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Harley MS 2846

Record Id:

040-002048677

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002048677

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000761.0x000074

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 2846

Title:

Book of Hours, Use of Sarum

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 2r-13v: Calendar.

ff. 15r-23r: The Fifteen Oes (Quindecim Oraciones).

ff. 29r-30r: Memoria of St John the Baptist.

ff. 32r-32v: Memoria of St Chad.

ff. 34r-35r: Memoria of St Thomas Becket.

ff. 37r-37v: Memoria of St George.

ff. 38r-39v: Memoria of St Christopher.

ff. 41r-41v: Memoria of St Anna.

ff. 43r-44v: Memoria of St Mary Magdalene.

ff. 45r-45v: Memoria of St Katherine.

ff. 47r-47v: Memoria of St Barbara.

ff. 49r-49v: Memoria of St Margaret.

ff. 52r-104r: Hours of the Virgin Mary (Use of Sarum).

ff. 106r-111v: Hymn on the Salve Regina, with a rubric: 'Has videas laudes qui sacra virgine gaudes. Et venerando piam studeas laudare Mariam. Virginis intacte cum veneris ante figuram. Pretereundo cave ne taceatur ave. Invenies veniam sic salutando Mariam'.

ff. 111v-113v: O Intemerata.

ff. 114r-117r: Obsecro Te.

ff. 119r-123r: Prayers on the Seven Joys of the Virgin Mary, with a rubric: 'Quicumque hec septem gaudia in honore beate marie virginis semel in die dixerit. Centum dies indulgentiarum obtinebit a papa clemente qui hec septem gaudia proprio stilo composuit'.

ff. 125r-128v: Short prayers to the Holy Face, the Cross, Wounds in Christ's head, hands and feet, the Five Wounds, the image of the Virgin Mary, St John the Evangelist.

ff. 128v-131r: Bede the Venerable, Prayer on the Seven Last Words of Jesus on the Cross.

ff. ff. 131r-131v: Prayer to Christ, with a rubric: 'Omnibus confessis et contritus hanc orationem dicentibus inter elevatiomem corporis Christi et tercium Agnus Dei dominus papa Bonifacius concessit duo milia annorum ad supplicationem', beginning: 'Domine ihesu Christe qui hanc sacratissimam carnem et preciossimum sanguinem tuum de gloriose virginis marie utero assumpsisti'.

ff. 132r-141r: The Seven Penitential Psalms.

ff. 141r-144r: The Fifteen Gradual Psalms.

ff. 144r-151v: The Litany of Saints; followed by prayers to God.

ff. 153r-180r: The Office of the Dead.

ff. 182r-197v: The Commendation of Souls.

ff. 198r-200r: The Psalms of the Passion.

ff. 202r-216r: The Psalter of Jerome.

Decoration:

9 full-page miniatures, followed by large historiated initials, with full foliate borders including birds and hybrid figures, in colours and gold (ff. 50v, 60v, 76v, 82v, 86v, 90v, 94v, 98v, 105v). 17 full-page miniatures, followed by large decorated initials, with full foliate borders including birds and hybrid figures, in colours and gold (ff. 14v, 23v, 28v, 31v, 33v, 36v, 38v, 40v, 42v, 44v, 46v, 48v, 118v, 124v, 152v, 181v, 201v); 1 full-page miniature probably missing before a large decorated initial with full foliate borders including a peacock, in colours and gold, at the beginning of the Psalter of the Passion (f. 198r). 1 large historiated initial with full foliate borders including hybrid figures, in colours and gold, at the beginning of the Penitential Psalms (f. 132r). 2 large decorated initials with three-sided foliate borders, in colours and gold, at the beginning of prayers (111v, 114r). Small initials in gold on red and blue grounds. All pages heavily ruled with red double lines.

The miniatures have been attributed to the Masters of the Gold Scrolls Group (see McKendrick, Flemish Illuminated Manuscripts (2003), fig. 9).

The subjects of the miniatures are as follows:

f. 14v: God enthroned in the heavens, seated on a crescent moon and resting his feet on the globe of the world.

f. 23v: Throne of Grace.

f. 28v: St John the Baptist.

f. 31v: St Chad.

f. 33v: St Thomas Becket.

f. 36v: St George.

f. 38v: St Christopher.

f. 40v: The Virgin Mary with Christ Child and St Anne.

f. 42v: St Mary Magdalene.

f. 44v: St Katherine.

f. 46v: St Barbara.

f. 48v: St Margaret.

f. 50v: The Annunciation.

f. 60v: The Arrest of Christ.

f. 76v: Christ before Pilate.

f. 82v: The Flagellation of Christ.

f. 86v: Christ carrying the Cross, supported by the Virgin Mary.

f. 90v: The Crucifixion.

f. 94v: The Deposition.

f. 98v: The Entombment of Christ.

f. 105v: The Coronation of the Virgin Mary.

f. 118v: The Presentation of the Virgin Mary in the Temple.

f. 124v: The Pietà.

f. 152v: A funeral.

f. 181v: Angels carrying souls to heaven.

f. 201v: St Jerome.

The subjects of the historiated initials are as follows:

f. 52r: Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.

f. 61r: The Visitation.

f. 77r: The Nativity.

f. 83r: The Annunciation to the shepherds.

f. 87r: The Adoration of the Magi.

f. 91r: The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple.

f. 95r: The Massacre of the Innocents.

f. 99r: The Flight into Egypt.

f. 132r: King David kneeling in prayer.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002048677", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 2846: Book of Hours, Use of Sarum" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002048677

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 2846 : Book of Hours, Use of Sarum

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[2847]/040-002048677

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1425

End Date:

1449

Date Range:

2nd 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: 115 x 85 mm (text space: 65 x 45 mm).

Foliation: ff. 216 (+ 3 parchment flyleaves at the beginnning + 3 at the end).

Script: Gothic.

Binding: Post-1600; gold-tooled red leather; gilt edges; marbled endpapers.

Custodial History:

Origin:

Southern Netherlands.

Provenance:

Made for an unknown commissioner in England: perhaps portrait in the margin of f. 181v; the memoria to St Chad on ff. 32r-32v suggests a connection with the diocese of Lichfield (see Rogers, 'Patrons and Purchasers' (2002), p. 1168).

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, p. 715 (no. 2846).

Walter de Gray Birch and Henry Jenner, Early Drawings and Illuminations: An Introduction to the Study of Illustrated Manuscripts (London: Bagster, 1879), p. 16.

Nicolas Rogers, ‘Patrons and Purchasers: Evidence for the Original Owners of Books of Hours Produced in the Low Countries for the English Market’ in 'Als Ich Can': Liber Amicorum in Memory of Professor Dr. Maurits Smeyers, ed. by Bert Cardon and Others, 2 vols (Paris: Uitgeverij Peeters, 2002), pp. 1165-81 (p. 1168).

Scot McKendrick, Flemish Illuminated Manuscripts 1400-1550 (London: British Library, 2003), fig. 9.

Janet Backhouse, Illuminations from Books of Hours (London: British Library, 2004), no. 13.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Bede the Venerable, Saint, c 673-735,
see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000120962352,
see also http://viaf.org/viaf/61539765

Places:

Southern Netherlands