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Harley MS 5370

Record Id:

040-002051216

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002051216

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000859.0x00037b

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 5370

Title:

Book of Hours, Use of Angers

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 1r-12v: Calendar.

ff. 13r-17v: The life of Christ according to the Four Gospels.

ff. 17v-24r: Obsecro te.

ff. 24r-30r: O intemerata.

ff. 30r-30v: Salve regina.

ff. 30v-32r: Short prayers ('antiphons') to the Virgin Mary, beginning: 'Ave regina celo', 'Regina celi letare', 'Immolata intacta et casta es maria'.

ff. 32r-32r: Prayer to God, beginning: 'Omnipotens sempiterne deus qui gloriose virginis matris marie corpus et animam ut dignum filij tui habitaculum effici mereretur spiritu sancto cooperavisti'.

ff. 33r-126v: The Hours of the Virgin Mary.

ff. 127r-144r: The Seven Penitential Psalms.

ff. 144r-152v: Litany of Saints; followed by prayers to God.

ff. 153r-155v: Memoria of St Christopher.

ff. 156r-158r: Memoria of St Sebastian.

ff. 158r-159v: Memoria of St Eustace.

ff. 160r-161r: Memoria of St Mathurin in Larchant.

ff. 161v-162v: Memoria of St Anthony.

ff. 163r-164r: Memoria of St Betram of Le Mans.

ff. 164v-165r: Memoria of St Francis.

ff. 165v-166v: Memoria of St Augustine.

ff. 167r-168r: Memoria of St Katherine.

ff. 168v-169r: Memoria of St Margaret.

ff. 169v-170v: Memoria of St Mary Magdalene.

ff. 171r-172v: Memoria of All Saints.

ff. 173r-220r: The Office of the Dead.

The manuscript contains a later addition:

ff. [247]recto-[248]verso: A calculation of the number of miniatures and borders in French; added in a 16th- or 17th-century hand.

Decoration:

24 full-page miniatures with decorated initials and full foliate borders, in colours and gold (ff. 33r, 48v, 64r, 66r, 68r, 79r, 87v, 96r, 104v, 116v, 127r, 153r, 156r, 158v, 160r, 161v, 163r, 164v, 165v, 167r, 168v, 169v, 171r, 173r).

The subjects of the miniatures are as follows:

f. 33r: The Annunciation.

f. 48v: The Visitation.

f. 64r: Christ on the Cross.

f. 66r: The Holy Spirit descends on the Apostles.

f. 68r: The Nativity.

f. 79r: The Annunciation to the Shepherds.

f. 87v: The Adoration of the Magi.

f. 96r: The Presentation of Christ in the Temple

f. 104v: The Flight into Egypt.

f. 116v: The Coronation of the Virgin Mary.

f. 127r: King David kneeling down in prayer.

f. 153r: St Christopher.

f. 156r: St Sebastian.

f. 158v: St Eustace.

f. 160r: St Mathurin in Larchant exorcising demoniacs.

f. 161v: St Anthony.

f. 163r: St Bertram of Le Mans.

f. 164v: St Francis.

f. 165v: St Augustine.

f. 167r: St Katherine.

f. 168v: St Margaret.

f. 169v: St Mary Magdalene.

f. 171r: All Saints.

f. 173r: A funeral service.

The miniatures are executed by different hands: one miniature in the style of the Dunois Master (f. 33r), one or two hands linked to the style of the late Bedford Master workshop (ff. 48v, 64r, 127r, 153r, 156r, 158v, 161v, 169v), and four local illuminators, A (ff. 66r, 6r8, 116v, 160r, 173r), B (ff. 79r, 164v, 167r), C (ff. 87v, 96r, 104v, 163r), and D (ff. 168v, 171r).

2 large decorated initials with partial foliate borders, in colours and gold, for the Obsecro te and the O intemerata (ff. 18r, 24r). Large initials (2-3 lines) in gold on red and blue grounds with partial foliate borders. Small initials and line fillers in gold on red and blue grounds.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002051216", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 5370: Book of Hours, Use of Angers" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002051216

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 5370 : Book of Hours, Use of Angers

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[5372]/040-002051216

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

French
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1445

End Date:

1455

Date Range:

c 1450

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 155 x 115 mm (text space: 90 x 50 mm).

Foliation: ff. i + 220 (+ 28 unfoliated parchment flyleaves at the end); f. i is a medieval parchment flyleaf; 1 unfoliated paper pastedown on the inside cover (bibliographical notes).

Collation: i12 (ff. 1-12), ii-iii8 (ff. 13-28), iv4 (ff. 29-32); v-viii8 (ff. 33-65), ixseven (ff. 66-72), x-xv8 (ff. 73-120), xvi6 (ff. 121-126); xvii-xxi8 (ff. 127-166), xxii6 (ff. 167-172); xxiii-xxviii8 (ff. 173-220)

Script: Gothic.

Binding: Pre-1600. Gold-tooled brown leather, 16th century; traces of clasps; gilt edges.

Custodial History:

Origin:

Western France (Angers).

Provenance:

Unidentified original owner: their erased arms on ff. 48v, 64r, 66r, 127r, 173r.

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, p. 262 (no. 5370).

Walter de Gray Birch and Henry Jenner, Early Drawings and Illuminations: An Introduction to the Study of Illustrated Manuscripts (London: Bagster, 1879), p. 17.

Janet Backhouse, Illumination from Books of Hours (London: British Library, 2004), fig. 38.

Gregory T. Clark, Art in a Time of War (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 2016), p. 273.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Places:

Angers, France
Western France