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Harley MS 2855

Record Id:

040-002048686

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002048686

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000761.0x00007d

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 2855

Title:

Carthusian Diurnal

Scope & Content:

Contents:

f. 1r: Table with Dominical Letters for 19 years (Metonic cycle).

f. 2r: Two circular diagrams for finding the Dominical Letters and Golden Numbers.

f. 2v: Instructions for finding the Golden Numbers.

ff. 4r-15v: Calendar.

ff. 16r-55v: The Book of Psalms.

ff. 55v-57v: Litany of Saints

ff. 57vr-291v: A Carthusian Diurnal, beginning: 'Sequitur diurnale ordinis Cartusiensis'.

Decoration:

1 full-page miniature of the Man of Sorrows (inscribed in gold: 'Ecce homo') in a frame, in colours and gold, inserted on a single leaf (f. 3v). 12 large historiated initials accompanied by full foliate borders, in colours and gold (ff. 58r, 74r, 90r, 96r, 155r, 170v, 176v, 183r, 201v, 236v, 264v, 279r).

The subjects of the historiated initials are as follows:

f. 58r: A Carthusian monk kneeling before the Virgin Mary with Child

f. 74r: The Nativity.

f. 90r: The Adoration of the Magi.

f. 96r: Christ in Majesty.

f. 155r: The Resurrection.

f. 170v: The Ascension of Christ.

f. 176v: Pentecost.

f. 183r: A gold monstrance, with the Christ Child and IHS monogram in marginal roundels.

f. 201v: St Andrew.

f. 236v: The Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

f. 264v: St John the Evangelist, St Peter, and St James.

f. 279r: A Carthusian monk kneeling before Christ.

1 large decorated initial with foliate flourished extensions into the margins, in colours and gold (f. 243r). 1 large initial in gold on a red and blue ground, including a human figure, with foliate extensions into the margins (f. 286r). Small initials in plain red or blue, a few with reserved designs and/or red pen-flourishing.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002048686", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 2855: Carthusian Diurnal" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002048686

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 2855 : Carthusian Diurnal

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[2856]/040-002048686

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:

1445

Date Range:

c 1430-c 1440

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 100 x 70 mm (text space: 60 x 40 mm).

Foliation: ff. 291 (+ 1 paper flyleaf at the beginning + 2 at the end).

Script: Gothic.

Binding: Post-1600. Gold-tooled brown leather; blue speckled edges.

Custodial History:

Origin:

Southern Germany.

Provenance:

Owned by a member of the Carthusian order: a monk dressed in white praying in front of the Virgin and Child, and in front of the naked Christ child holding a globe on f. 58r and f. 279r.

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. 716.

Walter de Gray Birch and Henry Jenner, Early Drawings and Illuminations: An Introduction to the Study of Illustrated Manuscripts (London: Bagster, 1879), p. 14.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Places:

Southern Germany