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Noted Breviary, summer part, use of Langres, illuminated manuscript on vellum [North-Eastern France, last third 13th century and 14th century]
Details
A Noted Breviary from Langres
Noted Breviary, summer part, use of Langres, illuminated manuscript on vellum [North-Eastern France, last third 13th century and 14th century]
A richly illuminated volume with extensive musical notation, a significant and apparently unpublished witness to both painting and evolving liturgical practice in the diocese of Langres.
140 x 99mm. 543 + ii paper: 119 (of 20, lacking i), 2-320, 414, 520, 613(?of 12 + xiii), 719(of 20, lacking i), 817(of 20, lacking iv, xi and xii), 919(of 20, lacking iv), 1020(of 20 + i, lacking xvii), 1118(of 20, lacking xiii and xix), 1213(of 20, lacking xiv-xx), 1317(of 20, lacking i, xvi and xx), 1419(of 20, lacking vi), 1519(of 20, lacking xiv), 1620, 1719(of 20, lacking v), 18-1920, 2019(of 20, lacking xvii), 21-2220, 2318(of 20, lacking ii and vi), 2410, 252(?of 4, lacking i and ii, 2 stubs before A f.443), 26-358, 364, 3718, 384, 392(?of 4, lacking iii and iv); two sequences of early foliation, before removal of leaves, in Roman numerals omitting blanks, A in red: ii – ccccliiii, with two folios numbered viiixx, so A ff.160 and 160 bis, and two numbered xviiixx xviii, so A ff. 378 and 378 bis; B in faded black: i – lxxviii; C: final 28 leaves unfoliated; these sequences are used in the description with Arabic numerals; A ff.2-106: 25 lines; A ff.109-442: 20 lines or ten four-line staves, A ff.443-454: c.16 lines or eight four-line staves; B ff.1-32: 20 lines equivalent to ten four-line staves; ruled space A f.2-B f.32: 93 x 63mm; B ff.33-78: 24 lines or twelve four-line staves, ruled space 95 x 68mm; C ff.1-28: 24 lines, ruled space: 62 x 100mm; 24 illuminated initials of four to seven lines on gold grounds with foliate or dragon infills, some extending to form partial borders, some with dragons or grotesques; 52 similar historiated initials (lacking 27 leaves, presumably most illuminated, and probably further leaves with a calendar and at the end; illuminated initials excised A ff.16, 268; initial and text A f.379 excised leaving border, now pasted to A f.380; signs of use, some illumination rubbed or with small losses to paint or gilding, especially A ff.55v, 109v, 210, 386v, 424v; some trimming into border extensions, flourishing and annotations and, for C ff.1-28, into marginal headings; small excision from margin into flourishing A f.86, corner excised A f.203; small stain on text A ff.93v-94, larger stain B ff.54v-55, original holes in vellum A ff.57, 58, 69, 92, 293). 16th-century binding in brown calf over wooden boards, traces of decoration on fore edges (rubbed, cracks to joints).
Provenance:
(1) The Office of the Dead is for the use of Langres, a large diocese extending north nearly to Troyes, west to Tonnerre and south beyond Dijon. The Litany includes Sts Didier, bishop of Langres, Gangulf, from Varennes, in the diocese of Langres where his relics were kept, Valerius martyr of Langres, Benignus, the patron of Dijon, Winardus, or Vinardus, of Celles near Langres, Radegonde, whose head was in Dijon, and saints with cults centred in neighbouring dioceses of Autun and Auxerre; St Mammes, patron of Langres cathedral, has been added in an early hand. In the Sanctoral, there are offices for Gangulf, with historiated initial, A ff.240-242v, with an added annotation for the saint, A f.230; Leodegar, A ff.338v-339; in a later hand, for Amator, A f.233; Didier and Mammes were presumably honoured with historiated initials on the lost A ff.243 and 308. The breviary was updated with a series of additions that indicate continuing use in the diocese of Langres.
Feasts have nine lessons, not the twelve obligatory in monasteries, while the prayers for the dead include Deus, venie largitor with the wording appropriate for a male community: ut nostre congregationis fratres, A f.441v. The original owner, therefore, was a member of either a chapter or an order of friars or canons; the sequence of additions suggests continued use within an institution. St Francis is distinguished by two illuminated initials but so are Sts Michael, Peter and Martin, which, taken with the lost illumination, makes this of uncertain significance. The original absence of Mammes from the Litany makes it less likely that the first owner was a canon of Langres Cathedral but there were various possible communities in the diocese to which he and/or his successors could have belonged. He was clearly a man of substance since the generous illumination was presumably matched in an equally expensive winter volume.
(2) Inscription on C f.27v: Jehannot tondu moine ?peley pulicq ?… signé Jacques Locquard [or Laquard] avec paraphe 1675. With no paraph, this seems to be a pen trial or copy; the comparatively rare surname is found in eastern France.
(3) 20th-century note in French on the illuminated initials on upper pastedown; No 34 and Late 13th C in English on first paper endleaf; 20th-century note in French on the historiated initials, signed GR.
Content: Psalter, lacking opening, starting in Ps 4 iii: […] gravi corde ut quid, A ff.2-96v; weekly canticles A ff.96v-101v; daily canticles A ff.101v-102v; Athanasian Creed A ff.102v-103v; Litany A ff.103v-105v; added prayer A ff.105v-106, 107 r and v; added response with musical notation for feria ii after Easter A f.106v; Temporal from Easter Sunday, lacking opening and end and seven further leaves, A ff.109 – 220v, with additions to the Trinity office at the foot of A f.166v and on inserted A f.167; Sanctoral, lacking opening, starting in prime for the Annunciation (25 March) and ending with St Andrew (30 November), lacking six further leaves, A ff.225-385; dedication of a church A ff.385-392v; Communal, lacking two leaves, A ff.393-433v; Office of the Dead, use of Langres, A ff.433v-442v.
First addition A ff.443-454: office for the Transfiguration A ff.443-454; added prayers to St George, one in a formal Gothic hand, one in a 17th-century hand, A f.454v.
Second addition B ff.1-32: lections with some noted antiphons and responses for further Sanctoral offices, opening with St George and ending with Clement, including Ferreolus B f.6, Theobald B f.7v, Germanus bishop of Auxerre B f.15, Sequanus, founder of the Abbey of St-Seine, north-west of Dijon B f.18, Leodgar B f.22v, Valerius B f.27;
Third addition B ff.33-78: Feria iiij in ieuviniis quatuorum temporum (Ember Days) B f.33, offices, including Eutropius B. f.34, Anne B f.41v, relics B f.47v, translation of the crown of thorns B f.53, octave of Assumption B f.59v, Symphorian B f. 60v, Lazarus B f.63v, Ferreolus and Ferrutius B f.68v, Reine B f.69, Piat, dedicatee of a parish outside Langres, B f.70, translation of Mammes B f.71, Benignus B f.73, Anianus B f.77v-78v; two unfoliated blanks.
Fourth addition C ff.1-28v: rubrics for celebrating the office from Easter Saturday, with feasts including Gangulf C f.7v, Didier of Langres C f.8, Mammes C f. 20v and translation C f.25v, dedication of Langres cathedral C f.21v, the Invention of the Holy Triplets (SS Gemini) C f.24, Sts Valerius C f.26, Benignus of Dijon C f.27 and ending with Maximus (27 Nov.), possibly lacking text at end to conclude with Andrew (30 Nov.).
The original Breviary A ff.2-442, was updated with the addition of the office for the Transfiguration A ff.443-454; at or after this first addition the leaves were foliated.
The second addition of feasts for the Sanctoral, chiefly of lections, runs from B ff.1-32v.
The third addition, B ff.33-78, of further Sanctoral feasts includes some full noted offices, either for more recently popular feasts (St Anne, the crown of thorns, the octave of the Assumption), or for local celebrations (the feast of relics, Lazarus of Autun and Benignus of Dijon). These additions, from the translation of St Nicholas to Anianus, are signalled in the original sanctoral at the appropriate points in the liturgical year, from A f.240 to A f.370, where red marginal notes direct the reader to the end of the volume. There he could be guided by the contemporary red running headings.
At a later date, the second and third additions were foliated continuously B ff.1-78.
The hand of the third addition added to the office of the Trinity on A f.166v, inserted leaf A f.167 and A f.168, added the cue for the prayer at the end of the first addition, A f.454, and, on the verso, the prayer to St George that accompanies the lessons for his feast that open the second addition B f.1. This shows that the first three sections were together by that date; their similar layouts suggest that the additions were all intended to supplement the original breviary.
The fourth unfoliated addition, C ff.1-28, of rubrics for ordering services through the liturgical summer, clearly relates to the preceding sections in content and layout and was probably specially written to aid use of the volume.
The third addition may date from or after 1276 when a rib of St Reine was given to Langres cathedral with the foundation of an office of three lessons, as found B f.69. A date before 1276 for the earlier sections is possible from their style and is supported by the need to add St Anne. The additions seem to have been made in fairly quick succession, with only the last datable well into the 14th century. Although breviaries do not necessarily include all the feasts that might be expected, the absence of Corpus Christi may be significant: although instituted in 1264, the feast was little celebrated before the second decade of the 14th century.
Illumination:
In the original breviary, the striking historiated initials head the hierarchy of decoration, for the divisions of the Psalter and the offices deemed most important. They are followed by the illuminated initials, then the two-line flourished initials and the one-line initials simply in red or blue. This lavish programme was presumably conceived and executed in the region, where the scribe had to be content with using several flawed leaves, indicative of a provincial centre where demand, and so supply of materials, was limited.
The centres of illumination, such as Dijon and Langres itself, have proved hard to characterise, see A. Stones, A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in France: Gothic Manuscripts 1260-1320, 2013-14, I i p.41, and, for the mss cited, II. Illuminators in the area were influenced not only by Parisian production but by Southern-Netherlandish trends, filtering south through the trading centres of Champagne, surely source of the little grotesques and animals that engagingly enliven some borders. In a larger breviary for the use of St Benignus in Dijon, with Easter tables starting in 1287, the borders are more populated and the more flexible, curving extensions from the initials make greater use of the leaf forms that would dominate border design in the 14th century (L. Randall, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery, Vol. 2: France, 1420-1540, Parts 1 and 2, 1992, no 48). This smaller volume is earlier in style and so, probably, in date.
Within the small space of an initial, the little figures convey both emotion and narrative interaction, with black lines defining gesturing hands and expressive facial features. The spots of orange on the cheeks are a trait shared with the cruder illuminator of a breviary, for the use of the Abbey of Cluny in the neighbouring diocese of Autun, which probably dates from the late 13th century and was certainly completed by 1317 (Saint-Victor-sur-Rhins, Mairie; this and other mss in French collections are available online through ARCA). This trait, perhaps another example of influence from the north, is also characteristic of some German illumination.
Many liturgical books received only flourished decoration so that the absence of illumination from the additions is not surprising. The original flourishing looks earlier than that in the Walters Breviary and a little later than that in a Psalter-Hymnal for the use of Langres dated to the mid-13th century (Langres, Médiathèque Marcel Arland ms 11). In the first and second additions, three-line flourished puzzle initials are followed by two-line flourished initials and one-line initials in red or blue. The flourished initials of the second addition are similar to the larger initials in a breviary for the use of Langres, dated to the second half of the 13th century (Lyons, Bibliothèque de la Part-Dieu, ms 524). In the third addition, perhaps datable to c.1300, text is articulated by differently sized initials in red or blue. In the fourth addition of rubrics, there are no emphasised initials; a dating in the 14th century seems likely.
The subjects of the historiated initials are:
Psalter: David pointing to his mouth, Ps. 38, A f.26v; the fool Ps. 52 A f.35v; David in water praying to the Lord, Ps. 68, A f.44v; David playing the bells, Ps. 80, A f.55v; three singers at a lectern, Ps.97, A f.66; the Trinity, Ps. 109, A f.76v;
Temporal: the three Maries greeted by the angel at Christ’s tomb, A f.109v; the harrowing of hell, A f.122; the angel bringing his revelations to St John, A f.126v; St James above two men, A f.133; St John preaching to three men, A f.137v; Christ ascending between two angels above the Apostles, A f.140v; Hannah praying to the Lord, A f.174; David telling Saul he will fight Goliath, A f.175v; David orders the killing of the Amalekite who killed Saul, A f.178v; David telling Nathan he will build the Temple, A f.180; Abisag is brought to warm the aged David in bed, A f.181v; Nathan warning Bathsheba to secure the crown for Solomon, A f.183; Solomon preaching wisdom to three men, A f.188v; Ecclesiastes as King in Israel, in armour with drawn sword on horseback, as on a seal, A f.192; Job on the dungheap, with wife and comforter, A f.193v; ?three of the wicked sons of Israel, A f.210; Ezekiel looking up to the fiery cloud of his vision, A f.214v; Nebuchadnezzar besieging Jerusalem, A f.218v; Hosea between two kings, A f.219v.
Sanctoral: St Mark writing, A f.230v; martyrdom of St James, A f.233; St Helena supervising two men lifting the Cross, A f.235; martyrdom of St Gangulf, A f.240v; Crucifixion of St Peter, A f.259; St Peter holding the key of heaven, A f.260v; Mary Magdalene and the resurrected Christ, A f.276; Gamaliel as he appeared to Lucianus to reveal St Stephen’s relics, A f.287; martyrdom of St Lawrence, A f.295; the Apostles at the Virgin’s deathbed, A f.300v; St Augustine blessing three men, A f.315; Bishop John, supposed author of the first lection for the Baptist’s martyrdom, A f.316; St Anne reclining holding the swaddled Virgin, A f.319v; St Augustine, author of the first lection, A f.320v; St Matthew, A f.330; St Michael vanquishing the dragon, A f.333; St Francis preaching to the birds, A f.339v; St Francis displaying the stigmata, A f.342; All Saints, A f.353; St Martin and the beggar, A f.359; St Martin, A f.360v;?St John beside the New Jerusalem, A f.385; a bishop consecrating a church, A f.386v.
Communal: two Apostles, A f.393; St Gregory, author of the first lection, preaching to three men, A f.394; executioner wielding a sword over two martyrs, A f.401v; two martyrs below the dove of the Holy Spirit, A f.408; a bishop blessing two clerics, A f.415; a pope between two bishops, A f.421v.
The illuminated initials are on A ff. 150, 161, 162, 170, 172, 190, 198v, 204v, 211v, 212v, 251, 274, 284, 326v, 331, 350v, 370v, 400, 406v, 413v, 420v, 424v, 426, 433v.
Noted Breviary, summer part, use of Langres, illuminated manuscript on vellum [North-Eastern France, last third 13th century and 14th century]
A richly illuminated volume with extensive musical notation, a significant and apparently unpublished witness to both painting and evolving liturgical practice in the diocese of Langres.
140 x 99mm. 543 + ii paper: 119 (of 20, lacking i), 2-320, 414, 520, 613(?of 12 + xiii), 719(of 20, lacking i), 817(of 20, lacking iv, xi and xii), 919(of 20, lacking iv), 1020(of 20 + i, lacking xvii), 1118(of 20, lacking xiii and xix), 1213(of 20, lacking xiv-xx), 1317(of 20, lacking i, xvi and xx), 1419(of 20, lacking vi), 1519(of 20, lacking xiv), 1620, 1719(of 20, lacking v), 18-1920, 2019(of 20, lacking xvii), 21-2220, 2318(of 20, lacking ii and vi), 2410, 252(?of 4, lacking i and ii, 2 stubs before A f.443), 26-358, 364, 3718, 384, 392(?of 4, lacking iii and iv); two sequences of early foliation, before removal of leaves, in Roman numerals omitting blanks, A in red: ii – ccccliiii, with two folios numbered viiixx, so A ff.160 and 160 bis, and two numbered xviiixx xviii, so A ff. 378 and 378 bis; B in faded black: i – lxxviii; C: final 28 leaves unfoliated; these sequences are used in the description with Arabic numerals; A ff.2-106: 25 lines; A ff.109-442: 20 lines or ten four-line staves, A ff.443-454: c.16 lines or eight four-line staves; B ff.1-32: 20 lines equivalent to ten four-line staves; ruled space A f.2-B f.32: 93 x 63mm; B ff.33-78: 24 lines or twelve four-line staves, ruled space 95 x 68mm; C ff.1-28: 24 lines, ruled space: 62 x 100mm; 24 illuminated initials of four to seven lines on gold grounds with foliate or dragon infills, some extending to form partial borders, some with dragons or grotesques; 52 similar historiated initials (lacking 27 leaves, presumably most illuminated, and probably further leaves with a calendar and at the end; illuminated initials excised A ff.16, 268; initial and text A f.379 excised leaving border, now pasted to A f.380; signs of use, some illumination rubbed or with small losses to paint or gilding, especially A ff.55v, 109v, 210, 386v, 424v; some trimming into border extensions, flourishing and annotations and, for C ff.1-28, into marginal headings; small excision from margin into flourishing A f.86, corner excised A f.203; small stain on text A ff.93v-94, larger stain B ff.54v-55, original holes in vellum A ff.57, 58, 69, 92, 293). 16th-century binding in brown calf over wooden boards, traces of decoration on fore edges (rubbed, cracks to joints).
Provenance:
(1) The Office of the Dead is for the use of Langres, a large diocese extending north nearly to Troyes, west to Tonnerre and south beyond Dijon. The Litany includes Sts Didier, bishop of Langres, Gangulf, from Varennes, in the diocese of Langres where his relics were kept, Valerius martyr of Langres, Benignus, the patron of Dijon, Winardus, or Vinardus, of Celles near Langres, Radegonde, whose head was in Dijon, and saints with cults centred in neighbouring dioceses of Autun and Auxerre; St Mammes, patron of Langres cathedral, has been added in an early hand. In the Sanctoral, there are offices for Gangulf, with historiated initial, A ff.240-242v, with an added annotation for the saint, A f.230; Leodegar, A ff.338v-339; in a later hand, for Amator, A f.233; Didier and Mammes were presumably honoured with historiated initials on the lost A ff.243 and 308. The breviary was updated with a series of additions that indicate continuing use in the diocese of Langres.
Feasts have nine lessons, not the twelve obligatory in monasteries, while the prayers for the dead include Deus, venie largitor with the wording appropriate for a male community: ut nostre congregationis fratres, A f.441v. The original owner, therefore, was a member of either a chapter or an order of friars or canons; the sequence of additions suggests continued use within an institution. St Francis is distinguished by two illuminated initials but so are Sts Michael, Peter and Martin, which, taken with the lost illumination, makes this of uncertain significance. The original absence of Mammes from the Litany makes it less likely that the first owner was a canon of Langres Cathedral but there were various possible communities in the diocese to which he and/or his successors could have belonged. He was clearly a man of substance since the generous illumination was presumably matched in an equally expensive winter volume.
(2) Inscription on C f.27v: Jehannot tondu moine ?peley pulicq ?… signé Jacques Locquard [or Laquard] avec paraphe 1675. With no paraph, this seems to be a pen trial or copy; the comparatively rare surname is found in eastern France.
(3) 20th-century note in French on the illuminated initials on upper pastedown; No 34 and Late 13th C in English on first paper endleaf; 20th-century note in French on the historiated initials, signed GR.
Content: Psalter, lacking opening, starting in Ps 4 iii: […] gravi corde ut quid, A ff.2-96v; weekly canticles A ff.96v-101v; daily canticles A ff.101v-102v; Athanasian Creed A ff.102v-103v; Litany A ff.103v-105v; added prayer A ff.105v-106, 107 r and v; added response with musical notation for feria ii after Easter A f.106v; Temporal from Easter Sunday, lacking opening and end and seven further leaves, A ff.109 – 220v, with additions to the Trinity office at the foot of A f.166v and on inserted A f.167; Sanctoral, lacking opening, starting in prime for the Annunciation (25 March) and ending with St Andrew (30 November), lacking six further leaves, A ff.225-385; dedication of a church A ff.385-392v; Communal, lacking two leaves, A ff.393-433v; Office of the Dead, use of Langres, A ff.433v-442v.
First addition A ff.443-454: office for the Transfiguration A ff.443-454; added prayers to St George, one in a formal Gothic hand, one in a 17th-century hand, A f.454v.
Second addition B ff.1-32: lections with some noted antiphons and responses for further Sanctoral offices, opening with St George and ending with Clement, including Ferreolus B f.6, Theobald B f.7v, Germanus bishop of Auxerre B f.15, Sequanus, founder of the Abbey of St-Seine, north-west of Dijon B f.18, Leodgar B f.22v, Valerius B f.27;
Third addition B ff.33-78: Feria iiij in ieuviniis quatuorum temporum (Ember Days) B f.33, offices, including Eutropius B. f.34, Anne B f.41v, relics B f.47v, translation of the crown of thorns B f.53, octave of Assumption B f.59v, Symphorian B f. 60v, Lazarus B f.63v, Ferreolus and Ferrutius B f.68v, Reine B f.69, Piat, dedicatee of a parish outside Langres, B f.70, translation of Mammes B f.71, Benignus B f.73, Anianus B f.77v-78v; two unfoliated blanks.
Fourth addition C ff.1-28v: rubrics for celebrating the office from Easter Saturday, with feasts including Gangulf C f.7v, Didier of Langres C f.8, Mammes C f. 20v and translation C f.25v, dedication of Langres cathedral C f.21v, the Invention of the Holy Triplets (SS Gemini) C f.24, Sts Valerius C f.26, Benignus of Dijon C f.27 and ending with Maximus (27 Nov.), possibly lacking text at end to conclude with Andrew (30 Nov.).
The original Breviary A ff.2-442, was updated with the addition of the office for the Transfiguration A ff.443-454; at or after this first addition the leaves were foliated.
The second addition of feasts for the Sanctoral, chiefly of lections, runs from B ff.1-32v.
The third addition, B ff.33-78, of further Sanctoral feasts includes some full noted offices, either for more recently popular feasts (St Anne, the crown of thorns, the octave of the Assumption), or for local celebrations (the feast of relics, Lazarus of Autun and Benignus of Dijon). These additions, from the translation of St Nicholas to Anianus, are signalled in the original sanctoral at the appropriate points in the liturgical year, from A f.240 to A f.370, where red marginal notes direct the reader to the end of the volume. There he could be guided by the contemporary red running headings.
At a later date, the second and third additions were foliated continuously B ff.1-78.
The hand of the third addition added to the office of the Trinity on A f.166v, inserted leaf A f.167 and A f.168, added the cue for the prayer at the end of the first addition, A f.454, and, on the verso, the prayer to St George that accompanies the lessons for his feast that open the second addition B f.1. This shows that the first three sections were together by that date; their similar layouts suggest that the additions were all intended to supplement the original breviary.
The fourth unfoliated addition, C ff.1-28, of rubrics for ordering services through the liturgical summer, clearly relates to the preceding sections in content and layout and was probably specially written to aid use of the volume.
The third addition may date from or after 1276 when a rib of St Reine was given to Langres cathedral with the foundation of an office of three lessons, as found B f.69. A date before 1276 for the earlier sections is possible from their style and is supported by the need to add St Anne. The additions seem to have been made in fairly quick succession, with only the last datable well into the 14th century. Although breviaries do not necessarily include all the feasts that might be expected, the absence of Corpus Christi may be significant: although instituted in 1264, the feast was little celebrated before the second decade of the 14th century.
Illumination:
In the original breviary, the striking historiated initials head the hierarchy of decoration, for the divisions of the Psalter and the offices deemed most important. They are followed by the illuminated initials, then the two-line flourished initials and the one-line initials simply in red or blue. This lavish programme was presumably conceived and executed in the region, where the scribe had to be content with using several flawed leaves, indicative of a provincial centre where demand, and so supply of materials, was limited.
The centres of illumination, such as Dijon and Langres itself, have proved hard to characterise, see A. Stones, A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in France: Gothic Manuscripts 1260-1320, 2013-14, I i p.41, and, for the mss cited, II. Illuminators in the area were influenced not only by Parisian production but by Southern-Netherlandish trends, filtering south through the trading centres of Champagne, surely source of the little grotesques and animals that engagingly enliven some borders. In a larger breviary for the use of St Benignus in Dijon, with Easter tables starting in 1287, the borders are more populated and the more flexible, curving extensions from the initials make greater use of the leaf forms that would dominate border design in the 14th century (L. Randall, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery, Vol. 2: France, 1420-1540, Parts 1 and 2, 1992, no 48). This smaller volume is earlier in style and so, probably, in date.
Within the small space of an initial, the little figures convey both emotion and narrative interaction, with black lines defining gesturing hands and expressive facial features. The spots of orange on the cheeks are a trait shared with the cruder illuminator of a breviary, for the use of the Abbey of Cluny in the neighbouring diocese of Autun, which probably dates from the late 13th century and was certainly completed by 1317 (Saint-Victor-sur-Rhins, Mairie; this and other mss in French collections are available online through ARCA). This trait, perhaps another example of influence from the north, is also characteristic of some German illumination.
Many liturgical books received only flourished decoration so that the absence of illumination from the additions is not surprising. The original flourishing looks earlier than that in the Walters Breviary and a little later than that in a Psalter-Hymnal for the use of Langres dated to the mid-13th century (Langres, Médiathèque Marcel Arland ms 11). In the first and second additions, three-line flourished puzzle initials are followed by two-line flourished initials and one-line initials in red or blue. The flourished initials of the second addition are similar to the larger initials in a breviary for the use of Langres, dated to the second half of the 13th century (Lyons, Bibliothèque de la Part-Dieu, ms 524). In the third addition, perhaps datable to c.1300, text is articulated by differently sized initials in red or blue. In the fourth addition of rubrics, there are no emphasised initials; a dating in the 14th century seems likely.
The subjects of the historiated initials are:
Psalter: David pointing to his mouth, Ps. 38, A f.26v; the fool Ps. 52 A f.35v; David in water praying to the Lord, Ps. 68, A f.44v; David playing the bells, Ps. 80, A f.55v; three singers at a lectern, Ps.97, A f.66; the Trinity, Ps. 109, A f.76v;
Temporal: the three Maries greeted by the angel at Christ’s tomb, A f.109v; the harrowing of hell, A f.122; the angel bringing his revelations to St John, A f.126v; St James above two men, A f.133; St John preaching to three men, A f.137v; Christ ascending between two angels above the Apostles, A f.140v; Hannah praying to the Lord, A f.174; David telling Saul he will fight Goliath, A f.175v; David orders the killing of the Amalekite who killed Saul, A f.178v; David telling Nathan he will build the Temple, A f.180; Abisag is brought to warm the aged David in bed, A f.181v; Nathan warning Bathsheba to secure the crown for Solomon, A f.183; Solomon preaching wisdom to three men, A f.188v; Ecclesiastes as King in Israel, in armour with drawn sword on horseback, as on a seal, A f.192; Job on the dungheap, with wife and comforter, A f.193v; ?three of the wicked sons of Israel, A f.210; Ezekiel looking up to the fiery cloud of his vision, A f.214v; Nebuchadnezzar besieging Jerusalem, A f.218v; Hosea between two kings, A f.219v.
Sanctoral: St Mark writing, A f.230v; martyrdom of St James, A f.233; St Helena supervising two men lifting the Cross, A f.235; martyrdom of St Gangulf, A f.240v; Crucifixion of St Peter, A f.259; St Peter holding the key of heaven, A f.260v; Mary Magdalene and the resurrected Christ, A f.276; Gamaliel as he appeared to Lucianus to reveal St Stephen’s relics, A f.287; martyrdom of St Lawrence, A f.295; the Apostles at the Virgin’s deathbed, A f.300v; St Augustine blessing three men, A f.315; Bishop John, supposed author of the first lection for the Baptist’s martyrdom, A f.316; St Anne reclining holding the swaddled Virgin, A f.319v; St Augustine, author of the first lection, A f.320v; St Matthew, A f.330; St Michael vanquishing the dragon, A f.333; St Francis preaching to the birds, A f.339v; St Francis displaying the stigmata, A f.342; All Saints, A f.353; St Martin and the beggar, A f.359; St Martin, A f.360v;?St John beside the New Jerusalem, A f.385; a bishop consecrating a church, A f.386v.
Communal: two Apostles, A f.393; St Gregory, author of the first lection, preaching to three men, A f.394; executioner wielding a sword over two martyrs, A f.401v; two martyrs below the dove of the Holy Spirit, A f.408; a bishop blessing two clerics, A f.415; a pope between two bishops, A f.421v.
The illuminated initials are on A ff. 150, 161, 162, 170, 172, 190, 198v, 204v, 211v, 212v, 251, 274, 284, 326v, 331, 350v, 370v, 400, 406v, 413v, 420v, 424v, 426, 433v.
Brought to you by
Sophie Meadows
Senior Specialist