Manuscript leaf from a Book of Hours, in Latin, produced in Northern Italy (perhaps...

Text: From a Book of Hours, in Latin

Script: Southern Textualis Formata (Rotunda)

The leaf shows the Suffrage to Saint Gregory and parts of the Suffrages to Saint Ambrose and Saint Jerome. Line and column rulings are in red. The text is in a single column of seventeen lines in a fine black Italianate gothic book hand. Rubrics are in red. Two four-line initials and two three-line initials are in blue, red, green and white on a shell gold ground, each with extended floral border decoration. There are three one-line initials in shell gold on blue or red. Also there are three line fillers in similar colours. The decoration here is very uncommon, making localization difficult, but Bologna seems the most likely place of origin. The leaf is from the same manuscript as MS 5650/56.

It is possible that this leaf is Spanish in origin.

Recto side:

1 D Eus qui populo tuo

2 eterne salutis beatum

3 Ambrosium ministrum

4 tribuisti : presta quesu-

5 mus : Ut quem doctorem vite ha-

6 buimus in terris : intercessorem

7 Habere mereamur in celis . Per

8 christu(m) dominum nostru(m) . Amen .

9 De sancto Gregorio Antiphon(a) .

10 O Doctor optime ecclesie san-

11 cte lumen beate Gregori di-

12 vine legis amator : Depreca-

13 re pro nobis filium dei . V(ersus) . O ra

14 pro nobis beate Gregori . R(esponsorium) . U t

15 digni efficiamur promissionibus

16 christi . Sequitur Oratio .

17 Oremus :- [line filler]

Verso side:

1 D Eus qui nos beati Gre-

2 gorii confessoris tui [line filler]

3 atque pontificis an(n) ua

4 sollemnitare letificas :

5 concede propitius : ut cuius ope-

6 re atque doctrine scripture tue

7 misteria multa cognovimus : [line filler]

8 Eius apud te semper patrocini(a)

9 sentiamus . Per christum domi-

10 num nostrum . Amen . [line filler]

11 De sancto Hieronymo presbi-

12 tero Antiphona :- [line filler]

13 O Doctor optime ecclesie sa(n)-

14 cte lumen beate Hierony-

15 me divine legis amator :

16 Deprecare pro nobis filium dei . V(ersus) .

17 O ra pro nobis sancte Hierony-

Notes:

A Letters: a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u/v,y,A,D,E,G,H,O,P,S,U.

Versals: D,O,U.

The capital letters are very ornate.

B Alternative forms of the letters ‘i’(2), ‘m’(2), ‘r’(2) and ‘s’(2).

C Ligature of ‘st’, e.g. in ‘christum’ (recto, line 8).

D Fusions between letters ‘be’, ‘de’, ‘De’, ‘do’, ‘Do’, ‘ho’, ‘oc’,

‘og’, ‘pe’, ‘Pe’ and ‘po’.

E Elision between letters ‘fi’, ‘gi’, ‘ti’ and ‘tu’, and possibly others.

F Note the simple line filler in the form of a letter ‘i’ with a slanting

stroke through it (verso, lines 2 and 7).

MS 5650/56