Breviaries are used in the Divine Office. They are comprehensive books containing all necessary instructions and texts for a full run of daily prayers. Most breviaries consist of different sections: the calendar, the psalter, the temporale (texts for weekdays, sundays and feasts throughout the year), the sanctorale (texts for the feasts of the saints), and the common of saints (templates for the feasts of minor saints).
Breviaries can be thought of as a compendium of office lectionary, psalter, antiphoner, collectar, and hymnal. The prayers and reading texts appear in the order of their performance.
Origin:
France, 13th century
This breviary consists of 14 surviving fragments taken from 9 different account books of Tønsberg. The reconstructed book contains chants and one reading text for several occasions: St Stephen, Epiphany, the feria 4 and 5 after the first Sunday after Epiphany, Dominica Quinquagesimae/Septuagesimae, Easter, Peter and Paul, and St Peter in chains. These occasions are spread throughout the year, indicating that all or most of the book was used as binding material in Tønsberg.
The reconstructed breviary is about 250 cm tall and 200 cm wide, with a one-column layout. The script is small, round and well-executed, with initials and capitals in blue and red. The music is noted with square neumes on staves, one clear sign that the book was made in the 13th century.
