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

Text: From a Book of Hours, in Latin

Script: Textualis Formata (Textus Quadratus)

There are two sizes of text which is partly from Psalm 144, and partly from Luke. There is line ruling in brown with no line pricking. Capital letters are touched with yellow.

One three-line inhabited initial ‘I’ with a charming drollery with curly hair and ringing a red bell and terminating in a long, bold ivy leaf spray. One two-line versal initial ‘B’ in gold and four colours, with marginal bar extenders, terminating in long, bold ivy leaf sprays. Nine one-line versal initials in burnished gold on a blue or mauve background, with white filigree. Seven line fillers of various shapes, one of which contains a lion’s face and another 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 5650/67, MS 5650/94, MS 5650/95 and MS 5650/103.

Recto side:

1 [144:18] . . . -tibus eum in veritate [line filler] [Psalm 144:18

2 [144:19] V oluntatem timentium se fa-

3 ciet (et) deprecatione(m) eor(um) exaudiet :

4 et salvos faciet eos [line filler with lion’s face]

5 [144:20] C ustodit d(omi)n(u)s om(n)es diligentes

6 se (et) om(ne)s peccatores disperdet [flower line filler]

7 [144:21] L audationem d(omi)ni loquetur os

8 meu(m) (et) benedicat om(n)is caro no(min)i

9 s(an)c(t)o ei(us) : in s(e)c(u)l(u)m (et) in seculum s(e)c(u)li .

10 G l(ori)a p(at)ri a(ntiphona) . Te invocamus . te ado-

11 ramus te laudamus . o beata trinitas . c(a)p(itulum) .

12 I N ip(s)o et cum ip(s)o et ex ip(s)o (et) p(er) ipsu(m)

13 sunt om(n)ia : ipsi honor (et) gl(ori)a in s(e)c(u)la

14 seculor(um) amen . Deo gra(tia)s . a(ntiphona) B(e)n(e)dic-

Verso side:

1 ta sit creatrix . psalmus david [line filler]

2 [1:68] B enedict(us) d(omi)n(u)s deus isr(ae)l : q(uia) visi- [Luke 1:68

3 tavit (et) fecit rede(m)ptione(m) pleb(i) sue .

4 [1:69] E t erexit cornu salutis nobis : in

5 domo david pueri sui . [line filler]

6 [1:70] S icut locutus est per os s(an)c(t)or(um) : qui a

7 seculo sunt p(ro)phetarum eius . [line filler]

8 [1:71] S alutem ex inimicis n(ost)ris : et de ma-

9 nu omnium qui oderunt nos . [line filler]

10 [1:72] A d facienda(m) m(isericord)iam cum p(at)rib(us) n(ost)ris :

11 et memorari testamenti sui sancti .

12 [1:73] I usiurandu(m) quod iuravit ad a-

13 brahim patrem n(ost)r(u)m [1:74] daturum se nob(is) .

14 U t sine timore de manu inimicorum

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: A,B,E,G,I,S,U/V.

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

C Fusion between letters ‘be’, ‘da’, ‘de’, ‘do’, ‘he’, ‘ho’, ‘oc’, ‘od’, ‘oq’, ‘os’,

‘pe’, ‘po’ and ‘pp’.

D Elision between letters ‘ri’, ‘ti’ and ‘tu’.

E Ligature between letters ‘st’.

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

G Hairline on letters ‘h’, round ‘r’, final ‘t’, ‘x’ and the abbreviation for ‘rum’.

H Abbreviation for ‘nomini’ (recto, line 8).

I Abbreviation for ‘misericordiam’ (verso, line 10).

J Use of crossed Tironian ‘et’ symbol (e.g. recto, line 9).

K Line filler on recto side, line 4, has a lion’s face.

L Line filler on verso side, line 6, has a flower.

MS 5650/67