Christ Church MS. 100
Hours of the Virgin, Use of Rome and prayers; France (?north), s. xv ex.
Contents
Language(s): Latin and Middle French
The calendar.
In French, written in alternate lines of red and blue with the chief feasts in goldleaf; the inclusion may be suggestive of a northern French origin. There are many saints of with a broad French cult – for instance, Aubin (1 March), Didier (23 May), ‘Feroul’ (Ferréol, 16 June), Bertin (but 16 July not 5 September), ‘Arnouf’ (Arnulf of Metz, 18 July), Marcel (26 July), ‘Philebert’ (20 August but also 24 August, the Feast of St Ouen), ‘Leu’ (Loup of Sens, 1 September), Brice (13 November), Aignan (17 November) – but there are others who may suggest a central northern or north-eastern connexion: ‘Amant’ (Amand, 6 February), ‘Aubert’ (9 February, so bishop of Senlis, d. c. 685), ‘Yves’ (Yves Hélory de Tréguier, 19 May), ‘Liefrois’ (Leufroy, bishop of Evreux, 21 June), ‘Godregrain’ (Godegrand of Séez, 3 September), Magloire (24 October). At the same time, there are some oddities, for instance: ‘Audebert’ (27 February and 10 April, the latter Godobert of Angers?), ‘Faron’ (Faro but at 2 March, as well as 28 October), ‘Robert’ (de la Chaise-Dieu?, but 21 April not 24 April), ‘Gernier’ (21 May), ‘Richier’ (Riquier, but 3 June not 26 April), ‘Aigrien’ (28 July), ‘Maclou’ (7 September).
Gospel pericopes, opening acephalous through loss of one folio and followed immediately by the popular Prayer to the Virgin.
Fol. 20v: blank.
The passion narrative, from John 18–19, followed by three prayers.
A sequence of twelve prayers, opening with Chevalier 24031, and including:
The bottom half of fol. 44v is blank.
Three prayers to the Virgin, starting with ‘O Intemerata’ which is acephalous through loss of a folio presumably removed at some later stage for its illumination. It is followed by ‘O Excellentissima’ (fol. 46v) and ‘Precor te beatissima’ (fol. 48v).
A sequence of prayers, ending imperfect in De divinis nominibus (Margerita exorcistarum), the conclusion provided at fol. 78r-v. For the first prayer, see HE 137n, cf. Chevalier 1692. The sequence also includes:
Nine brief prayers for the dead, Leroquais 2:341. They appear in a single gathering (quire 12) misplaced so it interrupts the last prayer of the previous item.
The end of De divinis nominibus, interrupted by item 7.
Fol. 79: blank but ruled.
The hours of the Virgin, succeeded by the daily Psalms for Matins in the ‘third office’ after Christmas (fols 125–31v) and by the ‘second office’ for Advent (fols 131v-37).
Fol. 137v: blank.
The hours of the Passion. A leaf has been roughly removed before fol. 138, without loss of text but perhaps with loss of a full-page illumination that could have been on the verso.
The hours of the Holy Spirit.
Fols 155v-56r: blank.
The Penitential Psalms and Litany. The latter includes Blaise under martyrs and Louis IX under doctors.
The Office of the Dead.
The suffrages, prayers to the Trinity, Michael, James, Christopher, Sebastian, and Nicholas.
Fol. 211v: blank.
Further suffrages, to John the Evangelist, George, Roche, Antony, Peter, Paul, Stephen, Katherine, Mary Magdalen, Margaret, Barbara, Genevieve, Apollonia, Lucy, and including prayers for the common of saints and common of virgins. Fol. 228 has only a single line, and fol. 228v is blank.
Cf. ‘Ave crux’, cited from BodL, MS Lyell 30, A. C. de la Mare, Catalogue of the Collection of Medieval Manuscripts bequeathed to the Bodleian Library Oxford by James P. R. Lyell (Oxford, 1971), 368.
Cf. Leroquais 2:311 and Jean Sonet, Répertoire d’incipit de prières en ancien français (Geneva, 1956), no. 675 (misnumbered 28, at 122), citing more than twenty MSS, nearly as many (but still not including this one) added by Pierre Rézeau, Répertoire (Geneva, 1986), 53–54.
Thirteen surviving further prayers (or sequences of them) to the Virgin, a rather disorganised sequence. After the opening set of prayers, follows:
[part of the heading only, the following leaves lost]
Fol. 258: blank but ruled, as is the rear pastedown.
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
In long lines, 21 / 22 lines to the page.
No signs of pricking; bounded and ruled in red ink.
Hand(s)
Written in French bastard secretary (lettre bâtarde).
Punctuation by occasional point.
Decoration
Headings often in red, but also in text ink, a small cursive, crammed into inadequate spaces left in the copying. All leaves have full borders, with vine and flower designs (some animals and birds) in a variety of colours. At the major divisions, in association with large illuminations, four-line light blue lombards with red and gold grounds, with gold leaf centres and painted flowers. (In the second production unit, many six-line examples introduce individual prayers.) The prayers are divided by two-line champes in gold leaf with red and blue. At versals, one-line gold lombards with alternate red and blue grounds. Simple line-fillers in red, blue, and gold leaf.
At the openings of sections, seven-line illuminations: fol. 40: Jesus and the implements of the Crucifixion; fol. 212: John the evangelist with the poisoned cup; fol. 220v: Stephen holding an open book and palm branch; fol. 221: Laurence with a book and griddle; fol. 222: Anne teaching the Virgin to read.
In addition, at the openings of the Hours, illuminations of about half the page area:
- Fol. 21: (the Passion narrative): Jesus in Gethsemane
- Fol. 79v (Matins): the Annunciation
- Fol. 88 (Lauds): the Visitation (in background, an impressionistic depiction of a classical rotunda)
- Fol. 97 (Prime): the Nativity
- Fol. 101v (Tierce): the angel appears to the shepherds
- Fol. 105v (Sext): the Adoration of the Magi (Balthasar black)
- Fol. 109v (Nones): the Presentation at the Temple
- Fol. 113v (Vespers): the flight into Egypt
- Fol. 120v (Compline): the Coronation of the Virgin
- Fol. 140v (Matins of the Hours of the Holy Spirit): Pentecost, with the kneeling Virgin in the foreground
- Fol. 148 (Lauds): Anne and Joachim embracing outside the Golden Gate
- Fol. 156v (the Penitential Psalms): David kneeling bareheaded before an altar lit by beams coming through a window
- Fol. 171v (the Office of the Dead): the raising of Lazarus
See AT no. 794 (78) and plate xlix (fol. 120v); they date the illumination s. xvi in. Otto Pächt’s note in the Library’s copy of Kitchin’s catalogue was more definite, identifying the artist as ‘School of Bourdichon’ and the calendar with Paris. He thus identifies the style with the circle around Jean Bourdichon of Tours (?1457-?1521), illuminator at the French royal court, on whom see most recently Thomas Kren and Mark Evans ed., A Masterpiece Reconstructed. The Hours of Louis XII(Los Angeles, 2005), focussing on Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, MS 79.
Binding
Purple velvet with an embroidered leaf design in gold and silver thread over millboards, s. xvii. Sewn on three thongs. Pastedowns old parchment, a ChCh bookplate on the front pastedown. No flyleaves. All leaves gilt-edged, now very worn. The remains of a tab glued to the spine ‘Arch. W. ...’.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
There is no indication of the volume’s whereabouts before its receipt by Christ Church: ‘from Abp Wake’s Collection’ (in pencil on the bookplate). The manuscript appears in Wake’s autograph schedule (MS 352/8, fol. 2) under octavo and smaller volumes: ‘An antient Rituall in 12º: Illuminated’. As with MSS 93 and 94, the possibility cannot be excluded that Wake came by this manuscript while he was in France, in 1682–85.
Record Sources
Availability
For enquiries relating to this manuscript please contact Christ Church Library.
Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2017-07-01: First online publication.