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Yates Thompson MS 8

Record Id:

040-002354393

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

032-002354332

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000772.0x0001cb

LARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100161506750.0x000001

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Yates Thompson MS 8

Title:

Breviary, Use of Verdun, Winter portion ('The Breviary of Renaud de Bar' or 'The Breviary of Marguerite de Bar')

Scope & Content:

The first volume of a Breviary, of which the second is now in the Public Library at Verdun (Verdun, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 107). The manuscript appears to have been made for Renaud de Bar, canon of Verdun Cathedral, provost of the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Verdun (from 1302), and Bishop of Metz (1302-1316), whose coat of arms appears throughout the manuscript and who is possibly depicted in several portraits (e.g. ff. 31r, 316r). It has been suggested that the manuscript may have been commissioned for Renaud by his sister, Marguerite de Bar, abbess of St Maur at Verdun, whose possible portrait also appears in the manuscript (f. 31r), or their mother, Jeanne de Toucy, whose arms recur frequently throughout the manuscript. The second volume was left incomplete.

Contents:

ff. 1r-6v: Calendar.

ff. 7r-78r: Psalter, with noted antiphons.

ff. 78r-85v: Canticles.

ff. 83v-85v: Litany.

ff. 85v: Psalm incipits, prayers beginning 'Pietate tua quaesumus domine', 'Presta quesumus omnipotens et misericors Deus', and 'Ora domine quaesumus huic famulo'.

ff. 86r-91r: Office of the Dead, with musical notation.

ff. 92r-248r: Temporale (Winter portion: from First Sunday in Advent to Holy Saturday), with musical notation.

ff. 249r-315r: Sanctorale (from St Saturnus, 30 November, to St Euphemia, 25 March), with musical notation.

ff. 316r-329r: Office for the dedication of a church, with musical notation.

ff. 330r-358r: Common of the Saints, with musical notation.

ff. 358v-359r: Added blessings, beginning, 'Benedicat nos deus pater et custodiat semper', and 'Alma virgo Virginum intercedat pro nobis ad dominum', late 14th or 15th century.

f. 359r: Added text on lucky and unlucky days, in Middle French, beginning, 'Il sunt aucuns jours perileus en lan qui sont perilous et moult maleurous en tel meniere', late 14th or 15th century.

f. 359r-v: Added prayer, beginning, 'Super omnia ligna cedrorum tu sola excelsior', late 14th or 15th century.

f. 359v, 360v: Added directions for prayers, 15th century.

Decoration:

Attributed to the Master of the Pontifical of Renaud de Bar (for the eponymous manuscript, see L'art au temps des rois Maudits (1998) no. 216).

24 small roundels in the calendar, in colours and gold, showing the labours of the months and the signs of the Zodiac (ff. 1r-6v).

12 large historiated initials, accompanied by full foliate borders containing the coats of arms of Bar and de Toucy, sometimes with lozenges at the corners containing small figures, in colours and gold: Psalm 1, Saul throwing his spear at David, who is playing his harp, and David killing Goliath (f. 7r); Psalm 26, Samuel annointing David (f. 17v); Psalm 38, David pointing at his mouth before Christ (f. 24v); Psalm 52, a fool (f. 31r); Psalm 68, King David in the water before God (f. 37v); Psalm 80, King David playing bells (f. 45v); Psalm 97, monks singing (f. 53r); Psalm 109, the Trinity (f. 61r); Isaiah before the mountain of the Lord, with God seated on top (f. 92r); St Andrew pointing to Christ, and the crucifixion of St Andrew (f. 249v); a portrait of Renaud de Bar, identified by his heraldic garment, dedicating a church (f. 316r); Christ speaking to the Apostles (f. 330r).

Small historiated initials (usually 2-lines) with heads of people, figures, biblical scenes etc. on most pages of the manuscript, often with partial foliate borders.

Extensive scenes in the margins and borders, including the coats of arms of Bar and de Toucy as well as:

f. 7r: Squirrels, hawks, birds, the Virgin and Child, a man praying at an altar, a church, an owl, a crowned man riding a horse and holding a hawk, followed by a younger man riding a horse and playing a harp, women musicians and dancers.

f. 17v: A bird and archer, hybrids, birds.

f. 24v: An archer and a rabbit emerging from a hole, two men attempting to fight with swords while each being attacked from behind by a stork.

f. 31r: A bird in a cage, a man with a bird on a long stick, Christ enthroned with a kneeling abbess with a crosier on the left, and a kneeling bishop on the right.

f. 37v: Seated figures, four boys playing a game that seems to involve spinning discs.

f. 45v: Rabbits, dragons, birds, hybrids, musicians and dancers, a man and hounds hunting a deer and hare.

f. 53r: A hybrid bishop and a hybrid man, birds, musicians playing a fiddle and drum and woman dancing, a dog and hare.

f. 61r: A hybrid, a man with a crossbow hunting birds, a man in a red tunic kneeling in prayer.

f. 92r: Three boys playing a game in which one boy has a bag over his head and the other two strike him with pieces of cloth, and a game in which two boys fight one another while each riding on the back of another boy.

f. 249v: Simon Peter and Andrew casting their nets from a fishing boat, Christ asking them to follow him.

f. 316r: King Solomon kneels before an altar.

f. 330r: Two saints being martyred by men with swords before a king seated on a throne.

Marginal scenes of animal, hybrids and people playing games, fighting, hunting, playing music, dancing etc., as well as some scenes from the Bible and from saints' lives, in the margins of almost every page from f. 171r onwards.

Smaller and small decorated initials and line-fillers, numerous containing heraldic arms and figural or zoomorphic decoration, with foliate extensions into the margins, in colours and gold.

Some initials and bas-de-page scenes have been excised (ff. 245r, 265r, 274r, 275r, 276v, 330r).

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Yates Thompson Collection

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002354332
040-002354393

Is part of:

Yates Thompson MS 1-59 : Yates Thompson Manuscripts

Yates Thompson MS 8 : Breviary, Use of Verdun, Winter portion ('The Breviary of Renaud de Bar' or 'The Breviary of Marguerite de…

Hierarchy:

032-002354332[0009]/040-002354393

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Yates Thompson MS 1-59

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100161506750.0x000001

Thumbnail:

Languages:

French, Middle
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1302

End Date:

1303

Date Range:

1302-1303

Era:

Access:

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Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 290 x 205 mm (text space: 195 x 140 mm, in two columns).

Foliation: ff. v + 360 + 212* (+ 3 modern parchment flyleaves at the beginning, and 2 at the end).

f. 212* is a small inserted parchment slip.

Script: Gothic.

Collation: i⁶ (ff. 1-6), ii¹⁰ (ff. 7-16), iii⁸ (ff. 17-24), iv¹⁰ (ff. 25-34), v-viii⁸ (ff. 35-66), ix⁶ (ff. 67-72), x-xi⁸ (ff. 73-88), xii^4-1 (4th leaf excised after f. 91, probably blank; ff. 89-91); xiii-xiv⁸ (ff. 92-107), xv⁸ (the 1st and 8th leaves are singletons; ff. 108-115), xvi^8-1 (8th leaf excised after f. 122, probably blank; ff. 116-122), xvii-xxiv⁸ (ff. 123-186), xxv^8-1 (5th leaf excised after f. 190; ff. 187-193), xxvi^10-1 (7th leaf excised after f. 199; ff. 194-202), xxvii¹⁰ (ff. 203-212, with a split after ff. 212 numbered f. 212*), xxviii⁸ (ff. 213-220), xxix¹²(ff. 221-232), xxx-xxxi⁸ (ff. 233-248); xxxii^8-1 (2nd leaf excised after f. 249; ff. 249-255), xxxiii-xl⁸ (ff. 256-319), xli¹⁰ (ff. 320-330), xlii-xliv⁸ (ff. 331-354), xlv⁴ (ff. 355-358), xlvi² (ff. 359-360).

Binding: Post-1600. Burgundy velvet.

The former binding was described as late 18th or early 19th century, 'paper boards, backed with green morocco; red edges: lettered on the back Psalterium' (James, A Descriptive Catalogue (1898), no. 31, p. 142).

Custodial History:

Origin: Metz, Eastern France.

Provenance:

Made for Renaud de Bar (d. 1316), canon of Verdun Cathedral, provost of the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Verdun (from 1302), Bishop of Metz (1302-1316), between 1302 and 1303: throughout his arms, azure two barbels addorsed crusily fitchy or, a label of 5 points gules and, after f. 212v, over all a crosier argent in bend; also the arms of his mother, Jeanne de Toucy, gules three pales vair, in chief or four martlets gules.

The manuscript and its companion summer volume (Verdun, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 107) were probably begun after Renaud became provost of St Mary Magdalen, Verdun, in 1302 (the dedication of the priory is included in the calendar for 9 October, f. 5v), and before he was installed as bishop of Metz in 1303 (in the first part of the manuscript his arms do not include a bishop's crosier; after f. 212v, a crosier argent in bend is placed on his arms).

It has been suggested that Renaud's sister, Marguerite de Bar, the abbess of the Benedictine abbey of St Maur, Verdun (d. 1304), perhaps commissioned the manuscript for him, and may be represented with Renaud in the bas-de-page scene on f. 31r. However, it may be more likely that the manuscript was commissioned for Renaud by his mother, Jeanne de Toucy, whose coat of arms appears frequently throughout the manuscript.

Added prayers by contemporary hands (ff. 358v-359r, 360v).

Perhaps Émile Deyrolle: later inscription 'vente de Deyrolle libraire' (1st flyleaf [f. ii] recto).

Théophile Belin, Paris bookseller, November 1895: described in his Bréviaire de l'église de Verdun [Paris: [n. pub.], 1895]; bought by Yates Thompson.

Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor: his book-plate inscribed '[MS] 31 / nte.e.e [i.e. £570.0.0] / [bought from] Belin / Jan 29th. / 1896.'; his sale, Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, 3 June 1919, lot 4.

'Bevan', apparently bought for him by Claude Anet for £3,100 (see De Ricci, Les Manuscrits (1926), no. 31, p. 16).

Henry Yates Thompson, re-acquired before 1926.

Bequeathed to the British Museum by Mrs Henry Yates Thompson, in 1941.

Information About Copies:

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

For a large number of images of the other part of the manuscript, see: http:www.enluminures.culture.fr/documentation/enlumine/fr/BM/verdun_014-01.htm (last accessed 31st August 2021)

Publications:

Montague Rhodes James, A Descriptive Catalogue of Fifty Manuscripts from the Collection of Henry Yates Thompson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1898), no. 31 pp. 142-78.

Seymour De Ricci, Les Manuscrits de la Collection Henry Yates Thompson, Extrait du Bulletin de 1926 de la Société Française de Reproductions de Manuscrits à Peintures (Paris: SFRMP, 1926), no. 31, p. 16.

Victor Leroquais, Les bréviaires manuscrits des bibliothèques publiques de France, 6 vols (Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1934), IV, pp. 302-03.

F. Wormald, 'The Yates Thompson Manuscripts', The British Museum Quarterly 16 (1952), 4-6 (p. 5).

[Derek Howard Turner], Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series V: Fifty Plates (London: British Museum, 1965), no. XVII p. 13, pl. XVII.

Lilian M. C. Randall, Images in the Margins of Gothic Manuscripts (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1966), p. 38.

[Derek Howard Turner], Illuminated Manuscripts Exhibited in the Grenville Library (London, British Museum, 1967), p. 52.

M. Alison Stones, 'Sacred and Profane Art: Secular and Liturgical Book-Illumination in the Thirteenth Century', in The Epic in Medieval Society: Aesthetic and Moral Values, ed. by Harald Scholler (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1977), 100-12 (p. 111 n. 34).

Andrew G. Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c. 700-1600 in the Department of Manuscripts: The British Library, 2 vols (London: British Library, 1979), I, no. 950 pp. 162-63, II, pl. 164.

Patrick M. de Winter, 'Une réalisation exceptionnelle d'enlumineurs français et anglais vers 1300: le bréviaire de Renaud de Bar, évêque de Metz', in La Lorraine: études archéologiques (Actes du 103e congrès national des Sociétés savantes (Nancy-Metz, 1978), Section d'archaeologie et d'histoire de l'art) (Paris: Bibliothèque nationale, 1980), pp. 27-62 (pp. 34, 36, 37, 38, 49 n. 27, figs. 9, 10, 13).

Brunsdon Yapp, Birds in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British LIbrary, 1981), p. 140.

Francis Wormald and Phyllis M. Giles, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Additional Illuminated Manuscripts in the Fitzwilliam Museum Acquired Between 1895 and 1979 (Excluding the McClean Collection) (Cambridge: University Press, 1982), p. 277.

Judith H. Oliver, Gothic Manuscript Illumination in the Diocese of Liège (c. 1250 - c. 1330), Corpus of Illuminated Manuscripts from the Low Countries, 2 vols (Leuven: Peeters, 1988), II, 181-84, 200.

Francis Wormald, Collected Writings, ed. by J. J. G. Alexander, T. J. Brown, and Joan Gibbs, 2 vols (London: Harvey Miller, 1984-1988), II: Studies in English and Continental Art of the Later Middle Ages, p. 17.

Lilian M. C. Randall and others, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery, 3 vols (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989-1997), I: France, 875-1420, pp. 151, 152.

Hélène Toubert, 'Les enluminures du manuscrit fr. 12400', in Federico II: De arte venandi cum avibus: l'art de la chace des oisiaus, Facsimile edizione critica del manoscritto fr. 12400 della Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Naples: Electa, 1995), 387-416 (pp. 403, fig. 17).

Janet Backhouse, The Illuminated Page: Ten Centuries of Manuscript Painting in the British Library (London: British Library, 1997), no. 84.

L'art au temps des rois maudits: Philippe le Bel et ses fils (1285-1328) (Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1998), no. 215 pp. 315-18.

Lucy Freeman Sandler, 'Pictorial and Verbal Play in the Margins: The Case of British Library, Stowe MS 49', in Illuminating the Book: Makers and Interpreters, ed. by Michelle P. Brown and Scot McKendrick (London: British Library, 1998), pp. 52-68 (fig. 21).

John Higgitt, The Murthly Hours: Devotion, Literacy and Luxury in Paris, England and the Gaelic West (London: British Library, 2000), p. 86.

Nicolas Bell, Music in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2001), p. 6.

Alixe Bovey, Monsters and Grotesques in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2002), p. 5, pl. 1.

Justin Clegg, The Medieval Church in Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2003), p. 42-43, pl. 35.

Debra Higgs Strickland, Saracens, Demons, Jews: Making Monsters in Medieval Art (Princeton: University Press, 2003), p. 152, fig. 72.

The Cambridge Illuminations: Ten Centuries of Book Production in the Medieval West, ed. by Paul Binski and Stella Panayotova (London: Harvey Miller, 2005), p. 138.

Deirdre Jackson, Marvellous to Behold: Miracles in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2007), pl. 9.

Joe Flatman, Ships and Shipping in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2009), pl. 37.

Alison Stones, Gothic Manuscripts 1260-1320, Part Two, 2 vols, A Survey of Gothic Manuscripts Illuminated in France (London: Harvey Miller, 2014 ), II, no. IV-16a, pp. 78-82.

Kay Davenport, The Bar Books: Manuscripts Illuminated for Renaud de Bar, Bishop of Metz (1303-1316) (Turhout: Brepols, 2017), description of the MS at pp. 46-52, and extensive discussion throughout.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Subjects:

Liturgy

Places:

Metz, France