Book of Hours, in German, illuminated manuscript on vellum [south-eastern France (Lyon), c.1482]

(1) Books of Hours written in German are rare. This manuscript is part of a small group of manuscripts that were produced in France but destined for export to Germany. The inclusion of an almanac which starts in 1482 suggests the date of its composition. The saints in the calendar point to the diocese of Bamberg, and especially to Nuremberg, and includes Kungund schydung in red (3 March), Kungunden bewerung (29 March), Deocarus Abt (7 June), Lorencz martrer in red (10 August), Sebolt pichtiger (19 August), Kungung Erhebung (9 September) and Otto pischof (30 September). The original owner was the young nobleman in fashionable clothes, who kneels adoring the Virgin and Child on fol.273r whose name “Sperwer” (Modern German: Sperber, ie: sparrow hawk) is inscribed above his portrait on the frame.

(2) Owned by a member of the von Rottau family in 1526: “15 S 26 / Ey ya mit der Zeit / warmundt: v. Rottaw / zuo gedechtnis” (fol.16v).

The text includes: a Calendar (fol.4r); an Almanac for the years 1482-1501; the Hours of the Virgin Hienach heben sich an dy Syben zyt von unnser lieben frawen hymelfart … (fol.17v), Lauds (fol.32r), Prime (fol.48v), Terce (fol.54r), Sext (fol.59v), None (fol.65v), Vespers (fol.71r) and Compline (fol.84r); a prayer Hienach volget dy Mess von unnser lieben frawen hymelfart … (fol.91v); the Mass of the Virgin Hienach vacht die Mess an … (fol.94r); the Office of the Sorrows of the Virgin Hienach fahen sich an dy Syben zyt von unnser lieben frawen Mitlydung … (fol.105r), and other short prayers (fol.148v); Office of the Passion of Christ Hienach hebt sich an der Curss oder dy Sybenn Tagczyt von dem pittern lyden unnsers lieben hern ijesu xpi … (fol.161v), and other short prayers (fol.208v); the Seven Penitential Psalms Hienach heben sich an dy Siben psalm der pußwertigkeit … (fol.216v) including a litany starting on fol.232v; various prayers (fols.243v); the lesson from the Gospel of John Im ersten volget hienach dis heilig Ewangely und apostel … (fol.305r), followed by various prayers (fol.308r); the chant Salve regina misericordi added in gold notation and script (fol.367r); table of contents Hienach hebt sich an das Register … (fol.374r).

illumination

The fact that this book is in German sets it apart from almost all of its peers. Books of Hours were commonly written in Latin, with occasional saint’s names, rubrics and local prayers in the vernacular. A Middle Dutch translation by Geert Groote (1340-84), a key figure in the Devotio Moderna movement, emerged at the end of the fourteenth century, and during the Reformation in the sixteenth century, Henry VIII issued his own English translation. 

This manuscript belongs to a small group of Books of Hours that were written in a northern Bavarian dialect common for south-eastern Germany (see R. Cermann in Codices Manuscripti, 75, 2010, pp.9-24). Only sixteen were illuminated in Germany itself while eight other known manuscripts were imported from France (Augsburg, Univ.-Bibl., Oettingen-Wallerstein Cod.I.3.8°2 and Cod.I.3. 8°3; Bamberg, Staatsbibl., Msc.Add.19; London, BL, Add.MS.15702; Lucerne, Zentral- und Hochschulbibl., KB P.6.4°; Trier, Domschatz, Hs.73; Wolfenbüttel, Herzog-August-Bibl., Cod.Guelf.296 Blank.; priv. coll., see J.M. Plotzek, Andachtsbücher des Mittelalters, 1987, no.29).

The manuscripts destined for export to Germany have been linked to three leading Parisian artists between 1470 and 1510, namely Maître François, the Master of Jacques de Besançon and Jean Pichore (see F. Avril and N. Reynaud, Les Manuscrits à Peintures, 1993, pp.45-52, 256-62, 282-85). The present manuscript is remarkable as it was not illuminated in the French capital but in Lyon. The style of the initials and borders, the frames and the inscription in capitals above the miniature with the owner’s portrait on fol.273r find similarities in the work of the best-known Lyonnais artist, the Master of Guillaume Lambert (see E. Burin, Manuscript Illumination in Lyons 1473-1530, 2001). The production of this Book of Hours coincides with the economic expansion of Lyon in the 1480s, as the city rose to become the third largest French commercial centre, after Paris and Tours. When the celebrated German publisher Anton Koberger was establishing relations with booksellers all over Europe, he sent agents to Paris and Lyon.

The miniatures include: (1) fol.18r, the Annunciation, with the Virgin and the angel Gabriel, shown in a ‘dramatic’ close-up; (2) fol.94v, the Virgin and Child with two music making angels; (3) fol.105v, the Pietà, with the Virgin Mary seated at the foot of the cross, mourning the body of her son; (4) fol.162r, the Crucifixion, with the Virgin and St, John the Evangelist grieving; (5) fol.217r, King David in Prayer, shown in a ‘dramatic’ close-up; (6) fol.243v, the Holy Trinity on the Throne of Mercy, with God the Father holding the crucifix, while a dove hovers above; (7) fol.152r, the Mass of St. Gregory, with the pope, accompanied by clerics, kneeling in front of the altar, where the Man of Sorrows appears; (8) fol.263r, St. Veronica holding the veil with an overly large imprint of Christ’s face; (9) fol.273r, a fashionably dressed young nobleman named “Sperwer” kneeling in prayer before the Virgin and Child; (10) fol.305v, St. John on the island of Patmos with his attribute, the eagle; (11) fol.316r, St. Sebastian, bound to a tree, impaled with the arrows of two archers; (12) fol.322r, St. Christopher depicted as a giant carrying the Christ Child through the water; (13) fol.327r, St. Mary Magdalene standing in a landscape and holding a book and a jar of ointment; (14) fol.332r, St. Catherine of Alexandria seated in an interior, holding a sword and a palm branch; (15) fol.334r, St. Barbara seated in a landscape in front of her attribute, the tower; (16) fol.336r, St. Margaret of Antioch emerging from the belly of a dragon.