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Harley MS 2979

Record Id:

040-002048810

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002048810

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000761.0x00010d

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 2979

Title:

Book of Hours, Use of Clermont (Hours of the Virgin), and Use of Brioude (Hours of the Dead)

Scope & Content:

This late 14th-century Book of Hours is especially known for it miniatures by the Workshop of Jean of Toulouse at Avignon. However, the manuscript contains also contains unusual textual items. Amongs these are previously unknown excerpts of the Prologue and Epilogue of Robert of Sorbonne (b. 1201, d. 1274), La Voie de Paradis. This work has previously only been identified in four French manuscripts and a Middle English translation in Harley MS 1671 (see Diekstra, The Middle English Weye of Paradys (1991), pp. 3-14).

Contents:

ff. 8r-19v: Calendar including Provençal saints such as Elzéar (September), Catalan and Aragonese saints such as Eulalia (December) and Quiteria (May), and Lombard saints such as Tecla (September), Nazario and Celso (July).

ff. 20r-65r: The Hours of the Virgin Mary, with a partially erased heading: 'Incipiunt hore beate marie ad usum cla[r?]is m[onti?]s'.

ff. 65v-72r: 'Officium beate marie in adventu domini'.

ff. 72r-79r: 'Officium a natale domini usque ad purificacionem beate virginis marie'.

ff. 79r-79v: 'Oracio ad beatam mariam virginem', beginning: 'O domina glorie. O regina leticie fons pietatis et misericordie vena sanctitatis'.

ff. 80r-83r: The Hours of the Holy Spirit.

ff. 83v-87v: The Hours of the Cross.

ff. 87v-95r: The Office of the Dead, Use of Rome, beginning: 'In agenda mortuorum ad vesperas antiphona'.

ff. 95v-96v: The Office of the Dead, entitle 'Officium Mortuorum', beginning: 'Regem cui omnia vivunt venite ex[s]ultemus'.

ff. 97r-129v: The Vigils of the Dead, entitled: 'Matutine mortuorum', beginning: 'Dirige. Verba mea auribus percipe domine'.

ff. 130r-132r: The Seven Penitential Psalms.

ff. 132r-142v: The Litany of Saints, including Martial and Peter of Luxembourg; followed by prayers to God and Christ.

ff. 142v-144v: Bede the Venerable, Prayer on the Seven Last Words of Christ.

ff. 144r-145r: Prayer to Christ, with a rubric: 'Oracio habet indulgenciam xl. dierum a domino iohanne papa duodecimo', beginning: 'Interveniat pro nobis quesumus domine ihesu Christe nunc et in hora mortis nostre'.

ff. 145r-145v: Prayer to God, with a rubric: 'Oracio ad crucem quam fecit dominus bonifacius papa .viij. et statuit et ordinavit ac voluit ut quicumque eam dixerit hinc ad .xxx.ta saltuem semel in die cum affectu et devocione consequatur veniam omnium suorum peccatorum', beginning: 'Deus qui voluisti pro redempcione mundi a iudeis reprobari'.

ff. 146r-171v: Offices and Masses, including 'Officium de Trinitate', 'Missa de sancto spiritu', '[Missa] de sancta cruce', 'De cruce officium', 'Missa in quacumque tribulacione', and 'Archangeli officium'.

ff. 172r-176r: Prayers on the Fifteen Joys of the Virgin Mary, beginning imperfectly due to a removed folio (probably containing a miniature of the Virgin Mary): '[qui portastes] ihesu crist .ix. mois en vos precieux flans'; with prayers to the Virgin Mary in Middle French, beginning: 'tres douce dame vierge pucelle marie'

ff. 176v-180r: Prayers on the Seven Requests to Our Lord, with an introduction explaining the rewards attached to them: 'Quicumques veult estee bien conseillie de la chose dont il a grant mestier die chascun iour a coustumemant ces oroisons que vous trouerez ici escriptes [etc.]', beginning: 'Doux dieu doulx pere sainte trinite'.

ff. 180v-183r: Seven Masses for times of captivity or tribulation, with a rubric: 'Quicumque in captivitate sive in tribulacione fuerit. has missas cotidie per septem dies faciat dicere vel dixerit ab omni periculo liberabitur et debent incipi in die dominico vel in quinta feria et ille qui per se dicit vel facit dicere dicat istam oracionem quando misse celebrantur inmedia te post quamlibet missam', including Masses of the Annunciation, Nativity, Resurrection, Ascension, Assumption, Epiphany, and 'Architridino'.

ff. 183r-184v: A Mass for times of tribulation, with a rubric: 'Iste misse et oraciones pro maxima tribulacione dicantur per ordinem modo supra notato et deo prestante fiet ad concupitum quod desideratur. Sanctus Augustinus hanc oracionem scripsit et si quis eam super se portaverit in scriptis et ipsam legerit. in illa die inimici eius nocere non poterit nec in aqua nec in igne non peribit nec mortiferum nocebit ei nec de morte subitanea morietur et si anima eius fuerit egressa a corpore eius inferno non apropinquabit nec meretur nec dominacio neque aliqua factura non nocebit ei et quod vis a deo pecierit dabitur ei', beginning: 'Deus propicius esto michi peccatori cunctis diebus vite et mee'.

The manuscript contains several additions:

ff. 1v-4v: Devotional text on commemorating the Passion at the canonical hours in Middle French, beginning: 'Pour lamour de notre seigneur doit homme et fame avoir couleur de ce qui la courocie per pechie'; written in the 15th century.

ff. 4v-6r: Devotional text on heavenly joys in Middle French, beginning: 'Quant homme et famme qui est en pechie on qui a este en pechie se porpense bien en son cuer de ce que il a perdu les grans ioies de paradis il a grant occoison de avoir douleur au cuer'; written in the 15th century.

ff. 185r-187r: Prologue of Robert of Sorbonne's La Voie de Paradis, beginning: 'Douz pere onipotent qui tout de noient creas et pour la perte que tu eus en paradis le monde du lignaige humain estoras et puis fu tout obligie a la mort denfer par le pechie de adam le premier pere'; written in the 15th century.

ff. 187r-188v: Epilogue of Robert of Sorbonne's La Voie de Paradis, beginning: 'Vrais pere de gloire douz ihesu crist'; written in the 15th century.

ff. 188v-189r: Prayer for the Elevation, with a rubric: 'Supplicante domino philipo rege francorum dicenti oracionem sequentem concessit bonifacius papa .vi. duo milia annorum indulencie dum modo illam dicat. Inter elevacionem corporus Christi et ter quando agnus dei', beginning: 'Domine ihesu Christ qui hanc sacratissimam carnem de gloriose virginis marie utero assumpsisti'.

ff. 189r-189v: Prayer to God, with a rubric: '[A]sserit et affirmat augustinus quod devote dicens oracionem cotidie sequentem genibus flexis et cum devocione non morietur in peccator mortali', beginning: 'Aspice in me in felicem pietas'.

f. 189v: Prayer of St Jerome ('Oracio beati ieronimi'), beginning: 'Gloriose deus qui beatum ieronimum ut germinaret ecclesie vita'; written in the 15th century.

ff. 189v-190r: Prayer to Christ, beginning: 'Domine ihesu Christe adiuva me'; written in the 15th century.

f. 190r: Prayer to the Eucharist, entitled: 'Pulcra oracio corporis et sanguinis Christi', beginning: 'In conspectu et presencia corporis et sanguinis tui domine ihesu Christe'; written in the 15th century.

f. 190v: Prayer to St Blaise, entitled: 'oracio beati blasii', beginning: 'Deus qui per oracionem beati blasii martiris tui atque pontificis cunctis eiusdem memoriam facentibus de quaqumque in firmitate vel aversitate tenerentur liberari concesisti'; written in the 15th century.

f. 190v: Prayer to the Holy Cross, entitled: 'Oroison de la croys', beginning: 'Saincte vraye croys aoree'; written in the 15th century.

f. 191r: Notes in French, with reference to the Diocese of Évreux in Normandy; writen in the 16th century.

Decoration:

20 small miniatures of the Signs of the Zodiac and Labours of the Month in the lower margin of the calendar, in colours and gold (ff. 8r-19v); 4 small miniatures cut out (ff. 10r-10v, 14r-14v). 11 half-page miniatures with large decorated initials, the first with a historiated initial, and full foliate borders including dragons, in colours and gold (ff. 20r, 51r, 54r, 57r, 80r, 83v, 87v, 88r, 95v, 130r, 176v); 4 miniatures missing after ff. 36 (Lauds), 44 (Prime), 48 (Terce), 61 (Compline). Large and small decorated initials with full, three-sided or partial foliate borders, in colours and gold. Small initials and line-fillers in gold on red and blue grounds. Capital letters highlighted in yellow.

The miniatures have been attributed to the workshop of Jean de Toulouse, also known as Giovanni da Tolosa, in Avignon (see Freeman Sandler, 'Book of Hours' (2005), pp. 258-262); one miniature on f. 95v is attributed to Jean Bandini (see Manzari, 'La Miniatura ad Avignone' (2004), p. 244). The manuscript is very close in style to Parma, Biblioteca Palatina, Ms. Pal. 203, another Book of Hours from the 4th quarter of the 14th century that was made by the workshop of Jean de Toulouse.

The subject of the half-page miniatures are as follows:

f. 20r: The Annunciation.

f. 51r: The Adoration of the Magi.

f. 54r: The Flight into Egypt.

f. 57r: The Massacre of the Innocents.

f. 80r: Pentecost.

f. 83v: Christ on the Cross.

f. 87v: The raising of Lazarus

f. 88r: A Funeral.

f. 95v: The Resurrection.

f. 130r: Christ in Majesty in a mandorla with the symbols of the Four Evangelists in the corners.

f. 176v: The Virgin Mary with Christ Child seated, with a bearded man in a brown robe (presumably, the manuscript's commissioner) kneeling before them.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002048810", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 2979: Book of Hours, Use of Clermont (Hours of the Virgin), and Use of Brioude (Hours of the Dead)" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002048810

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 2979 : Book of Hours, Use of Clermont (Hours of the Virgin), and Use of Brioude (Hours of the Dead)

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[2980]/040-002048810

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:

1385

End Date:

1395

Date Range:

c 1390- c 1400

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 195 x 130 mm (text space: 120 x 70 mm).

Foliation: ff. 191 (+ 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 3 at the end); 1 unfoliated paper pastedown on f. [ii]recto (bibliographical notes)

Script: Gothic.

Binding: Post-1600. Harleian binding of gold-tooled red leather; marbled endpapers; gilt edges.

Custodial History:

Origin:

Avignon, Southern France.

Provenance:

Unidentified original owner: their erased arms (f. 20r) and depiction in a miniature (f. 176v).

'Thomas Le clere', 16th century: inscribed with his name on ff. 1r, 65r (not in Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972)).

'Jaques Lescuyer', 1579: inscribed in French with his name and the date on ff. 6v-7r, and on ff. 149v, and 188v: 'Pour moy Jaques Lesquyer' (not in Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972)).

La Vallé collection, 16th century: inscribed 'Ex Libris Vallee', 16th/17th century; added prayers on ff. 190v, 191v (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 336).

Nathaniel Noel (d. c. 1753), bookseller, employed by Edward Harley for buying books and manuscripts chiefly on the Continent, where his agent was George Suttie: acquired from him for the Harleian LIbrary on 13 August 1724 (see Diary, ed. by Wright and Wright (1966), II, p. 304 n. 7; Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 253).

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 '13 die mensis Augusti, A.D. 1724' (f. 1r).

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. 723 (no. 2979).

Millard Meiss, French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: The Late XIV Century and the Patronage of the Duke, 2 vols, National Gallery of Art Kress Foundation Studies in the History of European Art, 2 (London: Thames and Hudson, 1967), I, 240, II, fig. 766.

Französische Gotik und Renaissance in Meisterwerk der Buchmalerei. Ausstellung der Handschriften und Inkunabelsammlung der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek, ed. by Dagmar Thoss and Otto Pächt (Vienna: 1978), p. 95 [exhibition catalogue].

The Middle English Weye of Paradys and the Middle French Voie De Paradis: A Parallel-Text Edition, ed. by F. N. M. Diekstra (Leiden: Brill, 1991), pp. 3-14 [without this manuscript].

Janet Backhouse, Illumination from Book of Hours (London: British Library, 2004), no. 35.

Lucy Freeman Sandler, 'Book of Hours', in The Splendor of the Word: Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts at the New York Public Library, ed. by Jonathan J. G. Alexander, James H. Marrow, and Lucy Freeman Sandler (London: Harvey Miller, 2005), pp. 258-262 (no. 55) [exhibition catalogue].

Francesca Manzari, La Miniatura ad Avignone al Tempo dei Papi (1310-1410) (Modena: Franco Cosimo Panini, 2006), pp. 241, 243-45, 249, 266, 348, 349, fig. 124 (f. 95v).

Michel Huglo and Barbara Haggh-Huglo, 'L'office de Saint-Julien de Brioude,' in Brioude aux temps carolingiens: actes du colloque international organisé par la ville de Brioude, 13-15 Septembre 2007, ed. by Alain Dubreucq, Christian Lauranson-Rosaz, and Bernard Sanial (Le Puy-en-Velay: Éditions de la Société académique du Puy et de la Haute-Loire, 2010), pp. 413-26, p. 414.

Francesca Manzari, 'Harley MS. 2979 and the Books of Hours Produced in Avignon by the Workshop of Jean de Toulouse', Electronic British Library Journal (2011), Article 11, 1-19.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Bede the Venerable, Saint, c 673-735,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000120962352,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/61539765
Robert of Sorbonne [de Sorbon], theologian, chaplain to Louis IX of France, canon at Paris, founder of the Sorbonne College, 1201-1274,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000109231970

Places:

Avignon, France
Southern France