Hard-coded id of currently selected item: . JSON version of its record is available from Blacklight on e.g. ??

Metadata associated with selected item should appear here...

Harley MS 2954

Record Id:

040-002048785

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002048785

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000761.0x0000ea

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 2954

Title:

A Middle Dutch Book of Hours

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 2r-13v: Calendar.

ff. 15r-39v: The Hours of the Virgin Mary; ('die Vrouwe getide').

ff. 40r-46v: The Seven Penitential Psalms ('seven salm').

ff. 46v-50v: Litany of Saints.

ff. 51r-54v: The Hours of the Holy Cross (die H. Cruus getide'), imperfect due to the loss of several folios.

f. 54r: A prayer to the Virgin Mary ('gebet van Onser liever Vrouwen'), beginning: 'O alre liefste moeder cristi die alsoe volstandich bleefste in den ghelove doe di geminde soen alsoe iammerlijc ende alsoe bitterlijck aenden cruce sterf'.

ff. 54r-54v: A prayer to the Guardian angel ('Van dijn ingel'), beginning: 'O mijn heilige engele staet my bi in minen letsten sceiden'.

f. 54v: A prayer for communion ('gebet vanden heiligen sacrament'), beginning: 'Weest gegruet vanden here warachtich lichaem ons heren ihesu cristi Gheoberen vander maecht maria'.

ff. 54v-55r: A prayer for after communion ('Almen ten heiligen sacrament geweest hevet'), beginning: 'Weest gegruet preciose bloet cristi dat gevloeit is wt dersiden ons heren ihesu cristi'.

ff. 55r-55v: A prayer to St Anne ('Van sinte Anna'), beginning: 'Verblijt u heilighe anna salige vrouwe die alsoe groten dochter voert gebrocht hebt'; ending with a 'Collect'.

ff. 55v-56r: A prayer to the Five Wounds ('Tot die heilige vijf wonden ons heren Jhesu Cristi'), beginning: 'O heilige gloriose vijf wonden'.

ff. 57r-67v: Office of the Dead ('de vigilien'); beginning: 'Mi hebben omme bevangen die suchten des doots. Doe droevige leer der hellen hebben mi ombevangen'; and ending with the prayer: 'God die ons vader ende moeder gebods te eren ontferme die sielen mijnre ouderen ende gif hun verlatenisse van haren sonden ende al die mi bevolen sijn ende die mi goet of quaet gedaen hebben'.

The manuscript contains a later addition:

f. 1r: A description of the manuscript in English: 'The Mary Psalter in low Dutch'; added by a modern (? 18th century) hand.

Decoration:

1 large full-page miniature of the Annunciation with full foliate borders, in colours and gold (f. 14v). 4 large initials in gold on red and blue grounds with three-sided foliate borders, in colours and gold (ff. 15r, 40r, 51r, 57r). Smaller initials in gold on red grounds. Small initials (2 or 3 lines) in gold with purple pen-flourishing or in red with blue pen-flourishing or in blue with red pen-flourishing. Small initials (1 line) in plain gold or blue. Capital letters highlighted in red.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002048785", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 2954: A Middle Dutch Book of Hours" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002048785

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 2954 : A Middle Dutch Book of Hours

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[2955]/040-002048785

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

Dutch, Middle
English

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1450

End Date:

1499

Date Range:

2nd half of the 15th century

Era:

Access:

Please request the physical items you need using the online collection item request form.

Digitised items can be viewed online by clicking the thumbnail image or digitised content link.

Readers who have registered or renewed their pass since 21 March 2024 can request physical items prior to visiting the Library by completing
this request form.
Please enter the Reference (shelfmark) above on the request form.

If your Reader Pass was issued before this date, you will need to visit the Library in London or Yorkshire to renew it before you can request items online. All manuscripts and archives must be consulted at the Library in London.

This catalogue record may describe a collection of items which cannot all be requested together. Please use the hierarchy viewer to navigate to individual items. Some items may be in use or restricted for other reasons. If you would like to check the availability, contact our Reference Services team, quoting the Reference (shelfmark) above.

User Conditions:

Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 175 x 120 mm (text space: 90 x 70 mm).

Foliation: ff. 67 (+ 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 1 unfoliated parchment flyleaf and 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the end); f. 1 is a parchment leaf that originally served as a flyleaf; 1 unfoliated blank parchment leaf after f. 1; and 1 between f. 50 and f. 51.

Script: Gothic.

Binding: Post-1600. Blind-tooled speckled brown leather. Marks of two metal clasps from a previous binding are visible on ff. 1-4, and ff. 63-[68].

Custodial History:

Origin:

Northern Netherlands.

Provenance:

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. 722 (no. 2954).

H. Brugmans, Verslag van een onderzoek in Engeland naar archivalia, belangrijk voor de geschiedenis van Nederland in 1892 op last der regeering ingesteld (The Hague: Nijhoff, 1895), p. 419.

Karel de Flou and Edward Gaillard, Beschrijving van Middelnederlandse en andere handschriften die in Engeland bewaard worden, Verslagen en Mededelingen van de Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie voor Taal- en Letterkunde, 3 vols (Ghent: Koninklijke Vlaamsche Academie voor Taal- en Letterkunde, 1895–1897), II (1896), pp. 103-105 (no. 8), 159-160 (no. 18).

Robert Priebsch, Deutsche Handschriften in England, 2 vols (Erlangen: Junge, 1896–1901), II, p. 12 (no. 22).

Johan Oosterman, De gratie van het gebed: Overlevering en functie van Middelnederlandse berijmde gebeden, 2 vols (Amsterdam: Prometheus, 1995), II, p. 346 (no. 124).

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:

Northern Netherlands