Book of Hours, Use of Bayeux — 15th century, late – 16th century, early, c. 1500; additions, 16th century; France, Normandy

Title

Book of Hours, Use of Bayeux — 15th century, late – 16th century, early, c. 1500; additions, 16th century; France, Normandy

Shelfmark

MS. Buchanan e. 12

Associated place

Bayeux

Place of origin

France, Normandy

Date

15th century, late – 16th century, early, c. 1500; additions, 16th century

Language

Latin

Middle French (ca. 1400-1600)

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Parchment.

Physical extent

i (parchment, conjoint with the pastedown) + 43 + i (parchment, conjoint with the pastedown).(fols. 41r-43v) (each column)

Hands

Written in lettre bâtarde

Decoration

Headings in red.

Three (of an original five?) large miniatures, each with an arched top, framed by a band of painted gold, above a six- or seven-line initial on a painted gold ground, in one column, containing a flowering plant; surrounded by a full border of naturalistic and stylised foliage, flowers, fruit, birds, etc., on painted gold grounds (that on fol. 8v in compartments of various shapes, some on coloured grounds): (fol. 8v) Hours of the Virgin, Matins. Annunciation. [Prime miniature on the recto of the missing leaf excised before fol. 18; offsets on fol. 17v appear to show a full border, and the bottom of the miniature seven lines from the bottom of the page, more than one column wide.] [Vespers miniature on the verso of the missing leaf excised after fol. 21; offsets on fol. 22r indicate that it had a full border.] (fol. 24v) Penitential Psalms. David in Penitence, in a landscape. (fol. 30r) Office of the Dead. Burial of a shroud-wrapped corpse; with several black-clad mourners, and two coped priests, one with an aspergill(?), reading from a book held by an attendant. Seven smaller miniatures, twelve or thirteen lines high, one column wide, at the start of each hour from Lauds to Compline, each with a four-line initial (five-line on fol. 4r) alternately in red and white, or blue and white, against a painted gold ground, each containing a flower: (fol. 4r) Pericopes. St. John on Patmos. (fol. 12r) Hours of the Virgin, Lauds. Visitation. (fol. 16r) Hours of the Cross. Crucifixion; the Virgin to Christ's right, two men (not St. John) to his left. (fol. 19r) Hours of the Virgin; Terce. Annunciation to two Shepherds. (fol. 20r) Sext. Adoration of the Magi. (fol. 21r) None. Flight into Egypt, from right to left. (fol. 22v) Compline. Coronation of the Virgin. Two-line initials alternately in blue and white, or red and white, on a painted gold ground, containing a flower design, to psalms, capitula, prayers, the KL monograms in the calendar, etc.; two-line initials in blue and white against a painted gold ground, containing a flower, in a different style, at the start of each stanza on fols. 41v-43v; one-line initials to verses, in gold on an alternately blue or red ground, each at the start of a new line; line-fillers comprising patterns in painted gold on panels of blue and red. One large added 16th-century miniature, with an arched top, above four lines of text and a three-line initial in lilac against a painted gold ground, containing a foliate design, surrounded by a four-sided border of flowers against a very thin painted gold ground, a banderole in the lower border inscribed 'SA(N)S FOY FAILLIR'; considerably cropped at each edge: (fol. 41r) Vecy l'homme. Christ before Pilate; a banderole next to Pilate's mouth inscribed 'ECCE HOMO'.

Binding

Sewn on three cords (further sewing-stations from a previous binding also visible) with blue endbands; bound c.1810–40 in red velvet over pasteboards, the spine with a red leather titlepiece lettered 'HORÆ | B.V.M. | MS. MEMB | SÆC. XV.'; a damaged area at the bottom of the spine is probably evidence of another label; parchment flyleaves conjoint with the pastedowns; the edges of the leaves gilt. The present binding must presumably postdate Collier's ownership, and predate the 1841 inscriptions on the flyleaves (see under Provenance).

Acquisition

Given to the Bodleian in 1939 by his widow,Mrs. E. O. Buchanan, when it was accessioned as MS. Lat. liturg. e. 33; re-referenced as MS. Buchanan e. 12 in 1941.

Provenance

Unidentified original owner, Bayeux.

Unidentified owner, of Bayeux?, with the motto 'Sans foy faillir' (fol. 41r). There is an early(?) erased inscription, nineteen lines long, not legible even under U.V. light (fol. 15r).

John Payne Collier (1789–1883), the Shakespeare scholar and forger (on whom see DNB), before 1841: signed 'J. Payne Collier' in the upper right margin of fol. 1r, the inscription subsequently cropped in binding.

Unidentified English owner, 1841: inscribed (fol. i verso): 'Ms. No. [the number obliterated with ink] | 1. Horae B.V.M. | 2. Ecce homo - Gallicè.'; and with a note (fol. 44r), dated 1841, headed 'Mus. Brit. 1072. a. | 1. [the '1' directly below the 'a', separated by a horizontal line] small 8o. lit. goth.', concerning a devotion comparable to text item 8. It has not been possible to identify the British Library volume referred to.

Unidentified English bookseller, 19th century: a cutting from a catalogue is pasted to the upper pastedown; the pastedown is also inscribed in pencil 'N/O/-' and with the price '38/0'; an erased inscription below these is illegible, even under U.V. light.

John Buchanan, bought for 38 shillings: inscribed in pencil with the 'Descriptive list' number, '12.' (subsequently crossed through in pencil), in the top right corner of fol. i recto.

Rt. Hon. T. R. Buchanan (1846–1911).