Textmanuscripts - Les Enluminures
iii (modern paper) + 97 + iii (modern paper) folios on parchment, modern pencil foliation top outer corner recto, missing an uncertain number of leaves following f. 59 and f. 60 (resewn, present collation i12 ii-iv8 v6 vi4 [ff. 43-46] vii8 viii8 (ff. 55-62v) ix-xii8 xiii3 [structure uncertain, but text complete]), made in two campaigns; the first, ff. 1-46, line 4, ruled lightly in red, now with a brown ink frame of narrowly spaced double lines, added by hand two (justification 73-72 x 48-45 mm.), copied in seventeen long lines in a formal gothic bookhand, majuscules within text filled with pale yellow, red rubrics, blue and gold line fillers on ff. 38-41v, 1-line alternately blue and gold initials with red and black pen decoration respectively, 2-line gold initials and 3-line KL monograms infilled with red or blue with white highlights on cusped grounds of the opposite color, SIX ILLUMINATED INITIALS WITH FULL BORDERS, initials are 4-line white-patterned blue or pink initials, ff. 13, 16, 19, 24, 29, 43, infilled with contrasting vine scrolls on gold on gold grounds edged in black extending into a u-shaped narrow frame of pink, blue, and gold, within a full acanthus border, almost empty in the inner border, with blue, green, orange, pink, and gold acanthus and flowers and gold ivy leaves and gold besants with black ink sprays; the second, f. 46, line 4-f. 97, copied by scribe two in 1534 (dated f. 97 by the scribal colophon) in a rounded gothic book hand on sixteen long lines (this scribe also made additions to the calendar and added prayers on ff. 18rv, 28rv, and 42v, and added the black ink frame to part one), ruled in black ink with the top and bottom rules full across, and with double full-length vertical bounding lines (justification 70 x 50-58 mm.), red rubrics, 2- to 3-line gold initials infilled in red or blue on grounds of the opposite color with gold, white or silver tracery, FOUR HISTORIATED INITIALS 8- to 3-line, SEVENTEEN SMALL MINIATURES 4- to 7-line, and ONE INITIAL WITH BORDER (subjects described below), initials are constructed of gold leaves on red grounds with gold highlights, with narrow gold frames edged in black, and with short borders in the inner margins of black ink tendrils, colored acanthus, and gold rayed balls, small rectangular miniatures depict saints with their attributes, usually half-length, against colored grounds of deep blue, red, or green with gold highlights with narrow gold frames, with short borders in the same style, one historiated initial and four miniatures are further decorated with red or blue bars, slightly cockled at the beginning, many leaves are a bit dirty through use, acanthus borders slightly trimmed outer margin, small stain bottom of the page on ff. 1-13, f. 60 is darkened and a bit dirty, but overall in very good condition. Very attractive Spanish modern Morocco binding with binder’s stamp of Antolín Palomino, front flyleaf, top outer corner verso, elaborately tooled in blind and gold in a style recalling fifteenth-century rope interlace bindings, spine with five raised bands, lettered in gilt, “Heures a l’usage de Rome” and “XVI siècle,” gilt turn-ins, edges gauffered and gilt, marbled pastedowns and facing flyleaves, modern fitted slipcase. Antolín Palomino Olalla (1909-1995) was one of the most important bookbinders of the twentieth century, and the founder of a bookbinding school in Madrid. Dimensions 125 x 85 mm.
A fascinating example of the “life” of a book, this manuscript began as a Prayer Book written and decorated in mid-15th century Bruges. About a hundred years later, in 1534, in Spain, a later owner transformed it into a Book of Hours. Special prayers, an Hours for the use of Granada (now lacking), and miniatures were added, and the calendar was appropriately altered. Books of Hours made in Spain are uncommon, and dated manuscript Books of Hours are also rare. The liturgical use of this manuscript is evidently unique; we have not identified any other Books of Hours, either in manuscript or print, with the liturgical the use of Granada. Transformations to its text attest to its continued use after the Council of Trent.
1. This Prayer Book originated in two parts; the original section of the manuscript, ff. 1-46, was written and illuminated in Bruges in the second quarter of the fifteenth century, based on the evidence of the calendar and the style of the illuminated borders. The calendar includes (in the original hand), saints Basil (June 14), Remigius and Bavo (October 1) and Donatianus (October 14), all in red and characteristic of Bruges.
2. The second part of the manuscript was copied in Spain, possibly in Granada, as is evident by the style of script and illumination, the saints added to the calendar, and the rubric on f. 60 mentioning the Hours of the Virgin according to the use of Grenada, and can be securely dated to 1534, when that scribe completed his task and added a dated colophon on f. 97 (see Text below). The complex process of assembling this manuscript in 1534 from the earlier Bruges Book of Hours is discussed in detail below.
3. Textual changes testify to this book’s adaptation and continued use after the Council of Trent (1545-1563). In the prayer, Obsecro te, note the lines censored on ff. 54v-55: “Et in novissimis diebus meis ostende mihi faciem tuam. Et annunties mihi dies et horam obitus mei” (In my last days show unto me thy face. Show me the day and hour of my death). Two lines below, in the line “Hear and graciously listen to my humble prayer and grant me eternal life. O most sweet Virgin Mary, Mother of God and of mercy, hear and answer me, Amen,” the phrase “and grant me eternal life,” has also been crossed out. These same lines are expunged from Lehigh University, Codex 19 (Online Resources; another example is the Spanish Book of Hours, formerly TM 847 on this site).
4. Erased inscription, f. 97v, now illegible, but possibly a verification that its text had been checked by the inquisition (an inference based on the verification still present in the Book of Hours mentioned above at Lehigh University).
5. Private European Collection.
TEXT
ff. 1-12v, Calendar, extensively modified with additions by the second scribe. The original calendar (hand one) includes numerous saints that are typical of calendars from the Southern Netherlands, and in particular, Bruges, Amand and Vedast in red (February 6), Basil in red (June 14), Remigius and Bavo in red (October 1), and Donatianus in red (October 14). The calendar also includes Adrian (March 4) in black, translation of Nicholas (May 9) in black, Eligius (June 25) in red, translation of Thomas (July 3) in red, Benedict (July 11) in red, Eligius (September 1) in red, Eligius (December 1) in red, Nicholas (December 6) in red, and Nicasius (December 14) in red.
Added in hand two are numerous Spanish saints, as well as two saints canonized in the fifteenth century, Nicholas of Tolentino (September 10, 1446), Bernardinus (May 20, 1450), Ildefonsus, archbishop of Toledo (January 23), Eulalia, virgin martyr, Barcelona (February 12), Leander, archbishop of Seville (March 13), Florentina (Seville, March 14), Joachim (March 20), Isidore (April 16), Dominic de la Calzada (May 12), John of Ortega (June 2), Visitation (July 2), and Leocadia (December 9).
ff. 13-18v, Hours of the Cross; [added at end, scribe two], f. 18, Oratio angeli custodis, incipit, “Deus cuius providentia humano generi …”; De omnibus angeli, incipit, “Omnes sancti angeli et archangeli throni …”;
ff. 19-23v, Missa beate marie virginis, …;
ff. 24-28, Gospel Pericopes; [f. 28rv, added at end in hand 2] Oratio sancti bernardi, incipit, “O bone iesu illumina oculos meos …”;
ff. 29-42v, Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany (beginning f. 38), including Amandus, Donatus, Erasmus, and Blaise among the martyrs, and Leonard, Bernard, Francis, Augustine, Dominic, Eligius, Aegidius, and Benedict as the Confessors; [added at end by hand 2; f. 42v], Contra malas cogitationes, incipit, “Omnipotens et vitissime deus respice …”;
ff. 43-46, [Creed], incipit, “Quicumque vult …”; [ending f. 46, line 4];
[Hand 2, ff. 46, line 5-96]
ff. 46rv, Pro infirmis, Oratio, incipit, “Omnipotens sempiterne deus …”; Pro serenitate, oratio, …; Ae [sic] Spiritu sancto, oratio, Deus qui corda fidelium …;
ff. 46v-50v, Ad ymaginem Christi oratio, incipit, “Conditor celi et terre …”; [masculine forms, f. 50, ego peccator];
ff. 50v-55, Oratio plurime devotionis et efficacie ad beatam virginem mariam, incipit, “Obsecro te …”; [masculine forms, f. 53v, … et mihi famulo tuo];
ff. 55-59v, Oratio sancti augustini deuotissima dicenda xxxiii diebus genibus flexis ad obtinendam omnem gratiam, incpit, “O dulcissime domine iesu … vitam eternam//”;
Ending imperfectly, with about 16 lines of the prayer as it is found in Lehigh University, Codex 19 missing; f. 55v, note the expunged words, “… et tu domine genus hamanum[sic] <expunged: in quantum homo> a deo patri ….”
f. 60rv, Hore beatissimi virginis marie secundum hordinem granatensis. Con multitudinem orationis, Oratio, incipit, “Introibo in domum tuam domine adorabo …”; f. 60v, Ad aquam benedictam dicit, incipit, “Aqua benedicta …”; Ad orate fratres pro me dic, incipit, “Suscipiat dominus sacrificuium …”; Ad consacrationis dic, “Conscientias nostras quesumus//”;
Ending imperfectly; the text here begins with a rubric, “The Hours of the most holy virgin Mary according to the order of Grenada,” but the Hours of the Virgin are now missing.
ff. 61-62v, [Seven prayers of St. Gregory on the Passion, beginning imperfectly], incipit, “//O domine iesu christe adoro te in sepulchro positum …, Pater noster. Ave”; Oratio, incipit, “Obsecro te domine iesu christe ut passio tua sit virtus mea …”;
ff. 62v-64, Oratio sancti augustini spiritu sancto sibi reuelata, incipit, ‘Deus propicius esto mihi …”;
ff. 64-69v, [Mass of the five wounds of Christ], Missa deuotissima quinque plagarum, Introitus, incipit, “Humiliavit semetipsum dominus iesus …”;
ff. 69v-72v, [Prayers before and after communion], Quando volueris reccipere sacramentum, incipit, “Omnipotens et misericors deus ego miser et fragilis peccator …”; f. 71, Oratio post communionem, incipt, “Laudes et gratias tibi ago domine iesu christe qui me peccatorem indignum …”;
ff. 72v-76, Oratio ad faciem domini nostri iesu Christi, incipit, ‘Salue sancta facies …”; f. 73, Oratio, incipit, “Deus qui nobis famulis tuis lumine vultus …”; f. 73v, Oratio, ‘O intermerata in eternam …. [masculine forms]”;
ff. 76-87v, Suffrages [now likely bound out of order] of John the Baptist, Francis, Jerome, Confessors ‘N’, Abbot ‘N’, Peter, Andrew, Many apostles ‘N’, One apostle ‘N’, Lawrence, Sebastian, Christopher, Martyrs ‘N’, Katherine, Apollonia, Barbara, Anne, Mary Jacob and Mary Salome, Virgin ‘N’, and Virgins ‘N’;
ff. 87v-91v, [Mass of the Dead], Missam agenda mortuis, incipit, “Requiem eternam dona eis domine …”; [concluding with prayers], Post communio, …; Pro amico defuncto, …; Alia oratio, incipit, “Domine iesu chrstie fili dei vivi …”;
ff. 91v-97, Beati thome apostoli, oratio, incipit, “Concede michi queso omnipotens et misericors deus que tibi placita sunt …”; f. 94v, Oratio ad tres reges magos, incipit, “Ab oriente venerit magi …”; f. 95, Alia oratio, incipit, “O bone iesu, O dulcissime nomine … quod est iesus,” [f. 97, colophon in red], Fine laus et benedictio et claritas et sapientia et gratiarum actio honor virtus fortitudo deo nostro in secula seculorum, Amen. Anno de † ccccc.xxx.iiii.
The fifteenth-century Bruges Book of Hours includes illuminated initials with full acanthus borders at the main divisions of the text (ff. 13, 16, 19, 24, 29, and 43). There is no evidence that it ever included miniatures, a fact that sets it apart from most, but certainly not all, Books of Hours.
In 1534, as part of the second campaign, the manuscript was illuminated with four historiated initials and seventeen 4- to 7-line small miniatures, all with short borders in the inner margin. Five of these illuminated pages also include decorative bar extensions in red or blue, framed in gold, ff. 55, 77, 79v, 80, and 82, raising the possibility that these saints were particularly important to the original owner(s) of this manuscript (Augustine, Francis, Peter, Andrew, and Christopher). There is also a 2-line gold initial on a red and blue ground with a short border on f. 60.
Subjects as follows:
f. 47, (8-line historiated initial), God the Father;
f. 55, (6-line historiated initial), Augustine;
f. 64, (4-line historiated initial), shield with the five red (bleeding) besants representing the wounds of Christ;
f. 68v, (3-line historiated initial), Chalice;
f. 62v, (4-line miniature) Augustine;
f. 72v, (6-line miniature), Sudarium (Face of Christ);
f. 76, (6-line miniature), John the Baptist;
f. 77, (7-line miniature), Francis;
f. 78, (6-line miniature), Jerome;
f. 79v, (6-line miniature), Peter;
f. 80, (6-line miniature), Andrew;
f. 81, (6-line miniature), Lawrence;
f. 81v, (6-line miniature), Sebastian;
f. 82, (7-line miniature), Christopher carrying the Christ Child through water;
f. 84, (6-line miniature), Catherine;
f. 84v, (6-line miniature), Apollonia;
f. 85, (6-line miniature), Barbara;
f. 85v, (6-line miniature), Anne and Mary as a young girl;
f. 86, (6-line miniature), Mary Jacob and Mary Salome;
f. 86v, (6-line miniature), Mary and Elizabeth;
f. 87, (4-line miniature), Skull (4 lines)
Reconstructing the history of this manuscript is now made more difficult by the fact that it was not only resewn but the order of its contents was quite possibly altered at some time in the past, most likely when it was placed in its current binding in the twentieth century. Folio 60 begins with a rubric, “Hours of the most holy Virgin Mary according to the order (that is, use) of Granada,” but the Hours of the Virgin are no longer found in the manuscript (f. 60rv, includes introductory prayers, ending imperfectly), and this folio may have been the beginning of the manuscript when it was redone in 1534, since it is quite dark and dirty. But despite the loss of text, and its possible rearrangement (the order of the suffrages may also have been altered), this is a fascinating example of a fifteenth-century Book of Hours from Bruges, still with many of the essential texts of a Book of Hours (a calendar, Hours of the Cross, Gospel Pericopes, and the Penitential Psalms and Litany), that was very carefully remade for use in Spain in 1534.
The resulting newly fashioned Book of Hours (with the promised, but now missing Hours of the Virgin for use of Granada), also added a large corpus of added devotional prayers and suffrages of saints, illustrated with historiated initials and small miniatures. The second scribe, however, did much more than copy new texts, and the care taken in 1535 to customize the earlier Book of Hours is noteworthy; the second scribe altered the calendar by adding numerous saints, redid the ruling adding double frames in black ink to match the ruling of the second half of the manuscript, and added prayers on ff. 18rv, 28rv, and 42v.
Books of Hours were the bestsellers of the late Middle Ages, the single most popular and widely circulated set of texts in the Latin West. Named for their core text, the Office (or Hours) of the Virgin Mary, Books of Hours bring together prayers to be recited by lay people at different times of day, following the eight hours of the monastic Divine Office.
Books of Hours made in Spain, however, in contrast with the rest of Europe, in particular France and the Low Countries, survive in relatively small numbers (Docampo Capilla, 2017, cites more examples than the earlier study, Rodríguez, 2000, but the numbers of surviving examples from Spain are still very small). The reasons for this are complex, and the question needs further study. But certainly, one factor was the popularity in Spain of Books of Hours that were imported from Flanders. Equally important, although difficult to quantify, was censorship by the Church. In 1559, the Index of Prohibited Books, published in Valladolid, banned Books of Hours in Spanish, and ordered that Latin Books of Hours be reviewed. Slightly later, the Council of Trent mandated liturgical changes that rendered earlier Books of Hours obsolete, with Christopher Plantin publishing the new reformed Book of Hours in 1571. As a result, it seems likely that pre-Trent Books of Hours fell into disuse in Spain, and many may even have been destroyed. This was certainly true of printed Books of Hours. Studies of booksellers’ inventories by Nalle show that in the first half of the sixteenth century, before the Church’s prohibitions, printed Books of Hours were one of the most popular books offered by Spanish booksellers (Nalle, 1999; see also Docampo Capilla, 2017). This changed completely later in the century.
We have been unable to identify any manuscript Books of Hours with a local use for Granada. Similarly, although numerous editions of Books of Hours were printed during the sixteenth century in Spain, in Latin and in Spanish, there are no printed Horae that follow the use of Granada recorded either by Wilkinson or in the USTC (Wilkinson, pp. 222-225, nos. 5879-5960; Online Resources; cf. See Docmapo Capilla, 2017, p. 32, mentioning inventories of booksellers in Granada that include Books of Hours). Granada became part of Christian Spain only in 1492, and our manuscript is thus an interesting part of the history of the Reconquista.
Docampo Capilla, Javier. “Horas Scriptas / Horas de Enprenta: Producción y Comercio de Libros de Horas En La Península Ibérica,” in Del Autor Al Lector: El Comercio y Distribución Del Libro Medieval y Moderno, ed. Manuel José Pedraza Gracia, Carlos Yolanda San Román, and Nicolás Bas Martín, Zaragoza, 2017, pp. 15-36.puz.unizar.es/google-book.php?isbn=978-84-16935-62-8
Domínguez Rodríguez, Ana. “Libros de Horas de la Corona de Castilla. Hacia un estado de la cuestíon,” Anales de Historia del Arte 10 (2000), pp. 9-54.
Londoño, Marcela. “Devoción supersticiosa en el Índice de Valdés: la oración de la Emparedada,” in Las razones del censor: Control ideológico y censura de libros en la primera Edad Moderna, ed. Cesc Esteve, Barcelona, 2013, pp. 137-160.
Nalle, Sarah T. “Printing and Reading Popular Religious Texts in Sixteenth-Century Spain,” in Culture and the State in Spain: 1550-1850, Hispanic Issues 20, ed. Tom Lewis and Francisco J. Sánchez, New York and London, Garland, 1999, pp. 126-156.
Wilkinson, Alexander S., ed. Iberian Books: Books Published in Spanish or Portuguese or on the Iberian Peninsula before 1601, Leiden, 2010.
Antonio Vélez Celemín, “Don Antolín Palomino Olalla centenary”
http://marblinginspain.blogspot.com/2009/09/don-antolin-palomino-olalla-centenary.html#ixzz81zCJ2sje
“Spanish Book of Hours,” Welcome Additions: September 9 – December 12, 2014, Bridwell Library Special Collections and Archives, Dallas, Southern Methodist University
https://bridwell.omeka.net/exhibits/show/welcomeadditions/devotioninstruction/lashoras
Glenn Gunhouse, “A Hypertext Book of Hours” https://www.medievalist.net/hourstxt/home.htm
Lehigh University, Codex 19, digitized,
https://bibliophilly.library.upenn.edu/viewer.php?id=Lehigh%20Codex%2019#page/1/mode/2up
Nicholas Herman, “The identification of a Spanish patron for a neglected Book of Hours,”
April 12, 2019
https://bibliophilly.pacscl.org/the-identification-of-a-spanish-provenance-for-a-neglected-book-of-hours/
“Tutorial,” Books of Hours – Les Enluminures
https://www.lesenluminures.com/what-is-a-book-of-hours-the-medieval-bestseller/
Universal Short Title Catalogue (USTC) https://www.ustc.ac.uk/
TM 1283
