Benedictionale MR 89 of the Metropolitan Library in Zagreb

Abstract

The systematic study of the mediaeval Latin neumatic codices had its beginning at the end of the last century. Its reasons should not exclusively be sought in the attempt of restoring the Gregorian chant but also in the desire of knowing more about the cultural situation that gave rise to it in different European countries and their mutual influences. For it was becoming obvious that many of these codices have not only a historical but also a musical, artistic and literary value. The Benedictines in France were among the first to show interest in this kind of study. Following their example, scholars in other countries became increasingly interested in the research of the mediaeval neumatic codices. In Croatia, too, there is no lack of interest even though the lack of trained musical paleographers tended to limit the research to bibliographical description or the description of its liturgical contents.' But while papers on the neumatic codices of Dalmatia had already been published before the turn of the century, Zagreb and its musical-cultural monuments remained largely unnoticed. Indeed, their very existence was almost completely ignored. The great value of the Zagreb liturgical codices was first recognised by the French Benedictine Dom Germain Morin who spent some time in Zagreb after the First World War and published the results of his researches in the 6th volume of Jahrbuch fuir Liturgiewissenschaft (Miinster, 1926) under the title Manuscrits liturgiques hongrois des XIe et XIIe siecles. Prompted by Dom Morin, the work was continued by Franjo Fancev, the then Head librarian of the Zagreb University Library, who estab-