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Egerton MS 2781
- Record Id:
- 032-001984840
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-001984840
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000057.0x0002d6
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100057739928.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Egerton MS 2781
- Title:
-
Book of Hours, use of Sarum (The 'Neville of Hornby Hours')
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
Book of Hours, use of Sarum, consisting of:
ff. 2r-7v: A calendar, with numerous English saints;
ff. 9r-20v: 23 Salutations of the Virgin in Latin, each beginning 'Ave et gaude';
ff. 21r-25r: Prayers to the Virgin in Latin, some with rubrics in Anglo-Norman;
ff. 25v-26r: Prayer for mercy in Latin;
ff. 26v-27v: An antiphon, versicle, response and prayer in Latin in honour of Saints Quiricus and Julitta; a Latin prayer at the beginning of the Mass;
ff. 28r-29v: A poem in Anglo-Norman on how the Virgin taught Canon Arnaud, a new prayer;
ff. 29v-34v: 'Missus est angelus', a Latin Litany of the Virgin;
ff. 35r-36r: Commemoration of the Holy Cross in Latin;
ff. 36v-37r: Commemoration of St. Christopher; in Latin
ff. 37v-41v: Commemorations of Christ in Latin;
ff. 41v-43v: Commemoration of St. Anne in Latin and Anglo-Norman (Sinclair, French Devotional Texts, First Suppl. (1982), no. 3954);
ff. 44r-51v: Short Office of the Cross in Latin;
f. 52r-v: Latin prayer to the wounds of Christ;
ff. 53r-101v: Hours of the Virgin (imperfect);
ff. 101v-108r: Litany of the Virgin, with a rubric in Anglo-Norman;
ff. 108r-112r: Prayers to Faith, Hope and Charity, to the Virgin, to all the Saints and to the Magi;
ff. 113r-122r: Penitential Psalms, imperfect, beginning at Psalm 6;
ff. 122v-125r: Gradual Psalms, with the incorrect rubric, 'Hic I[n]cipiu[n]t xv P[salm]I[s] p[en]itenciales'.
f. 125r130v: Litany of Saints;
f. 131r-189v: Complaint of our Lady (ff. 131r-173r) and Gospel of Nicodemus (ff. 173r-189v) in Anglo-Norman prose.
Decoration:
3 full-page miniatures in colours and gold (f. 1v, 190r, 190v). 2 full-page miniatures in two registers within a border, in colours and gold (f. 8r-v). Numerous large rectangular miniatures in colours and gold (ff. 9v-20v; 29r, 35,r 36r, 36v, 37v, 42r, 44r, 45r, 45v, 46v, 49r, 50v, 71r, 71v, 72v, 73, 73v, 74r, 75r, 75v, 76v, 77r, 78v, 79r, 80v, 88r, 101v, 112r). Numerous large historiated initials in colours and gold. 24 roundels of the labours of the months and zodiac signs, in colours and gold (ff. 2r-7v). 12 'KL' letters in red and blue on gold grounds with three-sided bar borders in colours and gold (ff. 2r-7v). Partial and full bar borders, with leaves and knots, some with hybrid creatures or faces or dragons in the bar borders (ff. 44r, 45v, 46v, 51r, 125v, 138r, 150v, 166v, 174v). Marginal figures in colours around the bar borders (ff. 53r, 85v, 88v, 119r, 125v). Large initials in colours and gold with foliate decoration. Small initials in gold on red and blue grounds, with white filigree. Initials in colours and gold. Words in red, blue, or gold. Line-fillers in combinations of red, blue, and gold. Text in red (ff. 28r-29v). Some figures unfinished.
Subjects of the miniatures are:
f. 1v: A table of the spheres with angels and devils;
ff. 8r-v: Four scenes from the Old Testament: the Tower of Babel, Abraham and Isaac, the blessing of Jacob, and Joseph's dream;
ff. 9v-20v: 23 scenes from the life of the Virgin and Christ: on ff. 10r, 12v, 13r, 14v, and 18v, the de Nevilles, patrons and owners of the manuscript are depicted worshipping;
ff, 21r-27r: 10 scenes of Miracles of the Virgin;
f. 27v: Isabel de Byron kneeling before Christ crucified;
f. 29v: The Virgin and the Angel Gabriel at Canon Arnaud's bedside;
ff. 35r, 36v, 37v, 42r: Robert I de Neville and his wife, Isabel de Byron adore Christ, Saint Christopher and St Anne;
f. 36r: St Christopher choosing the Cross over the Devil;
ff. 44r-50v: 6 scenes of the Passion of Christ;
f. 53r: Matins, the Annunciation with a sketch of a fox preaching to geese in the upper border and hybrid musician in the lower border;
f. 62r: Lauds, the Visitation;
f. 71r: The Annunciation;
f. 71v: Pentecost;
f. 72v: The Trinity;
f. 73r: The Crucifixion;
f. 73v: St Michael and the dragon;
f. 74r: St John the Evangelist;
f. 75r: Saints Peter and Paul;
f. 75v: Martyrdom of St Stephen;
f. 76v: Martyrdom of St Andrew;
f. 77r: Martyrdom of St Lawrence;
f. 78v: St Katherine, two wheels and executioners;
f. 79r: St Margaret emerging from the dragon;
f. 80v: Worshippers in church;
f. 85v: Terce: the Presentation of Christ in the Temple with a boy playing a drum and a man using a stick on a bear or dog in the upper border;
ff. 88v: Sext, the Miracle of the children in the oven, with the de Neville owner in the border;
f. 91v: None, Christ preaching to his schoolmasters;
f. 94v: Vespers, Christ standing on a sunbeam, with figures falling to the ground below;
f. 97r: Christ hanging his water jar on a sunbeam;
f. 101v: The Virgin appearing to a bishop, with Robert II de Neville and his wife, Joan de Atherton, observing;
f. 102r: Isabel de Byron praying;
f. 108v, 110r, 110v, 112r: Faith Hope and Charity; St Katherine and a choir of virgins,; the Lord and saints; the Adoration of the Magi;
ff. 122v, 125v: Isabel de Byron praying to the Lord;
ff. 133v-189r: 36 scenes from the Passion of Christ, including images of Joseph of Arimathea, Carinus and Leucius;
ff. 190r-v: Two full-page depictions of the Siege of Jerusalem by Titus, the first with Isabel de Byron standing between two banners bearing the Hornby arms, the second featuring a catapult.
Egerton 2781 is closely related in style and iconographic content to the Taymouth Hours (Yates Thompson 13) and the Smithfield Decretals (Royal 10 E IV).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Egerton Manuscripts
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-001984840", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Egerton MS 2781: Book of Hours, use of Sarum (The 'Neville of Hornby Hours')" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-001984840
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-001984840
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
-
A parchment codex
- Digitised Content:
- https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100057739928.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Anglo-Norman
French
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1325
- End Date:
- 1349
- Date Range:
- 2nd quarter of the 14th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 170 x 110mm (text space: 115 x 70mm).
Foliation: ff. 190 ( + 1 unfoliated paper flyleaf and 3 unfoliated parchment flyleaves at the beginning and at the end).
Collation: 1i(f. 1), ii6(ff. 2-7), iii1 (f. 8), iv8-1(ff. 9-15), v6-1 (ff.16-20), vi8-1(ff. 21-27), vii-viii8 (ff. 28-43), ix8-1 (ff. 44-50), x4-2 (ff. 51-52), xi-xii8 (ff. 53-68), xiii8 (ff. 69-75), xiv8-2 (ff. 76-81), xv8-1 (ff. 82-88), xvi-xviii8 (ff. 89-112), xix8-1 (ff. 113-119), xx8 (ff. 120-127), xxi8-2 (ff. 128-133), xxii-xxiv8 (ff. 134-157), xxv8-2 (ff. 158-163), xxvi-xxvii 8(ff. 164-179), xxviii10 (ff. 180-189), xxix1 (f. 190).
Script: Gothic, copied by two scribes.
Binding: Post-1600. Brown leather signed by Hardy, 1855; gilding signed by Marius Michel; gilt edges.
- Custodial History:
-
? Isabel de Byron, wife of Robert I de Neville (d. c. 1335) of Hornby manor in Melling parish, Lonsdale Hundred, north Lancashire: perhaps her portrait as a widow, with banners bearing the arms of Neville of Hornby, argent a saltire gules (on the dexter side) and perhaps the Byron arms, or, a bend, gules, three bezants (on the sinister side) (f. 190r) (see Smith, 'Canonizing the Apocryphal' (1996), pp. 33-34). Robert II de Neville (b. c.1312, d. c.1373), their son, and his wife, Joan de Atherton (d. 1353), daughter of Henry of Atherton, are probably the worshipping figures depicted in a number of images, (e.g., ff. 35r, 37v, 101v), see Smith, Art, Identity and Devotion (2003), ff. 34-35, 38.
A member of the Dufresne family: their book-plate (f. [ii] r); probably bound for them.
Purchased at a sale in Paris, 15 March 1893, by the British Museum, using the Bridgewater fund (£12,000 bequeathed in 1829 by Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater (b. 1756, d. 1829).
- Information About Copies:
-
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts.
Select digital coverage available for this manuscript, see Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm.
- Publications:
-
Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum in the Years 1888-1893 (London: British Museum, 1894), no. Eg. 2781.
J. A. Herbert, Illuminated Manuscripts (London: Methuen, 1911), p. 231 n. 4.
[J. A. Herbert], British Museum: Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series 2, 3rd edn (London: British Museum, 1923), pl. 15.
[J. A. Herbert], Illuminated Manuscripts and Bindings of Manuscripts Exhibited in The Grenville Library, Guide to the Exhibited Manuscripts, 3 (London: British Museum, 1923), no. 30.
Eric. G. Millar, English Illuminated Manuscripts of the XIVth and XVth Century (Paris: Van Oest, 1928), p. 83.
A Guide to the Exhibition of Some Part of the Egerton Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London, 1929), no. 16.
Guide to an Exhibition of English Art (London: British Museum, 1934), no. 124.
Rossell Hope Robbins, 'The Arma Christi Rolls', Modern Language Review, 34 (1939), 415-21 (p. 419 n. 3).
Lilian M. C. Randall, Images in the Margins of Gothic Manuscripts (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966), p. 31.
Sinclair, French Devotional Texts of the Middle Ages: A Bibliographic Manuscript Guide, First Supplement (London: Greenwood Press, 1982), no. 3954;
Janet Backhouse, Books of Hours (London: British Library, 1985), fig. 46.
Lynda Dennison, 'The Fitzwarin Psalter and its Allies': A Reappraisal', in England in the Fourteenth Century: Proceedings of the 1985 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. by W. M. Ormrod (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1986), pp. 42-66 (pp. 46, 60-61, 65).
Lucy Freeman Sandler, Gothic Manuscripts 1285-1385, 2 vols, A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, 5 (London: Harvey Miller, 1986), no. 115.
Christopher Norton, David Park, and Paul Binski, Dominican Painting in East Anglia: The Thornham Parva Retable and the Musée de Cluny Frontal (Woodbridge: Boydell: 1987), pp. 51 n. 99, 76.
Francis Wormald, Collected Writings, ed. by J. J. G. Alexander, T. J. Brown, and Joan Gibbs, 2 vols (London: Harvey Miller, 1984-1988), II: Studies in English and Continental Art of the Later Middle Ages, pp. 91, 96, pls 94, 95.
Claire Donovan, 'The Mise-en-Page of Early Books of Hours in England' in Medieval Book Production: Assessing the Evidence, ed. by Linda l. Brownrigg, Proceedings of the Second Conference of The Seminar in the History of the Book to 1500, Oxford, July 1988 (Los Altos Hills, California: Anderson-Lovelace, 1990), pp. 147-61 (p. 150, fig. 2).
Nigel Morgan, 'Texts and Images of Marian Devotion in Fourteenth-Century England', in England in the Fourteenth Century: Proceedings of the 1991 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. by. Nicholas Rogers (Stamford: Watkins, 1993), pp. 30-53 (p. 49).
Kathryn A. Smith, 'Canonizing the Apocryphal: London, British Library MS 2781 and its Visual, Devotional and Social Contexts' (unpublished PhD thesis, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 1996).
Janet Backhouse, The Illuminated Page: Ten Centuries of Manuscript Painting in the British Library (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997), no. 99.
Kathryn A. Smith, 'The Neville of Hornby Hours and the Design of Literate Devotion', Art Bulletin, 81 (1999), 72-92 (pls 1-5, 8-19, 22, 26-27).
Mary Coker Joslin and Carolyn Coker Joslin Watson, The Egerton Genesis (London: British Library, 2001), p. 176.
Alixe Bovey, ‘A Pictorial Ex Libris in the Smithfield Decretals: John Batayle, Canon of St Bartholomew's, and his Illuminated Law Book’ in Decoration and Illustration in Medieval English Manuscripts, English Manuscript Studies 1100-1700, 10 (London: British Library, 2002), pp. 67-91 (pp. 73, 75-77, pl. 13).
Nigel Morgan, 'Patrons and Devotional Images in English Art of the International Gothic c. 1350-1450', in Reading Texts and Images: Essays on Medieval and Renaissance Art and Patronage in honour of Margaret M. Manion, ed. by Bernard J. Muir (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2002), pp. 93-122 (pp. 96-97).
Kathryn A. Smith, Art, Identity and Devotion in Fourteenth-Century England: Three Women and their Books of Hours, (London: British Library, 2003), passim, pls. 6-8, figs 4-9, 30, 57, 61, 63, 67, 73, 87, 89, 91, 95-106, 109-12, 116-19, 121-23, 128-29, 134-39, 315-24.
Janet Backhouse, Illumination from Books of Hours (London: British Library, 2004), fig. 102.
Charity Scott-Stokes, Women's books of hours in medieval England: selected texts translated from Latin, Anglo-Norman French and Middle English with introduction and interpretive essay (Woodbridge: D.S. Brewer, 2006), p. 81.
Deirdre Jackson, 'The Influence of the Theophilus Legend: An Overlooked Miniature in Alfonso X's Cantigas de Santa Maria and its Wider Context', in Under the Influence: The Concept of Influence and the Study of Illuminated Manuscripts, ed. by John Lowden and Alixe Bovey (Turnhout: Brepols, 2007), pp. 75-87 (pp. 82-83, fig. 5).
Deirdre Jackson, Marvellous to Behold: Miracles in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2007), p. 67, pl. 56.
Margaret Scott, Medieval Dress & Fashion (London: British Library, 2007), p. 100, pl. 56.
Jeffrey F. Hamburger and Nigel F. Palmer, The Prayer Book of Ursula Begerin, 2 vols (Dietikon-Zurich: Urs Graf Verlag, 2015), I, p. 148.
Wounds in the Middle Ages, ed. by Anne Kirkham and Cordelia Warr, (London and New York: Routledge, 2014), p. 3.
Kathryn A. Smith, ‘Found in Translation: Images Visionary and Visceral in the Welles-Ros Bible’, Gesta 59: 2 (2020), 91-130 (pp. 103, 110 n. 95).
- Exhibitions:
- The Middle Ages, (online), 26 March 2015-
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)