The ''Missal of Silos'' is the oldest known document on

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

(as opposed to

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared Tanning (leather), untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves and goats. It has been used as a writing medium in West Asia and Europe for more than two millennia. By AD 400 ...

) created in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

; it dates to before 1080 AD. The

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

was written on

quarto Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

; it comprises 157

folio The term "folio" () has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging Paper size, sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for ...

s, of which folios 1 to 37 are on paper and the rest are on parchment. Strictly speaking, it is not a missal: It has been described as a

breviary A breviary () is a liturgical book used in Christianity for praying the canonical hours, usually recited at seven fixed prayer times. Historically, different breviaries were used in the various parts of Christendom, such as Aberdeen Breviar ...

-missal. It can also be described as a '' Liber Mysticus'' or '' Breviarum gothicum''. The missal is "''Codex 6''" held in the library of the Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos near Burgos, Spain. While the codex is named after its long-term home in Silos, it was not made at the Silos monastery's scriptorium; it was made at the monastery of Santa María la Real of Nájera. The paper for the missal is believed to have been manufactured in Muslim-ruled territory (

Al-Andalus Al-Andalus () was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The name refers to the different Muslim states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most o ...

), even though Nájera was in Christian territory at the time the document was created. The manuscript relates to the Mozarabic rite. This was suppressed in 1080 by

Pope Gregory VII Pope Gregory VII (; 1015 – 25 May 1085), born Hildebrand of Sovana (), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 April 1073 to his death in 1085. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. One of the great ...

(something which helps date the manuscript). However, the monastic library continued to hold a collection of liturgical manuscripts of the rite until the 19th century when some were sold.

Access

The library is accessible to researchers. In 2013, the manuscript was inspected by

Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian Medieval studies, medievalist, philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular ...

, who had referred to Silos in his 1980 novel '' The Name of the Rose''. Eco's visit was widely reported in the Spanish press.

References

External links

* * {{Paper, state=collapsed Missals 11th-century manuscripts Mozarabic art and architecture Paper Province of Burgos Manuscripts in Latin Spanish literature Culture of La Rioja Culture of Castile and León