in this juncture in the Office of the Dead (Gunhouse; Wieck, p. 166; see also Walters Art Museum Ms. W.179,163r; Ms. W.193,166r; Ms. W.262,100r; Ms. W.269,112v; and Ms. W.281,183r among many other northern French or Flemish examples). However, all of the Troyes manuscripts available for comparison similarly use Psalm 12 instead (Bibliothèque nationale de France Latin 924, 183v-184v; Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal Ms-651 réserve, 97v-98v; Houghton Library MS Richardson 7, 209r-210r; and University of Iowa xMMs.Bo6, 103v-104r).
Clearly, extensive further research would be required to determine whether this use of Psalm 12 is completely unique to the Use of Troyes. At the same time, however, its appearance in FOL 47 helps reinforce other indications that its Office of the Dead conforms to Troyes tradition.