9. Hypothetical Origins
Women
The figural illuminations may support the creation of this set of graduals for a female convent due to the repeated emphasis placed on female figures. The scene of Pentecost is particularly notable as the iconography would normally depict the descent of the Holy Spirit with the twelve Apostles and the Virgin Mary. In this illumination, Mary is not only given pride of place in the center of the composition directly below the descending dove, she is joined by (probably) Mary Magdalene and two addition female saints (likely martyrs due to their red haloes). The presence of these additional female figures is extremely unusual, especially considering that only five of the twelve male Apostles are depicted due to a lack of space. The depictions of the Resurrection and the Ascension also emphasize women through the central placement of the Virgin Mary. In the Ascension, the Virgin is placed distinctly in front of the other figures and is distinguished by the flaming red color of her halo (matching Christ’s red robes). Meanwhile, in the depiction of the Resurrection, the three Mary’s discovering the empty tomb is given as much spatial emphasis as Christ himself.
Melodies
While there is no explicit reference to a specific community or a definitively Dominican figure, such as St. Dominic, in the identified leaves to easily indicate the manuscript’s origin, the melodies included in the surviving fragments provide support that this gradual was commissioned by a Dominican convent. Significant congruences are present for example between Western MS 080, MS Western 97, and Düsseldorf UB D11 in the melodies, including for example Kyrie Eleison, Confetimini Domino, and Viri galilei(although MS Western 080’s associated folio sold by Christie’s skips a couple of verses). Furthermore, Harvard’s leaf MS Typ 963 explicitly references sisters in the rubric on folio 124r (sororibus is included twice).
The Holy Cross
The Dominican convent of Heilig-Kreuz or Holy Cross may also be referenced through the unusual depiction of a Crucifixion to decorate the initial marking the mass for the dedication of a church. The convent was established in 1233 and is among the oldest monastic communities surviving in its original location in Germany. A surviving lectionary in Keble college at Oxford association with this monastery shares the lavish decoration as well as many stylistic similarities with these gradual leaves offering a further point of comparison.[1] Finally, the Dominican liturgy underwent significant changes in the first half of the 13th C, followed by the creation of authoritative exemplars by Humbert of Romans (the master general of the orders) in 1254.[2] Following these changes, the liturgy underwent only incremental changes. Therefore, the dating of the lectionary to the 1270s and the gradual leaves to ca. 1290 may indicate the convent’s need for new liturgical manuscripts to reflect these changes in the Dominican liturgy.