Book of Hours: MS 54

Titles

Book of Hours

Maker(s)

Binder: Winter, Annie

Entities

• Book of hours
• Use of Sarum

Categories

• Illuminated manuscript
• Manuscript

Description

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Parchment, ii parchment flyleaves + 175 fols. + ii parchment flyleaves, 170 x 116 (100 x 67) mm, 20 long lines, ruled in dark pink ink. Two leaves excised and heavily trimmed: MS 1261-1985 163 x 109 mm;
MS 1262-1985 161 x 96 mm

BINDING: 1991, alum-tawed goatskin over wooden boards, by Annie Winther; previous binding preserved: 19th century, red leather over cushioned wooden boards, gold- and blind-tooled centre and edge design.

CONTENTS: fols. 1r – 6v Calendar; fols. 7v – 15v Fifteen Oes; fols. 16v – 36v Suffrages; fols. 37v – 72v Hours of the Virgin, with memoriae at Lauds; fols. 73r – 77v Salve Regina (in rhyming verse); fols. 78r – 80v Obsecro te; fols. 80v – 82v O intemerata; fols. 83r – 86r Seven Joys of the Virgin; fols. 86v – 89r Prayer before the Crucifix and other prayers to Christ; fols. 89r – 91v Prayers to the Virgin and St John the Evangelist; fols. 92r – 96r Bede’s prayer on the Seven Last Words; fols. 96r – 96v Indulgenced prayer Domine Ihesu Christi qui hanc sacratissimum sanguinem; fols. 97v – 114v Penitential Psalms and Litany
fols. 115v – 138v Office of the Dead; fols. 139v – 153r Commendation of the soul; fols. 154v – 159v Psalms of the Passion; fols. 160r – 175v Psalter of St Jerome with rubricated introduction.

DECORATION: Seventeen full-page framed miniatures with full acanthus and floral borders on plain parchment at major text divisions: fol. 7v Fifteen Oes, Christ standing on orb, blessing with open book, and flanked by angels; fol. 16v Suffrages, Throne of Mercy Trinity; fol. 19v St John the Baptist pointing at lamb on book; fol. 21v St John the Evangelist with chalice; fol. 23v St George slaying dragon; fol. 25v St Christopher carrying Christ Child; fol. 27v St Anne teaching the Virgin to read; fol. 29v St Mary Magdalene with ointment jar; fol. 31v St Catherine with wheel, sword and executioner; fol. 33v St Barbara beside tower; fol. 35v St Margaret emerging from dragon; fol. 37v Hours of the Virgin, Matins, Agony in the Garden; fol. 97v Penitential Psalms, David penitent; fol. 115v Office of the Dead, Funeral service; fol. 139v Commendation of the soul, Souls borne up to Heaven; fol. 154v Psalms of the Passion, Christ as Man of Sorrows with Instruments of the Passion; fol.162v Psalter of St Jerome, St Jerome.

Four large framed miniatures with full acanthus and floral borders on plain parchment for remaining Hours of the Virgin: fol. 45r Hours of the Virgin Lauds, Betrayal; MS 1261-1985 (originally verso of leaf between fols. 57 – 58) Hours of the Virgin, Prime, Christ before Pilate; fol. 61v Terce, Flagellation; fol. 64v Sext, Carrying of the Cross;

Twenty-one small framed miniatures inset in text-block with three-sided acanthus and foliage borders on plain parchment for memoriae at Lauds and prayers to Christ and Mary: fol. 52v Memoriae, Holy Spirit; fol. 53v St Michael; fol. 54r St Lawrence; MS 1262-1985 (originally leaf between fols. 53 – 54) Saints Peter and Paul (recto), St Andrew (verso); fol. 54v St Stephen; fol. 55r St Nicholas; fol. 57r Chalice and Host on altar; fol. 73r Salve Regina, Virgin and Child; fol. 83r Seven Joys of the Virgin, Presentation of the Virgin to the Temple; fol. 86v Prayers to the Crucifix, Angels praying at empty tomb, three empty Tau crosses; fol. 87r head of Christ; fol. 87v wounded right hand, wounded left hand; fol. 88r five wounds; fol. 88v wounded right foot, wounded left foot; fol. 89r Virgin and Child rayed in glory; fol. 89v St John the Evangelist drawing serpent from chalice; fol. 92r Bede’s prayer on the Seven Last Words, Crucifixion with gold chalices receiving Christ’s blood.

ORNAMENTATION: Pink or blue white-patterned initials [6 ll.] with foliage infill on gold grounds and full acanthus and foliage borders on plain parchment for major text divisions; gold initials [2 ll.] on blue and pink white-patterned grounds with foliate extensions for memoriae at Lauds and lesser text divisions; alternate gold and blue one-line initials with black or red pen-flourishing; pink and blue linefillers with gold balls.

Notes

History note: Made for a woman in Ireland, probably County Cork, as suggested by the feasts of Saints Gobnata, Kieran and Finbar included in the Calendar (Sarum) by the original scribe; the Calendar also contains notes on the Battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury (1471) entered in contemporary hand; Sir Thomas Selby who gave it to Sir Ralph Thoresby of Leeds (d. 1725) (inscription, fol. 1r); Edward Petre (bookplate inside upper cover); Samuel Sandars (1837 – 1894); his gift to the Museum, 1892. MSS 1261-1985 and 1262-1985, which had been excised from the manuscript at an unknown date, were purchased from Maggs Bros. by the Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum in 1985.