Manuscript leaf from a Book of Hours, in Latin, produced in England

Text: From a Book of Hours, in Latin

Script: Textualis Formata (Textus Quadratus)

There are nineteen lines of text from a Book of Hours (Use of Sarum) produced in England. The text is probably from the Hours of the Virgin and shows Verses 16 to 29 of Psalm 117.

There are eighteen one-line initials of either burnished gold on a blue pen-drawn ground or blue on a red pen-drawn ground. In five cases where a one-line initial is in the top or bottom line or adjacent to the left margin then the initial has further looping pen-drawn decoration in either red or blue. On the verso in the left margin is a large letter ‘I’ consisting of a burnished golden ‘I’ on a mauve and blue ground with white filigree extending vertically for a length of eight lines with three sprays of feathered decoration attached. This type of decoration is typically English and is described in Kathleen Scott’s book. Rubrics are in red.

In Verso Line 13 the text pointer symbol in blue with red pen flourishing is shown in the transcription as [>] and this indicates that the text after the symbol, viz. ‘tem’, is a continuation of ‘deita-’ at the end of the previous line, thus forming the word ‘deitatem’.

Reference: Scott, Kathleen L., Dated & Datable English Manuscript Borders c.1395-1499, The British Library, 2002.

Recto:

1 [117:16]D extera d(omi)ni fecit virtute(m) dextera

2 d(omi)ni exaltavit me . dextera d(omi)ni fecit

3 virtute(m) [117:17]N on moriar sed viva(m):

4 et narrabo opera d(omi)ni . [117:18]C astigans

5 castigavit me d(omi)n(u)s ; et morti non

6 tradidit me . [117:19]A perite michi portas

7 iusticie ingressus in eas confitebor

8 d(omi)no : [117:20]hec porta d(omi)ni iusti intrabunt

9 in ea . [117:21]Confitebor tibi qui(a) exaudis-

10 ti me : et factus es michi in salute(m) .

11 [117:22]L apidem que(m) reprobaveru(n)t edifi-

12 cantes : hic factus est in caput an-

13 guli . [117:23]A domino factu(m) est istud : et

14 est mirabile in oculis n(ost)ris . [117:24]H ec

15 est dies qua(m) fecit d(omi)n(u)s : exultemus

16 et letemur in ea . [117:25]O d(omi)ne salvu(m) me

17 fac o d(omi)ne beneprosperare : [117:26]benedict(us)

18 qui venit i(n) nomine d(omi)ni B enedix-

19 imus vobis de domo d(omi)ni : [117:27]deus d(omi)n(u)s

Verso:

1 et illuxit nobis . C onstituite diem

2 sole(m)pnem : in condensis usq(ue) ad cor-

3 nu altaris . [117:28]D eus meus es tu et

4 co(n)fitebor tibi : deus meus es tu . et

5 exaltabo te . C onfitebor tibi qui(a) ex

6 audisti me : et factus est michi in

7 salute(m) [117:29]C onfitemini d(omi)no qui(a) bo-

8 nus : qui(a) in seculu(m) m(isericord)ia eius . A(ntiphona)

9 O admirabile com(m)erciu(m) creator generis

10 humani animatu(m) corpus sume(n)s de virgi-

11 ne nasci dignatus est (et) procedens homo

12 sine semine largitus est nobis sua(m) deita-

13 I N om(n)ib(us) requie(m) [>] tem . Capitulum . [deitatem

14 que sim (et) in hereditate domini mo-

15 cabor . tu(n)c precepit (et) dixit michi cre-

16 ator ominu(m) (et) qui creavit me reo( )

17 euit . in tabernaculo meo . D eo g(r)-

18 cias . Responsor(u)m . A ve maria gra-

19 cia plena d(omi)n(u)s tecu(m) . V(ersicle). B enedicta tu in

Notes:

A Letters: a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u/v,x,N. Versals:A,B,C,D,H,I,L,N,O.

B Alternative forms of letters ‘r’(2) and ‘s’(3).

Note the elevated ‘trailing s’ in ‘portas’ (recto, line 6).

C Fusion between letters ‘be’, ‘bo’, ‘de’, ‘do’, ‘pe’ and ‘po’.

D Elision between letters ‘ci’, ‘cu’, ‘fi’, ‘gi’, ‘gu’, ‘ri’, ‘ru’, ‘ti’, ‘tu’ and

possibly others.

E Possible ligature between letters ‘ct’ in ‘factus’ (recto, line 12).

F Ligature between letters ‘st’ in ‘est’ (recto, line 12).

G Bifurcation on ascenders of letters ‘b’, ‘h’ and ‘l’, and descenders of ‘p’ and ‘q’.

H Use of crossed Tironian ‘et’ (verso, line 11).

I Use of hairlines on letters ‘h’, ‘x’, round ‘r’ and final ‘t’s.

J Abbreviation of ‘us’ in ‘omnibus’ (verso, line 13).

K Abbreviation of ‘domini’ (recto, line 1).

L Abbreviation of ‘ue’ in ‘usque’ (verso, line 2).

M Abbreviation of ‘nostris’ (recto, line 14).

N Abbreviation of ‘misericordia’ (verso, line 8).

O Note the use of a shorter x-height for the writing of the antiphon

(verso, lines 9 to 12).