Egerton MS 3271

BREVIARY OF BRIGITTINE USE, made apparently for the nuns of the Abbey of Marienwater's Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands; mid 15th cent. Latin. For other breviaries from this house see Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS. Buchanan f. 2, and Washington, Library of Congress MS. Ac. 4560, 3, 17 (De Ricci, Census i, 1935, p. 232). For a Brigittine breviary from Genoa see also Add. MS. 38604. Contents:-

(1) Calendar, in blue, red, and black of the diocese of Liége (formerly that of Maastricht). The gradings, which are not related consistently to the colours used, are 'Totum duplex', 'Duplex', 'ix lectiones', 'iii lectiones', 'Missa', 'Collecta', and 'Commemoratio'. Of the three feasts of St Bridget, the Translation (28 May) and 'Natale' (23 July) are duplex, and the Canonisation (7 Oct.) 'Totum duplex'. Local feasts graded 'Totum duplex' include those of Lambert, Bp. of Maastricht (17 Sept. with an octave) and, as a 15th cent. addition, Gudula, patroness of Brussels (8 Jan.); among feasts graded 'Duplex' are those of Gertrude of Nivelles (17 Mar.), the Translation of Lambert (28 Apr.), Servatius Bp. of Tongern (13 May), Remaclus Bp. of Maastricht (3 Sept.), Magdalberta Abbess of Maubeuge (7 Sept.), Theodard Bp. of Maastricht (10 Sept.), Maternus Bp. of Cologne 19 Sept.), the Triumph of St Lambert (13 Oct.), and Hubert Bp. of Maastricht (3 Nov.). ff. 2-7b.

(2) Psalter and Canticles, with the Athanasian Creed interposed between vv. 32 and 33 of Psalm 118 (ff. 153-155b). ff. 8-201.

(3) Litany of Brigittine use, including Bridget as fifth in the list of 33 virgins, with the following six Scandinavian saints among the martyrs, viz. Olaf, Eric, Henry, Eskil, Boturid, Ansuerus and his companions, and with a seventh, Sigfrid, among the confessors. The petitions include one for 'ordinem nostram beatissime semper virgini marie dedicatam'. ff. 2O1-207b.

(4) Lessons, responds, and collects for the Office of the Dead. ff. 207b-215b.

(5) Daily Office of the Brigittine nuns, including the special lessons supposedly dictated to St Bridget by an angel (cf. Breviarium...ordinis Sanctae Birgittae, 1908, p. 12), followed by the prayers for the weekly servers (ff. 343- 344). ff. 216-344.

(6) Hours of the Holy Ghost. ff. 344-351b.

(7) Hymn 'Ave maris stella: gloriosa puella', cf. Chevalier, Repertorium Hymnologicum no. 23612. ff. 352-352b. Vellum; ff. vi + 354. 160 mm. x 105 mm. Mid xv cent. Executed in the Netherlands. Gatherings of 8 leaves, except 1⁶ (6 cancelled), with catchwords. Ruled and written 17 lines to the page, with the text initials in blue and red. Seventeen large initials and borders with floral and geometrical decoration in pen and wash, mainly in red, yellow, blue, and green, those for the Friday Office incorporating representations of the Wounds of Christ (f. 299b). For reproductions of similar decoration in Library of Congress MS. Ac. 4560, 3, 17 (above) cf. MS. Facs. Suppl. ix(b); cf. also Add. MSS. 15254-15258, A. W. Byvanck & G. J. Hoogewerff, Noord-Nederlandsche Miniaturen, 1923, pls. 170, 211, 215b, 228b, and A. Byvanck, La Miniature dans les Pays-Bas Septentrionaux, 1937, p. 9, who attributes two similar MSS. to an atelier at Amsterdam. Bound in contemporary blind-tooled brown leather over wooden boards with brass clasps, etc. Contemporary notes have been added on f. 1 of the obits, in 1483, of 'Rutgerus presbyter de berlichen' (Berlikum, near 's Hertogenbosch) and 'Vilhelmus laycus bogart'. Belonged, 19th cent., to William Bragge F.S.A. (Sotheby's sale-cat., 7-10 June 1876, lot 491), Dr Thomas Shadford Walker (Sotheby's sale-cat., 23-24 June 1886, lot 345, cf. f. ii), and William Morris (book-label, f. vi; Sotheby's sale-cat., 5-10 Dec. 1898, lot 815). A descriptive note by Sir Sydney Cockerell, made presumably when the MS. belonged to Morris (cf. Egerton MS. 2977, f. iiib) appears on the front paste-down (f. i). Bought by Sir Henry Wellcome, F.R.S., in London in 1904. Later Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, inventory no. 6698. From the Farnborough Fund.