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Harley MS 2900
- Record Id:
- 040-002048731
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002048731
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000761.0x0000aa
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100161503801.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 2900
- Title:
- Book of Hours, Use of Sarum
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
ff. 1r-4v: Added prayers to the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, the Holy Cross and for the Communion ('Ego sum panis vivus'), suffrages to saints, the Short Hours of the Holy Spirit (f. 3r-v), and various prayers including prayers for the dead (ff. 3v-4r).
ff. 5r-16v: A calendar, including the following English saints: Sts Edmund, Cuthbert, Richard, Alphege, Aldhelm, Augustine of Canterbury, Alban, Ethelreda, Thomas Becket, Mildred, Kenelm, Wilfrid, Edward the Confessor, Edmund, bishop.
ff. 17r-24v: Gospel readings.
ff. 25r-106r: Hours of the Virgin with the Hours of the Cross and the Suffrages inserted after Matins of the Hours of the Cross (ff. 48v-70v).
ff. 107r-130v: Seven Penitential Psalms with Litany.
ff. 131r-178v: Office of the Dead.
ff. 179r:-199v: Psalm 119, 'Beati immaculati' and Psalm 139, 'Domine probasti me'.
ff. 200r-204r: Prayer to the Virgin 'O intemerata'
Decoration:
34 large miniatures with large decorated initials and full foliate borders including hybrid figures, peacocks, one with a crown (f. 81v), eagles, one perched on a crown (f. 23v), other birds, and animals, in colours and gold (ff. 17r, 19r, 21v, 23v, 25r, 36r, 47v, 49r, 50r, 52v, 55r, 56v, 59v, 61v, 63r, 64v, 66r, 68v, 71r, 75v, 76v, 80v, 81v, 85r, 86r, 89v, 90v, 96v, 97v, 102r, 107r, 131r, 179r, 200r). All text pages with full foliate borders, in colours and gold. Small decorated initials (2 lines), in colours and gold. Small initials (1 line) and line fillers in gold on red and blue grounds. Capital letters highlighted in yellow.
The subjects of the miniatures are:
f. 17r: St Luke writing.
f. 19r: St John writing.
f. 21v: St Matthew writing.
f. 23v: St Mark writing.
f. 25r: The Annunciation (Matins, Hours of the Virgin)).
f. 36r: The Visitation (Lauds, Hours of the Virgin).
f. 47v: The Betrayal of Christ (Matins, Hours of the Cross).
f. 49r: St Michael killing a devil.
f. 50r: St John the Baptist.
f. 52v: St Christopher.
f. 55r: St George with Sir William Oldhall praying.
f. 56v: The Martyrdom of St Thomas Becket.
f. 59v: St Anne teaching the Virgin Mary to read.
f. 61v: St Catherine of Alexandria.
f. 63r: St Margaret emerging from the dragon.
f. 64v: St Mary Magdalene.
f. 66r: St Barbara.
f. 68v: St Ethelburga.
f. 71r: The Nativity (Prime, Hours of the Virgin).
f. 75v: Christ before Pilate (Prime, Hours of the Cross).
f. 76v: The Annunciation to the Shepherds (Terce, Hours of the Virgin).
f. 80v: The Flagellation (Terce, Hours of the Cross).
f. 81v: The Adoration of the Magi (Sext, Hours of the Virgin).
f. 85r: Christ carrying the cross (Sext, Hours of the Cross).
f. 86r: The Presentation in the Temple (None, Hours of the Virgin).
f. 89v: The Crucifixion (None, Hours of the Cross).
f. 90v: The Flight to Egypt (Vespers, Hours of the Virgin).
f. 96v: The Deposition from the Cross (Vespers: Hours of the Cross).
f. 97v: The Coronation of the Virgin (Compline, Hours of the Virgin).
f. 102r: The Lamentation (Compline, Hours of the Cross).
f. 107r: David at Prayer (Seven Penitential Psalms).
f. 131r: Office of the Dead (Office of the Dead).
f. 179r: A funeral (Psalm 119).
f. 200r: Virgin and Child with Margaret Oldhall at prayer ('O intemerata').
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002048731", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 2900: Book of Hours, Use of Sarum" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002048731 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 2900 : Book of Hours, Use of Sarum - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[2901]/040-002048731
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- 1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_2900 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1425
- End Date:
- 1445
- Date Range:
- The third decade of the fifteenth century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 240 x 160 mm (text space: 115 x 80 mm).
Foliation: ff. i + 204 (+ 2 parchment and 1 paper flyleaves at the beginning and 2 parchment flyleaves at the end).
f. i is a modern paper flyleaf.
Catchwords.
Script: Gothic.
Binding: Post-1600. Red velvet over wooden boards; gilt and painted edges, the fore-edge painted with impaled arms of Oldhall and Willoughby.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: France, N. or N. W. (Rouen?).
Provenance:
Sir William Oldhall of Narford (d. 1460), Norfolk, and his wife Margaret, daughter of William, 5th Baron Willoughby of Eresby: Oldhall arms (f. 55r), Willoughby arms (f. 200r), and Oldhall and Willoughby arms impaled (on the fore-edge); miniatures showing William (f. 55r), and Margaret (f. 200r) in prayer (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 261); probably commissioned by Oldhall in Normany where he held various positions including Bailli of Alençon (143401438) and lieutenant of Bayeaux (1438-1439) and a number of capitancies (1442-1445) (see Curry, ‘Oldhall, Sir William (d. 1460)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004).
Thomas Becket crossed out in the Calendar, Suffrages and Litany (ff. 5r, 56v-59r, 123r).
Inscribed: 'John Brooks', 17th century (f. 1r).
Inscribed: 'Thomas Standly of Trim', 17th century (f. 78r).
Robert Dale of Stratford-on-Avon, County Warwick, inscribed with his name, 17th century (ff. 16r, 18r).
John Dale, cousin of Robert Dale, inscribed with his name 'cousan to Robert Dale'; scriblings reading: 'When I was well I could not had (?) content I would not be...' and 'His the book of John', (f. 16r); John's name also mentioned '...my brouther Ms John Dale of Worieck', 17th century (f. 53r).
Thomas Dale, 20 May 1654: inscribed 'Thomas Dale his hand. This indenture made god made the 20 day of May one thousand six hundred fifty and foure...' (f. 171r).
Elias Ashmole (b. 1617, d. 1692), astrologer and antiquary: inscribed 'E. Ashmole' (f. 17r).
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), II, no. 2900.
Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 54, 84, 123, 261, 313.
W. R. Tymms and M. D. Wyatt, The Art of Illuminating as Practised in Europe from the Earliest Times (London: Day and Sons, 1860; repr. Studio Editions, 1987), pls XV.10, 15.
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. 17.
Friedrich Winkler, Die Flämische Buchmalerei (Leipzig: Semann, 1925), p. 179.
Millard Meiss, with Kathleen Morand and Edith W. Kirsch, French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: The Boucicaut Master (London: Phaidon, 1968), p. 153 n. 35.
Renaissance Painting in Manuscripts: Treasure from the British Library, ed. by Thomas Kren (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1983), p. 12 n. 4.
Janet Backhouse, Books of Hours (London: British Library, 1985), p. 76.
Janet Backhouse, Illuminations from Books of Hours (London: British Library, 2004), pl. 19.
Laurel Amtower, Engaging words: The Culture of Reading in the Later Middle Ages (New York: Palgrave, 2000), pp. 198, 204, 218.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)