A catalogue of Western manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries and selected Oxford colleges

Lady Margaret Hall MS. Borough 1

Contents

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: 248 leaves and four flyleaves
Dimensions (leaf): 193 × 132 mm.

Layout

Sixteen long lines; written space 120 × 82 mm.

Decoration

Borders.

Historiated initials.

  • fol.15R. Annuniciation scene and historiated initial with a portrait of the manuscript's (male) commissioner surrounded by a full illuminated border (this and following six are Northern Italian)
  • fol.26R. historiated initial of the Visitation with Elizabeth, three-quarter illuminated border with fruit and floral designs
  • fol.45R. historiated initial of the Nativity, three-quarter illuminated border with fruit and floral designs
  • fol.54R. historiated initial of the Visit of the Magi, three-quarter illuminated border with fruit and floral designs
  • fol.58R. historiated initial of the Flight into Egypt, three-quarter illuminated border with fruit and floral designs
  • fol.61V. historiated initial of the child Christ in the Temple, three-quarter illuminated border with fruit and floral designs
  • fol.68V. historiated initial of Mary, Joseph and the child Christ, three-quarter illuminated border with fruit and floral designs
  • fol.84R. historiated initial of Christ rising from the tomb, full illuminated border (this and the following two are Umbrian but with borders by the earlier illuminator)
  • fol.97R. historiated initial of King David, full illuminated border
  • fol.122R. historiated initial of signs of mortality, full illuminated border

10 half-page illuminated initials in red, green and blue on gold grounds (fol. 49V.; 85V.; 86V.; 88R.; 89R.; 90R.; 91V.; 93R.; 108R.; 230V.)

2-line illuminated initials gold on coloured grounds

one-line blue initials with red ornament alternating with gold initials with violet ornament

Binding

Nineteenth or twentieth century vellum over boards

History

Origin: 15th century, middle ; Northern Italy (perhaps Tolletino, Spoleto or Rimini) ; ; additions at the end of the fifteenth century, ; Umbria

Provenance and Acquisition

From information gleaned from the Calendar and from the style of the majority of the illumination, this Book of Hours would seem to have originated in an Augustinian house (possibly hermits) around Tolletino, Spoleto or Rimini (Nicola de Tollentino, canonised in 1446, is noted in red); the manuscript had moved south to Umbria by the end of the fifteenth century where some further illumination was added.

An inscription at the end "finis Venetiis MCCCCXC" would seem to be spurious.

By the sixteenth century the manuscript was in the possession of the Caracciolo family of Naples, and an inscription on the rear flyleaves in Italian records the birth and baptism of Giulio Gaesare Giosep Caracciolo on 20 September 1574.

Eustace F. Bosanquet (1871 - 1940), his sale, Sotheby's 24 January 1944, lot 179, for £250

Donated to Lady Margaret Hall by Cynthia Mabel Borough (b.1899)

Record Sources

Description based on a valuation report by Jonathan Cooper, Jan 2016

Bibliography

    N. R. Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries III (1983), 623-625

Last Substantive Revision

2022-02: First online publication.