SOURCES OF PLAINCHANT AT CHRIST CHURCH

Christ Church Library holds a wide range of notated liturgical books of the Sarum and Roman rites that usefully complements its better-known collections of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century church polyphony. These liturgical books reached Christ Church entirely through acts of donation in the seventeenth century and later; no trace remains of the noted service-books that were used at pre-Reformation Christ Church.

Some books were given singly, largely by alumni of the college during the seventeenth century. At least three items - the Roman gradual of 1664 at H.3.1.1, the Roman pontifical of 1664 at OG.1.1, and the Roman missal of 1668 at H.2.2.7, all given by Thomas Knipe in 1696 - were probably selected for donation because of Henry Aldrich's known interests in liturgy and music. Two later donors contributed generously to the current holdings: William Wake (1657-1737), Archbishop of Canterbury (and canon of Christ Church, 1689-1702), whose library was bequeathed to Christ Church on his death; and Kenneth Gibbs (1856-1935), sometime Archdeacon of St. Albans, whose large collection of liturgical texts was presented to Christ Church by his widow in 1946-7.

The following list includes all service-books that contain at least some musical notation. It is divided into two parts. Part 1 lists sources of chant for the English rites; Part 2 lists sources for the Roman and other continental rites. In each case, items are listed in approximately chronological order, irrespective of their nature, manuscript or printed. Included in this list are fragments of dismembered liturgical books that are represented by at least one intact leaf; the majority of these were incorporated into later bindings as pastedowns and flyleaves. Smaller fragments in bindings are described in round-up entries for 'fragments'.

Part 1: English rites

• F.1.2.1-5 (manuscript): 10 bifolios from a Sarum noted breviary (14th century).
• Archives xx.c.1 (manuscript): 2 folios from a Sarum gradual (14th century).
• Archives xx.c.2 (manuscript): 2 folios from a Sarum antiphoner (?14th century).
• Archives MS Estates 22, ff. 2 and 9: 2 non-adjacent leaves from a Sarum noted breviary (?14th-century)
• WC.4.17 (manuscript): 2 folios from a Sarum antiphoner (?14th century).
• AB.2.5 (manuscript): 2 folios from a Sarum antiphoner (?14th century).
• Allestree G.6.1 (manuscript): folio from a Sarum antiphoner (14th century).
• MS 378(11) (manuscript): folio from a ?Sarum sequentiary (?14th century).
• MS 87 (manuscript): Sarum missal (London, early 15th century).
• MS 378(2) (manuscript): 2 folios from a Sarum gradual or noted missal (15th century).
• AC.2.8 (manuscript): 2 bifolios from a Sarum gradual (15th century).
• Hyp.K.3 (manuscript): 2 folios from a Sarum gradual (15th century).
• Hyp.I.50 (manuscript): 2 folios from a Sarum gradual (?15th century).
• Archives lvi.c.2 (manuscript): 2 folios from a Sarum antiphoner (?15th century).
• Archives lvi.c.16 (manuscript): 2 folios from a Sarum noted breviary (15th century).
• MS 378(3) (manuscript): folio from a Sarum sequentiary (15th century).
• Arch. Inf. Subt.K.1 (printed): Sarum antiphoner, pars hiemalis (1519).
• WM.8.1 (printed): Sarum processional (c. 1525).
• Arch. Inf. Subt.K.2 (printed): Sarum gradual (1527).
• WM.3.9 (printed): Sarum missal (1527).
• Gibbs 229 (printed): Sarum hymnal (1541), with a MS addition.
• f.9.12 (printed): 2 leaves from a ?Hereford processional (?1540s).
• Gibbs 214 (printed): Sarum manuale (1542/3).
• e.6.3: manuscript music added to a printed prayer-book (1549).
• WN.5.10 (printed): Marbeck, The booke of common praier noted (1550).
• WM.5.17 (printed): Sarum manuale (1554).
• Gibbs 105 (printed): Sarum processional (1555).
• WM.4.5 (printed): Sarum missal (1554).
• Allestree J.8.7 (printed): Sarum hymnal (1555).
• OB.5.1 and 2 other copies (printed): Sarum missal (1555).
• Manuscript fragments
• Printed fragments.

Part 2: Roman and other continental rites

• Mus. 1295 (manuscript): leaves from a C15th Italian gradual.
• WM.5.5 (printed): Ambrosian psalterium (1555).
• WM.2.2 (printed): Roman pontifical (1561).
• Hussey 94.13 (printed): Roman missal (1577).
• Gibbs 175 (printed): Augsburg ritual (1580).
• Gibbs 165 (printed): Roman directorium (1589).
• Gibbs 233 (printed): Roman ceremonial (1606).
• OG.2.11 (printed): ritual, Venetian nuns (1612).
• Oq.7.4 (printed): Roman missal (1614).
• WM.5.16 (printed): Roman missal (1616).
• WM.4.6 (printed): Roman ritual (1620).
• Allestree J.2.15 (printed): Roman missal (1625).
• Allestree J.8.7 (printed): Roman ritual (1625).
• Oq.7.3 (printed): Roman missal (1627).
• WM.6.3 (printed): Roman ritual (1632).
• WM.2.12 (printed): Roman ceremonial (1633).
• WM.1.1 (printed): Roman pontifical (1645).
• Allestree J.2.12 (printed): Parisian ritual (1654).
• H.3.1.1 (printed): Roman gradual (1664).
• Allestree J.1.4 and OG.1.1 (printed): Roman pontifical (1664).
• H.2.2.7 (printed): Roman missal (1668).
• WM.5.11 (printed): Roman ritual (1669).
• Okes 64 (printed): Roman ritual (1675).
• WM.2.1 (printed): Roman missal (1677).
• WM.5.15 (printed): Roman martyrology (1678).
• Oq.7.8 (printed): Roman ritual (1679).
• Arch. Inf. Subt.K.3 (printed): Roman gradual (1680).
• OG.1.7 (printed): Roman missal (1682).
• WM.2.1 (printed): Roman Masses for the dead (1684).
• OG.2.4 (printed): Roman missal (1686).
• Oq.6.14-17 (printed): Parisian breviary with musical supplements (1713).
• MS 366 (manuscript): Franciscan antiphoner (C17th/18th).
• MS 381 (manuscript): Benedictine pontifical (C17th/18th).