Swiss, Switzerland

Before paper became widely available in Europe in the 1400s, parchment, made from treated animal skins, was the most common material employed in preserving visual, textual, and musical information. These two leaves cut from bound manuscript missals show different arrangements of plainsong notation on the page. Both missals were used in the celebration of Latin Mass. In the older example, made for the cathedral of Beauvais in France, the text (a passage from the twelfth chapter of Luke) and the music (a hymn for the Common of Virgins) are visually separated by an elaborate illuminated initial. The other leaf, entirely devoted to music, contains a hymn to be sung during the dedication of a church. [see also: 43.439].