Anonymous: Regula

This rule sets out how the canonical hours are to be sung or recited according to the rule ascribed to Isidore of Seville and Ildefonsus of Toledo, that is, in the old Spanish or Mozarabic rite. The author explains that he follows the rule not as the ancients practised it but as modern usage has it: the ancients kept twelve hours in the day and others at night, at nightfall, before bed, at midnight and on rising, which the moderns have abandoned. He writes because few know how to order the hours, through negligence and because many care only for the revenues of the church. The text then gives detailed directions for Vespers and Matins, distinguishing antiphons said without Alleluia from laudes said with it.

The Mozarabic liturgy survived in a few parishes of Toledo after the Roman rite was imposed in Castile, and texts like this were written to preserve and regulate its practice. The author’s contrast between ancient and modern usage, and his complaint about clergy who care only for their revenues, suggest a late date, when the rite was maintained with difficulty. The compiler and exact date are not stated in the text as printed.