Book of hours : use of Rennes : in Latin

Item Information

Title:
Book of hours : use of Rennes : in Latin
Title (alt.):
Québriac Hours
Title (uniform):
Book of hours
Description:
Access to physical copy/copies by appointment only. Please contact Boston Public Library Rare Books and Manuscripts Department for further information.
Creator:
Catholic Church
Former owner:
De Fontenay, Marguerite
Former owner:
De Vollant, Francois
Former owner:
Monsieur de Bel Air
Former owner:
Carman, Jeanne Françoise Maclovie de
Former owner:
Placide de Ferron, Marie Ange-Toussaint
Former owner:
Québriac family
Former owner:
A. Rosenthal Ltd.
Date:
[ca. 1430]
Format:
Manuscripts
Genre:
Books of hours
Manuscripts, Latin (Medieval and modern)--France
Manuscripts, Medieval--France
Gothic scripts
Calf bindings
Gold tooled bindings
devotional calendars
Illuminations
Location:
Boston Public Library
Rare Books Department
Collection (local):
Medieval and Early Renaissance Manuscripts (Collection of Distinction)
Places:
France
Extent:
163 leaves : parchment, ill. ; 230 x 155 (110 x 82) mm bound to 25 cm in box 26 cm.
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/v692tc06j
Terms of Use:
No known copyright restrictions.
No known restrictions on use.
Restrictions:
Access to physical copy/copies by appointment only. Please contact Boston Public Library Rare Books and Manuscripts Department for further information.
Place of origin:
[Rennes?]
Language:
Latin
Table of Contents:
1. fol. 1-2v: inscriptions by later owners (see provenance), including a prayer to St. Barbara (fol. 1)
2. fol. 3-13v: calendar, use indicates Rennes, France. Leaf containing March is missing, remnant with decorative vine illustration visible in gutter.
3. fol. 14-24r: Matins (Hours of the Virgin, Use of Rennes)
4. fol. 24v-37v: Lauds (Hours of the Virgin, Use of Rennes)
5. fol. 37v-38v: Matins and Lauds (Short Hours of the Cross)
6. fol. 39-39v: Matins and Lauds (Short Hours of the Holy Spirit)
7. fol. 40-45r: Prime (Short Hours, prime, follows)
8. fol. 45v-50v: Terce (Short Hours, terce, follows)
9. fol. 51-54v: Sext (Short Hours, sext, follows)
10. fol. 55-59r: Nones (Short Hours, nones, follows)
11. fol. 59v- 62v: Vespers (Short Hours, vespers, follows) [opening leaf of Compline, after fol. 62, is missing]
12. fol. 63-67v: Compline (Short Hours, compline, follows)
13. fol. 68r/v: blank.
14. fol. 69- 82v: Penitential Psalms.
15. fol. 82v-89r: Litany.
16. fol. 89v-122r: Office of the Dead, use of Rennes.
17. fol. 122v-126v: Doulx Dieu/The Seven Requests ("Doulx dieu, doulx pere, sainte trinite…Sire, si comme ce fu voir, regardes nous en pitie. Amen. Pater Noster.")
18. fol. 126v-127v: Gospel reading: John.
19. fol. 127v-128v: Gospel readings: Luke.
20. fol. 129-130r: Gospels/readings: The Passion according to John.
21. fol. 130v-131r: (suffrage) John the Baptist.
22. fol. 131v-132r: (suffrage) St. Stephen.
23. fol. 132v-133r: (suffrage) St. George.
24. fol. 133v-134r: (suffrage) St. Christopher.
25. fol. 134v-135r: (suffrage) St. Lawrence.
26. fol. 135v-136r: (suffrage) St. Sebastian ("Fabian and Sebastian," according to the rubric)
27. fol. 136v-137r: (suffrage) St. Julian, bishop of Le Mans.
28. fol. 137v-138r: (suffrage) St. Mary Magdalene.
29. fol. 138v-139r: (suffrage) St. Katherine of Alexandria.
30. fol. 139v-140r: (suffrage) St. Margaret of Antioch.
31. fol. 140v-141v: blank but ruled.
32. fol. 142: blank, unruled.
33. fol. 143: full-page miniature (Mass of St. Gregory, maybe a slightly later addition, see below)
34. fol. 143v: blank.
35. fol. 144-147v: Obsecro te (in French, feminine form) ("Dame saincte marie…[fol. 146] moy ta servant…/…doulce dame mere de dieu et de misericorde. Amen.")
36. fol. 148-153v: Doulce Dame/The 15 Joys of the Virgin ("Doulce Dame de misericorde…/…[ends imperfectly] et de amender leurs vies et pour les…") (see J. Sonet, Répertoire d’incipit…, no. 458)
37. fol. 154-163r: hymn to Mary (lacking one leaf before fol. 154) [begins imperfectly] [Glorieuse vierge reigne…]…Dame senz nulle bleceure…/…Et de touz celx qui le diront/ Amen. Amen. Amen. (see J. Sonet, Répertoire d’incipit…, no. 695)
38. fol. 163v: blank.
Notes:
Ms. codex.
Bibliographic record created by BPL staff based on description by Dr. Lisa Fagin Davis.
Consult description by Lisa Fagin Davis for further information.
Origin: Produced in Brittany, possibly Rennes, around the year 1430. Booten argues that the manuscript was likely presented by a member of the Québriac family as a marriage gift to the lady of Chasné, born into the Fontenay de Loyat family – the Québriac arms are shown combined with that of Fontenay in the lower right corner of fol. 143. The Lady Chasné appears in the manuscript wearing a green gown, on fol. 136v, 143, and 148. Booten does not definitely identify the bride and groom, although the bride’s name apparently began with the letter [M], the monogram in the lower margin of fol. 143. Jean-Luc Deuffic has identified the couple as Thomas de Québriac and Marguerite de Fontenay, married in 1435.
Byname: Québriac Hours.
Notes (ownership):
Provenance: Several 16th- through 18th-century ownership inscriptions are present on the opening leaves (transcribed by Booten), indicating that the manuscript remained in the Québriac family for several hundred years. Thomas, lord of Guémadeuc and Québriac, and his wife Jacquemine de Beaumanoir, by 1582; Françoise de Vollant, wife of René de la Bintinaye, by 1639; by gift to one Monsieur de Bel Air; Jeanne Françoise [Maclovie] de Carman, dame du Ferron and de [Quienge] by 1761; Monsieur Marie Ange-Toussaint Placide de Ferron, 24 June 1815.
Notes (acquisition):
Immediate source of acquisition: Purchased by the BPL from A. Rosenthal, 10 April 1940.
Notes (object):
Collation: Parchment, fol. ii (medieval parchment) + 163 ; i² 1⁴⁻¹ (lacking one leaf after fol. 5) 2-8⁸ 9⁸⁻¹ (missing leaf between 62 and 63) 10-13⁸ 14⁸⁻¹ (first leaf of quire missing) 15-18⁸ 19² 20² 22⁸ 23⁸⁻¹ (lacking one leaf before fol. 159) 24⁶⁻¹ (final leaf cancelled) ; modern pencil foliation in arabic numerals written after missing leaves were removed, upper outer corner of each page. Catchwords lower right corner of the last verso of most quires.
Layout: One column; 16 lines in calendar, 14 lines in remaining sections. Bounding and writing lines in red; bounding lines extend to top and bottom edges.
Script: Written in a gothic script in black ink with red and blue rubrics.
Decoration (primary): 830 one-line illuminated initials, with red and blue backgrounds; 138 two-line initials (blue and red letters with botanical, diapered, herald, or portrait decoration, over illuminated background); four three-line, and ten four-line historiated initials bound by illuminated frames (red or blue letters, on alternate color background and filled with gilt decoration);152 pages have a three-quarter- or full-page border with gold-leafed vine work, along with a variety of birds, beasts, insects, grotesques, babewynes, scribes, and flora.
Decoration (secondary): 23 half-page miniatures: fol. 14, 25v, 37v, 39, 40, 46v, 51, 55, 59v, 69, 89v, 122v, 130v, 131v, 133v, 134v, 135v, 136v, 137v, 138v, 139v, 143, 148.
Binding: Ca. 16th-century dark brown leather, with vellum pastedowns front and back. Frame and medallion on front and back covers and flower stamps on spin are tooled in gilt. Housed in custom brown cloth clamshell case with white paper label on front, "Ms q. Med. 81."
Notes (bibliography):
Bibliography: Jeffrey Hamburger, et al., eds. Beyond Words: Illuminated Manuscripts in Boston Collections. (Chestnut Hill: McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, 2016): no. 107; Diane Booton, "A Breton Book of Hours of M. de Fontenay, Lady of Chasné," Scriptorium LVIII (2004): 174-201; J.-L. Deuffic, "Les Heures de Marguerite de Fontenay: Boston, Public Library, ms q. med. 81," Pecia 7 (2009): 83-90; A.M. Funke, "A Book of Hours of Rennes," Boston Public Library Quarterly, IX (Jan. 1957): 195-205; J. Plummer, The Last Flowering: French Painting in Manuscripts, 1420-1530 from American Collections (New York, 1982), exh. no. 33, illus. fol. 143; Nancy Netzer, ed., Secular Sacred: 11th-16th-Century Works from the Boston Public Library and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Chicago: University Press, 2006), no. 8; Zoltan Haraszti, "Twenty-Five years of the Treasure Room," BPL Quarterly 7.3 (1955): 121; Ellen M. Oldham, "The Psalms through Seven Centuries," BPL Quarterly 9.1 (1957): 14.
Notes (language):
In Latin, with some French.
Identifier:
MS-fMed-81
Call #:
RARE BKS MS q Med. 81
MS 1489 (no longer used)
Barcode:
39999063757098