Per florida ad astra: Musical Insights into the Monastic Star Timetable (Oxford, MS Bodley 38) and the Cultural Life of Early Eleventh-Century Fleury

The eleventh-century manuscript Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Bodl. 38 is celebrated for its remarkable monastic horologium, or star timetable, which uses the stars to determine the timing of the Night Office liturgy. Recent scholarship has confirmed the long-held supposition that it was created for the abbey of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, also known as Fleury. This article considers the six items of liturgical chant and chant embellishments that were copied by the same scribe immediately prior to the star timetable, probably also for Fleury. These have never been properly identified, nor studied as a group. Their elaborate testimony reveals new insights in three areas of scholarly interest: musical and liturgical creativity in early medieval Fleury, cultural connections between Catalonia and the Loire, and the creation of the star timetable itself. Previous studies that focus on the timetable’s utility are here tempered with evidence of other forms of timekeeping, as well as the finding that Fleury’s elaborate Night Office chants aligned the worship of Saint Benedict with the discipline of watching the night sky.