Traditions and Sources

Tradition I (KRA1)

What seems to be the primal and original tradition of the Kraków Office is represented by only two sources. The oldest extant book for the celebration of Canonical Hours that survived in the Library of the Cathedral Chapter is a Liber Ordinarius (Kra-51) from the end of the twelfth or the beginning of the thirteenth century. Its content is distinct from the formularies of most other liturgical books from Kraków – antiphoners and breviaries – from the fourteenth century on. What is more astonishing, the tradition of Kra-51 is faithfully followed by later books from the diocese of Wrocław (Lat. Vratislavia, Ger. Breslau). Nevertheless the manuscript does not seem to have originated in that Silesian city. The main arguments for its Kraków origin are the following:

The book was certainly used in Kraków cathedral, as witnessed by the remarks added by a later hand concerning processions to the church of St. Michael on the Wawel Hill during the Octave of Pentecost.
The biggest and the most elaborate initial letter in what is otherwise a very modestly ornamented manuscript can be found in the formulary for St. Wenceslas – the first patron of Kraków Cathedral.
Some chants and customs found in Kra-51 are present in antiphoners from Kraków but are absent from the tradition of Wrocław. It therefore seems that they were introduced in Kraków after the adoption of the rite in Wrocław (see e.g. below tables and commentaries, nr. 10 etc., 510 etc.).

Moreover, traces of the “Wrocław-type” Office can be found in another source from Kraków, a fourteenth century breviary Kra-28. The rubrics in the latter prove that it was destined for the use of a priest from Kraków diocese (see e.g. p. 9: „Quidam dicunt de sabbatis capitulum et oracio de preterita dominica, quidam vero de futura, sed in ecclesia Cracoviensi de preterita dicitur”, p. 23: „Quidam cantant… hystoriam Clama incongrue, non est ordo Cracoviensis…”, p. 88: „Secundum ordinem Cracoviensem non dicitur alleluia”). Most of the formularies follow the tradition of Kra-51 and Wrocław, but many entries are characteristic of the later use of Kraków. The breviary, unfortunately incomplete, seems therefore to represent a kind of intermediary form of the Office on its way from the tradition of the Liber Ordinarius to the new formularies of the antiphoners. In this respect, however, a puzzling dependence of Kra-28 on later Wrocław sources can be ascertained in the Sanctorale, which suggests that the manuscript, at least partly, was copied rather from Silesian sources than from the early books from Kraków. It is also not easy to explain the simultaneous use of the two forms in the fourteenth century.

Be that as it may, the internal and external evidence seem generally to confirm the account of Długosz claiming that the liturgical Offices of these two sees were once identical, and that the tradition of Wrocław was shaped on the model of the one used in Kraków. The fons et origo of the early use of Kraków/Wrocław cannot be determined with precision. As in many other Eastern European liturgical traditions, the Office combines elements characteristic of different rites: while its foundations seem to be German – striking similarities with traditions of Saxony in the order of responsories can be seen – there are also solutions which are typical of French or Italian liturgies. Many similarities with other non-German-speaking Central European traditions (Hungarian, Bohemian) are also present.

Tradition II (KRA2a, KRA2b)

KRA1 constituted clearly a basis for the “new” Office, which was introduced sometime in the 13th century. The oldest source of the second type is an antiphoner de sanctis, ms. 52 from the Kraków Chapter Library. It is dated ca.1320, but it can be argued that the tradition it contains must have been already in use for quite a long time. Bishop Nanker, on being nominated to the bishopric of Wrocław in 1326 and leaving his native Kraków, applied to John XXII for permission to say Hours according to the use of Kraków. The reply from Avignon was positive and the permission granted on account of the long acquaintance of the bishop with the Kraków tradition (“Cum itaque sicut tua nobis exhibita petitio continebat, tu, qui a pueritia tua nutritus fuisti in ecclesia Cracoviensi, et horas canonicas secundum consuetudinem ipsius ecclesie didicisti, et etiam dicere consuevisti, nequeas a modo in senectute tua officium discere secundum modum, qui in tua Wratislaviensi ecclesia observatur” (Vetera Monumenta Poloniae et Lithuaniae gentiumque finitimarum historiam illustrantia, t. I, ed. A. Theiner, Roma 1860, nr 405, s. 313). So Nanker as a boy learned the “new” form, otherwise he would not have felt uncomfortable praying from the Wrocław breviary.

The sources of the new Office are not altogether uniform, which is perhaps a result of the alleged complications surrounding its formation and introduction. The “official” version (KRA2a) can be found in the antiphoners from the cathedral and printed breviaries. This form is followed, though not without some discrepancies, by some sources from the diocese (Kie-1, Damb, Kra-1256). Some manuscript breviaries (Kra-32, Kra-1255, Kra-166 and a few others not included in the edition) quite consistently deviate from the cathedral sources as far as the choice and order of chants is concerned. This second variant of the new tradition (KRA2b) can be also found in two antiphoners, one from the church of Canons Regular (Cas-1-5), and the second of unknown origin (Lov-1), which confirms that the variant was a real, if unofficial, alternative to the main tradition, and not an exotic to be attributed to scribes or users of handwritten breviaries. A striking sample of such extravagances can be found in some formularies from Kra-166. The compiler of this manuscript, perhaps some Italian priest at the court of Sigismund I, as if suffering from a horror vacui, eagerly complemented the formularies whenever the common material had been originally deployed. In many cases the chants that he used for replacements were either not known elsewhere or turn up in such unexpected sources as the books of the Ambrosian rite. At the risk of confusing the overall picture of the typical customs, this breviary was included in the tables as an interesting example of the marked individuality of some personal Office books.

The diocese of Kraków preserved its unique liturgical tradition till 1593, when a post-Tridentine Roman breviary was introduced.

The ideal forms for the two main traditions are presented below in two columns. The second, for KRA1, gives the version of Kra-51, while the variants of Kra-28 are to be found in the commentaries. There is one exception from that rule: the office for the Dedication of the Church, omitted in Kra-51, is transcribed from the breviary. In the first column tradition KRA2 is presented as found in the ‟official” sources. It appeared that the affinity of its two subtypes is of a kind that makes introducing a third column for KRA2b unnecessary. All the variants can be obviously found in the commentaries.

The following list gives an overview of the sources used in this volume:¹

FONTES

Cas 1-5 – Kraków, Archiwum kościoła Bożego Ciała, ms. 1-5, XV saec. Antiphonarium canonicorum regularium Sancti Augustini ex ecclesia et monasterio Corporis Christi Casimiriae (quae oppidum olim a Cracovia erat separata, hodie ejus pars est). Quinque voluminibus saeculo XV exaratis consistit (quibus saeculo XVI etiam sextum additum est cum officiis de patronis). Singuli libri continent (cum parte congruente sanctoralis): Cas-1 – officia de Adventu usque ad octavam Epiphaniae (temporale 20-14780); Cas-2 – officia de hebdomada post octavam Epiphaniae (cum lacuna in principio libri) ad hebdomadam quartam Quadragesimae (15350-23220), Cas-3 – officia de dominica quinta Quadragesimae ad festivitatem Corporis Christi (etiam cum lacuna); Cas-4 – officium de Corpore Christi, et aestivales historias de libris Regum et Sapientiae (40670-41440, 43510-44180); Cas-5 – officia cum historia de libro Sapientia (cum defectibus) usque ad dominicam XXV post festum Trinitatis (44000-46040). Historia Dedicationis Ecclesiae in quarto volumine invenitur. Officio defunctorum caret. Solum proprias antiphonas et responsoria propria continet, et illorum repetitionis (e.g. in horis minoribus) non indicat. Rubricas rarissimas ponit. Nec versiculi, nec responsoria brevia vel hymni, nec immo initia illorum occurrunt.

Damb – Prešov, Štátna vedecká knižnica, ms. sine sign., 1375. Breviarium notatum ex ecclesia parochiali s. Margarethae Dambni (Polonice Dębno), „compilatum” a rectore illius ecclesiae, Petro de Książ. Tota integritate gaudet, tamen officio defunctorum caret.
Kie-1 – Kielce, Biblioteka kapitulna, ms. 1, 1372. Antiphonarium pro ecclesia collegiata Assumptionis BVM in Kielce impensis Nicolai Goworek canonici Kielcensi a Falislao de Nysa conscriptum. Praeter duas lacunas in principio libri (10-2640, 10120-10380) officia omnia de tempore necnon officium dedicationis et mortuorum continet.
Kra-28 – Kraków, Archiwum i Biblioteka Krakowskiej Kapituły Katedralnej, ms. 28, XIV saec. Breviarium sine notis musicis. Psalterio caret et multas lacunas habet: 16510-20870, 20930-21220, 21320-21500, 23200-32510, 32880-33040, 33350-33440, 33850-41440, 42860-42930, 43450-43470, 43510-43870, 45240-45530, 46800-47420.
Kra-32 – Kraków, Archiwum i Biblioteka Krakowskiej Kapituły Katedralnej, ms. 32, ca 1400. Breviarium sine notis musicis. Integrum.
Kra-47 – Kraków, Archiwum i Biblioteka Krakowskiej Kapituły Katedralnej, ms. 47, ca 1423. Antiphonarium de tempore ad usum ecclesiae cathedralis impensis cardinali Sbignei Oleśnicki, episcopi Cracoviensi scriptum. Integrum sed officia dedicationis ecclesiae et mortuorum omittuntur.
Kra-51 – Kraków, Archiwum i Biblioteka Krakowskiej Kapituły Katedralnej, ms. 51, XII/XIII saec. Vetus Liber Ordinarius in ecclesia cathedrali Cracoviensi usitatus. Tota integritate gaudet. Officiis dedicationis et mortuorum tamen caret.
Kra-53 – Kraków, Archiwum i Biblioteka Krakowskiej Kapituły Katedralnej, ms. 53, ca 1471. Antiphonarium de tempore et de sanctis ad usum cathedralis ecclesiae. Partem hiemalem tantum continet, ideo cantus per annum post festum Trinitatis omittuntur. Officium dedicationis habet, caret tamen cantibus pro defunctis.
Kra-166 – Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, ms. akc. 166/54, ca. 1511. Breviarium sine notis musicis, quod in bibliotheca monasterii Eremitarum s. Augustini olim tenebatur. Integrum.
Kra-1255 – Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, ms. 1255, ca 1400. Breviarium sine notis musicis olim pro ecclesia sancti Floriani Clepardiae (nunc Cracovia). Integrum.
Kra-1256 – Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, ms. 1256, ca 1425. Breviarium sine notis musicis. Integrum.
Kra-1508 – Liber horarum canonicarum secundum veram rubricam sive notulam ecclesie Cracoviensis, per Johannem Haller impressum Cracoviae 1508.
Lov-1 – Łowicz, Biblioteka kapituły łowickiej, ms. 1, 15/16 saec. Antiphonarium valde mutilatum (lacunae: 10-11880, 12040-12170, 14920-14990, 15280-15300, 15620-16040, 16450-41440, 43450-47420). Licet in ecclesia collegiata Lovicensi archidioecesis Gnesnensis praeservatum sit, consuetudini Cracoviensi favet. Tantum antiphonas et responsoria propria praestat.