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Harley MS 2947

Record Id:

040-002048778

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002048778

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000761.0x0000e3

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 2947

Title:

Book of Hours, Use of Besançon; Life of St Margaret in verse

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 2r-7v: Calendar, Use of Geneva, including the dedication of the Cathedral of St Peter in Geneva in red (8 October).

f. 8r-v: 'Gaude virgo mater Christi'.

ff. 9r-12v: Gospel readings.

ff. 13r-14v: 'O intemerata'.

ff. 15r-16v: 'Obsecro te'.

ff. 17r-21v: Hours of the Holy Spirit.

ff. 22r-60r: Hours of the Virgin, Use of Besançon.

ff. 61r-71r: Penitential Psalms.

ff. 71r-77v: Litany.

ff. 78r-90v: Office of the Dead.

ff. 91r-107v: Added Life of St Margaret in French octosyllabic verse, beginning 'Apres la sainte passion / Ihesu Crist et l'Ascension', 15th century.

Decoration:

12 large miniatures with large decorated initials and full foliate borders, in colours and gold, for major text divisions: the Annunciation (f. 8r); Pentecost (f. 17r); Matins, the Virgin and Child seated in a garden (f. 22r); Lauds, the Arrest of Christ (f. 30r); Prime, Christ before Herod (f. 38r); Terce, the Flagellation (42r); Sext, Christ carry the Cross (f. 45r); Nones, the Crucifixion (f. 48r); Vespers, the Deposition (f. 51r); Compline, the Entombment (f. 56r); Christ in Judgement, seated on a rainbow with the dead rising (f. 61r); a funeral service (f. 78r).

3 large decorated initials and full foliate borders, in colours and gold, for minor text divisions (ff. 9r, 13r,15r).

Smaller initials in gold on red and blue grounds. Small initials in gold with blue pen-flourishing or in blue with red pen-flourishing. Line-fillers decorated in gold and blue. Capital letters highlighted in red.

Added decoration, 15th century:

1 large puzzle initial in red and blue with pen-flourishing in blue and red (f. 91r). Small initials in plain red or blue. Capital letters highlighted in yellow.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002048778", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 2947: Book of Hours, Use of Besançon; Life of St Margaret in verse" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002048778

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 2947 : Book of Hours, Use of Besançon; Life of St Margaret in verse

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[2948]/040-002048778

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

French, Middle
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: 190 x 130 mm (text space: 110 x 70 mm).

Foliation: ff. 107 (+ 3 unfoliated medieval parchment leaves after ff. 1, 16, 90; + 1 paper and 1 unfoliated medieval parchment flyleaf at the beginning and at the end); f. 1 is a medieval parchment flyleaf.

Script: Gothic.

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

The lower portion of the page is cut away on ff. 14 and 15, probably to excise added medieval inscriptions (the ascenders are still visible above the cut on f. 15r).

Custodial History:

Origin:

Besançon, France.

Provenance:

Added prayers in French (ff. 91r-107v) by a contemporary hand in Gothic cursive script.

Inscribed 'A Christo Nato Anno MCCCCIIX' (?) (f. 2r).

Possibly 17th century: inscribed on a piece of parchment 'Cassegrain' (pasted to f. 1r).

Nathaniel Noel (fl. 1681, d. c. 1753), bookseller, employed by Edward Harley for buying books and manuscripts chiefly on the Continent, where his agent was George Suttie: sold to Edward Harley on 16 January 1720/1 (see Wright, Fontes (1972), p. 254).

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 '16 die Januarij A.D. 1720/21' (f. 1).

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. 2947.

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. 18.

Frederic Spencer, 'The Legend of St Margaret', Modern Language Notes, 7 (1889), 197-201 (p. 199).

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. 254.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)