Liturgical code

Square notation in black ink on red tetragram, gothic writing of books, Latin language. The sample appears to contain an antiphonary of the office hours; it is a manuscript, written on parchment and consists of 123 cards. It is probably dated in the fifteenth century, although there is no certainty, as the volume appears as the result of the merger of parts of different codes. The binding is monastic, with wooden plates covered with dark skin, four nerves on the back and a double-threaded frame. On the cover, there are traces of the cantonal and central studs, while on the back plate there are signs of a clasp. Guard cards are absent. Internally we find the square notation in black ink on a red tetragram in the key of Do and Fa and seven staves for each page with the presence of custos. The writing of the Antiphonarium, with the exception of later notes and additions, is a gothic book in black ink, written, it seems, from different hands. From the analysis of the contained text, the book seems incomplete and composite: the pieces recovered from different manuscripts have been stitched together in order to create an integral one. The annotation in lapis inside the front plate, according to which the manuscript was purchased in 1520 by the monks of S. Antonio da Padova of Altamura, probably refers to another liturgical code or book owned by the Chapter.