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

OR BROWSE BY

MANUSCRIPTS
WORKS
PEOPLE
PLACES

MS. Douce 231

Summary Catalogue no.: 21805

Contents

Book of Hours, Use of Sarum

Calendar (fol. 7). St Thomas Becket is in gold; the two feasts of St Hugh (7 October, 18 November) connect the volume with Lincoln diocese; so does the feast of St Gilbert.

Office of the Virgin (fol. 19), ending with the Salve regina mater misericordie (fol. 70v) and the devotion to the Holy Face (fol. 71) of Innocent III. In Lauds are suffrages (fol. 42, cf. 71v)

Penitential (fol. 73) and Gradual (fol. 78) Psalms with the litany (fol. 101).

Language(s): Latin, rubrics in French

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
1 + 111 (113) + 2 + i fol.
Dimensions (leaf): 156 × 108 mm.

Layout

14 lines, written space 96 × 58 mm.

Decoration

Pächt and Alexander iii. 575, pl. LIX. L. F. Sandler compares Hand II of Oxford, Christ Church, MS. 92 (Walter of Milemete), and the DuBois Hours (New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS. M. 700)

Fine miniatures. Before the calendar are six miniatures of saints (fols. 1-6), except fol. 1 where two warriors are represented: the elder bears the arms of England with a label of five points azure each charged with a fleur-de-lis which may stand for Thomas, earl of Lancaster (1278-1322); the younger bears the arms of St George of England. Half-page miniatures with scenes from the Life of Our Lady and Christ; not from His Passion.

Fine borders (fols. 19, 29v, 49, 54v, 58, 61, 72, 73) with animals, birds and some grotesques

Fine historiated initials.

Fine other initials.

Binding

English, c. 1700, red morocco, gilt, with initials 'R. G.' on both covers.

History

Origin: 14th century, second quarter (?) (c. 1325–30 (?)) ; England

Provenance and Acquisition

Made for use in the diocese of Lincoln: liturgical evidence.

The two warriors on fol. 1 bear, one the arms of St. George of England, and the other the arms of England with a label of five points azure each charged with a fleur-de-lys (?), the arms of Edmund Crouchback, earl of Lancaster, (d. 1296) but is probably intended to represent his son Thomas, earl of Lancaster, executed in 1322.

Comte Justin MacCarthy-Reagh, 1744–1811: his sale, May 1789; bought for £2 7s. by:

Francis Douce, 1757–1834

Bequeathed to the Bodleian in 1834

Record Sources

Description adapted (May 2024) from the following sources, with additional reference to published literature as cited:
The Douce Legacy (1984), no. 195
Pächt and Alexander (1973) III no. 575
S. J. P. van Dijk, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. 4: Books of Hours (typescript, 1957), p. 134
Summary Catalogue (1897)
Summary Catalogue, vol. 4, p. 562
Summary Catalogue, vol. 4, p. 563

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)
Digital Bodleian (21 images from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

    Printed descriptions:

    Lucy Freeman Sandler, Gothic Manuscripts 1285-1385 (1986), 2 vols., II, cat. no 87

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2024-05: Revised to include all information in printed catalogues.