Harley MS 6561

Contents:

ff. 2r-202v: Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples (b. c. 1450, d. 1536), Epistres et Evangiles des cinquante et deux sepmaines de l'an [Epistles and Gospels for the Fifty-two Weeks of the Year], translated into English and French by George Boleyn (b. c. 1504, d. 1536), Viscount Rochford, for his sister Anne Boleyn (b. c. 1500, d. 1536), whom he addresses in an introduction on ff. 2r-2v: ‘Our frendly dealynges with so divers and sondry benifites, besydes the perpetuall bond of blood, have so often bownd me, Madame, inwardly to love you, dayly to prayse you, and continually to sarve you, that in every of theym I m[u]st become your debtour for want of pooire, but nothyng of my good wyll [etc.]’; with a table of contents on f. 3r that features the English title: ‘The Pistellis and Gospelles for the .lij. Sondayes in the yere begynnyng at the furst Sonday of Advent’. The Epistle or Gospel is written in French, the litugrical dates and commentaries in English.

The manuscript contains an addition:

ff. 203r-203v: A leaf from an English liturgical manuscript; written in the late 14th century.

Decoration:

A full-page miniature of the Crucifixion, featuring the Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, and Mary Magdalene in colours, with a full architectural border featuring sculptures of St Peter and St Paul in the inner and outer borders and a cherub in the lower margin in gold, and the coat of arms of Anne Boleyn and subsidiary medallions of the four evangelists in colours (f. 3v). A full architectural border in gold with three roundels in colours: one features the coat of arms of Anne Boleyn, the other two are heavily damaged, but probably featured the monogram ‘HENREXSL’ [probably for ‘HENricus REX, Sovereign Lord’] and the initials ‘A. P.’ [Anne Pembroke] that can be found in initials throughout this manuscript (f. 3r). A full architectural border with a cherub in the lower margin in gold (f. 4r). The coat of arms of Anne Boleyn with a crown in colours and gold in a gold frame with a background in purple, gold and grey, featuring the monogram 'HENREXSL' in gold [x4] (f. 3r). 1 large (6-line) violet initial with acanthus motifs featuring the arms of Anne Boleyn with a crown in colours and gold in a gold frame with a grey ground (f. 4r). Numerous small (3-line) initials in white, blue, gold or violet, on grey grounds, alternately featuring the arms of Anne Boleyn, the monogram ‘HENREXSL’, and the initials 'A. P.'. Numerous small (1-line) initials in gold on red grounds. Rubrics and running headers in blue. The leaf from a 14th-century English liturgical manucsript (ff. 203r-20rv) featues small (2-line) blue initials with red penwork decoration and rubrics in red.