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Harley MS 5312

Record Id:

040-002051158

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002051158

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000859.0x000341

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 5312

Title:

Book of Hours, Use of Sarum (imperfect)

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 5r-15v: Calendar.

ff. 15r-23v: Prayers and suffrages, imperfect at the end.

ff. 24r-39v: Suffrages.

ff. 40r-115r: The mixed Hours of the Virgin and of the Cross followed by various prayers including Obsecro te, the Seven Joys of the Virgin, prayers to the wounds of Christ, the Seven Last Words of Christ on the cross (with suffrages after Lauds).

ff. 116r-135v: The Penitential Psalms followed by the litany and various prayers and collects.

ff. 136r-162v: The Office of the Dead.

ff. 163v-179r: The Commendation of Souls.

ff. 180r-197v: Various texts including the Psalter of St Jerome.

Decoration:

14 full-page miniatures in colours and gold surrounded by a full border with flowers and acanthus leaves. Most miniatures have probably been painted on separate leaves, as the rectos are blank (except for ff. 47r and 179r). The subjects of the miniatures are as follows:

f. 15v: Standing Christ and two angels.

f. 26v: John the Baptist.

f. 28v: The martyrdom of Thomas Becket.

f. 30v: Christopher.

f. 32v: Anne, the Virgin and Child.

f. 34v: Catherine.

f. 36v: Barbara.

f. 38v: Margaret.

f. 47v: The Betrayal (Lauds of the Virgin).

f. 64v: Christ before Pilate (Prime of the Virgin).

f. 72: The Carrying of the Cross (Sext of the Virgin).

f. 79v: The Deposition (Vespers of the Virgin).

f. 163v: Souls carried to Heaven by angels (The Commendation of Souls).

f. 179v: Christ with the Arma Christi.

15 historiated initials in colours and gold. The subjects of the miniatures is as follows:

f. 55r: Pentecost (The suffrage to the Holy Spirit).

f. 56v: Michael and the devil.

f. 57v: Peter and Paul.

f. 58r: Andrew.

f. 58v: Stephen.

f. 59r: Laurence.

f. 60r: Nicholas.

f. 62r: All Saints.

f. 100v: The Presentation of the Virgin to the Temple (at the beginning of the Seven Joys of the Virgin).

f. 104r: The Nailing to the Cross.

f. 104v: Three crosses.

f. 105r: The wound in Christ's left hand.

f. 105v: The wound in Christ's side.

f. 105v: The wound in Christ's right foot.

f. 107v: Christ on the Cross, with the thieves.

21 large foliate initials in colours and gold with a full border (ff. 16r, 24r, 27r, 29r, 31r, 33r, 35r, 37r, 39r, 40r, 65r, 69r, 73r, 76r, 80r, 83r, 106r, 116r, 136r, 164r, 180r). Initials in colours and gold, the smaller ones in gold with black pen-flourishing or in blue with red pen-flourishing. Line-fillers in blue and gold.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002051158", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 5312: Book of Hours, Use of Sarum (imperfect)" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002051158

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 5312 : Book of Hours, Use of Sarum (imperfect)

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[5314]/040-002051158

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

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: 90 x 60 mm (text space: 60 x 40 mm).

Foliation: ff. 197 (+ 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the end); 1 unfoliated parchment leaf after f. 1; Lacking folio(s) at least after ff. 23, 39, 47, 104, 105, 113, 135, and 179, including a few miniatures.

Script: Gothic.

Binding: Post-1600. Brown leather with gold fillets and flower motifs; edges tinted dark blue.

Custodial History:

Origin:

Southern Netherlands.

Provenance:

Probably made for an English owner: the calendar includes English saints, and the Litany includes Thomas, Edward, Oswald, Alan, Valentine, ?Uuallepaxte, Agapite, Swunchine (=Swithun?), Editha, Affra.

Unknown 16th-century English owners: added prayer to Thomas of Lancaster in a contemporary hand (ff. 2-3); added prayer, early 16th century (f. 4r-4v); added half-erased inscription, 16th century (f. 1v).

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), III (1808), p. 260.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)