Beinecke MS 375               France, s. XVI^^in
Hours, use of Paris

Restricted material. May not be seen without the permission of the appropriate curator.

1.  ff. 1r-12v Full calendar in red and black, including the major
Franciscan and Dominican feasts.  f. 13r blank

2.  ff. 13v-20r Sequences of the Gospels, that of Mark ending defectively
after f. 15v; Passion according to John, followed by the prayer, Deus qui
manus tuas et pedes tuos....

3.  ff. 20r-24r Stabat mater...[RH 19416], followed by versicle, response and
the prayer, Interueniat pro nobis quesumus...; Obsecro te...[masculine forms;
Leroquais, LH 2.346]; O intemerata...orbis terrarum.  Inclina mater
misericordie aures...[masculine forms; Wilmart, 488-90]; followed immediately
by a prayer to John the Evangelist, O Iohannes beatissime christi familiaris
amice qui ab eodem domino nostro iesu christo virgo electus es....

4.  ff. 24v-61r Hours of the Virgin, use of Paris, the 3 sets of Psalms and
lessons at Matins with rubrics for the days of the week; the Short Hours of the
Cross and the Holy Spirit worked in; loss of text after f. 52v (end of Sext, the
Short Hours and miniature for None) and after f. 58v (end of Vespers, the
Short Hours, miniature and beginning text of Compline).

5.  ff. 61v-65r Short Hours of the Conception.

6.  ff. 65v-75r Penitential Psalms and litany, including the Franciscans
Francis, Antony of Padua and Louis of Toulouse among the confessors, and Clara
of Assisi among the virgins.

7.  ff. 75v-97v Office of the Dead, use of Paris.

8.  f. 97v  Rubric only for the suffrages; text ends defectively.

     Parchment (fine), ff. i (modern parchment, reinforced) + i (contemporary
parchment) + 97 + i (parchment, modern?) + i (modern parchment, reinforced),
125 x 85 (83 x 50) mm.
Calendar written in 23 long lines per page, text in 26; single vertical and
horizontal bounding lines, full length, though mostly concealed by decorative
borders; ruled in pale brown ink.
     Bound too tightly for accurate collation.
     Written by a single scribe in a precise humanistic script similar in style
to that of Geoffroy Tory (1480-1533).
     Fifteen full-page miniatures in camaieu-gris with gold accents in
narrow frames of gold in form of a rope.  The style of the miniatures is related
to that of a group of manuscripts probably produced in Rouen under the influence
of Jean Bourdichon in the early 16th century; see G. Ritter and L. Lafond,
Manuscrits a peintures de Rouen (Paris, 1913).  The decoration of MS
375 is related to the "Petites Heures" (use of Rouen) of Anne of Brittany
(Paris, B. N.  nouv. acq. lat. 3027) and the so-called "Hours of Henry IV" (use
of Rome; Paris, B. N. lat. 1171); see Exhibition Catalogue, pp. 265-67.
The subjects of the miniatures are as follow:  f. 13v (Gospel Sequences) St.
John on Patmos; f. 24v (Matins) The Annunciation (according to O. Paecht the
iconography of this miniature has its analogy in the Annunciation of the Laval
Hours, Paris B. N. lat. 920 in the center of which a view opens to a fountain
of life.  The same details also appear in two panel paintings, one in Gerona,
the other in Genoa, both based on Flemish models); f. 35v (Lauds) Joseph's
dream; f. 36r The Visitation; f. 41v (Hours of the Cross) Crucifixion; f. 43r
(Hours of the Holy Spirit) Pentecost; f. 44v (Prime) Nativity (added s.
XVI^^ex); f. 48v (Terce) Annunciation to the shepherds; f. 51v (Sext)
Adoration of the Magi; f. 55v (Vespers) Flight into Egypt, a column with a
statue and a broken column in the foreground; f. 61v (Hours of the Conception)
St. Joachim and St. Anna at the Golden Gate; f. 65v (Penitential Psalms) David
in prayer, a putrefying corpse in the background; f. 75v (Office of the Dead)
Raising of Lazarus; f. 79v Job and his
family; f. 80r Job on the dunghill.  Twelve smaller miniatures in narrow gold
frames with the occupations of the months in the Calendar.  Signs of the zodiac
appear in the sky or in the background.  In addition there are three miniatures,
8-line, f. 14v (Gospel Sequences) St. Luke; f. 15r (Gospel Sequences) St.
Matthew; and f. 20v (Stabat mater) the two Marys at the cross.  All text pages
with elaborate borders consisting of solid panels in gold or grey divided by
knotted cords, black with white or gold highlights enclosing the letters E,
F, G.  Similar cordeliere borders occur in manuscripts written for Anne of
Brittany and her daughter Claude of France.  Compare Waddesdon Manor, James
A. de Rothschild Collection MS 22 (Delaisse, Marrow and de Wit, Waddesdon
Manor, p. 476, fig. 8), New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS 50 (B. da Costa
Greene and M. Harrsen, The Pierpont Morgan Library.  Exhibition of Illuminated
Manuscripts, New York, November 1933 to April 1934, no. 118, pl. 82) and the
Hours of Claude of France formerly in the possession of H. P. Kraus, New York
(C. Sterling, The Master of Claude, Queen of France [New York, 1977]
fig. 1).  Initials, 4- and 3-line, blue, grey, or pink with white highlights,
filled with knotted cords or flowers against gold grounds flecked with black.
Initials, 2- and 1-line, and KL monograms, gold, on red and blue grounds
with gold filigree.  Line fillers gold on red and blue grounds with gold
filigree, or gold logs.  Rubrics in gold and blue.
     Binding:  s. xix.  Tortoise shell sides with two gold-plated [?]
clasps.  Pale blue watered silk doublures.

Written in Northern France, perhaps Rouen or Paris as is suggested by the style
of the decoration, at the beginning of the 16th century.  The letters E, F,
and G, surrounded by the cordeliere borders on each text page probably
refer to the original owner, who remains unidentified; the prominent use of the
knotted cordeliere borders suggests that MS 375 was produced for a member of
the sisterhood Chevalieres de la Cordeliere, founded in 1498 by Anne of
Brittany for widows of the nobility (cf. Sterling, op. cit., p. 8).  Early
modern provenance otherwise unknown.  Belonged to Marie-Caroline de Bourbon,
Duchesse
de Berry (1798-1870), no. 17 (autograph inscription on first front flyleaf on
verso) and to Baron Edmond de Rothschild, MS 77.  Rothschild family member sale
Paris, Palais Galliera, 24 June 1968.  Acquired from H. P. Kraus in 1969 by
Edwin J. Beinecke for the Beinecke Library.

Bibliography: Exhibition Catalogue, pp. 265-67, no. 81, pl. 30 (ff. 24v-25r).

Barbara A. Shailor