The 11th-Century Verdun Sacramentary

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Among the many precious liturgical manuscripts kept at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France is a sacramentary of the 11th century, originally produced for use at the cathedral of Verdun. Several of the most important feasts are accompanied by an illustration, with an illuminated letter on a violet background for the beginning of the Collect. The use of a whole page for just a letter or two, in an age in which paper and parchment were quite expensive, indicates that the manuscript was a bit of a luxury item. Here are all of its illustrations, and a small selection of the decorative letters, which can be found on basically every page; the entire manuscript can be seen and downloaded for free from the BnF website (Département des manuscrits. Latin 18005.)

Folio 20v, the beginning of the Preface; the decorative ligature of V and D for the words “Vere dignum” was extremely common, and still being used when the first printed Missals were made in the later 15th century.

Folio 28r, a very complex ligature for “Concede”, the first word of the collect for the Third Mass of Christmas. (The other major feasts have a very similar letter or word after the picture.)