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Harley MS 2985
- Record Id:
- 040-002048816
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002048816
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000761.0x000113
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 2985
- Title:
- Book of Hours, Use of Sarum
- Scope & Content:
-
Book of Hours, Use of Sarum, made in the Southern Netherlands for the English market. The manuscript includes:
ff. 1r-12v: Calendar, with the following English saints: David, Chad, Edward, Richard of Chichester, Guthlac, Alphege, John of Beverly, Aldelm, Augustine of Canterbury, Translation of Edward, Translation of Edmund, Swithun, Kenelm, Oswald, Cathburga, Translation of Cuthbert, Edith, Edmund, with references to Thomas Becket erased.
ff. 13r-18v: The Fifteen Oes (without an introduction that associates the prayers with Birgitta of Sweden).
ff. 19v-40v: Suffrages, with the suffrage for Thomas Becket excised (f. 30r-v).
ff. 41v-78v: Hours of the Virgin with suffrages at the end of Lauds (ff. 54v-60v).
ff. 79r-86v: Prayers to the Virgin: ff. 79r-82v: 'Salve virgo virginum stella matutina'; ff. 82v-84v: ‘O intemerata’; ff. 84v-86v: ‘Obsecro te’.
ff. 86v-89v: Seven Joys of the Virgin Mary.
ff. 90r-92v: Prayer to the Holy Cross and the wounds of Christ, incipit: ‘Triumphale lignum crucis.’
ff. 93r-95r: Prayer of Bede on the Seven Last Words of Christ, incipit: 'Domine iesu christe qui septem verba.'
ff. 95r-96r: Prayer to Christ, incipit: 'Ave domine ihesu christen verbum patris.’
ff. 96r-96v: Prayer to the body of Christ with indulgences, incipit: 'Domine Iesu Christe qui hanc sacratissimam carnem.'
ff. 95*r-108v: Seven Penitential Psalms with Litany.
ff. 109r-127v: Office of the Dead.
ff. 128v-139v: Commendation of the Souls.
ff. 140v-145v: Psalter of the Passion with the prayer ‘Suscipere digneris’.
ff. 146v-156v: Psalter of St Jerome (an abridged version of the Psalter for those who wanted to, but were unable to recite all 150 Psalms daily).
Decoration:
12 small miniatures, in colours and gold, in the upper margins at the beginning of each month in the calendar (ff. 1r-12v). 19 full-page miniatures, with large decorated initials and full foliate borders, in colours and gold on facing pages (ff. 19v, 21v, 23v, 25v, 27v, 29v, 31v, 33v, 35v, 37v, 39v, 41v, 48v, 61v, 71v, 74v, 128v, 140v, 146v). 7 full-page miniatures are missing, the facing pages with large decorated initials and full foliate borders, in colours and gold (ff. 13r, 65r, 67r, 69r, 79r, 95*r, 109r). 15 large historiated initials, in colours and gold, in the suffrages at the end of Lauds in the Hours of the Virgin and at the beginning of prayers (ff. 54v, 55v, 56v, 57r, 57v, 58r, 59v, 87r, 90r (x2), 90v (x2), 91r (x2), 91v). 3 historiated initials are cut out, one for the suffrage to St Peter and St Paul (f. 56r), one for the prayer to the image of Christ (f. 89v), and one for the prayer of Bede on the Seven Last Words (f. 93r). 1 large decorated initial, in colours and gold, at the beginning of a prayer (f. 83r). 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 gold and blue.
The subjects of the miniatures are:
f. 1r: A man warming his feet; Aquarius (January).
f. 2r: A man cutting branches; Pisces (February).
f. 3r: A man chopping wood; Aries (March).
f. 4r: Clerics and a chapel; Taurus (April).
f. 5r: A man falconing; Gemini (May).
f. 6r: Mowing of the grass; Cancer (June).
f. 7r: Harvesting of wheat; Leo (July).
f. 8r: Threshing of wheat; Virgo (August).
f. 9r: Pressing of wine; Libra (September).
f. 10r: Sowing; Scorpio (October).
f. 11r: Feeding pigs; Sagittarius (November).
f. 12r: The slaughter of a pig; Capricorn (December).
f. 19v: The Trinity (beginning of the Suffrages).
f. 21v: St John the Baptist (Suffrage to St John the Baptist).
f. 23v: St John the Evangelist (Suffrage to St John the Evangelist).
f. 25v: St George (Suffrage to St George).
f. 27v: St Christopher (Suffrage to St Christopher).
f. 29v: The martyrdom of St Thomas Becket (Suffrage to St Thomas Becket excised)
f. 31v: St Anne (Suffrage to St Anne).
f. 33v: St Mary Magdalene (Suffrage to St Mary Magdalene).
f. 35v: St Catherine (Suffrage to St Catherine).
f. 37v: St Margaret (Suffrage to St Margaret).
f. 39v: St Barbara (Suffrage to St Barbara).
f. 41v: Christ praying in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matins).
f. 48v: The Arrest of Christ (Lauds)
f. 54v: Initial ‘V’(eni) of the dove of the Holy Spirit.
f. 55v: Initial ‘M’(ichael) of St Michael.
f. 56v: Initial ‘A’(ndreas) of St Andrew.
f. 57r: Initial ‘S’(tephanus) of St Stephen.
f. 57v: Initial ‘L’(aurentius) of St Lawrence.
f. 58r: Initial ‘B’(eatus) of St Nicholas.
f. 59v: Initial ‘O’(mnes) of All Saints.
f. 61v: Christ before Pilate (Prime).
f. 71v: The Deposition (Vespers).
f. 74v: The Lamentation (Compline).
f. 87r: Initial ‘V’(irgo) of the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple (The Seven Joys of the Virgin Mary).
f. 90r: Initial ‘T’(riumphale) of the three crosses.
f. 90r: Initial ‘A’(ve) of Christ’s face.
f. 90v: Initial ‘S’(alve) of Christ’s wounded hand.
f. 90v: Initial ‘A’(ve) of Christ’s wounded hand.
f. 91r: Initial ‘O’(fons) of Christ’s heart.
f. 91r: Initial ‘S’(alve) of Christ’s wounded foot.
f. 91v: Initial ‘L’(evi) of Christ’s wounded foot.
f. 128v: The Commendation of the Souls.
f. 140v: Christ as the Man of Sorrows with the Arma Christi (Psalter of the Passion).
f. 146v: St Jerome (Psalter of St Jerome).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002048816", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 2985: Book of Hours, Use of Sarum" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002048816 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 2985 : Book of Hours, Use of Sarum - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[2986]/040-002048816
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_2985 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1450
- End Date:
- 1474
- Date Range:
- 3rd quarter of the 15th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 215 x 150 mm (text space: 115 x 75 mm).
Foliation: ff. 156 (+ 5 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves: 3 at the beginning and 2 at the end); + 4 leaves that were mistakenly given the same number as their preceding leaves: ff. 95[*], 96[*], 118[*], and 141[*].
Script: Gothic.
Binding: British Museum/British Library in-house binding. Diced brown calf.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Southern Netherlands.
Provenance:
Space left for heraldic arms (f. 42r).
References to St Thomas Becket and words 'pape' erased in the calendar and litany; text page with the suffrage to St Thomas Becket cut out, except the upper and lower margins (f. 30r).
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.
- Administrative Context:
- Southern Netherlands.
- Information About Copies:
-
Select digital coverage available for this manuscript, see Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm.
- Publications:
-
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London, 1808-1812), II, no. 2985.
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. 16.
The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain (Cambridge: University Press, 1999-), III: 1400-1557, ed. by Lotte Hellinga and J. B. Trapp (1999), pl. 2.3.
Nicolas Rogers, ‘Patrons and Purchasers: Evidence for the Original Owners of Books of Hours Produced in the Low Countries for the English Market’, in ’Als Ich Can’: Liber Amicorum in Memory of Professor Dr. Maurits Smeyers, ed. by Bert Cardon and others, 2 vols (Paris: Uitgeverij Peeters, 2002), pp. 1165-81 (p. 1166).
Eamon Duffy, Marking the Hours: English People and Their Prayers 1240-1570 (New Haven: Yale, 2006), p. 152, fig. 99.
John Lowden, 'Treasures Known and Unknown in the British Library', Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts Virtual Exhibition, http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/TourKnownC.asp, accessed 27 May 2017.
- Exhibitions:
- Thomas Becket: Murder and the Making of a Saint, British Museum, London, 20 May 2021 - 22 August 2021
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)