Usuarium and the liturgical variations

Abstract

The Usuarium database, dedicated to the study of medieval liturgical variants, can be a valuable tool for deepening the understanding of certain Medieval Latin texts. Thanks to its ability to support searches not only by text but also by liturgical day, its comprehensive list of sources (hundreds of missals), and its visualization of maps, Usuarium facilitates the study of works that contain references to the liturgy, such as the collection of sermon introductions Proprietates rerum naturalium adaptatae sermonibus de tempore (second half of the 14th century). Each of these introductions ends with the Gospel of the day and often also includes references to the introit, the collect, and the epistle of the day. The Usuarium database was used to identify these liturgical references. Furthermore, an attempt was made to assess whether the choice of certain readings could provide clues about the work’s place of origin. This task was complicated by the high degree of mobility in the Proprietates tradition, which frequently shows variations in the choice of collects. Finally, a summary is provided of the main advantages and limitations of using Usuarium.