Add MS 41338

THIRTEEN LEAVES from a Book of Hours, possibly from St Trond in Belgium, in Middle Dutch. Contents:-(1) Compotus tables, including (a) 'Homo signorum', diagram showing the influences of the Signs of the Zodiac. f. 1; (b) Table of the moon's place in the Signs, arranged on the 19-year cycle. f. 1 b; (c) Wheel of Fortune, combined with the names of the months. f. 2; (d) Table, beginning at 1500, for finding the dominical letter according to the 19-year cycle. f. 2b;-(2) 'Die cruys ghetijden', Hours of the Cross, first leaf only. A somewhat similar version is found in Add. MS. 15267, f. 78. f. 3;-(3) 'Hier beghint die metten van den heilighen gheest', Hours of the Holy Ghost, first leaf only. f. 4;-(4) Psalm vi. 2-ii, beg. 'Heer in dijnre verbolghenheit en straeffe mij niet', the first of the seven Penitential Psalms, first leaf only. f. 6;-(5) 'Hier beghint die vigilie voer alle ghelouighe dooden', Vigils of the Dead, first leaf only. f. 7;-(6) Six leaves, not consecutive, containing miscellaneous prayers and devotions, which include (a) prayers to SS. Gertrude, Abbess of Nivelles (f. 8 b), Trudo (Trond), Eucherius, Bp. of Orleans, and Libertus, all patrons of St Trond (f. 12); (b) memorials of SS. Gregory (f. 8), Francis of Assisi (f. 9), Clare (f. 9b), Advent (f. 13b). Paper (except . 1, 2, vellum); ff. 13. 5 5/8 in. x 4 in. Late xv cent. Written in the Netherlands, possibly at St Trond. The rectos of the paper leaves are each numbered in Roman numerals thus:-lxxv (f. 3), xci (f. 4), xcviij (f. 5), cxxxiiij (f. 6), clxxxiiij (f. 7), cccxiij (f. 8), ccccj (f. 9), ccccxxiij (f. I0), ccccxxxi (f. 11 ), cccclxvi (f. 12), dc viii (f. 13). The decoration consists of four miniatures, three of which are full page, drawn in ink with some colour, two marginal drawings, and five historiated initials; another on f. 9b has been excised. The subjects of the large miniatures are: (a) Virgin crowned by two angels, with the Child, trampling on the dragon, surrounded by flames, a rosary and fifteen stars forming a mandorla. In the left bottom corner kneels an ecclesiastic in choir habit, above whom is written '0 mater dei memento mei'. In the right bottom corner is a double cross. The whole is framed by a rectangular border composed of the following sentences:-Above, 'Pulchra es amica mea et macula non est in te' (Song of Solomon, iv. 7); below, 'Ipsa conteret caput tuum Genisis 4to (Genesis iii. 15); left, 'Necdum erant abissi et ego iam concepta cram: prouerbiorum vltimo' (Proverbs viii. 24); right, 'Ab originali peccato virginem Mariam praeseruaui et ab eterno eam mihi in matrem elegi'. The figures of the Virgin and Child are taken from a late fifteenth-century engraving by the artist known as the 'Master I. A. of Zwolle' (see Max Lehrs, Geschichte u. kritischer Katal. des deutsch., niederländisch. u. französisch. Kupferstichs im xv. Jahrh., vii, pp. 199, 200). f. 5; (b) St Gertrude, Abbess of Nivelles, holding the crook of an abbess and a distaff; three rats run over her. f. 8b; (c) St Lambert, Bp. of Liége; below the figure, a shield charged with a patriarchal cross, gules. f. 10; (d) St Trudo (Trond) holding a church; below is the inscription 'biddet voer den maelre broder Henrick van venraij' [Venraij, nr. Venlo?]. f. 12b. This artist seems to be responsible for the miniature on f. 10, but less certainly for that on f. 5. The marginal drawings show a kneeling monk (Cistercian ?) on f. 9b, and a monk embracing the foot of a crucifix on f. 13. On f. 10b is a small early 16th cent. woodcut, 5/8 in. x ½ in., representing an angel holding a scroll, the symbol of St Matthew. Transferred from the Department of Prints and Drawings.