The Armagnac Breviary, in Latin, lavishly illuminated manuscript on vellum, with 47 miniatures

provenance

1. Written and illuminated for Jean de Roussay (d. c. 1417), Chamberlain to Duc Louis d'Orleans (brother of King Charles VI of France, assassinated in 1407). A long erased inscription on i, 336v, almost certainly in the hand of the main scribe, and visible under ultra-violet light:

Istud breviarium pertinet nobilissimo domino domino J. de roucoyo camibellario illustrissimi principi domini nostri regis francie et domini aurelieanensis fratris sui.

Ce breviarie apartient a tres noble homme monseigneur iohan de rousaie [last four letters uncertain] chambrelayn de nostre tres reboubte prince roy de France et de monseigneur dorlians son frere

Jean de Roussay is recorded among the duke's courtiers in 1389 as a "chevalier et chambellan" (for a complete list of his court see F. M. Graves, Quelques pieces relatives à la vie de Louis I, duc d'Orleans, 1913, p. 290, & 108), and became the duke's chamberlain in 1391. During his period of service he received a number of spectacular gifts from the duke, including numerous gifts of money (4000 francs alone on his marriage in 1390), a black velvet cloak in Christmas 1394 and a grey horse valued at £140.12s.8d. in 1397. He accompanied the duke to Languedoc in 1390, to St-Omer in 1396, and Lombardy in 1403, and in that year was named as an executor of the duke's will; see E. Jarry, La vie politique de Louis de France, duc d'Orleans, 1889, pp. 296-7, E . Gonzalez, Un prince en son Hôtel. Les serviteurs des ducs d'Orléans au XVe siècle, 2004, CD, pp. 484-488, and R. C. Famiglietti's forthcoming volume, Lordship in Medieval France, for fuller discussion. He is mentioned by name by the celebrated French poetess, Christine de Pisan, in her famous work Le Dit de la Rose, which is set in a party given in the house of Louis d'Orleans. In the present manuscript he is pictured kneeling in prayer before his patron saint St. John the Evangelist (i, 40r), and again crucially, kneeling with his wife either side of St. Saturninus (ii, 1r); and it seems probable that this lavish Breviary was commissioned by the duke from artists in and around his and his brother's court as a gift for the couple, perhaps as they are both shown in the second portrait is was made on the occasion of their wedding in 1390, to accompany the gift of 4000 francs. Jean de Roussay and his wife were also appear as patrons of the arts in their own right, and a silver-gilt statue of St. James, bearing their arms and an inscription naming them, survives in the Cathedral treasury of Compostela, presumably having been presented by the coupe to the shrine of St. James there (see Les Arts Paris 1400 sous Charles VI, 2004, no. 76). His wife, Jeanne de Chepoy, was also in the service of the royal family, and was the queen's dame d'honneur from 1409 to 1411. Additionally, as she is shown wearing a burnished gold coronet in her portrait in the present manuscript it also seems likely that she was of noble descent - perhaps as a granddaughter of Thibaut de Chepoy (d. c. 1312), who in the early fourteenth century is reported to have met Marco Polo in Venice, received a copy of his manuscript from him, and travelled to China. After the death of the duke in 1407, Jean went on to hold office as a councillor to the queen in 1408, and grand maître de l'hôtel of the queen from 1409 to 1411, subsequently serving as chamberlain to Jean sans Peur, duc de Bourgogne, in 1412 and to Louis de Guyenne in 1414. He most probably died immediately before 1418.

The location of this manuscript within the household of the duc d'Orleans explains much about it subsequent ownership by the Armagnac family. The political ineffectiveness of Charles VI led to the bitter power struggle between his younger brothers, Louis, duc d'Orleans (whose faction included the Queen and the duc de Berry) and Jean sans Peur, duc de Bourgogne. Louis' cause was led by Bernard d'Armagnac, later constable of France, and indeed the group became known as the Armagnac faction. On 23 November 1407 the duc d'Orleans was assassinated by supporters of the Burgundian faction, and the struggle descended into open warfare. In May 1418 the Burgundian party invaded Paris and slaughtered the Armagnacs, including Bernard, and in 1419 Jean sans Peur was himself murdered. The year after the French crown fell to the English and Paris was more-or-less abandoned. Roussay had evidently switched sides and joined the Burgundian cause by 1412, and he was perhaps obliged to fly without many of his belongings. Bernard d'Armagnac inherited Louis' castle, most probably containing the breviary, and having married Bonne, daughter of the duke de Berry, their son, also called Bernard (d. 1462), then married Eleanor, daughter of Jacques de Bourbon, king of Sicily. They inherited the library of the duc de Berry, and their son, Jean d'Armagnac (c. 1440-93) is the next recorded owner of the manuscript.

2. Jean d'Armagnac (c. 1440-93), bishop of Castres; his arms beneath a bishop's hat added to the border of the first page of volume I. He was the brother to Jacques, duc de Nemours, the distinguished bibliophile, and heir to the books of the duc de Berry and Jacques de Bourbon. At the age of only 19, Jean d'Armagnac was appointed bishop of Castres, and abbot of St-Géraud d'Aurillac from 1463. The present manuscript may have been given to Jean as a book appropriate for a priest, while his brother received more secular books. Other volumes from Jean d'Armagnac's library are a fifteenth-century copy of the works of St. Augustine (now Vatican, MS. Lat. 429); a Missal datable to 1453×1469 (British Library, Addit. 19,897; which subsequently belonged to René-François de Beauvau, d. 1734, bishop of Narbonne and re-emerged at a sale in our rooms, 20 June 1894); and a fourteenth-century Aristotle (BnF., ms.lat.6323a). He also fell from political favour and in 1477 with charges of treason looming, he fled to Rome where he died fifteen years later. The Missal of Jean d'Armagnac remained in southern France on the flight of its owner, and most probably his breviary remained there as well, the two volumes becoming separated by the mid-nineteenth century.

3. Bertram, 4th Earl of Ashburnham (1797-1878), who bought the first volume in 1848; it was no. xli in the catalogue of books at Ashburnham Place in 1861.

4. Volume II, having become separated from the first volume, was acquired by the banker and art collector Baron Achille Seillière, and was formerly in a case lettered "Bibliothèque du Château Mello", the baron's country home in the Oise; Seillière sale in our rooms, 3 March 1887, lot 739, bought by Quaritch; their cat. 118, December 1891, no. 489; and pls. 20-21 in Quaritch's Facsimiles, 1892.

5. Henry Yates Thompson (1839-1928) who purchased the Seillière volume in 1895 "from Mr Quaritch, who was so fond of the book that he parted with it reluctantly" (Illustrations, VII, 1918, p. 6). Two years later, in May 1897, Yates Thompson bought en bloc the appendix portion of Lord Ashburnham's library and so re-united the two volumes. They were then re-bound as a pair and became Yates Thompson MSS. 32 & 32*; his sale in our rooms, 22 June 1921, lot 71, bought by the dealer Frank Sabin for the enormous sum of £1,050.

6. Sir Alfred Chester Beatty (1875-1968), bought from Sabin in 1922; his W. MS.93; Chester Beatty sale in our rooms, 3 December 1968, lot 24.

7. Major J. R. Abbey (1894-1969), bought for £30,000 - the most expensive manuscript he ever bought; his J.A.7401 subsequently sold in our rooms 23 June 1987, lot 96, for what was then the highest price ever paid for any French illuminated manuscript; bought by the present owner.

literature

Catalogue of the Manuscripts at Ashburnham Place, Appendix, 1861, pp. 47-8, no. xli

B. Quaritch, Facsimiles of Illustrations in Biblical and Liturgical Manuscripts, 1892, p. 12 and pls. 20-21

M. R. James, A Descriptive Catalogue of Fifty Manuscripts from the Collection of Henry Yates Thompson, 1898, pp. 179-83

C. Samaran, "De Quelques Manuscrits ayant Appartenu à Jean d'Armagnac, Évêque de Castres, frère du duc de Nemours", Bibliothèque de l'Ecole de Chartes, lxvi, 1905, pp. 246-55

Illustrations from One Hundred Manuscripts in the Library of Henry Yates Thompson, 1926

S. de Ricci, Les Manuscrits de la Collection Henry Yates Thompson, 1926, p. 16, no. 32

Western Illuminated Manuscripts from the Library of Sir Chester Beatty, Trinity Coll. Dublin, 1955, no. 18

M. Meiss, French Painting in the Time of the Jean de Berry, the Limbourgs and their Contemporaries, 1974, p. 412 ("whereabouts unknown")

C. de Hamel, The Armagnac Breviary, 2006

These two volumes comprise the whole Breviary secundum usum vel secundum consuetidinem romane curie (i, 1r). Faint offsets at the end of the two sections indicate that the book was originally bound in one large volume in the order i, 248-357, ii, 248-357, and ii, 1-247. This is important because M. R. James erroneously stated that, according to the old foliation, 111 leaves were missing between the two volumes (Descriptive Catalogue, p. 181): thus, these 'missing' 111 leaves are in fact the second part of the present second volume.

In its original order then, the book comprises:

Volume I, fols. 1-336v. The Temporal, of Roman Use, from Vespers for the first Sunday in Advent to the fourth Sunday in November.

Volume II, fols. 248-352. A Ferial Psalter, preceded by two hymns and followed by the Canticles, Litany (fols. 345-6) and the office for the Dedication of a Church (fols. 347v-352r).

Volume II, fols. 352-357. The Office of the Dead, followed by forms of indulgence and absolution (fol. 356) and notes on liturgical readings on different feasts according to a rubric taken from brevario domini pape.

Volume II, fols. 1-247v. The Sanctoral, from St. Saturninus (first bishop of Toulouse, 29 November) and St. Andrew (apostle, 30 November) through the whole liturgical year to St. Katherine of Alexandria (25 November). James says "the Sanctorale is not quite finished: three quarters of a page is left blank at the end, and the Collect for St. Katherine is only half written" (Descriptive Catalogue, p. 182); this is not quite right - only the opening words of the Collect are written because the full text occurs 8 pages earlier (fol. 243v) and the rest of fol. 247v is left blank because this was originally the end of the manuscript.

The Sanctoral accords especial emphasis to a number of particular saints including Agnes who appears with two miniatures and must have been of some significance for the original owners of the book. Several features hint at a devotion to the far south-west of France, where the county of Armagnac is situated, including St. Saturninus (third-century missionary of the Pyrenees and first bishop of Toulouse). Perhaps Jean de Roussay himself had some regional link with the Armagnacs before the murder of the duc d'Orleans. However, overwhelmingly the individual focus of the Breviary is towards royalty: two of the miniatures show kings (i, 31r and 172v) and both closely resemble Charles VI; the latter showing the king and queen leading a procession behind an angel with the image of the Crown of Thorns, a relic kept in the Sainte Chapelle in Paris. Another shows St. Louis of France, 1226-70 (ii, 172r), patron saint of the royal family, and there is a preponderance of Franciscan saints (an order patronised by the French royal family), including St. Louis of Toulouse (ii, 168v) and St. Elizabeth of Hungary (ii, 232r), both royal saints who were also Franciscans.

The opening and closing words and secundo folio words of each of the three main sections are: Temporal, opening In nomine domini, second leaf /vi:ipsi autem, ends gradiamur. Per dominum; Psalter, opening Hic hymnus dicitur, second leaf Dominus dixit, ending post festum beati andree; Sanctoral, opening Incipiunt festivitates, second leaf qui credit, ending moysi in summ.

Breviaries are among the most lavishly illuminated manuscripts made for the French aristocratic patrons in the 'golden age' of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth century, and this manuscript is now probably the last of these grand illuminated liturgical manuscripts which is still in private hands. It was first described in 1887 as of "the utmost perfection, the decoration being of the richest kind and the work the very best of the period ... every leaf sparkles with burnished gold" (Seillière catalogue). "The manuscript is indeed a work of immaculate loveliness: the very perfection of French art", asserted Bernard Quaritch in 1892. M. R. James wrote in 1898, "the book is complete, and very beautiful it is. The ivyleaf borders are as good as any and the miniatures ... are of exceedingly delicate execution". In 1905, Samaran called it "une oeuvre vraiment princière". Yates Thompson described it in 1918 as one of his manuscripts "showing the style of the highest class of ornament and illumination", and in 1921 he wrote "This is one of the most daintily pretty of all my manuscripts ... the appearance of the two volumes is extraordinarily attractive".

The manuscript has forty-seven miniatures. They by at least four different artists, and in a number of clearly distinguishable styles, all clearly Parisian work of the first years of the fifteenth century. Professor Meiss, who knew the manuscript only from a photograph of the first page, ascribed fol. 1r of volume I to the Virgil Master or his circle (Limbourgs, p. 412, "whereabouts unknown"). In fact, the artist of this initial recurs nowhere else in the two volumes, through the last four miniatures in the manuscript are very similar in style and doubtless from the same workshop (ii, 298v, 309r, 320v and 352v). The Virgil Master's workshop flourished from at least 1393 to c. 1415, and he takes his name from a manuscript now in Florence (Bibl. Lauzenziana cod. Med. Pal. 69) completed in Paris by the stationer Pierre de l'Ormel in July 1403 for the duc de Berry's treasurer, Jacques Courau; the duc de Berry himself owned at least six manuscripts by this master (Meiss, Limbourgs, esp. pp. 408-12).

The second artist in the Armagnac Breviary painted about ten of the miniatures (i, 2r, 63r, 172v, 186r & ii, 1r, 2r, 34v, 36r, 120r). The miniatures are distinguished by tall active figures with tiny heads and often beautiful swaying Gothic poses, fine coloured draperies and delicate gold tracery in the backgrounds. The style has a close relationship with that of the Luçon Master, otherwise known as the Master of Etienne Loypeau; who is named after a Pontifical and Missal commissioned by the duc de Berry for presentation to Étienne Loypeau (d. 1407), bishop of Luçon (see for example, Meiss, Late 14^th Century, pl. 643, with the same figures dwarfed by their compartment). They may be that of the master himself, and among the early products of his workshop, which flourished from c. 1400 to c. 1417. Meiss cites the master's "characteristic, attenuated figures echoed in their ambience by long curling lines ... his painting was surpassed only by Jean de Limbourg for elegance and refinement" (Limbourgs, p. 393).

The third artist here is very similar to the second, and it is sometimes not easy to distinguish between the two. His miniatures most probably are those in i, 56r, 201v, 238v, 251r, 259r, 264r & ii, 23r, 52v, and probably also in that volume 69r, 92r, 101r, 137v, 158v, 168v, 172, 180, 199, 205, and perhaps those on 218r, 232r and 244r as well. These are the most technically accomplished in the manuscript, with the highest delicacy and skill, closely related to the work of the second artist but with better proportioned figures and bolder background work. They most closely resemble the technique of the Master of the Breviary of Jean sans Peur (British Library, Addit. 35311 and Harley 2897). This artist is one of the great figures of his time, and collaborated in many miniatures in the Très Riches Heures. He painted the prayerbook of Philippe le Hardi (Brussels B.R. ms. 11035-7) and collaborated with many great Parisian illuminators of the first decades of the century, including the workshops of the Boucicaut Master and Virgil Master (Meiss, Limbourgs, pp. 232-9 & 376).

The fourth painter here is that of the Master of the Coronation of the Virgin (de Hamel, Armagnac Breviary, p. 106). His figures are large, with round, cherubic, pink faces and with very highly burnished gold haloes and background ornament. This artist painted i, 31r (but not Jean de Roussay's face which is perhaps by the Luçon Master), 31v, 35r, 36v, 40r (but not the donor which is again perhaps by the Luçon Master) and ii, 248v, 261v, 270v, 279r and 287v. This artist is named after the frontispiece to a Légende dorée, Paris BnF. ms. fr. 242, and he also contributed to a number of major royal manuscripts, including the duc de Berry's copy of Boccaccio's Des clares et nobles homes dated 1402, and panel paintings, including a roundel showing the Coronation of the Virgin, c. 1400, now Staatlische-Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz in Berlin (Inv. 1648).

The borders of the present manuscript are exceptionally rich and ivy-leaves sprout not only from initials of all sizes, but also from line-fillers. Some borders include elaborate dragon-like creatures, while others have animal masks and small vases of ivy-leaves. There are occasional personal and comic touches throughout, including a tiny figure of a gold bird, either a hen or a duck, wearing a hat and holding a small banderole in which it says "quec", between the columns of ii, 33r in the centre of the page; similar to the duck, seized by a fox and saying "queck" in the margin of the Gorleston Psalter (Cockerell ed., 1907, pl. vii).

The subjects of the miniatures have been studied at length by de Hamel, Armagnac Breviary, pp. 56-102; in brief they are:

Volume I

1. Folio 1r. St. Paul preaching to a crowd of sleeping men; illustrating the Capitulum here, Romas 13:11, "it is time to wake out of sleep". The border includes a grotesque blowing a trumpet, three birds, a pheasant chasing a grasshopper, four heads in hats, and a little bear. The arms of Jean d'Armagnac added in lower margin.

2. Folio 2r. Isaiah shading his eyes and peering up at God in heaven surrounded by cherubim (Aspiciens a longe); first Saturday in Advent.

3. Folio 31r. A crowned king, who closely resembles Charles VI, illustrating the antiphon Rex pacificus magnificatus, for Christmas Eve.

4. Folio 31v. The Nativity of Christ, the Virgin lying in bed, the Child in a stone manger beside her overlooked by an ox and an ass, Joseph hunched-up at the foot of the bed; Christmas Day.

5. Folio 35r. The Annuciation to the Shepherds, one of whom has bagpipes and who look up at two angels with a scroll "anoncio vob.ga"; Lauds on Christmas Day.

6. Folio 36v. The Stoning of St. Stephen by two ruffians as God's hand appears in the sky; feast of St. Stephen (26 December).

7. Folio 40r. Jean de Roussay, dressed in a long red robe, kneeling before St. John the Evangelist who holds the poisoned chalice and a palm of martyrdom (27 December).

8. Folio 56r. The Circumcision, the Child held by a saint in scarlet resembling St. John, as the priest and St. Joseph perform the ritual; 1 January.

9. Folio 63r. The Adoration of the Magi, one of whom kneels before the Virgin and Child as the other two discuss the star; Epiphany (6 January).

10. Folio 172v. A king and queen, resembling Charles Vi and his queen, Isabelle of Bavaria, leading a procession behind an angel bearing a banner on which are the symbols of the Passion (including the Crown of Thorns which was kept at the Sainte Chapelle), illustrating the hymn for the eve of Palm Sunday, Vexilla Regis.

11. Folio 186r. The Entry into Jerusalem, with a boy cheering from the ramparts and another laying down his cloak before the ass; Palm Sunday.

12. Folio 201v. The Resurrection, a dramatic miniature in which Christ is seen from behind rising from the sepulchre and looking back towards an angel seated on the tomb lid, while three soldiers lie sleep in the foreground; Easter Day.

13. Folio 238v. The Ascension of Christ, whose feet are seen disappearing as the Apostles gatheraround a hill; Ascension Sunday.

14. Folio 251r. Pentecost, with the Apostles on either side and wavy gold lines emanating from the Holy Dove; Whitsun.

15. Folio 259r.The Baptism of Christ by St. John the Baptist who pours water from a flask over the head of Christ as God sends down the Holy Dove; Trinity Sunday.

16. Folio 264r. The Last Supper, with the Apostles grouped on either sideof Christ behind a table; Corpus Christi Sunday.

Volume II

17. Folio 1r. St Saturninus standing between Jean de Roussay and his wife who kneel in prayer; 29 November.

18. Folio 2r. The martyrdom of St. Andrew who is being lashed to an X-shaped cross by two men, one with particoloured hose; 30 November.

19. Folio 23r. St Agnes standing in flames, holding a palm of martyrdom and patting a lamb; 21 January.

20. Folio 34v. The parents of St. Agnes kneeling before an empty tomb looking up at virgin martyrs in heaven (following the legend that they saw their daughter in heaven a week after her martyrdom); 25 January.

21. Folio 36r. The Presentation in the Temple; feast of Candlemass (2 February).

22. Folio 52v. The Annunciation, Gabriel with a scroll "Ave maris gracis plena"; 25 March.

23. Folio 60r. St. George slaying the Dragon as the princess watches with her hands raised; 23 April.

24. Folio 69r. St. John the Evangelist, standing in a barrel and holding a palm of martyrdom and pointing to the poisoned chalice; St. John before the Latin Gate (6 May).

25. Folio 92r. St. John the Baptist in a long red robe, holding the Pascal Lamb and flag; 24 June.

26. Folio 101r. SS. Peter and Paul standing together; 29 June.

27. Folio 120r. The Noli me tangere, Christ appearing to St. Mary Magdalene in the garden after the Resurrection; 22 July.

28. Folio 137v. The Virgin and Child appearing to St. Liberius who lies on his bed in his papal crown; feats of the Virgin ad nives (5 August).

29. Folio 158v. Christ blessing the Virgin who sits beside him; feast of the Assumption (15 August).

30. Folio 168v. St. Louis of Toulouse, holding a crozier and crown and dressed in a long dark-blue robe embroidered with fleur-de-lys; 19 August.

31. Folio 172r. St. Louis of France, shown as a modern king (most probably Charles VI, and without a halo) standing full-face and holding two sceptres; 25 August.

32. Folio 180r. The Nativity of the Virgin, with St. Anne lying in bed and a midwife holding the baby; 8 September.

33. Folio 199r. St. Michael, with wings outstretched, raising a spear to vanquish the Devil; 29 September.

34. Folio 205r. St. Francis receiving his stigmata; 4 October.

35. Folio 218r. All Saints, a group of standing male saints in long coloured robes; 1 November.

36. Folio 232r. St. Elizabeth of Hungary, either receiving a crown and royal cloak from an angel having renounced her original royal garments in order to take the Franciscan habit; 19 November.

37. Folio 235v. St. Cecilia with her newly-converted husband Valerian receiving crowns from an angel; 22 November.

38. Folio 244r. St. Catherine seated, holding a palm, sword and wheel; 25 November.

39. Folio 248v. David playing a harp with two other musical instruments beside him; Psalm 1.

40. Folio 261v. David holding a book and pointing to his eyes; Psalm 26.

41. Folio 270v. David holding a book and pointing to his tongue; Psalm 38.

42. Folio 279r. A fool in a pink robe tossing a ball in the air and swinging at it with a club; Psalm 52.

43. Folio 287v. David kneeling naked in a river praying to God for help; Psalm 68.

44. Folio 298v. David seated playing the bells; Psalm 80.

45. Folio 309r. A group of choristers singing at a lectern; Psalm 97.

46. Folio 320v. The Trinity, the Father and Son holding an orb between them and the Holy Dove hovering over it; Psalm 109.

47. Folio 352v. A dead man lying in a tomb with a scroll emerging from his mouth "Parce michi nichil enim sunt" as God blesses him from the sky; Office of the Dead.