Prayerbook, in Flemish and Latin [Flanders (probably Ghent), c.1480]

155×110mm, vellum, iv+171+i leaves, lacking four leaves probably two with miniatures and two blanks(?) before ff.13, 99, 110, and 165, collation: i-ii6, iii8-1 (i lacking), iv6, v-xiii8, xiv8-1 (ii lacking), xv8-1 (vi lacking), xvi-xxi8, xxii8-1 (vi lacking), xxiii6, 14 lines, 95x65mm, 10 FULL-PAGE MINIATURES with full borders, 12 LARGE ILLUMINATED INITIALS with full borders, illuminated and flourished initials throughout, flaking of gold and oxidised lead white in places, occasionally some slight rubbing, a little dirty at front and back, blank part of f.138 cut out, with the remains of the original medieval sewing, the covers missing

 

AN ILLUMINATED PRAYERBOOK WITH SEVERAL RUBRICS SPECIFYING THAT THE FOLLOWING TEXTS ARE WRITTEN IN FLEMISH ('IN VLAEMSCHE')

PROVENANCE

(1) Probably written and illuminated in Ghent, to judge by the litany and calendar (which includes Cornelis, Bavo, both in red; Macarius, Walburgis, Hermes, Machutus, Brandaris, and Ontcommere [= Wilgefortis]). The manuscript was perhaps made for the WINDESHEIM CONVENT OF TEN HOLE IN MELLE, south-east of Ghent, as ‘Onse vrauwe van Hole’ also appears in red (2 July). The entry for 6 May ‘Katharine vander Cheyne’ does not record a saint, and the manuscript may have been made for a member of the VANDER CHEYNE FAMILY. (2) Late 15th- or 16th-century inscription: ‘desen brief zal men gheven Cleayse Ghenste’. (3) Property of the Order of Friars Minor Charitable Trust.

TEXT AND ILLUMINATION

Calendar in Flemish (f.1r); Pater noster (f.13r); Mass of the Virgin (f.17); Penitential Psalms (f.21r), litany (f.32v); all in Latin; the following texts all in Flemish: prayer before Confession(?) (f.38r); prayers including the Pater noster of St Bernard (f.58r); at Communion (f.64r); to St Anne (f.73r); to the Passion (f.81r); to Christ (f.86r); to Jesus’s Name (f.99r); several prayers with rubrics specifying that they are ‘in Vlaemsche’: Obsecro te (f.102r); O intemerata (f.106r); Salve regina (f.151v); Magnificat (f.152r); prayer to Christ (f.154r); nine prayers of St Gregory (f.163r); prayer for the night (f.165r).

The subjects of the large miniatures are: (1) The Virgin and Child enthroned with musician angels, f.16v; (2) The Last Judgement, f.20v; (3) Christ Appealing to God before the Crucifixion, f.37v; (4) St Bernard Kneeling before the Virgin and Child, f.57v; (5) A Nun Receiving Communion, f.63v; (6) St Anne Enthroned with the Virgin and Child, f.72v; (7) The Agony in the Garden, f.80v; (8) Crucifixion, f.85v; (9) Lamentation, f.101v; (10) Noli me tangere, f.153v.