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Harley MS 2974

Record Id:

040-002048805

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002048805

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000761.0x000106

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 2974

Title:

Book of Hours, Use unidentified

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 1r-12v: Calendar, in French, with saints associated with Metz and Toul, including the translation of St Terentius (16 May), Sts Leguntius and Frominius (16 June), St Mansuetus 'premier evesque de Toul' (3 September), St Gundulf (6 September), St Goericus (19 September), St Libaria (8 October).

ff. 13r-14r: Passion of the Lord according to the Gospel of St John, followed by a collect beginning 'Deus qui manus tuas'.

ff. 15r-16r: Prayer, beginning 'Deus propicius esto michi peccatrici'.

ff. 16r-19v: Gospel lessons.

ff. 20r-88r: Hours of the Virgin, with suffrages at the end of Lauds to the Holy Cross, the Apostles, St Lambert, St Nicholas, St Catherine, St Barbara and All Saints (ff. 47r-49r).

ff. 89r-98v: Penitential Psalms.

ff. 98v-102v: Litany, with saints associated with Metz and Toul, including St Mansuetus, St Gerard, and St Aper.

ff. 103r-107r: Hours of the Cross.

ff. 108r-111r: Hours of the Holy Spirit.

ff. 112r-146v: Office of the Dead, possibly Use of Liege.

ff. 147r-150v: 'Obsecro te', with an extensive rubric referring to St Innocent and promising that the Virgin Mary will reveal the exact hour of their death to those who devoutly say the prayer.

ff. 150v-152r: 'O intemerata'.

ff. 152v-153r: Prayers to the Virgin Mary, beginning 'Salve Maria misericordie' and 'Ave regina celorum'.

ff. 153r-v: Seven verses of St Bernard.

ff. 153v-154r: Collect, beginning 'Deus qui ezechie regi iudee'.

f. 154r-v: Prayer to St Michael, beginning 'O summe Michael archangele qui princeps celestis militie'.

ff. 154v-155r: Prayer to the angels, beginning 'Michael Gabriel Raphael summi nuncii'.

f. 155r: Collect, beginning 'Deus qui miro ordine angelorum'.

ff. 155r-160r: Suffrages to St John the Baptist, St Peter, St John the Evangelist, St James, St Laurence, St Anthony, St Claude, St Sebastian, St George, St Christopher, St Nicholas, St Leonard, St Maur, St William confessor, St Yves of Brittany, St Cezare.

ff. 160v-164r: Prayer to St Peter of Luxembourg, beginning 'Deus pater qui creasti mundum et illuminasti'.

ff. 164r-166r: Suffrages to the Virgin Mary, St Catherine, St Mary Magdalene, St Margaret.

f. 166r-v: Prayer to a guardian angel, beginning 'Obsecro te angelice spiritus'.

f. 167r-v: Prayer to the Three Kings, beginning 'Vos tres reges per singularia nomina scilicet Melchion, Gaspar, Balthazar'.

f. 167v-168r: indulgenced prayer with a supplication to King Phillip, beginning 'Domine Ihesu Christe qui hanc sacratissimam carnem'.

f. 168r-v: Prayer of St Bernard to the Virgin Mary, beginning 'Per te accessum habeamus'.

ff. 168v-169r: Indulgenced prayer of Pope Benedict, beginning 'Benedicat me imperialis maiestas'.

f. 169r-v: Prayer to the Virgin, in French, beginning 'Doulce Vierge Saincte Marie'.

Some rubrics in French.

Decoration:

14 large miniatures with large decorated initials and full foliate borders, in colours and gold: Christ carrying the cross, with owner portraits of a man and a woman presented by St Anthony, and coats of arms (f. 13r); the Annunciation (f. 20r); the Visitation (f. 39r); the Nativity (f. 50r); the Annunciation to the Shepherds (f. 60r); the Adoration of the Magi (f. 65r); the Presentation in the Temple (f. 70r); the Flight into Egypt (f. 76r); the Coronation of the Virgin (f. 83r); King David penitent (f. 89r); the Crucifixion (f. 103r); Pentecost (f. 108r); burial in a churchyard (f. 112r); St Margaret emerging from the dragon (f. 165v).

2 large initials in gold on red and blue grounds (ff. 98v, 147v).

Small initials and line fillers in gold on red and blue grounds.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002048805", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 2974: Book of Hours, Use unidentified" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002048805

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 2974 : Book of Hours, Use unidentified

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[2975]/040-002048805

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:

1450

End Date:

1474

Date Range:

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: 205 x 140 mm (text space: 105 x 75 mm).

Foliation: ff. 169 (+ 3 unfoliated medieval leaves after ff. 19, 88, and 111; + 2 paper and 4 unfoliated medieval parchment flyleaves at the beginning and 3 unfoliated medieval parchment and 2 paper flyleaves at the end).

Script: Gothic.

Binding: British Museum. Diced brown calf; marbled endpapers; gilt edges.

Custodial History:

Origin:

North-East France, possibly Troyes.

Provenance:

Made for a man of the Haussonville family and a woman of the Haraucourt family, perhaps Gaspard, Baron de Haussonville, and Marguerite de Haraucourt, daughter of Jean III, Seigneur de Haraucourt, who married in 1450: their owner portraits and coats of arms on f. 13r. The arms of Haussonville, or a cross gules fretty argent, in the right margin and on the man's tunic; the arms of Haraucourt, or a cross gules, the first quarter argent a lion passant sable, in the lower margin. The identification of the couple as Marguerite and Gaspard is further supported by the fact that the only suffrage that begins with a miniature is for St Margaret (f. 165v), and the manuscript contains an unusual prayer to the Three Kings, 'Melchion, Gaspar, Balthazar' (f. 167r-v). The feminine forms 'michi famule tue' (f. 149r-v) and 'michi peccatrici' (f. 152r) in the prayers suggests that the manuscript was intended primarily for a woman's use.

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 the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts, https://bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: [n. pub.], 1808-12), II, no. 2974.

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.

Janet Backhouse, Illumination from Books of Hours (London: British Library, 2004), fig. 34.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)