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Harley MS 2921

Record Id:

040-002048752

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002048752

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000761.0x0000c0

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 2921

Title:

Book of Hours, Use of Rome

Scope & Content:

Contents:

f. 1: Flyleaf with added inscriptions (see Provenance).

ff. 2-4: Ruled parchment leaves (see Provenance).

ff. 4v: Added almanac for the years 1550-1567, in French.

ff. 5r-10v: Calendar, with added saints' days.

ff. 11r-14r: Gospel readings.

f. 14r: Added prayer, in French, beginning 'Sire Dieu en qui je croy', 15th-16th century.

f. 14v: Added prayers, beginning 'Maria mater gratiae', 15th-16th century.

ff. 15r-22r: Passion of the Lord according to the Gospel of St John.

ff. 22v: Prayer, beginning 'Deus qui manus tuas et pedes tuos et totum corpus tuum'.

ff. 24r-59v: Hours of the Virgin, Use of Rome.

ff. 59v: Added suffrage to St Apollonia, 15th-16th century.

ff. 60r-64v: Psalms for saying on specific days of the week.

ff. 66r-68v: Hours of the Holy Spirit.

ff. 70r-72r: Hours of the Cross.

ff. 74r-80v: Penitential Psalms.

ff. 80v-83v: Litany.

ff. 85r-94v: Office of the Dead.

ff. 95r-96v: 'O intemerata'.

ff. 96v-98v: 'Obsecro te'.

f. 99r-v: Added indulgence of Pope Boniface, beginning 'Domine Jhesu Christe qui voluisti pro redemptione mundi', 15th-16th century.

f. 101r: Added series of prayers to Christ, beginning 'Domine Jhesu Christe adoro te in cruce pendentem', 15th-16th century.

f. 101v: Added prayer to All Saints, in Latin, and to the Virgin Mary, in French, beginning 'Je vous supplie vierge Marie', 15th-16th century.

f. 102r-v: Added prayer with an indulgence and protections, said to have been found in the Vale of Josephat of Our Lady, in French, beginning 'Jhesu Crist filz de Dieu le Pere', 15th-16th century.

f. 103r-v: Added suffrages to St Claude, St Eugendus of Condat ('Oyand') and St Romanus of Condat, 15th-16th century.

ff. 104r-105r: Added poem, 'De Sancta Cruce', beginning 'O crux ave sanctissima', 15th-16th century.

Decoration:

11 full-page miniatures with full foliate borders on inserted single leaves, attributed to Pieter Danielszoon (d. 1471), priest of the Bridgettine monastery of Mariënwater (see Olsen, 'Handschriften' (1995), p. 226, n. 2, citing Gerlach, 'Spiegel' (1981)): Matins, the Annunciation (f. 23v); Laudes, the Visitation (f. 31v); Terce, the Annunciation to the Shepherds (f. 42v); Sext, the Presentation in the Temple (f. 45v); None, the Adoration of the Magi (f. 48v); Vespers, the Massacre of the Innocents, effaced (f. 51v); Compline, the Flight into Egypt (f. 56v); Pentecost (f. 65v); the Crucifixion (f. 69v); King David enthroned with a book (f. 73v); a funeral service (f. 84v).

The miniatures for Sext and None in the Hours of the Virgin are probably misbound.

2 miniatures probably excised after ff. 10 (Gospel Lessons) and 38 (Prime in the Hours of the Virgin). Stubs of excised leaves visible after ff. 38 and 59.

Large decorated initials and full foliate borders, in colours and gold (ff. 11r, 24r, 32r, 43r, 39r, 46r, 49r, 52r, 57r, 66r, 70r, 74r, 85r).

1 large decorated initial with three-sided foliate borders, in colours and gold, at the beginning of the prayer O intemerata (f. 95r). Small initials (2 lines) in gold on red and blue grounds. Small initials (1 line) in gold with blue pen-flourishing or in blue with red pen-flourishing. Line-fillers decorated in red, blue and/or gold. Capital letters highlighted in red.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002048752", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 2921: Book of Hours, Use of Rome" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002048752

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 2921 : Book of Hours, Use of Rome

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[2922]/040-002048752

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

French
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1425

End Date:

1474

Date Range:

2nd quarter of the 15th century-3rd 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: 175 x 125 mm (text space: 110 x 65 mm).

Foliation: 105 (+ 1 paper flyleaf at the beginning and 5 unfoliated medieval parchment [the last pasted to a paper leaf] and 1 paper flyleaves at the end).

ff. 1-3 are medieval parchment flyleaves. f. 1 is pasted to a paper leaf.

Script: Gothic.

Binding: Post-1600. Diced brown calf; gilt edges.

Impressions and sewing holes from pilgrim badges on ff. 2-3, 105-[106].

Custodial History:

Origin:

Eastern France, perhaps Saint-Claude, Jura; Southern Netherlands or Netherlands (miniatures only).

Provenance:

The area of Saint-Claude, Jura: added suffrages to St Claude, St Eugendus of Condat and St Romanus of Condat, late 15th century (f. 103r-v).

Numerous additions in French and Latin, 15th-16th centuries (see Scope and Contents).

Inscription in the upper margin (f. 5r).

Catherine Boutechoux (d. 1572), wife of Humbert Jantet, Doctor of Law and Judge 'de la Régalie' of Besançon: inscribed 'Ces heures sont a dame Catherine Boutechoux femme de messire Humbert Jantet docteure en drois Juge de la Regalie de Besancon et luy sereont donnes par discette(?) personne messire Jehan Jantet par son cousin' (f. 1v).

An inscribed name, crossed out, perhaps 'Jeurmont' or 'Jeunnont', 16th-17th 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, inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley '1 die Aprilis, A.D. 1725.' (f. 2r).

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: Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts, http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: [n. pub.], 1808-12), II, no. 2921.

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. 14.

Pater Gerlach, review of 'Spiegel van den leven ons Heren' = Mirror of the Life of Our Lord: Diplomatic Edition of the Text and Facsimile of the 42 Miniatures of a 15th-century Typological Life of Christ in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, ed. by Willem H. Beuken and James H. Marrow (Doornspijk: Davaco, 1979)’, Brabantia, 30:3 (1981), 121-24.

Ulla Sander Olsen, 'Handschriften uit het Birgittinessenklooster Mariënwater te Rosmalen bij 's-Hertogenbosch', in Cultura Medievalis, ed. by W. Lourdaux (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1995), pp. 225-54 (p. 226, n. 2; p. 245).

Jean-Luc Deuffic, 'British Library, Harley 2921: Les Heures de dame Catherine Boutechoux' (15 Jan 2011): https://pecia.blog.tudchentil.org/2011/01/15/british-library-harley-2921-les-heures-de-dame-catherine-boutechoux/ (accessed 4 August, 2021).

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)