8vo. 264 pp, 10 colour plates, 65 b&w plates, 6 tables, cloth in d/w, appendices, As New, The British Library & University of Toronto Press, London, 1998.

Synopsis

This study discusses how a society whose intellectual framework was founded on stasis and regression accommodated innovation. The Spanish church in the 11th century faced this problem when required to abandon the Mozarabic liturgy in favour of Roman texts. This text examines liturgical manuscripts contemporary with this change, and reveals how the new liturgy was introduced and received. The main subjects of this investigation are a group of liturgical manuscripts from the Silos corpus held in the British Library, and three missals from Spanish libraries, including the notable Missal of San Facundo. By analyzing the content, presentation and style of these manuscripts, the author of this study presents a survey of the textual and visual strategies employed in implementing liturgical change.