An Elephant Manuscript in a Franciscan Nunnery: Fragment PL SS-Muz 6.4 of Stary Sącz
An Elephant Manuscript in a Franciscan Nunnery: Fragment PL SS-Muz 6.4 of Stary Sącz

Summary/Abstract: The article aims to reconstruct and contextualize a parchment fragment stored at the Franciscan Nunnery of the Saint Clare Order at Stary Sącz. The fragment has unusual features: the Latin text, music staff, and music notation are enormously large, contrasting features of other Stary Sącz liturgical books. The analysis reveals that the fragment is in line with other Kraków diocese manuscripts and was not originally part of the nunnery’s collection. The reconstruction of the folio indicates that the original manuscript, whether gradual or sequentiary, was unusually large, even larger than the famous Krakow Jan Olbracht Gradual. Moreover, the fragment bears witness to the production of at least one oversized liturgical book – an elephant-sized manuscript –, which took place on the territory of the Krakow diocese, probably in the late 15th century.

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