Humbert’s Codex: Prototype, Final Product, Work in Progress, or All of the Above?

This chapter examines the first exemplar of the Dominican liturgy, Rome, Santa Sabina XIV L 1, through palaeographical analysis to understand better Humbert of Romans's liturgical revision and the manuscript's status. Long considered the "prototype" of Humbert's revised liturgy, close study of scribal hands, corrections, and marginal additions reveals a more complex picture. The chapter focuses on three areas of revision: mass chants, the sanctoral calendar, and modal transposition. Evidence suggests that scribes copied from pre-reform books whilst incorporating new material supplied separately, sometimes leading to omissions and corrections. Significantly, palaeographical anomalies indicate that liturgical revision continued during the manuscript's production, with editorial interventions occurring throughout the copying process. Santa Sabina XIV L 1 thus represents simultaneously the authorised final form of Humbert's revision, the first presentation copy of the exemplar tradition, and an ongoing site of liturgical revision.