Manuscript leaf from a Book of Hours, in Latin, produced in France (Picardy, possibly...

MS 5650/67

Manuscript leaf from a Book of Hours, in Latin, produced in France (Picardy, possibly Amiens)

c.1300

Text: From a Book of Hours, in Latin

Script: Textualis Formata (Textus Quadratus)

There are two sizes of text which is partly from Psalm 92, partly from Romans 5 and partly from Luke 1.

There is line ruling in brown with no line pricking. Capital letters are touched with yellow.

Two handsome two-line initials in gold and four colours, with marginal bar extenders, terminating in long, bold ivy leaf sprays. Eleven one-line initials in burnished gold on a blue or mauve background, with white filigree. Five line fillers, one of which contains a brown fish and one a flower.

This leaf comes from a very early French Book of Hours, produced within the first generation of the use of this form of devotional book as a separate volume, apart from the Psalter. The manuscript was lot No.76 in a Sotheby's sale on 17 December 1991, described as ‘a remarkably rich and sophisticated manuscript with high quality illumination on every page.’ The codex belonged ‘in a small group of Picardy manuscripts clustered around the Hours of Yolande of Soissons in the Morgan Library, M. 729, ascribed to Amiens in the last decades of the thirteenth century (cf K. Gould, ‘The Psalter and Hours of Yolande of Soissons’, 1978).’

See also MS 5650/89, MS 5650/94, MS 5650/95 and MS 5650/103.

Recto side:

1 [92:3] E levaveru(n)t flumina d(omi)ne : ele- [Psalm 92:3

2 vaverunt flumina vocem sua(m) .

3 E levaverunt flumina fluctus

4 suos : [92:4] a vocib(us) aquaru(m) multaru(m) .

5 M irabiles elationes maris : mi-

6 rabilis in altis dominus [line filler]

7 [92:5] T estimonia tua credibilia f(ac)ta

8 sunt nimis : domu(m) tuam decet s(an)c(t)i-

9 tudo d(omi)ne in longitudinem dieru(m) .

10 G l(ori)a patri et filio : et spi(rit)u(i) sancto .

11 S ic(ut) erat i(n) principio (et) nu(n)c (et) semp(er) .

12 V eni s(an)c(t)e sp(irit)us reple tuor(um) corda fidelu(m) [line filler with flower]

13 (et) tui amoris in eis igne(m) acce(n)de qui p(er) div(er)sita-

14 tem linguar(um) m(u)ltar(um) gentes in unitate

Verso side:

1 fidei congregasti . [line filler]

2 K aritas dei diffusa est in cor- [Romans 5:5

3 dib(us) nostris per spiritum

4 s(an)c(tu)m qui datus est nobis . D(e)o gra(tia)

5 E mitte sp(iritu)m tuum et creabunt(ur) . Et

6 renovabis facie(m) t(er)re . Veni s(an)c(t)e [line filler with fish]

7 B enedictus d(omi)n(u)s deus isr(ae)l : [Luke 1:68

8 quia visitavit et fecit re-

9 demptionem plebis sue . [line filler]

10 E t erexit cornu salutis nobis :

11 in domo david pueri sui [line filler]

12 S icut locutus est per os s(an)c(t)or(um) : q(ui)

13 a s(e)c(u)lo sunt prophetarum eius .

14 S alutem ex inimicis n(ost)ris : (et) de-

Notes:

A Letters: a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u/v,x,D,V.

Versals: E,G,K,M,R,S,T,V

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

C The lovely versal ‘K’ on the verso side, line 2, is normally a ‘C’.

D Fusion between letters ‘da’, ‘de’, ‘he’ and ‘oc’.

E Elision between letters ‘tu’.

F Ligature between letters ‘fl’ and ‘st’.

G Bifurcation of ascenders of letters ‘b’, ‘h’ and ‘l’.

H Hairline on letters ‘h’, round ‘r’, final ‘t’, ‘x’ the abbreviation for ‘us’ and

the abbreviation for ‘rum’.

I Abbreviation for ‘per’ (recto, line 13).

J Abbreviation for ‘us’ in ‘cordibus’ (verso, lines 2 and 3).

K Two different forms of ‘rum’ ending - ‘tuorum’ (recto, line 12) and

‘linguarum’ (recto, line 14).

L Use of crossed Tironian ‘et’ symbol (e.g. verso, line 14).

M Line filler on recto side, line 12, has a flower.

N Line filler on verso side, line 6, has a fish.

MS 5650/89

MS 67

Latin

1 leaf

Material: Vellum leaf