Cambridge, Magdalene College Pepys Library, PL 2981, p.6, no.8 (Fragmentarium: F-q42x)

The famous diarist of 17th-century London, Samuel Pepys, began to gather and organize medieval manuscript fragments towards the end of his life, ultimately compiling ‘Calligraphical albums’ to display the evolution of handwriting over time. His associate, Humfrey Wanley, provided supplementary notes for each fragment in the collection, ordered chronologically. Perhaps it was the colours in this 12th-century example of Northern Textualis script that drew his eye at the time, or perhaps it was the alternation between sung text and notation that intrigued him. The chants notated here have a special kind of structure; they are Sequences, meaning that they repeat each melodic gesture with a pair of rhymed poetic text written for a special occasion. The first five and a half lines show a Sequence for St. Eadburh of Winchester, a 10th-century nun renowned for her singing voice and her excellent chanting skills, especially when singing Psalms. After this, the large red and green decorative rubrics announce that the next chants are to be sung in the week following Easter, referred to as the ‘Octave’. The keen observer will notice that the first Sequence is notated with a ‘b’ sign as the clef, at the far left side of every stave, while the chants following Easter have the ‘c’ line indicated. - Kate Helsen