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Egerton MS 2903

Record Id:

032-001984970

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

032-001984970

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000057.0x000336

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Egerton MS 2903

Title:

Middle Dutch prayer-book

Scope & Content:

This Middle Dutch prayer-book contains a Psalter dedicated to the Virgin Mary, other Marian prayers and long meditations on the Passion. The fact that the calendar includes a feast for St Jeroen van Noordwijk suggests that the prayerbook may have been produced in South or North Holland: St Jeroen was martyred in Noordwijk (South Holland) and translated to Egmond (North Holland). The origin of the manuscript is unknown (a rubricated inscription on f. 1r, which potentially stated the manuscript's origin, has been erased), but its contents - a Psalter and prayers in Middle Dutch - are typical for prayer-books produced by and for female religious communities.

Contents:

ff. 1r-12v: Calendar, containing a feast for Jeroen van Noordwijk (17 August).

ff. 13r-13v: A prayer to the Virgin Mary, ‘[rubric:] Domine labia mea [prayer:] Heer doet op mijn lippen te loven dinen heiligen ontsprekeliken naem [etc.]’.

ff. 14v-15r: Prologue, attributing a rosary (referred to as a 'Psalter') to the Virgin Mary to St Bernard of Clairvaux, ‘[rubric:] Prologus op onser liever vrouwen souter [text:] Onser vrouwen souter der saliger maghet maria ende der waerder moeder ons heren [etc.]’.

ff. 15r-75v: A rosary to the Virgin Mary, ‘[rubric:] Hier beghint die nocturn vanden sonnendaghe . Beatus vir qui diligit nomen tuum virgo maria [prayer:] Salich is die gheen die dinen naem minnet maecht maria [etc.]’; ends with a Middle Dutch version of the Te Deum.

ff. 75v-81v: Litany of the Virgin Mary (with a Collect), ‘[rubric:] Onser liever vrouwen Letanien. [prayer:] Heer ontferme die onser Christe ontferme die onser Heer ontferm die onser [etc.]’.

ff. 81v-83v: An instruction and prayers for completing the Psalter of the Virgin Mary between the beginning of Lent and the end of a year (with Collects), ‘[underlined:] Die op onser liever vrouwen dach in die vasten onser vrouwen souter beghint ende leest drie psalmen mit tseventich Ave marien mit die ander ghebeden die hier na staen ghescreven ende voert in elke weke op dien dach drie psalmen mit dese selve gebeden die sel tenden den iaer den souter wt ghelesen hebben ende het is onser vrouwen seer ghenaem ende men sel verdienen dat loon of hi ghevast hadde te water ende te broden . Ende aldus beghijnt die souter [rubric:] Ingressis angelis [prayer:] Die \engel/ ghinc in tot marien ende seide ghegroet sijstu maria vol ghenaden die heer it mitti [etc.]’.

ff. 85r-99r: A meditation on the Last Supper, ‘[rubric:] Hier beghint dat heilighe avontmael ons heren ihesu Christi [text:] Als dan naect die tijt der passien ons heren ende der ontfermherticheit gods in welken tide hi ghelest hadde sijn volc salich te maken ende te verlossen [etc.]’.

ff. 99r-105v: A meditation on the Passion, ‘[rubric:] Die passie ons heren [text:] Nu so behoertet dat wi vander passien ons heren spreken die dan begheerlic te verbliden inden cruce ende inder passien ons heren [etc.]’.

f. 105v: A meditation on the Passion divided over the canonical hours, ‘[rubric:] The compleet tijt [prayer:] Salichlic denc die passie ons heren over vanden begin totten eynde [etc.]’.

[ff. 84r, 84v, 162r, 162v, 163r and 163v are blank].

Decoration:

14 large initials in blue with red penwork decoration (sometimes featuring a flower) and pen-flourishing (ff. 13r, 15r, 25r, 30r, 46r, 52v, 57v, 59v, 62v, 64v, 66v, 68v, 71r, 85r). Numerous large and small initials in blue and red throughout the manuscript.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Egerton Manuscripts

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "032-001984970", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Egerton MS 2903: Middle Dutch prayer-book" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-001984970

Is part of:

not applicable

Hierarchy:

032-001984970

Container:

not applicable

Record Type (Level):

Fonds

Extent:

Parchment codex

Digitised Content:

Languages:

Dutch, Middle
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1425

End Date:

1474

Date Range:

2nd or 3rd quarter of the 15th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 140 x 100 mm (text space: 85 x 60 mm).

Foliation: ff. 163 (+ 1 paper flyleaf and 1 parchment flyleaf at the beginning + 1 paper flyleaf at the end); 1 unfoliated parchment stub between f. 7 and f. 8; f. 12 and f. 13; f 155 and f. 156; 1 knotted strip of parchment on ff. 17, 20, 33, 41, 43, 47, 57, 103, 120, 129, and 138; 1 detached blank paper strip between the front cover and f. [i]; 1 detached paper strip with printed text ('Pertinent') between f. 20 and f. 21.

Script: Gothic.

Binding: 15^th-century blind-tooled and –stamped brown leather binding, containing one image of the Arma Christi and one of St Barbara surrounded by a border with flowers and eagles; remnants of locks for two clasps on upper and lower cover; the spine inscribed in gold by the British Museum (no title, shelf-mark only).

Custodial History:

Anne Corneles, owner in the 15th or 16th century: inscription on the inside of the upper cover (‘Anne[n] corneles’).

Jan Coernelis, owner in the 15th or 16th century: inscription on the inside of the upper cover (‘Jan Coernelis’) and f. 1r (‘Jaen coernelis het deet boeck al dooer gelesen’).

Unknown Dutch owner: 17th- or 18th-century inscription f. [i] recto: ‘Onser liever Vrouwen Souter naar St Bernaart’ and shelfmark on f. 1r: ‘no. 62’.

Unknown English owner, in 1901: his sale, note in pencil on f. 1r: 'Reading, Beale 385. This copy'; above 'May 1901'.

George Dunn (b. 1865, d. 1912), Woolley Hall: his book-label 'From the Library of George Dunn of Woolley Hall near Maidenhead' (inside upper cover, note on f. i); his sale, Sotheby's, London, 14 February 1913, lot 526 (note on Dunn’s book-label: ‘Purchased at Sotheby’s, Dunn sale, 14 feb. 1913 lot 526’). Bought by the British Museum from Dunn (note inside upper cover [f. i]), using the Farnborough Fund (£3,000 bequeathed in 1838 by Charles Long, Baron Farnborough (b. 1761, d. 1838), a cousin of Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater (b. 1756, d. 1829), founder of the collection (his bookplates in gold on paper pasted on f. [i] recto and f. [164] verso).

Publications:

British Museum Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts 1911-1915, 2 vols (London: British Museum, 1925), I, no. Eg. 2903.

A Guide to the Exhibition of Some Part of the Egerton Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1929), no. 36.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Related Material:

Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum in the Years 1911- 1915 (London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1925; repr. Oxford: Ridler, 1969), pp. 418-19:

'PSALTER of the Virgin, etc., in Dutch. Contents: 1. Calendar. In red, Pontian (Jan. 14), Servatius (May 13), Boniface (June 5), Odulf (June 12), Lebuin (June 25 and Nov. 12), Jeron (Aug. 17; martyred at Noordwijk, translated to Egmond, see Acta SS.), Lambert (Sept. 17), Remy and Bavon (Oct. 1), Victor and Gereon (Oct. 10), and Willibrord (Nov. 7). f. 1.

2. "Onser lieuer vrouwen souter": 150 Psalms in honour of the Virgin, adapted from the Biblical Psalter. Preceded by a prayer to God and the Virgin ("Domine labia mea. Heer doet op mijn lippen," etc., f. 13) and a "Prologus op onser lieuer vrouwen souter" (f. 14 b), attributing the authorship to St. Bernard, and mentioning, an indulgence attached to the psalter by Pope John. Divided into sections for use at matins and vespers throughout the week, and followed (f. 74) by a similar adaptation of the "Te Deum." Another copy of the "Souter" is in Add. MS. 29985, f. 179. f. 15.

3. "Onser lieuer vrouwen letanien," followed by prayers to the Virgin, etc. f. 75 b.

4. "Hier beghint dat heilighe auontmael ons heren Ihesu Christi": meditation on the Last Supper, quoting St. Anselm frequently. f. 85.

5. "Die passie ons heren" : meditation on the Passion, quoting St. Bernard. f. 99.

6. Meditations for the canonical hours, and for Saturday. f. 105 b.

Vellum; ff. iii + 163. 5¹/₂ in. x 4 in. Mid. XV cent. Gatherings of 8 leaves (ii⁵, xx⁷). Initials in red and blue. Binding (Netherlands, 15th cent.) of boards covered with brown leather, blindtooled : each cover having two panels, of St. Barbara and the Image of Pity, placed side by side and surrounded with repetitions of two small stamps, viz. eagle displayed in lozenge and rose in circle: see Weale, S. Kensington Cat. of Bookbindings, 1894, no. 385. On f. iii, "Jaen Coernelisz het diet boeck al dooer gelesz," and on f. ii, "Jan Coernelisz" (16th cent.). On. f. 1, "no. 62" (17th. cent.) and an erased inscription in red. Bookplate of George Dunn (sale-cat. 1913, lot 526). From the Farnborough Fund'.