Place of origin: Rhineland Benedictine Monastery, possibly Disibodenberg (Omlin), more probaby Sponheim (Choate)

Date of origin: First third of the thirteenth century

Former shelfmark: 5/39 (Gottwald)

Extent: 200 folios

Format: 20.8 x 12.6 cm

Foliation: Arabic numerals begin on fol. 2r and continue for all recto parchment leaves. There is no gap in the foliation although gatherings are clearly missing.

Collation: 2 paper leaves (first leaf glued to front cover); 18-218; 228 (missing leaf 8); three gatherings (octavos?) missing; 3 single folios glued on to thin parchment strips for support; 238-248; 256; 4 paper leaves (last leaf glued to back cover).

Page layout: Size: 19.4 x 11.3 cm. Fols 1v-72v, 172r-176r, 179r-200r have a writing block in two columns of 17 x 5 cm, spanning 48 lines. Fols 73v-171v are written in full lines and have a writing block of 14.5 x 8.5 cm spanning 35 lines of text. The Calendar (fols 176v-178r) follows its own format (two columns of 54-58 lines).

Musical notation: with German non-diastemmatic (proto-gothic) neumes entered above each line, and psalm cadences added in left margins on versos and in right margins on rectos.

Provenance of the manuscript: Omlin made a case based on the presence of materials for St Disibod for a Disibodenberg provenance (see fols 71r-v, 139r, 190v). Omlin suggests that the inserted Calendar of Saints (fols 176v-178r) might help confirm the relationship to Disibodenberg if compared to Bern, Bürgerbibliothek 226 (a martyrology from Disibodenberg), but Choate has pointed out that while Bern, Burgerbibliothek 226 makes frequent mention of St Disibod, Disibod does not appear at all in the Calendar of Saints in Engelberg 103. Engelberg 103 has been discussed as representative of a late instance of the influence of the Hirsau reform movement and representative of the liturgy that may have influenced Hildegard of Bingen (though the manuscript itself postdates her time at Disibodenberg (Jeffreys, Heinzer, Pfau and Morent, and Simon). Choate suggests the alternative provenance of Sponheim (which lies on the opposite bank of the river Nahe from Disibodenberg), arguing that the prominence given to St Martin (and Mary) in the manuscript (see for example fol. 71v and fols 150v-153r) makes Sponheim (dedicated to these saints) the more likely provenance. Choate notes that the abbot and community from Sponheim were present at the Disibodenberg when St Disibod’s tomb was opened on 1 April, 1138, and that the repertory of the manuscript thus still offers a context that can be used (with caution) for understanding Hildegard’s liturgical thought and works.