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Harley MS 1251
- Record Id:
- 040-002047080
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002047080
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000652.0x0002f5
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100172078624.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 1251
- Title:
- Book of Hours, Use of Sarum ('Hours of Eleanor Worcester')
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
f. 1: Added paper fragment of a printed 15th- or 16th-century book concerning canon law, inscribed on the recto with a book curse in Middle English verse, ‘Thys boke ys one and godes kors ys anoder they that take the ton god gef them the toder’ (DIMEV no. 5660-3), late-15th/16th century.
f. 2r: Added ownership inscriptions (see Provenance).
ff. 4r-6v: Added preparatory prayer before confession in Latin, beginning, 'Conditor celi et terre rex regnum et dominus dominantium', late-15th/16th century.
ff. 7r-16v: Calendar, with the following English saints: Thomas Becket (twice), Wulstan, David, Cedd, Edward the Confessor (twice), Richard of Cirencester, Alphege, Dunstan, Aldhelm, Augustine of Canterbury, Edmund (3 times), Translation of Richard, Translation of Edward the Confessor, Alban, Ethelreda, ordination of Thomas Becket, Swytun, Kenelm, Arnulf, Oswald, Cuthburga, translation of Cuthbert, Frideswide; with added entries for St Bridget and the dedication of Syon Abbey (f. 13r) and St Barbara (f. 14r), late-15th/16th century.
ff. 15r-22v: Gospel readings.
ff. 23r-28v: Prayer in ten parts referring to the wounds of Christ, written in Latin, with the rubric, 'Ad imaginem domini nostril ihesu christi’; the text beginning, ‘Omnibus consideratis.’
ff. 29r-33r: Prayer to the Virgin, written in Latin, with the rubric, ‘De sancta maria oracio’; the text beginning, ‘Saluto te beatissima virgo.’
ff. 33v-35v: Suffrage for St Erasmus, with the rubric, ‘De sancto herasino martire,’ beginning, ‘O sancta herasime’.
ff. 35v-37r: Verses of St Bernard, with the rubric ‘Les vers Saint Bernart’, beginning 'Illumina oculos meos'.
f. 38r: Added prayer to the Cross, written in Latin, beginning, ‘O altissima crux’, 16th century.
ff. 56r-108v: Hours of the Virgin.
ff. 109r-136r: Seven Penitential Psalms.
ff. 136r-147v: Litany including the following English saints: Sts Thomas Becket, Edmund, Swithun, Cuthbert, Dunstan, Guthlac; and Psalms 22-30.
ff. 148r-182r: The Office of the Dead.
ff. 182r-183r: Added devotion to the Virtues of Virgin Mary in Middle English, beginning, ‘Most wisest lady’ (another version of this is found in Harley MS 494, f. 84v; see Barratt, Anne Bulkeley (2009), App. 20, pp. 236-238), late-15th/16th century.
ff. 183v-184r: Added prayer to Christ in Middle English, prefaced ‘This prayer is writen in a stone in the Church of Saint John Lateraneus in Rome, beginning ‘Domine Jhesu Christe rogo te’.
ff. 184v-185r: An ownership poem in Middle English verse, beginning, ‘Thys boke ys myne Eleanor Worcester and I yt los and yow yt fynd I pray yow hartely to be so kynd that yow wel take a letel payne to se my boke brothe home agayne’ (DIMEV no. 519-5), late-15th/16th century.
Decoration:
23 full-page miniatures in colours and gold with large decorated initials and full foliate borders, some with hybrid figures, animals and birds (ff. 23r, 29r, 33v, 39v, 40v, 41r, 42r, 43r, 44r, 45r, 46r, 47r, 48r, 49r, 50r, 51r, 52v, 53v, 54r, 55r, 56r, 109r, 148r).
7 large decorated initials with full foliate borders including hybrid figures, animals and birds, in colours and gold, for the Hours of the Virgin after Matins (ff. 65v, 86r, 91r, 94r, 97r, 100r, 103r).
1 small initial in gold on a red and blue ground with a three-sided foliate border (f. 15r).
Small initials (2 lines) in gold on red and blue grounds with foliate extensions into the margins. Small initials (1 line) and line fillers in gold on red and blue grounds.
The illuminations are attributed to the Fastolf Master; ff. 23r, 29r, 33v, 39v, 52v, 55r (see Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts (1996), II, pp. 329, 331) and ff. 53v and 54r are probably by another related hand.
The subjects of the miniatures are:
f. 23r: The Crucifixion.
f. 29r: The Virgin and Child.
f. 33v: The Martyrdom of St Erasmus.
f. 39v: St Anthony.
f. 40v: The Trinity.
f. 41r: A donor, perhaps John, Duke of Bedford, presented by St John the Baptist, his patron saint, praying to the Trinity (on f. 140v), with a scroll reading: ‘Sancta trini…[damaged].’
f. 42r: St Michael.
f. 43r: St Julian.
f. 44r: St Gregory's Mass.
f. 45r: St George.
f. 46r: The Martyrdom of St Stephen.
f. 47r: St Christopher.
f. 48r: The Martyrdom of St Thomas Becket.
f. 49r: St Nicholas.
f. 50r: The Martyrdom of St Apolonia.
f. 51r: St Catherine with the donor in prayer.
f. 52v: St Dorothy.
f. 53v: St Margaret emerging from the dragon.
f. 54r: St Barbara.
f. 55r: St Mary Magdalene.
f. 56r: The Annunciation.
f. 109r: The Last Judgement with the owner in prayer.
f. 148r: A funeral service with the coffin covered by the arms of John, Duke of Bedford.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
Medieval and Renaissance Women - Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002047080", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 1251: Book of Hours, Use of Sarum ('Hours of Eleanor Worcester')" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002047080 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 1251 : Book of Hours, Use of Sarum ('Hours of Eleanor Worcester') - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[1251]/040-002047080
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- 1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100172078624.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- English
English, Middle
French
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1425
- End Date:
- 1445
- Date Range:
- c 1430-c 1440
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
- Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 85 x 55 mm (text space: 50 x 35 mm).
Foliation: ff. 186 (+ 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and at the end).
Script: Gothic.
Binding: British Museum/British Library in-house binding of gold-tooled brown leather.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
Rouen, France.
Provenance:
John, Duke of Bedford (b. 1389, d. 1435): his portraits? (ff. 41r, 51r, 109r), his obit added in the calendar, 'Obiit Johannes dux bethford[ie] m.iiii.xxxv.' (f. 12v), and the arms in the miniature for the Office of the Dead adapted to represent his funeral (f. 148r); Bedford's badge of an eagle argent crowned and beaked or perched on a root or added on both of these folios.
Syon Abbey, House of Bridgettines, Isleworth (?): Added entry for the dedication of the Bridgettine Abbey of Syon (20 October) and St Bridget (7 October) in the calendar, 16th-century (f. 13r).
Eleanor Worcester, probably to be identified with Eleanor, Countess of Worcester (b. in or after 1481, d. by 1549), daughter of Edward Sutton, 5th Lord Dudley; married to Charles Somerset (b. 1460, d. 1526), 1st Earl of Worcester, son of Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset; and subsequently to Leonard Grey (d. 1541), Lord Deputy of Ireland: 'Thys boke ys myne eleanor Worcester...' (f. 184v) and 'E Worcester' (f. 185r) and several inscriptions in English, in the same16th-century hand (ff. 1r, 37v, 53r, 182r-183r, 184v-185r).
Added fragment of a printed book as a flyleaf, 15/16th century (f. 1).
Inscribed, 'Thomas Catcher / 26', 16th century (f. 2r).
Inscribed in pencil: 'W Stephens', 18th? century (f. 2r).
The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts.
Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta Cavendish, née Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d.1785), Duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library.
- Information About Copies:
-
Select digital coverage available for this manuscript, see Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm.
- Publications:
-
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: 1808-1812), I, no. 1251.
Walter de Gray Birch and Henry Jenner, Early Drawings and Illuminations: An Introduction to the Study of Illustrated Manuscripts (London: Bagster and Sons, 1879), p. 15.
Christopher Wordsworth and Henry Littlehales, The Old Service-Books of the English Church, 2nd edn (London: Methuen & Co., 1910), pp. 60-61.
Jonathan J. G. Alexander, 'A Lost Leaf from a Bodleian Book of Hours', The Bodleian Library Record, 8 (1967-72), 248-51 (p. 250).
Catherine Reynolds, '"Les Angloys, de leur droicte nature, veulent touzjour guerreer": Evidence for Painting in Paris and Normandy, c. 1420-1450', Power, Culture and Religion in France c. 1350-c. 1550, ed. by Christopher Allmand (Woodbridge: Boydel, 1989), pp. 37-55 (p. 53).
Kate Harris, ‘The Role of Owners in the Book Production and the Manuscripts Trade,’ in Book Production and Publishing in Britain 1375-1475, ed. by Jeremy Griffiths and Derek Pearsall (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), pp. 163-200 (pp. 181, 196 n 103).
Jenny Stratford, The Bedford Inventories: The Worldly Goods of John, Duke of Bedford, Regent of France (1389-1435), (London: Society of Antiquaries of London, 1993), p. 99 n. 7.
Kathleen L. Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts 1390-1490, A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, 6, 2 vols (London: Harvey Miller, 1996), I, p. 72 n. 19, II, pp. 329, 331.
Janet Backhouse, Illuminations from Books of Hours (London: British Library, 2004), no. 11.
Alexandra Barratt, Anne Bulkeley and her Book: Fashioning Female Piety in Early Tudor England: A Study of London, British Library, MS Harley 494 (Brepols: Turnhout, 2009), pp. 163, 236-38.
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 (Cambridge: Brewer, 2012), pp. 31, 75-76, 154-55.
The Digital Index of Middle English Verse, http://www.cddc.vt.edu/host/imev/Records.php?MSS=BLHar1251 [accessed on 16 April 2013), nos 519-5, 5660-3.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)