Antiphonary
[Antiphonarium of the Abbey of Saint Bartholomew near Ferrara]
Early fifteenth century
University of Manitoba, Dysart 1

The word "antiphon" refers to versicles or sentences sung by two voices (or choirs) in response to each other; an antiphonary is a collection of such sentences. This manuscript is from the Abbey of Saint Bartholomew in Ferrara, Italy. Like Loewen 5, it was produced to sit in a church on a reading desk facing the choir. Its text is large enough for the whole choir to read together. The book has seven historiated initials illustrating events such as the baptism of Christ and the martyrdom of Saint Lawrence.