Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts

MS. 66
Book of Hours
Contents:
  1. Continuation of Matins and Lauds from the Little Office
  2. Hours of the Virgin
  3. Penitential Psalms
  4. Gradual Psalms
  5. Kyrie, Litany of the Saints, and prayers
Date of origin:The presence of the gradual psalms and absence of the office of the dead in the manuscript suggest a date of before 1400.
Place of origin:England

Support: Parchment codex.
Foliation: Foliation appears in lead in a modern hand in the upper right hand corner of each leaf.
Dimensions:112mm x 80mm (leaves), 60mm x 42mm (ruled space)
Collation:ii 1-38 44 (-4) 58 (-1) 68 78 (-3 and 5) 88 (-3) 9-108 1112 (-7, 9, and 11).
Script:Text in littera gothica textualis media. A second scribe begins on f. 52r.

Binding:Wooden boards covered in leather, leather band and metal clasp.
Additions:A contemporary gothic hand has written psalm 118:17-29 on two added leaves at the front and the Pietate tua quaesumus on ff 79r-80r. A bastarda hand has practiced letterforms and left an apparent ex libris on these leaves
Provenance: An early ms. ex libris (illegible) appears to have been written on the verso of the final leaf. "Radler's Aug. 22/89" has been written on the front pastedown. A note found with the manuscript explains that it was found hidden in a chimney in Besthorpe Priory. There are two towns named Besthorpe, one of which is in Norfolk, the other in Nottinghamshire. Neither ever appeared to have a monastic foundation. Nevertheless, the condition of the manuscript and its smoky smell lend this attribution some weight. It has been suggested that the manuscript may have been used by an itinerant recusant priest before being hidden.