Manuscript leaf from a Book of Hours, in French, produced in France

Text: From a Book of Hours, in French

Script: Textualis Formata (Textus Quadratus)

From a French Book of Hours the leaf shows the Calendar for September. The text is written in a Gothic book hand. Line and column rulings are in red. There is line pricking on the inner edge. There is a three-line versal KL in blue, red and burnished raised gold, with white tracery, as also the dominical letters ‘A’.

Recto side:

1 Septembre a xxx

2 K L iours la lune xxix

3

4 xvi f Saint gille [Day 1

5 v g [Day 2

6 A [Day 3

7 xiii b [Day 4

8 ii c Saint bie(r)tin [Day 5

9 d [Day 6

10 x e N(oni)s [Day 7

11 f le nostre dame [Day 8

12 xviii g Saint gorgon [Day 9

13 vii A [Day 10

14 b [Day 11

15 xv c [Day 12

16 iiii d [Day 13

17 e Le sainte crois [Day 14

Verso side:

1 xii f [Day 15

2 i g [Day 16

3 A Saint lambiert [Day 17

4 ix b [Day 18

5 c [Day 19

6 xvii d vegille [Day 20

7 vi e Saint mahieu [Day 21

8 f [Day 22

9 xiiii g [Day 23

10 iii A [Day 24

11 b [Day 25

12 xi c [Day 26

13 d Saint co(s)me (et) da(miani) [Day 27

14 xix e [Day 28

15 viii f Saint michiel [Day 29

16 g Saint iherome [Day 30

17 A [Non-existent day

Notes:

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

Versals: A,K,L.

B The first column shows the Golden Numbers.

C The second column shows the Dominical Letters (‘A’ to ‘g’). Each occurrence of the

letter ‘A’ appears in blue, red and burnished raised gold.

D The third column shows ‘Nonis’ at Day 7 but does not show ‘Idibus’.

The large ‘KL’ stands for ‘Kalendas’ at the start of the month.

E Prominent days have the saints name shown in red - ‘red letter days’.

F The letter ‘S’ of ‘Septembre’ is flourished.

G There are some elaborate hairlines.

H The ‘A’ on verso side, line 17, seems to be for decoration.

I There are some unusual spellings including 'michiel' and 'vegille'.