Manuscript – Cassagne Church Workshop – Aveyron – 1811 – Cover Made Of Medieval Parchment

Manuscript of the deliberations of the church council ofSaint-Julien de Cassagnes-Bégonhès – July 1811 – Parchment bindingfrom a medieval illuminated liturgical manuscript

Rare handwritten register of the deliberations of the parish councilof the Church of Saint-Julien in Cassagnes-Bégonhès (Aveyron), opened in July1811, during the First Empire.
This folio-sized volume (24 × 35 cm) is a valuablerecord of parish life in the early 19th century.
Parish church councilswere responsible for the material administration of churches:building maintenance, revenue management, funding for construction projects,purchases of liturgical furnishings, and the organization of local religiouslife. These registers now allow us to gain a precise understanding of theday-to-day operations of a rural parish under the Concordat.
The significance of this copy also lies in itsremarkable binding. The cover is made from a genuinesheet of parchment from a large medieval liturgical manuscript.
This sheet features superb musical notationarranged in squares on a four-line red staff, used for Gregorian chant.The Gothic script and the characteristics of the notation allow us to datethis fragment to the 15th century, likely originating from a largeantiphonary or gradual intended for choral singing in a church ormonastery.
Thus, this register brings together two testimonies to the history of thebook: an administrative document from the early 19th century and anauthentic fragment of a medieval liturgical manuscript dating back several centuries.

The interior is in goodcondition, and the manuscript is legible.A particularly appealing piece for enthusiasts ofmanuscripts, antique bindings, religious history, or the heritage ofthe Aveyron region, where the historical significance of the content is complemented by the presence of anexceptional reuse of medieval parchment.