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Harley MS 5781

Record Id:

040-002051628

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002051628

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000899.0x00012f

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 5781

Title:

Book of Hours, Use of Nantes

Scope & Content:

Contents:

f. 1: Paper flyleaf.

f. 2r: Paper flyleaf with an added description of the manuscript, 17th/18th-century.

ff. 3r-14v: Calendar.

ff. 15r-21r: Gospel readings.

f. 21r-v: Prayer, beginning 'Deus qui manus tuas et pedes tuos'.

ff. 21v-22r: Prayer to the Virgin, beginning 'Ave cuius conceptio solemni plena'.

ff. 22r-v: Prayer, beginning 'Deus qui nos conceptionis'.

ff. 22v-23r: Prayer to the Virgin, beginning 'Precor te domina sancta Maria mater Dei pietate plenissima summi'.

ff. 23r-25v: Prayer to St Peter of Luxemburg, beginning 'Deus pater qui creasti mundum'.

ff. 26r-28v: Prayer to the Virgin in French, beginning 'Ma dame sainte Marie mere de Dieu tres plaine de pitie'.

ff. 28v-30v: Prayer to the Virgin in French, beginning 'Tres certaine esperance dame et deffenderesse'.

ff. 31r-87v: Hours of the Virgin, with the Hours of the Holy Spirit after Lauds (ff. 62r-66v), and without Prime.

ff. 89r-94v: 'Obsecro te'.

ff. 96r-105v: Penitential Psalms.

ff. 106r-113r: Litany.

ff. 114r-122v: Psalms.

ff. 124r-160r: Office of the Dead.

ff. 161r-188v: Hours of the Passion of Christ.

ff. 190r-199v: Suffrages to saints, St Michael, St John the Baptist, Sts Peter and Paul, St James, St Stephen, St Christopher, St Sebastian, St George, St Julian, St Leonard, St Martin, St Francis, St Anthony, St Mary Magdalene, St Catherine, All Saints, Christ's Passion, the Virgin at Christ's Passion, the Trinity, St Margaret.

ff. 200-201: Ruled parchment leaves.

f. 202r-v: The seven verses of St Bernard.

ff. 203r-204v: Prayer to the Virgin, beginning 'Stabat mater dolorosa'.

ff. 204v-205r: Prayer to Christ, beginning 'Interveniat pro nobis quesumus domine Jhesu Christe apud tuam clemenciam'.

ff. 205r:-206v: Prayers against the Seven Deadly Sins, in French.

f. 207r: Prayer to the Virgin, in French, beginning 'Tresdoulce dame pure et necte'.

ff. 207r-208r: Prayers to the Evangelists for going to bed ('Oroyson a dire quant on se chouche de St Mathe', etc.).

f. 208r-v: Prayer before the crucifix ('Oroison devote devant la crucifi').

f. 209r-v: Prayer to the Holy Face, beginning 'Salve sancta facies nostri redemptoris'.

ff. 210r-211r: Prayer to the Virgin, in Latin and French, beginning 'Salve maris stella, ave de mer estoille clere'.

f. 211r: Prayer to Christ, beginning 'Anima Christi sanctifica me'.

f. 211v: Prayers, beginning 'Ave verum corpus natum', and 'Domine non sum dignus'.

f. 212r: Hymn on the Passion, beginning 'Cruci corone spinee'.

f. 212v: Prayer, beginning 'Sit dulce nomen domini nostri Ihesu Christi benedictum'.

f. 213r: Prayer, beginning 'Ave principium nostrae creationis'.

ff. 213v-214r: Prayer to be said before the body of our Lord, beginning 'Ave verum corpus Christ'.

f. 214r-v: Prayer of the blood of our Lord, beginning 'Ave sacer Christi sanguis'.

ff. 214v-215r: Prayers for the time of the Passion, beginning 'Angelus autem domini descendit de celo', and 'Deus qui per unigenitum tuum'.

f. 216: blank parchment flyleaf.

f. 217: calendar leaf for November-December recycled as a flyleaf, 14th-century.

Rubrics in French.

Decoration:

Attributed to the Master of the Duke François I (König, Französische Buchmalerei (1982), pp. 31, 96).

4 large miniatures with large decorated initials and full foliate borders, the first including birds, in colours and gold: Matins, the Annunciation (f. 31r); the Virgin and Child enthroned with an angel presenting a basket (f. 89r); King David penitent (f. 96r); a funeral service (f. 124r).

12 smaller miniatures with large decorated initials and full foliate borders, in colours and gold: the Hours of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost (f. 62r); Terce, the Annunciation to the shepherds (f. 67r); Sext, the Adoration of the Magi (f. 71r); None, the Presentation at the Temple (f. 74v); Vespers, the Flight into Egypt (f. 78r); Compline, the Coronation of the Virgin (f. 83r); the Arrest of Christ (f. 161r); Christ before Herod, who is washing his hands (f. 167r); the Flagellation of Christ (f. 171v); the nailing to the Cross (f. 176r); the Crucifixion (f. 180r); the Deposition (f. 184v).

3 large decorated initials with full foliate borders, in colours and gold, for Lauds in the Hours of the Virgin and for Terce and Compline in the Hours of the Passion of Christ (ff. 50v, 173r, 187r).

3 large decorated initials with three-sided foliate borders, in colours and gold, for prayers and the first lesson in the Office of the Dead (ff. 26r, 28v, 135v). Small initials and line-fillers in gold on red and blue grounds.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002051628", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 5781: Book of Hours, Use of Nantes" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002051628

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 5781 : Book of Hours, Use of Nantes

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[5784]/040-002051628

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:

1428

End Date:

1449

Date Range:

1428-1449

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 190 x 135 mm (text space: 100 x 65 mm).

Foliation: ff. 216 (+ 2 paper flyleaves at the beginning and 2 at the end). ff. 1-2 are paper flyleaves; f. 216 is a blank medieval parchment flyleaf; f. 217 is a 14th-century calendar leaf recycled as a flyleaf.

Script: Gothic.

Binding: Post-1600. Diced brown calf; gilt edges.

Imprint of text from another book on f. 172r.

Custodial History:

Origin:

Nantes, Eastern France.

Provenance:

Probably made for Béatrice (Beatrix) de La Porte de Vézins (d. before 1428), wife of Gilles de Tournemine, Brittany, whom she married in 1428: arms of Tournemine impaled with La Porte (f. 31r); the prayer 'Obsecro te' uses the feminine form 'miserrime peccatrici' (ff. 92v-93r) (see Deuffic and Lépinay, 'Les Heures' (2007)).

Marguerite Basourdy, 17th century: Inscribed 'Margueritte Bas(our)dy', partially erased (f. 3r).

Added marginal notes (f. 15r, 18r, 19r).

Added description of the manuscript on a flyleaf (f. 2r).

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: Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts, http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: [n. pub.], 1808-12), III, no. 5781.

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.

Eberhard König, Französische Buchmalerei um 1450, Der Jouvenel-Maler, der Maler des Genfer Boccaccio und die Anfänge Jean Fouquets (Berlin: Mann, 1982), pp. 31, 96.

Jean-Luc Deuffic and Bernard de Lépinay, 'Les Heures de Gilles de Tournemine, seigneur breton (+ 1474) : London British Library Harley 5781', Pecia: Le manuscrit médiéval blog: http://blog.pecia.fr/ (16 October 2007).

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)