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Harley MS 1662

Record Id:

040-002047493

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002047493

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000709.0x0000aa

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 1662

Title:

Middle Dutch Book of Hours

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 4r-15v: Calendar, including saints related to the dioceses of Utrecht, Liège and Cologne.

ff. 17v-62v: The Hours of the Virgin Mary, Unidentified Use.

ff. 62v-66v: The Hours of Christ, with a rubric: 'Hijr beginnen die seven getiden van onsen lieven heren ihesu Chrste seer oirberlic gelesen'.

ff. 66v-69r: The Hours of the Virgin Mary, with a rubric: 'Hijr beginnen die seven getiden van onser lieven vrouwen'.

ff. 69r-80r: The Seven Penitential Psalms, with a rubric: 'Hijr beginnen die Seven psalmen'.

ff. 80v-89r: Litany of Saints, including Potasius, Pantaleon, Quirinus, Alexander, Tiburtius, Pancras, Vitus, Lambrecht, Remigius, Bavo, Gilles, Severinus, Hubert, Galle, Servaes, Lebuinus, Odulf, Lodewich, Walburgis, Affra, Ursula and Aldegont; followed by prayers to God.

ff. 89v-116r: The Hours of the Eternal Wisdom, with a rubric: 'Hijr beginnen die seven getiden vander ewigher wisheit'.

ff. 117r-144v: The Long Hours of the Cross, with a rubric: 'Hijr beginnen die lange Cruis getiden'.

ff. 144v-184r: The Office of the Dead, with a rubric: 'Hijr begint die vigilie'; with the responsens of the diocese of Utrecht and of the Congregation of Windesheim.

ff. 184v-186v: Prayer on the Holy Name of Jesus, with a rubric: 'Een ynnich gebet vanden sueten name ihesus', beginning: 'O gude here ihesu Christe'.

ff. 186v-187r: Anima Christi, Dutch translation; with a rubric: 'Dit salmen lesen alsmen boirt onsen lieven here'.

ff. 187r-187v: Prayer to Christ, with a rubric: 'O du alre guedertierenste here ihesu criste Siet op mi arme sundaere din dienre metten ogen dinre grondeloser ontfermherticheit'.

ff. 187r-188r: Prayer for the crucifix, with a rubric: 'Dit gebet salmen lesen als men dat cruce ons heren siet', beginning: 'Here ihesu criste om die bitter doit die gi om minen wille leet aenden curce Ende alre meest in die ure doe u siele uit ginc van uwen alre heilichste licham . ontfermet u minre sielen'.

ff. 188r-191v: Prayer to the Five Wounds, with a rubric: 'Dit gebet is vanden .v. wonden ons lieven heren', beginning: 'O du alre almechtichste here ihesu criste lof glorie ende eer moet di gescien'.

ff. 191v-195r: Bede, Prayer on the Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross, with a rubric: 'Dit nae volgende gebet sijn die vij woirde ons lieven heren ihesu Christe . die hi sprack aender galgen des cruces'.

ff. 195r-196r: Prayer before Communion, with a rubirc: 'Dit gebet salmen lesen alsmen geet ten heiligen Sacrament', beginning: 'O lieve here Huiden soe begere ic te ontfane uwen gebenediden lichaem also volcomeliken als marie die moeder gods ontfinc in oren megdeliken lichaem'.

ff. 196r-200r: O Intemerata, Dutch translation, with a rubric: 'Een schoen gebet van onser vrouen'.

ff. 200r-201r: Prayer to the Virgin Mary, with a rubric: 'Een schoen gebet van onser liever vrouwen', beginning: 'Gegruet sistu maria een deerne der heiliger drievoldicheit'.

ff. 201r-201v: Prayer to the Virgin Mary, with a rubric: 'Een seer guet gebet van onser liever vrouwen maria', beginning: 'O heilige moeder gods in dinen handen bevel ic min siel min lichame ende mijn vijf sinne'.

ff. 202r-203r: Prayer to St John the Evangelist, with a rubric: 'Een gebet van sinte Johan ewangelist'.

ff. 203r-203v: Prayer to St John the Baptist, with a rubric: 'Een gebet van sinte Johan Baptista'.

ff. 203v-204r: Prayer to the Guardian Angel, with a rubric: 'Van uwen heiligen engel'.

ff. 204r-204v: Prayer to St Bridget of Sweden, with a rubric: 'Van sinte Brigitta'.

ff. 204v-205r: Prayer to St Katherine, with a rubric: 'Van sinte Katherina'.

ff. 205r-205v: Prayer to St Barbara, with a rubric: 'Van sinte Barbara'.

The manuscript contains an addition:

f. 1r: A Calendar leaf from another 15th-century prayer book.

Decoration:

6 full-page miniatures, followed by large decorated foliate, (inhabited/zoomorphic) initials, with full foliate borders including animals and small figures, in colours and gold (ff. 17v, 63v, 69v, 89v, 117v, 202v [followed by a small plain initial without borders]), with instructions to the illuminator in the lower margin (ff. 63v, 69v). Attributed to the circle of the Master of the Berlin Passion (see Marrow, 'A Book of Hours' (1978), 591-615). 2 large zoomorphic/decorated foliate, (inhabited) initials with full foliate borders including animals and small figures, the second preceded by a full-page 'IHS' monogram for Christus, in colours and gold (ff. 145r, 185r). 23 large decorated foliate, (inhabited/zoomorphic) initials with partial or three-sided foliate borders including animals and small figures, in colours and gold (ff. 27v, 37v, 41r, 44r, 47v, 51r, 57v, 67r, 98v, 102r, 104r, 106v, 108v, 110v, 113v, 125r, 129r, 131v, 134r, 136v, 139r, 142r, 196r). Small initials in plain red or blue. Zoomorphic cadels. Capital letters highlighted in red.

The subjects of the miniatures are:

f. 17v: The Annuncation.

f. 63v: The Arrest of Christ.

f. 69v: The Last Judgement.

f. 89v: Christ as Salvator Mundi.

f. 117v: Christ on the Cross.

f. 202v: St John the Evangelist.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002047493", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 1662: Middle Dutch Book of Hours" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002047493

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 1662 : Middle Dutch Book of Hours

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[1664]/040-002047493

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

Dutch, Middle
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1458

End Date:

1481

Date Range:

c 1463-c 1476

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

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Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 140 x 95 mm (text space: 75 x 55 mm).

Foliation: ff. 205 (+ 4 paper flyleaves at the beginning + 6 unfoliated medieval parchment flyleaves and 4 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the end); f. 1-3 are medieval parchment flyleaves; f. 1 is a leaf from another contemporary prayerbook used as a flyleaf; 1 unfoliated paper pastedown on f. [ii]recto (bibliographical notes).

Collation: Mainly in quires of 8; indicated by leaf signatures.

Script: Gothic cursive; littera bastarda.

Binding: Post-1600. Blind-tooled black leather; marbled endpapers; gilt and gauffered edges.

Custodial History:

Origin:

Northern Netherlands, or North Western Germany (Lower Rhineland).

Provenance:

Made along the Netherlandish-German border area of the Lower Rhine, as indicated by linguistic features and saints included in the Calendar and Litany of Saints. The dating of this manuscript rests on the dating of engravings mostly by the Master of the Berlin Passion on which numerous miniatures and marginal designs are based on the present manuscript, e.g., f. 89v (see Marrow, 'A Book of Hours' (1978), p. 592).

Written for a woman: as indicated by the feminine form of prayers (ff. 189v ['dinresche'], 194r ['vriendinne'], 196v ['hulpster']); her unidentified arms features in one border: Argent two bars sable [2x] and Gules, a dog (or deer?) passant reguardant argent (f. 118r).

Henry Worsley (b. 1675, d. 1747), scholar and manuscript collector, envoy at the Court of Portugal (1714-21) and governor of Barbados (1721-31); donated by him to Robert Harley together with other manuscripts from Worsley's collection (now Harley 1585-1747, 1811, 1812) before December 1712 (see Diary, ed. by Wright and Wright (1966), I, pp. xix-xx; Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 361).

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.

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), II, no. 1662.

Karel de Flou and Edward Gaillard, Beschrijving van Middelnederlandsche en andere handschriften die in Engeland bewaard worden, Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie voor Taal-en. Letterkunde. Publicaties reeks 3. no. 12 (Ghent, 1895-97), II (1896), pp. 31-34, no. 7.

Deutsche Handschriften in England, ed. by Robert Priebsch, 2 vols in 1 vol (Hildesheim: Olms, 1979, first publ. Erlangen: Junge, 1896-1901), II: Das British Museum mit einem Anhang über die Guildhall-Bibliothek, no. 8.

The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by Cyril Ernest Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), I: 1715-1723, pp. xix-xx.

Herbst des Mittelalters. Spätgotik in Köln und am Niederrhein, ed. by Heribert Meurer and Gert von der Osten (Cologne: Kunsthalle, 1970), p. 86, no. 133, fig. 48 [exhibition catalogue].

Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), p. 361.

James Marrow, 'A Book of Hours from the Circle of the Master of the Berlin Passion: Notes on the Relationship between Fifteenth-Century Manuscript Illumination and Printmaking in the Rhenish Lowlands', The Art Bulletin, 60:4 (1978), 591-616 (esp. pp. 614-615).

Janet Backhouse, Books of Hours (London: British Library, 1985), p. 72, pl. 63.

Fritz Oskar Schupisser, ‘Copper Engraving of the ‘Mass Production’ Illustrating Netherlandish Prayer Manuscripts’, in Masters and Miniatures: Proceedings of the Congress on Medieval Manuscript Illumination in the Nothern Netherlands (Utrecht, 10-13 December 1989), ed. by Koert van der Horst and Johann-Christian Klamt (Doornspijk: Davaco, 1991), pp. 391-400 (p. 393).

Janet Backhouse, Illumination from Books of Hours (London: British Library, 2004), fig. 12.

Ursula Weekes, Early Engravers and their Public: the Master of the Berlin Passion and Manuscripts from Convents in the Rhine-Maas Regin, ca. 1450-1500 (Turnhout: Harvey Miller, 2004), pp. 46-52, pls. 40, 43, 45, 47, 49.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Places:

Northern Germany
Northern Netherlands