Complex Multi-Column Format (Part 2)

One of the most complex and confusing arrangements in Western MS 097 appears on folio 212v (see below). The block of incipits on this folio again begins in a long-line format, filling in the space following the end of communion for the feast of Holy Innocents with incipits for the feast of Saint Thomas Becket. It then switches to a two-column format, this time with multiple feasts in each column. The order of these feast begins in the top of the left column with the feast of Saint Sylvester, before switching to the right column for the feast of Saint Felix. It then switches back to the left column, immediately below the feast of Saint Sylvester, for the feast of Saint Maurus. It continues in this way, changing between columns, until the end of the block. This logic of this highly unusual layout switches repeatedly between top-bottom and left-right reading. Many medieval manuscripts use a two (or more) column layout; the scribe that produced this manuscript would undoubtedly have seen such manuscripts. However, this way of arranging text in a two-column system does not occur in two-column manuscripts; they read from the top of the left column to the bottom before proceeding to the right column. As such, users of Western MS 097 would likely have found the arrangement of this folio ambiguous or unintuitive; however, since they would have been familiar with the order of the liturgical calendar and the dates of each of the feasts, this would not have posed a practical problem.

Here, too, a planning issue is evident from the shape of the vertical lines dividing the columns. Just like on folio 206v, the scribe had drawn a vertical line dividing the top halves of the two columns in half. The incipit for communion of the feast of Saint Sylvester extended past this border, requiring the scribe to redraw the line to curve around it. Again, this correction occurred before rubrication, as the rubricator only marked the corrected version. The scribe drew two other disconnected vertical lines to divide the bottom halves of the columns from each other. No lines divide the feasts in each column from one another. 

(In the image below, the colors used to highlight each feast serve only to indicate sequence; there is no relationship between feasts highlighted in the same colors.The lines dividing the columns from one another have been traced to ensure their visibility. To view the original image without annotation, click on any of the dividing lines, scroll to the bottom of the pop-up, and open the thumbnail in a new tab.)

The layout of the parallel section of Princeton MS 245 stands in stark contrast; it is straightforward and leaves no room for ambiguity. Here, as in other blocks of incipits in the manuscript, a simple long-line format is used.