MS. Don. f. 33

Summary Catalogue no.: Not in SC (late accession)

Language(s): Latin and Middle French

[Text 1 occupies quires I-II](fols. 1r-12v)

Calendar, rather sparse, the left-hand columns containing only the golden number and dominical letter (i.e. omitting the roman calendar, etc.); major feasts (in red) include Eutropius, first bishop of Saintes and principal patron of La Rochelle (30 Apr.), Radegund, principal patroness of Poitiers (Aug. 13), and Martin of Tours (11 Nov.); lesser feasts include Neomadia (14 Jan.; Poitou), Aubin ('Albini'), bishop of Angers (1 Mar.), Maturin (10 May; Montchaude, dioc. of Angoulême), Jovinus (1 June; Poitiers), Generosus (16 July; Poitou), Mamas ('Mamerti') (17 Aug.; Langres), Cloud (7 Sept.), Venantius, abbot of Tours (11 [sic, for 13] Oct.), Brice, archbishop of Tours (13 Nov.), and Maudez (18 Nov.; relics at Bourges); saints of the mendicant orders include Bernardinus (20 May), Dominic (5 Aug.), Clare (12 Aug.), and Francis (4 Oct.); Renatus, bishop of Angers (12 Nov.), has been added by a 16th(?)-century hand.

[Texts 2–3 occupy quire III](fols. 13r-17r)

Prayer to the Virgin, 'Obsecro te ... [masculine forms]'.

(fols. 17v-19v)

Gospel Pericope of John, followed (fols. 18v-19r) by the usual versicle, response, and prayer, 'Protector in te sperantium ...' (pr. Wordsworth, Horae Eboracenses, 32), and (fol. 19r-v) by a versicle and prayer to John, 'Ecclesiam tuam quesumus domine benignus illustra ut beati iohannis ...'; fol. 20r ruled, otherwise blank; fol. 20v with a full-page miniature, whose accompanying text is missing due to the loss of a quire after fol. 20.

[Text 4 occupies quires IV-IX] (fols. 21r-49v)

Hours of the Virgin, Use of Angers, with the Hours of the Cross and of the Spirit intermixed; the Hours of the Virgin starting imperfect in the invitatory Psalm (at '[repel]||let dominus plebem ...') due to the loss of a leaf before fol. 21, and lacking from Ps. 8:8 to Ps. 23:7 (from '... boues uniuersas in||' to '[eter]||nales et introibit rex ...'), due to the loss of a bifolium after fol. 22; Matins of the Hours of the Spirit missing, and Prime of the Hours of the Virgin starting imperfect at Ps. 107:21 (at '|| Confitebor tibi ...') due to the loss of two bifolia after fol. 35; None starting imperfect at Ps. 127:5 (at '|| ex syon et uideas ...') due to the loss of two leaves after fol. 44; and ending imperfect at the start of None of the Hours of the Spirit (at 'Deus in adiutorium meum ||'); Vespers entirely missing due to the loss of two bifolia after fol. 45; Compline lacking Ps. 12:5 to Ps. 128:3 (from '... tribulat me exultabunt ||' to '[fabrica]||uerunt peccatores prolongauerunt ...'), due to the loss of a leaf after fol. 46; fol. 50r-v ruled, otherwise originally blank.

[Text 5 occupies quire X](fols. 51r-58v)

The Seven Penitential Psalms, ending imperfect in Ps. 101:22 (at '... Ut annuncient in syon nomen||', with the catchword 'Domini', below) due to the loss one or more quires after fol. 58; the litany, collects, etc. also absent, presumably missing.

[Text 6 occupies quires XI-XIV](fols. 59r-85r)

Office of the Dead, Use of Angers, Vespers lacking the first few words (starting at '[Dilexi quoniam exaudiet dominus uocem oratio]||nis mee ...') due to the loss of a leaf before fol. 59; Matins starting imperfect in Ps. 5:11 (at '[irri]||tauerunt te domine ...', fol. 65r) due to the loss of a leaf after fol. 62; misbound, fols. 63–64 should follow fol. 78; ending with 'Finis gratia dei'; fols. 86r-87v and the pastedown ruled, otherwise originally blank

Two versions of a prayer in French were added by different hands on previously unwritten pages:

(fol. 50r)

Rubric: Oraison du peche A son seigneur Dieu

Incipit: Seigneur Dieu aies mersi de moy celon ta begninite

(somewhat illegible)

Language(s): Middle French

(fol. 86r)

Rubric: Orayson du peché a son seigneur Dieu.

Incipit: Dieu ayez mercy de moy selon ta benignité: efface ma transgression

Explicit: mon peché est continuellement contre moy

(cf. the version on fol. 50r); 'Spes mea Deus' is added below in another hand.

Language(s): Middle French

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: KL Februarius(Calendar, fol. 2r)

Secundo Folio: brielem archangelum(Text, fol. 14r)

Form: codex

Support: Parchment, browned at the edges, and somewhat water-stained and -cockled.

Extent: i (a pasted-in cutting from a bookseller's catalogue) + ii (lifted pastedown, and flyleaf) + 88 (the last two leaves pasted together).

Dimensions (leaf): 120 × 85 mm.

Dimensions (ruled): 58–9 × 37–9 mm.

Foliation: Foliated in modern pencil: i-iii, 1–87.

Collation

I^8–2 (1st & 2nd leaves excised, probably ruled, otherwise blank) (fols. 1–6), II⁶ (fols. 7–12) | III⁸ (fols. 13–20)| [quire missing] | IV^8–3 (1st leaf missing before fol. 21; 4th & 5th leaves, a bifolium, missing after fol. 22) (fols. 21–25), V⁸ (fols. 26–33), VI^8–4 (3rd-6th leaves missing, two bifolia, after fol. 35) (fols. 34–37), VII^8–1 (8th leaf excised, leaving a stub after fol. 44) (fols. 38–44), VIII^8–6? (1st & 8th leaves, a bifolium, missing before fol. 45 and after fol. 46; the 3rd-6th leaves, two more bifolia, also missing, after fol. 45) (fols. 45–46), IX⁴ (fols. 47–50) | X⁸ (fols. 51–58) | [one or more quires missing] | XI^8–1+2 (5th leaf missing, after fol. 62; 6th & 7th leaves should follow fol. 78) (fols. 59–67), XII⁸ (fols. 68–75), XIII^8–2 (lacking 4th & 5th leaves, a bifolium, now mis-bound as fols. 63–64) (fols. 76–81), XIV⁸ (5th-7th originally pasted together, 5th & 6th now separated; 8th a pastedown) (fols. 82–87 + pastedown); catchwords written upwards, vertically, on the right vertical bounding-line, surviving in quires V-VII, XI-XIV.

Layout

Ruled in pale red ink with 16 lines (18 in the Calendar), between single vertical bounding lines extending the full height of the page; the top and bottom horizontal ruled the full width of the page; no prickings visible. 15 lines of text per page (17 in the Calendar).

Hand(s)

Written in good gothic lettre bâtarde in brown ink, in two sizes of script according to liturgical function

Decoration

Headings in red; capitals touched in yellow.

Seven miniatures painted in the style of Maître François, each with an arched top, and surrounded by a full border of stylised and naturalistic foliage, flowers, and fruit (and birds, fol. 50r), in gold and colours, mostly divided into compartments various geomeric shapes (or hearts, fol. 38r), on gold and/or reserved parchment grounds; all somewhat flaked and damaged by water. There is one full-page miniature (fol. 20v); and six large miniatures (of an original twelve?), each above a three- (fol. 13r) or four-line initial in blue with white modelling, on a field of red with gold tracery, enclosing flowers or fruit on a gold ground:

(fol. 13r) Obsecro te. Pietà: The Virgin holding the body of Christ across her lap, in front of the Cross, with St. John, St. Mary Magdalen and another nimbed mourning woman each holding an ointment jar.
(fol. 20v) Missing text. The Mass of St. Gregory: St. Gregory kneels before the altar, a taperer to either side; the vision of Christ, supported by an angel, bleeding into the chalice on the altar.
[Hours of the Virgin, Matins miniature missing, but perhaps responsible for the offsets on fol. 20v]
(fol. 34v) Hours of the Cross. Crucifixion; the Virgin and St. John to the left; soldiers to the right, one holding a lance, another a pennant with a black eagle(?) on a gold ground, and another man holding a shield and pointing to Christ.
[Hours of the Spirit, Matins miniature missing, with offsets on fol. 35v.]
[Hours of the Virgin, Prime miniature missing.]
(fol. 38r) Hours of the Virgin, Terce. Annunciation to two shepherds.
(fol. 41v) Sext. Adoration of the Magi.
[None miniature missing, with offsets on fol. 44v.]
[Vespers miniature presumably missing.]
(fol. 46r) Compline. Coronation of the Virgin.
(fol. 51r) Penitential Psalms. Last Judgment.
[Office of the Dead, Vespers miniature missing, with offsets on fol. 59r.]

One four-line initial in blue with white feathering, on a square field of red with gold feathering, to Lauds (fol. 27r), another, surrounded by a full border, missing at the start of Matins of the Office of the Dead, with offsets on fol. 62v; two-line initials in gold, on a parti-coloured ground of blue and red, with white tracery, to psalms, lessons, capitula, etc.; similar one-line initials to verses and other minor divisions of the text; similar line-fillers and paraph marks found occasionally.

Binding

Sewn on three cords (endbands lacking); bound in 16th(?)-century dark brown leather over pasteboards, originally tooled in gilt (most of the gilt now gone, creating a blind-tooled effect); the corners of each cover with foliate designs, the centre with a large central oval panel of interlacing scrolls; the interstices with a semée of tiny trefoils; the spine with three raised bands, the compartments tooled with trefoils and horizontal lines; traces of two ties at the fore-edge; badly damaged, the fore- and upper edges particularly frayed and worn; the upper pastedown lifted to reveal a page of scrap paper with 16th(?)-century writing.

History

Origin: 15th century ; French, Angers (?)

Provenance and Acquisition

The Use of the Hours of the Virgin and the Office of the Dead suggest that the book was made for, and perhaps in, Angers; this is supported by the the addition of Renatus to the calendar which otherwise generally points more towards West Central France, approximately the area of a triangle formed by Angers-Poitiers-Tours.

Unidentified 18th/19th-century French owner: inscribed 'Ce manuscrit date du 15e siècle' (fol. iii recto).

Mignon Magloire, 19th-century: inscribed 'Magloire Mignon | fils de Dessun Jean' (fol. 29r); 'mignon fils De Dessun | Jean [Pellagie??] Mignon' (fol. 33v); '1822,' and '1[?]820 par magloire' are written below and opposite the prayer on fol. 50r; 'mignon | mignon Magloire | Demeurante à | Aulne[?] Canton(?) | D'Ervy', the last line with 'Rou' or 'Bon' written to the left (fol. 50v).

Unidentified 20th-century English bookseller, with a pasted-in cutting (fol. i) from a catalogue in which the MS. was item 410, priced at £6 15s.

Frank Reginald Lindsay Goadby (1899–1985): 'Presented to the Library through the Friends of the Bodleian by Brigadier F. R. L. Goadby' (as stated on a loosely-inserted printed and typescript slip of paper), August 1981.

Record Sources

Draft description by Peter Kidd, late 1990s.

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (1 image from 35mm slides)

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2017-07-01: First online publication.

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