A Medieval Manuscript Returns to the Market.

ORDINARIO DEL OFICIO DIVINO DE LA ORDEN DE AVIS. Manuscrito en vitela. Portugal. Fechado en 1303. 22 hojas, numeradas del I al XXII. c. 300 mm x 200 mm. E. - ANNO LEILOES DE LIVROS ANTIGOS E RAROS

On 1 October, Portuguese auction house ANNO Leilões will offer at auction a unique object rarely seen outside institutional collections: the Ordinarium for the Divine Office of the Order of Avis, a manuscript on vellum dating from 1303.

Comprising 22 remarkably well-preserved parchment folios and written in Gothic script, with initials delicately ornamented in red and blue, the manuscript set out the order that the knights and priests of the Order of Avis were to follow throughout the liturgical year. No other medieval ordinarium belonging to a Portuguese military order of comparable age is known to remain in private hands.

The significance of the document extends far beyond the liturgy. The Order of Avis became deeply entwined with Portuguese history when its Grand Master, John of Avis, was proclaimed king in 1385. The dynasty he founded would later produce figures such as Henry the Navigator. This manuscript predates that pivotal moment by more than eighty years.

Its state of preservation is exceptional. The volume has a documented provenance spanning several centuries, as well as later annotations and, on its opening page, a seventeenth-century drawing of a mounted knight. In 2020, a facsimile edition was published alongside a historical study by medievalist Saul António Gomes.

With manuscripts of this kind appearing ever more rarely on the open market, this is certainly one worth watching.

More info: https://www.annoleiloes.pt/auction/310-anno-qvarto-25-en/lot-1-ordinary-for/