ABSTRACT
In broad outline the systems of gospel lections in the medieval rites, both secular diocesan and monastic, are similar, deriving from a common ancestor in the so-called Roman Standard Series promulgated by Charlemagne towards the end of the eighth century, probably in conjunction with the introduction of the Hadrianum.1 In course of time a number of developments led to the steady
1 Frere, The Roman Gospel-Lectionary (Studies in Early Roman Liturgy), ii, ACC 30 (1934), 89. Appearing a year after Frere’s work, and during the same year as his The Roman Epistle-Lectionary (Studies in Early Roman Liturgy, iii, ACC 32 (1935), was Klauser, Das römische Capitulare Evangeliorum (revised and reprinted, 1972: henceforth Klauser), which develops the earlier pioneering work of Ranke, Das kirchliche Pericopensystem (1847, reprinted 2010), and which lists hundreds of mainly manuscript sources for gospels and epistles (principally evangeliaries, epistolaries, capitularies and pericope lists) dating from the sixth to the eighteenth centuries, in an ambitious attempt to establish the earliest textual traditions of the Roman gospel-lectionary. While, like Frere’s work, this is complicated and sometimes difficult to use, it is nevertheless valuable both for its huge collection of sources (some of English origin) and for its systematic and detailed textual comparisons, illustrating the extremely complex development of the Western lectionary system from early times. Basing his categorization on twenty-five representative manuscripts (pages 1-172), Klauser gives four types of lectionary (A. Typus Π, B. Typus Λ (subdivided into groups Λa and Λb), C. Typus Σ, D. Typus Δ) corresponding to different periods and thus to the types discussed by Frere. Among the distinguishing features (Kennzeichen) of each type is a calendar of saints (der Festkalendar) exemplifying the evolution of the Roman calendar during the various stages of its development. Following is a description of the manuscripts constituting each group, including dates, with a note on editorial method (Editionsgrundsätze). The following numbered pericope series, beginning page 58 (INCIPIUNT CAPITULA LECTIoNUM EUANGELIoRUM DE CIRCULo ANNI, or some similar title), are compiled from a collation of these manuscripts of different dates, together with a detailed critical apparatus using assigned sigla (W [the Würzburg comes, Frere’s We (Roman Epistle-Lectionary, 25-8, 67, 103 ff.)], P, M, X, J, Q, G, Y for A. Typus Π, for example). The earliest group (A. Typus Π) represents the oldest, ‘pure Roman’ (rein römisch) gospel-lectionary of around 645, or later. The next two (B. Typus Λ, C. Typus Σ), also ‘pure Roman’, are dated around 740 and 755 respectively), while the last (D. Typus Δ) is described as ‘Roman-Frankish’ (römisch-fränkisch), not later (nach) than 750. All, therefore, antedate the Carolingian ‘Standard Series’ discussed by Frere, which is considered in this section as the ancestor of the later medieval lectionaries as they are believed to have evolved from the ninth and tenth centuries in response to provision for ferial days and the development of the sanctorale and calendar under Gelasian influence. Klauser’s lists (Verzeichnisse) of sources include over 400 Roman gospel-capitulary manuscripts, XXXVII-LXX ([Verzeichnis] IV, Evangelienperikopen), dating from the eighth to the fifteenth centuries, as well as numerous epistle-lists (pages LXXXI-XC, [Verzeichnis] VI, Epistelperikopen) from the ninth to the eighteenth centuries (see Chapter 9, The lectionaries/The Epistles, Old Testament and Apocrypha lessons/1 The Roman epistle-lectionary, note 1), illustrating the complexities of comparison between these
in ‘a multitude of variations of use’. These included a revision of the capitulary, particularly for Sundays following Epiphany and Pentecost, the emergence of an alternative set of ferial gospels expanding or replacing the older set in whole or in part, and modifications due to Gelasian influence, which resulted in the formation of a common of the saints and the creation of a sanctorale separate from the temporale.3 Both the earlier and the later stages of this highly complex development are discussed in detail by Frere.4 Initial provision for ferial days (liturgical weekdays apart from Saturdays and Sundays) was sporadic and inadequate,5 making it necessary to meet this deficiency by supplying additional lections known as the Alternative Series.6 In origin, the system of ferial days dates from the early eighth century, when stational masses during the Thursdays in Lent were first established by Pope Gregory II (715-31).7 Throughout the liturgical year, from Epiphany up until the end of Advent, this provided a new set of lections intended either to supplement or supersede the ferial gospels of the Standard Series.8
