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Add MS 88929
- Record Id:
- 032-001606303
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-001606303
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000035.0x000123
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Add MS 88929
- Title:
- Prayer-roll of Henry VIII
- Scope & Content:
-
Roll containing prayers in Latin and English to the Arma Christi, the Virgin and seven saints.
At the top of the roll are the emblems of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, which were added at a later date.
In addition to decorated initials in gold and colours, as well as rubrics, the roll contains thirteen framed miniatures and one unframed miniature, which depict, from top to bottom:
1. A mitred bishop holding a crosier and kneeling in prayer, gazing upwards towards the Trinity under a canopy. An angel holds a coat of arms (gules a cross engrailed between 4 slipped cinquefoils or), attributed to John Burnaby, alias Burnby, Prior of St Cuthbert's Priory, Durham. Above the frame of the miniature is the Sacred Monogram.
2. Christ on the cross, between the two thieves.
3. Christ as the Man of Sorrows, appearing from the waist up, above the tomb; the two thieves visible in the background.
4. Christ crucified, flanked by two angels who hold unfurled scrolls, on which prayers are written.
5. Two angels supporting the side wound of Christ.
6. An unframed representation of the nails of the Passion, in burnished gold, piercing the Sacred Heart, the feet and hands of Christ, and the Crown of Thorns.
7. The Virgin and Child seated in a landscape. An angelic host gazes down on them from the clouds.
8. The Archangel Michael conquering the devil, as a six-headed dragon.
9. St George slaying the dragon.
10. St Erasmus of Campania on a rack, with two executioners winding out his bowels on a reel.
11. St Christopher with the Christ Child on his shoulder.
12. St Anthony.
13. St Pantaleon being decapitated.
14. St Armel praying before a crucifix and holding the dragon he has defeated.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Additional Manuscripts
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-001606303", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Add MS 88929: Prayer-roll of Henry VIII" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-001606303
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-001606303
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
- 1 roll
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_88929 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- English
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1485
- End Date:
- 1509
- Date Range:
- between 1485-1509
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
- Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment roll. Four membranes of unequal width sewn end to end.
Dimensions: 3355 x 120 mm (3rd and 4th membranes 100 mm).
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: England.
Provenance:
John Burnaby (d. 1464) alias Burnby, Prior of St Cuthbert's Priory, Durham: his coat of arms (gules a cross engrailed between 4 slipped cinquefoils or) held by an angel above a kneeling cleric at the head of the roll (Membrane 1).
Henry VIII (r. 1509-1547), King of England and Ireland: the prayer roll was once owned and used by Prince Henry (later Henry VIII), as evidenced by the inclusion of Henry’s royal badges at the head of the roll. These include two Tudor roses, the Prince of Wales crowned ostrich feather, as well as Katherine of Aragon’s emblem of a sheaf of arrows.
William Thomas, a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber (served from 1504): at some point prior to 1509 Henry presented the roll to William Thomas and added an inscription at the top of the second membrane, under the central image of Christ’s Passion: ‘Wylliam thomas I pray yow pray for me your lovyng master Prynce Henry’. Comparison to other samples of Prince Henry's handwriting strongly suggests that this inscription is autograph.
Ushaw College, donated to before 1858, by Bernard O'Reilly (1824-1894), Roman Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool (see Littlehales 1891-1892).
Purchased by the British Library in March 2010 with support from the Shaw Fund.
- Former External References:
- Ushaw College MS 29
- Information About Copies:
-
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts.
- Publications:
-
Edward Charlton, 'Roll of Prayers Formerly Belonging to Henry VIII, When Prince,' Archaeologia Aelian, n.s. 2 (1858), pp. 41-45.
The Prymer or Prayer Book of the Lay People in the Middle Ages in English Dating about 1400, 2 vols., ed. by Henry Littlehales (1891-1892), vol. II, p. ix.
Rossell H. Robbins, 'The "Arma Christi" Rolls,' Modern Language Review, 34 (1939), pp. 415-421.
Gabriele Finaldi, The Image of Christ (London: National Gallery, 2000), p. 164, no. 64 [exhibition catalogue].
Kathleen L. Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts: 1390-1490, Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles (London: Harvey Miller, 1996), vol. II, pp. 296, 351.
Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400-1580, 2nd edition (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2005), pp. 244-45.
Hugo Van der Velden, 'A Prayer Roll of Henry Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick,' in Tributes in Honor of James H. Marrow: Studies in Painting and Manuscript Illumination of the Late Middle Ages and Northern Renaissance, ed. by Jeffrey Hamburger and Anne S. Korteweg (London: Harvey Miller, 2006), pp. 521-549.
Don C. Skemer, Binding Words: Textual Amulets in the Middle Ages (University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 2006), pp. 265-66.
David Starkey, Susan Doran and Andrea Clarke, Henry VIII, Man and Monarch (London: British Library, 2009), p. 46.
Scot McKendrick, John Lowden and Kathleen Doyle, Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination (London: British Library, 2011), no. 44.
J. J. Thompson, ‘A Prayer Roll fit for a Tudor Prince’, in The Medieval Python: The Purpose and Provocative Work of Terry Jones, ed. by R.F.Yeager and T.Takamiya (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), pp. 215-228.
Shannon Gayk, ''By Provocative Means’: Power, Protection, and Reproduction in Prince Henry’s Prayer Roll,' Exemplaria, 29.4 (2017), 296-313.
Linda Ehrsam Voigts, 'Plague Saints, Henry VII, and Saint Armel' in Saints and Cults in Medieval England: Proceedings of the 2015 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. by Susan Powell (Donington: Shaun Tyas, 2017), pp. 101-23, pl. 6.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)