Prayer Book (Liber Praecum)
| Manuscript location | ||
|---|---|---|
| Place | ||
| Repository | Art Gallery of Ballarat | |
| Collection | ||
| Shelf mark | Ms. Art Gallery of Ballarat, MS Crouch 12 | |
| Former shelf mark | ||
| Manuscript name | ||
| Name | Prayer Book (Liber Praecum) | |
| Contents | ||
| Summary | 2v. Calendar (in Middle Dutch) 14v. Prayer to Margaret 16r. Weest gegruet alder heilichste dienstmaget der heiliger drievoldicheyt maria… 17v. Heilige maria ewige maget boven allen maechden moe… 25r. O here iesu christe huden begheer ic te ontfaen u gebenedide lichaem alsoe volcomelick als u moeder maria… 25v. O here iesu christe alle der engelen glorie ic arm sondich mensch scame ende ontsie my te gaen… 27r. O here iesu christe lof si der ontsprekeliker ende minliker goedertierenhȝ die ghy my alsoe mildeliken deelachtich… 28r. O vriendelike here iesu christe nu bid ic u om die minlicke weerdicheit die ghi hebt tit… 28v. Weest gegruet licht der werelt woert des vaders waerachtige hostie levende uleesch geheel godhȝ gewarich mensche… 29r. O bloet o here iesu christe dat ghy om ons so mildelick in overuloedicheyt… 30r. Siele christi heilicht my lichaem christi salicht my bloet christi salst my water der ȝijden christi wassche mi… 30v. Here die sinte nyclaes uwen waerdighen dienaer ende bisscop… 31r. O here iesu christe die dinen heiligen dienaer S. nycolaes verleent hebt die ewige glorie wy bidden u oet moedelick dat… 32r. Penitential psalms (in Latin) 42r. Litany (in Latin) 48v. Weest gegruet alre heilichste maria moeder gods Een coninginne des hemels Een poerte des paradijs Een vrouwe der werelt… 49v. O here iesu christe ic aenbede di an den cruce hangende… 52r. In die tegenwoerdicheyt dijns heiligen lichaems… 54r. O onsbesmette ende in der ewicheyt ghebenedijt o sonderlinge maget ende moeder goods alder bequaemste gods… 57r. O geode iesu o alder goedertierenste iesu o iesu marine kint… 59v. Ick bidde dy o alder beminste here iesu christe om der groter life den wille… 61r. Almogende god gedanct ende geloest ende gebenedijt moet ghy sijn van der gratie die ghy my verleent… 65r. Weest gegruet o alder schoenste ende suuerste moeder Anna serwaerdige moeder der moeder gods maria… 66v. O heilige vader Ioseph goods moeder brudgeon vol van gratien die hemelische glorie… 67r. O here iesu christe mogende coninc der glorien prente ende scrive dine wonden in mijn herte… | |
| Physical description | ||
| Support | Vellum | |
| Dimensions | 156 x 96 mm | |
| Extent | i (modern parchment) + 70 fols. + ii (modern parchment). ir-iv, 15v, 69v-70v, iir-iiv are blank | |
| Collation | 11, 28, 36, 4-58, 6-96, 101, 118, 126. | |
| Catchwords | No catchwords. | |
| Signatures | No quire signatures. | |
| Foliation | Foliation in modern pencil with Arabic numerals. No pagination. | |
| Condition | ||
| Layout | One column of 17 lines, ruled in pale red ink; Text: 88 x 53 mm. | |
| Scribes | ||
| Scripts | Early sixteenth-century letter bourguignonne in dark brown ink. | |
| Decoration | Illuminated in gold, ink & watercolour. Brown and red entries in the Calendar, red rubrics, red ruling, illuminated initials (30 x 30 mm) are gold on blue or on grey or on green. Nine full-page miniatures (96 x 58 mm), the first three surrounded by full frames of flowers, fruit and floral scrolls in natural colours. Edges cut and gilded. Program of Decoration and Illustration The miniatures depict the Betrayal (1v.), the owner with patron saint, shield and motto (2r.), Margaret with the letters W and M in the lower panel (14v.) Nicholas (30v.), David in prayer (31v.), Virgin and Child standing on a crescent and in the surrounding frame the legend REGINA CELI LETARE ALLELVYA QVIA QVEM MERVISTI PORTARE ALLELVYA OR. (48v.), Christ with the emblems of the Passion (49v), monogram of the name of Jesus in a circle bearing the legend ‘Die name ihesus si gebenedijt ende sijnder liever moeder maria van nu tot in der eqicheit. Amen’ (57r.), Anne with the Virign and Child and border inscription O ANNA V DERDER HOECHST VERHEVEN MET GOD DAER BOVEN INT EWICH LEVEN. AMEN (64v.). | |
| Musical notation | ||
| Binding | Nineteenth-century black pigskin over boards; covers have one fillet at the top and bottom, and one thick and one thin fillet at the sides, all in blind. | |
| Seals | ||
| Accompanying material | ||
| History | ||
| Origin | Northern Netherlands, c. 1510-1525. | |
| Provenance | 2r has a coat of arms azure a chevron three acorns or, motto OCVLI MEI SEMPER AD DOMINVM; 14v carries the ciphers W and M (most probably for Margaret); 30v has a marginal scroll with the legend DEN TIJT SAL COMEN; inside front cover is the ‘Ex libris R.A. Crouch’, who presented the volume; now MS Crouch 12. | |
| Acquisition | Presented to the Art Gallery of Ballarat by Colonel the Honourable R.A. Crouch in 1944. | |
| Bibliography | ||
| Bibliography list | K.V. Sinclair, Descriptive Catalogue of Medieval and Renaissance Western Manuscripts in Australia, Sydney, 1969, pp. 289-291, No. 177. M.M. Manion and V.F. Vines, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Australian Collections, London, 1984, pp. 149-151, No. 61. | |
| Analysis | ||
| Commentary | “The decorative elements of this book establish its relationship with a series of late manuscripts from the northern Netherlands which Byvanck attributed to an atelier in Leiden. These manuscripts include Liège Univ. Libr. MS. Wittert 33 (c. 1510), Munich Staatsbibl. MS. Germ. 76 (1524), Vienna Nat. bibl. S.n. 13236, Cambridge Fitzwilliam Museum MS. J. 144 (c. 1515), and MS. McClean 99 (1526). A book of prayers in the Archiepiscopal museum in Utrecht, ABM MS. 14, can also be added to the same group.[1] “Pächt and Jenni have described some salient features which differentiate these books from related products of the Bruges-Ghent school. Dutch artists freely interpreted contemporary border patterns in strong colours to create new effects. Some borders are strewn with naturalistic botanical forms over warm yellow grounds which imitate Flemish brushed gold work; others exhibit plastically modelled acanthus and floral meanders in gold or silver, over richly toned contrasting grounds. Miniature compositions are executed in harmonising broken colours, and lilac-grey tonalities create pictorial depth in landscape vistas. Figures have rounded contours modelled by thin films of paint; women have full, demurely expressive faces with lowered eyelids in lightened tones. "These workshop trademarks are also found in the Ballarat book. Its borders, for example, repeat botanical motifs of the Munich Hours; its gold and silver acanthus designs are in the Cambridge Hours; the same red colour frames a miniature in the Utrecht prayer book. Figures conform stylistically to other representative examples although their execution by comparison lacks subtlety. For example, the facial features and modelled form of St Margaret on f. 14v are related to the figure of the saint in the Utrecht miniature. "The influence of the printed medium is also evident in the Italianate border design on this folio and in the symbolic diagram of the Sacred Monogram on f. 57r. The Virgin and Child on a crescent moon, a popular image, which also appears in the contemporary French Book of Hours, No. 88, f. 27v, reflects woodcut models which were circulating widely from the beginning of the sixteenth century.[2] "The psalms and litany in Latin indicate that this volume may be a fragment from a longer book of devotions. Many Dutch Books of Hours were written entirely in the local language, while others contained the offices, psalms and litany in Latin with only the calendar and additional prayers in Netherlandish. It is possible therefore that the Ballarat text initially adhered to one of the conventional patterns, with an Hours of the Cross or a Passion sequence (in Latin) after the calendar. The Agony in the Garden, which now faces the donor portrait somewhat incongruously at the beginning of the volume, may then have been placed after the calendar to introduce such a text. Under those circumstances a more traditional devotional image such as the Virgin and Child may have faced the portrait of the donor. "The miniature on f. 2r depicts the owner with his patron saint, who is identified as William of Maleval by the suit of armour and grey beard. This Flemish saint and St Margaret are both marked for special veneration in the calendar, and W&M are intertwined on a plaque at the base of the miniature depicting St Margaret. There seems little doubt therefore that the manuscript was commissioned by a husband and wife, named William and Margaret. Although it has not been possible to identify the owner’s armorial shield, the saints venerated in the calendar indicate a provenance within the ambit of Cologne.”[3] [1] A.W. Byvanck, La miniature dans Les Pays-Bas Septentrionaux, Paris, 1937, pp. 111ff. [2] See D.E. Rhodes, ‘Two editions of Pelbartus de Temesvár’ in British Museum Quarterly, Vol.s 20-21, 1955-1959, pp. 57-59. [3] M.M. Manion and V.F. Vines, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Australian Collections, London, 1984, p. 150. | |
| Description by | ||
| Acknowledgements | ||
| Other descriptions | ||
| Digital copies | http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/171080 |