(from Lat. breviarium: ‘abridgment’).
Liturgical book of the Western Church for the services of the Divine Office. Particularly when it includes notation, the breviary is virtually an Antiphoner augmented by the additional elements necessary for the complete recitation of the Divine Office (i.e. psalms, lessons and prayers).
2. Early development of the breviary.
3. The development of the official Roman breviary.
4. Early local printed breviaries.
MICHEL HUGLO
The term ‘breviarium’ was applied in the sense of ‘abridgment’ before the 12th century to volumes as different as the summary of laws ascribed to Alaric (Breviarium Alarici) and the 11th-century summary (Breviarium de musica) of the Epistola de harmonica institutione by Regino of Prüm (d 915). The first liturgical breviaries appeared in the early 11th century and were books grouping together all the elements necessary for the complete recitation of the Office (whether in choir or in private), but with considerably shortened lessons. In certain breviaries for use in choir the lessons remained fairly long, but in many others, particularly breviaries for travelling clergy, the lessons were reduced to a few lines and were sometimes shorter than the responsories that followed them. The breviary was the only single book from which the Divine Office could be recited complete (even if in a shortened form), and this recitation was an obligation of travelling monks according to the Rule of St Benedict (chap.50); it was more complete than the diurnal (a book containing only the day Offices).
It might appear, therefore, that the breviary was designed for the needs of travelling monks. Nevertheless, nine of the 12 surviving 11th-century breviaries in French libraries, and 33 of the 39 surviving 12th-century breviaries, originated in monasteries; according to Ehrensberger’s catalogue, the proportion is the same for the breviaries now in the Vatican. It seems likely, indeed, that the breviary (originally always noted with neumes) was designed for the sake of convenience in the recitation of the Office in choir. Many different liturgical books had previously been required: chant books (antiphoner, psalter, hymnary), books of lessons (homiliaries, lectionaries, passionaries, etc.), books of chapters (capitularies, collectaria) and books for the ordering of the services (ordinals). Now a single book contained the whole liturgical library for the Office.
In some early breviaries, as in some early missals, the liturgical books were juxtaposed rather than amalgamated; this occurred in certain Swiss breviaries (see Gy, 1963), and in some breviaries in Beneventan script, for example the Breviary of Oderise, Abbot of Monte Cassino (F-Pm 364; see M. Huglo: Les tonaires: inventaire, analyse, comparaison, Paris, 1971, pp.118–19). This arrangement must have been very inconvenient, and it disappeared during the 12th and 13th centuries, except in a few cases (e.g. the late 13th-century breviary of Apt, GB-Ob lat.lit.d.7 (33086)), in favour of the arrangement usual ever since. In this, the liturgical material, whether chanted, read or recited, is presented in the order in which it occurs in the liturgy.
Some 11th- and 12th-century manuscripts include both the breviary (with material for the Office) and the missal (with material for the Mass). These manuscripts were compiled for the sake of convenience, for use in small priories or modest parish churches. Sometimes chants from the Mass were included within the breviary proper, inserted between the Offices of Terce and Sext (see Salmon, 1967, pp.64ff).
At the papal court (i.e. the curia), the Divine Office was by the 13th century no longer sung publicly, and its private recitation had necessitated a shortening of the lessons. An abridgment or breviary known as the breviary of the curia, corresponding to the new requirements, was drawn up, apparently under the direction of Innocent III (1198–1216).
This breviary was adopted by the Franciscans after St Francis imposed it on his first followers, even for recitation in choir, in his third Rule of 1223. (Square notation – ‘nota quadrata’ – became compulsory after 1254 for Franciscan breviaries, although it is not always found in earlier Franciscan breviaries such as I-Ac 694, dating from 1224, which has central Italian neumes on staves; see illustration).
The curial breviary was revised in 1241, with the approval of Gregory IX (Cardinal Ugolino), and in 1260. In 1277 Nicholas III ordered it to be used in the Roman basilicas, although the Lateran adopted it only under Gregory XI (1370–78).
In the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, especially while the popes were at Avignon, legends and apocryphal material were introduced into the lessons of the breviary, private devotions were magnified at the expense of the traditional service, and the Proper of the Saints became more important in it than the Proper of the Time. As early as the 15th century, in consequence, the question of the reform of the breviary was raised.
Reform was envisaged either as a radical recasting of the breviary or as a restoration in the spirit of antiquity. The former alternative was favoured for some time under humanist pressure, particularly during the papacies of Nicholas V (1447–55) and Leo X (1513–21), though not under Paul II (1464–71). Paul III (1534–49) favoured the breviary drawn up on humanist lines by Cardinal Quiñonez, titular of the Roman basilica of S Croce in Gerusalemme (which gave his breviary its alternative name of the Breviary of the Holy Cross). This breviary appeared in 1535, but its use was restricted to the private recitation of the Office. It was reprinted in 1536 at Cologne, Lyons and Paris (where there were three separate editions), and was published in 40 different places before 1544 even though Paul IV suspended it for a time. Despite the sensible redistribution of the Psalter contained in it, Quiñonez’s breviary was considered too radical; it incurred the censure of the Sorbonne, and St Francis Xavier refused to read it. Nevertheless, it did not go nearly as far as Cranmer’s first Book of Common Prayer of 1549 (modelled on it in numerous respects, such as the arrangement of the lessons, and the Preface) in simplifying and shortening the medieval Offices.
The second solution, a restoration of the breviary in the spirit of antiquity, was proposed by the Theatines, but it was finally achieved only under Pius V (1566–72), to whom the Council of Trent had entrusted the revision of the breviary. His breviary (the ‘Pianum’) was imposed in 1569.
The hymnary within the breviary continued to be revised; one such revision, by Zacharia Ferreri, Bishop of Naples, was authorized for private recitation under Clement VII (1523–34). In another, under Clement VIII (1592–1605), the text of the hymnary was ‘corrected’ along classical lines by four Jesuits. But the Vatican basilica at Rome, and the religious orders, retained the old hymnary.
The Roman breviary was adapted to monastic use by a commission (including the Jesuit Robert Bellarmine) under Paul V (1605–21). This Romano-Benedictine breviary, in which the hymnary remained unrevised, was approved in 1609 and imposed in 1616.
New projects of reform came to fruition under Benedict XIV (1740–58); in France, during the preceding 50 years, a succession of neo-Gallican breviaries entirely recast on new lines had appeared. The last and best known of these, Vintimille’s Paris breviary, appeared in 1736.
The breviary was once again thoroughly reformed by Pius X (1903–14), particularly in the distribution of the recitation of the Psalter over the week. Since the Second Vatican Council, a vernacular breviary has been granted to the clergy, with very short services and no traces of the forms of choral origin that had rendered private recitation unnecessarily cumbersome. With it, the traditional links with the past were definitely severed.
Printing of the breviary began about 1490. More than 520 different editions are known to have been printed before 1500; nearly 90 of these are of the Roman breviary, and 14 are of the Sarum breviary. The latter was very frequently printed on the Continent, at Rouen, Cologne, Paris and Venice. The first English edition was published in London in 1500, but it nevertheless continued to be printed in Paris until 1556.
Printed breviaries preserve many of the special liturgical characteristics of individual churches, such as their calendars, the special order in which they present optional pieces and so on. The canons of a chapter would have chosen one of their best manuscripts for the edition of their breviary, and would have collated and corrected it before sending it to the printer. The printed breviaries are thus excellent evidence of local practice. For some churches, the printed breviary may be the sole evidence for special chants, the ordering of antiphons and responsories, and rubrics.
After the Council of Trent (1545–63) local breviaries became progressively romanized, except in France from 1670, where neo-Gallican breviaries gradually displaced the breviaries of Paris and other French churches.
At the beginning of the 11th century the breviary, like the antiphoner, was small in format but much thicker than the antiphoner owing to the greater volume of material it contained. In consequence, it was often divided into two parts (winter and summer or, less frequently, the Proper of the Time and the Proper of the Saints). The breviary was placed in the centre of the choir for the readings: some manuscripts still bear traces of wax from the candles. The psalms, antiphons and responsories were chanted from memory: memorization (‘recordatio’) took place outside the choir with the assistance of the tonary, the antiphoner or the breviary.
In the 13th century and particularly in the 14th, however, all the chants began to be sung at sight from books that became increasingly large. Many 13th- and 14th-century breviaries are in folio format rather than the earlier quarto. Examples are the noted breviary from St Martial at Limoges (F-Pn lat.785), which is very large (40·5 cm × 29·5 cm), and two Parisian noted breviaries (Pn lat.10482 and 15181–2; the latter measures 49·5 cm × 34·5 cm). In folio books the staves are wider and the square notes larger than those in smaller books: often a breviary from this period has fewer musical staves on a page than a small 12th-century noted breviary.
Books of more traditional size did not disappear at this time, however: an example of a smaller book is the Sorbonne breviary (F-Pn lat.15613), which was chained in 1328 so that it could not be removed.
Notated breviaries contain the antiphons and responsories for the whole liturgical repertory, and also notated lessons such as the excerpts from Lamentations for the end of Holy Week, the chant for the Sibylline prophecy at Christmas, and occasionally the chant for the genealogy of Christ sung at Christmas (in the version from Matthew) and Epiphany (in the version from Luke).
Another piece occasionally encountered is the Visitatio sepulchri or Easter play. A Parisian breviary from the mid-13th century (F-Pn lat.15613) contains an interesting Representatio sepulchri of this type which was performed at the end of the night Office for Easter. (For an edition of the text, see Leroquais, 1934, iii, pp.262–3; and of the melody, A. Gastoué: ‘Les origines du chant liturgique dans l’église de Paris’, Revue du chant grégorien, xi, 1902–3, pp.155–6.) Many further examples are to be found in the classic work by K. Young: The Drama of the Medieval Church (Oxford, 1933/R).
For further illustration, see Antiphoner, fig.2.
P. Batiffol: Histoire du bréviaire romain (Paris, 1893, 3/1911; Eng. trans., 1912)
S. Bäumer: Geschichte des Breviers (Freiburg, 1895; Fr. trans., 1905/R)
P. Salmon: L’office divin: histoire de la formation du bréviaire (Paris, 1959)
P. Salmon: L’office divin au Moyen-Age: histoire de la formation du bréviaire du IXe au XVIe siècle (Paris, 1967)
MGG1 (B. Stäblein)
W.H. Frere: Bibliotheca musico-liturgica (London, 1894–1932/R)
H. Ehrensberger: Libri liturgici bibliothecae apostolicae Vaticanae manu scripti (Freiburg, 1897/R)
H. Bohatta: Liturgische Bibliographie des XV. Jahrhunderts mit Ausnahme der Missale und Livres d’Heures (Vienna, 1911/R) [incl. list of early printed breviaries]
O. Gatzweiler: Die liturgischen Handschriften des Aachener Münsterstifts (Münster, 1926)
V. Leroquais: Les bréviaires manuscrits des bibliothèques publiques de France (Paris, 1934)
H. Bohatta: Bibliographie der Breviere, 1501–1850 (Vienna, 1937/R)
S.J.P. Van Dijk and J.H. Walker: The Origins of the Modern Roman Liturgy (London, 1960)
K. Gamber: Codices liturgici latini antiquiores (Freiburg, 1963, 2/1968; suppl. ed. B. Baroffio and others, 1988)
L. Eizenhofer and H. Knaus: Die liturgischen Handschriften der hessischen Landes- und Hochschulbibliothek Darmstadt, ii (Wiesbaden, 1968)
P. Salmon: Les manuscrits liturgiques latins de la Bibliothèque Vaticane, i (Rome, 1968)
F. Procter and C. Wordsworth, eds.: Breviarium ad usum insignis ecclesiae Sarum (Cambridge, 1879–86/R)
S.W. Lawley ed.: Breviarium ad usum insignis ecclesie Eboracensis [York Breviary of 1476] (Durham, 1880–83)
W.H. Frere and L.E.G. Brown, eds.: The Hereford Breviary [1505] (London, 1904–15)
S. de Vries, ed.: Bréviaire Grimani de la bibliothèque de S. Marco à Venise (Leiden, 1904–10) [facs. edn.]
T.R. Gambier-Parry, ed.: The Colbertine Breviary [Paris, 1679] (London, 1912–13)
J.B.L. Tolhurst, ed.: The Monastic Breviary of Hyde Abbey, Winchester (London, 1932–42)
Breviarium ad usum ritu[m]q[ue] sacros[an]cte nidrosien[sis] eccl[es]ie (Oslo, 1964) [facs. edn of Breviarium nidrosiense (Paris, 1519)]
A.J. Collins, ed.: The Bridgettine Breviary of Syon Abbey: from the MS. with English Rubrics F. 4. 11 at Magdalene College, Cambridge (Worcester, 1969)
C. Waddell, ed.: The Old French Paraclete Ordinary, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, Ms français 14410, and the Paraclete Breviary, Chaumont, Bibliothèque municipale, Ms 31 (Kalamazoo, MI, 1983–5)
C. Waddell, ed.: The Summer-Season Molesme Breviary: Troyes, Bibliothèque municipale, manuscrit 807 (Kalamazoo, MI, 1984–5)
J. Szendrei, ed.: Breviarium notatum strigoniense (s. XIII.) (Budapest, 1998) [facs. of CZ-Pst DE. I.7]
V. Leroquais: Le bréviaire de Philippe le Bon: bréviaire parisien du XVe siècle (Brussels, 1929)
V. Leroquais: ‘Un bréviaire manuscrit de St Victor de Marseille’, Mémoires de l’Institut historique de Provence, viii (1931), 1–34
C. Gaspar: Le bréviaire du Musée van den Bergh à Anvers (Brussels, 1932)
V. Leroquais: Le bréviaire-missel du prieuré clunisien de Lewes [GB-Cfm 369] (Paris, 1935)
R. Blum: ‘Maître Honoré und das Brevier Philipps des Schönen’, Zentralblatt für Bibliothekwesen, lxii (1948), 225–30
A. Dold: Lehrreiche Basler Brevier-Fragmente des 10. Jahrhunderts (Beuron, 1954)
G. Abate: ‘Il primitivo breviario francescano’, Miscellanea francescana, lx (1960), 47–240
P.-M. Gy: ‘Les premiers bréviaires de St Gall: deuxième quart du XIe siècle’, Liturgie: Gestalt und Vollzug (1963), 104–13
D.H. Turner: ‘The Penwortham Breviary’, British Museum Quarterly, xxviii (1964), 85–8
H. Reifenberg: Stundengebet und Breviere im Bistum Mainz seit der romanischen Epoche (Münster, 1964)
P. Salmon: ‘Un bréviaire-missel du XIe siècle’, Mélanges Eugéne Tisserant (Vatican City, 1964), 327–43
J. Lemarié: Le bréviaire de Ripoll [F-Pn lat.742] (Montserrat, 1965)
R.G. Calkins: ‘The Master of the Franciscan Breviary’, Arte lombarda, xvi (1971), 17–36
M. Meiss: The Master of the Breviary of Jean sans Peur (Oxford, 1971)
G.-H. Karnowa: Breviarium passaviense: das Passauer Brevier im Mittelalter und die Breviere der altbayerischen Kirchenprovinz (St Ottilien, 1983)
S. Holder: ‘The Noted Cluniac Breviary-Missal of Lewes: Fitzwilliam Museum Manuscript 369’, JPMMS, viii (1985), 25–32
M. Czernin: Das Breviarium Monasticum Codex 290 (183) der Bundesstaatlichen Studienbibliothek in Linz: eine quellenkritische Untersuchung des ältesten erhaltenen Breviers aus dem Benediktinerstift Kremsmünster (diss., U. of Vienna, 1992)
D. Chadd: ‘An English Noted Breviary of circa 1200’, Music in the Medieval English Liturgy, ed. S. Rankin and D. Hiley (Oxford, 1993), 205–25
M. Czernin: A Monastic Breviary of Austrian Provenance: Linz, Bundesstaatlichen Studienbibliothek 290 (183) (Ottawa, 1995) [complete inventory]
Renaissance Liturgical Imprints: a Census, homepage <www-personal.umich.edu/davidcr>