180 leaves (plus two original endleaves at front), wanting a few single leaves throughout, collation: i-ii6, iii8, iv7 (iv wanting), v8, vi8 (with an apparent stub at front, but no loss of text: probably once with a miniature on a singleton), vii-xi8, xii4 (end section), xiii8 (with an apparent stub at front, but no loss of text: probably once with a miniature on a singleton), xiv8, xv7 (vi wanting), xvi-xvii8, xviii7 (iv wanting: probably once with a miniature on verso), xix8 (i a singleton, and last but one original leaf wanting without text loss: probably once with a miniature on a singleton), xx9 (i a singleton, no apparent text loss), xxi7 (last but one leaf wanting, but without text loss: probably once with a miniature on a singleton), xxii-xxiii8, xxiv7 (third original leaf wanting, but without text loss: probably once with a miniature on a singleton; and including two original endleaves at back), written in single column of 18 lines of a good textura hand, pale red rubrics, one-line initials in blue or gold within red or black penwork, 2- or 3-line initials in gold on blue and pink grounds, the larger with sprays of foliage in borders terminating in tri-lobed flowers with blue or red tips to their petals, seven pages with full floral borders of acanthus leaves, other foliage, bunches of silver-grey grapes shaded with liquid gold hairline strokes, a caterpillar, butterflies, small birds, sixteen historiated initials in dark pink or blue on burnished gold grounds and enclosing detailed scenes highlighted in liquid gold hairline brushstrokes, twenty-six small miniatures, each approximately square, and with scenes painted as with the historiated initials, nine tab markers at foredge, some smudges and spots throughout (one affecting a large illuminated initial), some cockling in places, overall good condition, 150 by 100 mm.; in sixteenth-century panel stamped binding signed by the Bruges binder, Pauwels van Vardebeke, upside down at the foot of the front pastedown, dark brown leather over thin wooden boards, stamped with deer, monkeys and wild boar within scrolls of foliage arranged in two panels on each board, each within floral borders of the same and enclosing the same animals, scuffs, small losses to leather and corners of boards, skilfully restored and rebacked, brass clasps at foredge of each board (but actual clasp missing), gilt edge and gauffered
Provenance:
1. Written and illuminated for a wealthy patron in Bruges in the second half of the fifteenth century (after 1446), and with the local saint, Godeleva (d. 1070), on 6 July in the Calendar: her cult was promoted by the ruling dynasty of Flanders and the abbey of Ten Putte in Bruges was dedicated to her. The inclusion of St. Nicholas of Tollentino (d. 1305, but only canonised in 1446), establishes the terminus ad quo of the date, and the prominence of SS. Hermes and Cornelius in the prayers included might suggest the original owner's links to eastern Flanders, perhaps in the region of Ronse and Ninove (see below). Perhaps interestingly, the Calendar also includes the non-existent bearded female saint, Wilgefortis, on 20 July, whose name appears to have been a mistaken garbling of 'virgo fortis' (courageous virgin).
2. Bound in 1538 by Pauwels van Vardebeke in Bruges, and signed by him on the front pastedown (see below).
3. Owned in the late sixteenth century by the person who added the note of the death of Brother Lambreius Wittinc, a scholar at Sint-Janshuis (the university in Leuven) on 22 October 1570, to the front endleaf (""Broeder Lambbreius Wittync/ Burssier van Sint Janshuis/ Overleet den xxiien daich/ Van octobre int jaer duusent/ Vijfhondert ende zevendertich"". The writer would appear to have been a colleague or associate of Wittinc.
4. An eighteenth-century apparent donorship inscription at head of first leaf of the Calendar, noting this volume as '1735' and then '1193' in that collection.
Text:
The volume comprises: fols. 1r-12v, a Calendar; fols. 13r-35v, the Hours of the Holy Spirit; fols. 36r-43v, the Hours of the Cross; fols. 44r-48v, the Short Hours of the Virgin; fols. 49r-54v, the Mass of the Virgin; fols. 54v-58v, the Gospel readings, ending with the Obsecro te and O intemerata prayers; fols. 58v-92v, the Suffrages of the Saints (including St. Hermes, whose relics were in Ronse in eastern Flanders from the ninth century onwards), ending with the Gaude dei genitrix and Stabat mater prayers, other prayers and a final suffrage to St. Gilbert of Sempringham (d. 1189; an uncommon English saint, and founder of the Gilbertine Order, who seems to have been worshipped on the Continent in areas connected to his English heartland by the wool trade); fols. 93r-130v, the Hours of the Virgin (this previously identified as 'Use of Utrecht', but in fact that of Rome, as also indicated by the incipit ""Incipit hore semper candidissime marie virginis secundum usum romane curie""), with Matins, Lauds, Terce, Sext, Nones, Vespers and Compline; fols. 131-141v, offices to be said at certain points of the year; fols. 142r-157v, the Seven Penitential Psalms, ending with a Litany and prayers; fols. 158r-176v, the Office of the Dead; 177r-179v, prayers, prominently including those to Saint Cornelius, whose relics were at Kornelimünster near Aachen and Ninove in Eastern Flanders. In Bruges, St. Cornelius was venerated as a healer in the Oud Sint-Janshospitaal, and a fourteenth-century statue of the saint survives from there (now in the Musea Brugge).
The binding:
Pauwels van Vardebeke, who signed the front pastedown here: ""Ghebonden by my Pauwels van Vardebeke 1538"", was among the earliest commercial bookbinders in Bruges whose identity can be known and whose work survives in sufficient numbers that it can be studied. In addition, the present book is perhaps one of only a handful of examples of this Bruges binder's work now in private hands. His work survives mainly on accounts and registers in the Bruges City Archives and elsewhere (one recently came to light in Loppem Castle: see C. Kruyfhooft, 'De bibliotheek van het kasteel van Loppem', Vlaanderen. Kunsttijdschrift, 50, 2001, p. 289). He also bound and signed a Bruges Book of Hours, now Mol, Bibliotheek Norbertijnenabdij Postel, 234, in 1537, and likewise Bruges, Bibliothèque publique, MS. 103 (a collection of works by Ambrosius, Symmachus and Augustine, as well as the Acta concilii Aquileiensis; from Ter Doest), in 1537. The latter appears in full facsimile on the Mmmonk.be website, allowing the comparison of Vardebeke's inscription with that here, and clearly in the same scrawling hand. Luc Indestege identified and published another binding, apparently in a private collection, as by him (see 'Une Reliure de Registre par Pauwel Vardebeke, relieur brugeois', Le livre et l'estampé, XX, 1974, pp. 146-53), and he is recorded as binding a now-lost Psalter (in 1538) and Missal (in 1551-52) for the Sint-Gilleskerk in Brugge (see A. Dewitte, 'Zangmeesters, 'schoolmeesters' en organisten aan de Sint-Gilleskerk te Brugge, ca. 1471-ca. 1570', Biekorf, 77 (1977), p. 92). He appears to have died in 1564.
List of illuminations:
1. fol. 19v, historiated initial 'C', enclosing an angel and a demon squabbling in the sky above a human body, wrapped only in a loincloth, as his soul (in the form of a tiny person) rises from his corpse, all above the firmament, and a fiery Hell below with demons' faces picked out in liquid gold hairline strokes;
2. fol. 27v, historiated initial 'D', enclosing 'All Saints', with a host of male and femaled saints with Christ at their front, he holding an orb;
3. fol. 31v, historiated initial 'D', enclosing two detailed angels holding the sacrament, itself in an ornately carved clock-like pyx, all before a night sky with golden stars;
4. fol. 36r, historiated initial 'D', enclosing the Crucifixion, with full border as described above;
5. fol. 44r, historiated initial 'D', enclosing the Virgin and Child with golden rays radiating from them;¨
6. fol. 49r, historiated initial 'C', enclosing the Virgin and Child enthroned as angels play music on a harp and a lute;
7. fol. 53v, small square miniature, 30 by 30mm., with Luke the evangelist, seated and writing in a scroll, as his attribute, the ox, looks on;
8. fol. 54v, historiated initial 'C', enclosing Matthew the evangelist, seated and writing as his attribute, the angel, stands before him;
9. fol. 56r, small square miniature, 28 by 30mm., with Mark the evangelist seated facing the viewer, and writing as his attribute, the lion, looks on;
10. fol. 56v, small square miniature, 28 by 28mm., with John the evangelist, seated in a rocky landscape, writing in a scroll as his attribute, the eagle, looks on;
11. fol. 57v, historiated initial 'O', enclosing the Pieta, as an angel looks on;
12. fol. 63r, historiated initial 'D', enclosing Christ standing and robed in orange and purple, one hand holding an orb as the other is raised in blessing;
13. fol. 65v, historiated initial 'O', enclosing the naked Christ Child, seated on a red cushion holding a golden orb and blessing;
14. fol. 69v, small square miniature, 37 by 38mm., with the vision of Gregory, with the Pope kneeling before the altar among attendants (one of whom holds the triple tiered crown of St. Peter), as Christ appears behind the altar surrounded by the tools of his Passion,all within a medieval stone pillared church;
15. fol. 71v, small square miniature, 33 by 35mm., with St. Michael trampling a grinning demon;
16. fol. 72r, small square miniature, 37 by 32mm., with St. John the Baptist in his hair shirt, accompanied by an agnus dei;
17. fol. 72v, small square miniature, 37 by 34mm., with St. John as a young man without a beard, standing and holding a golden chalice;
18. fol. 73r, small square miniature, 37 by 36mm., with SS. Peter and Paul;
19. fol. 73v, small square miniature, 36 by 34mm., with St. Andrew the Apostle, standing before his cross;
20. fol. 74r, small square miniature, 37 by 34mm., with St. Mark and his attribute, the lion;
21. fol. 74v, small square miniature, 37 by 36mm., with St. Larence holding a book and his gridiron;
22. fol. 75r, small square miniature, 38 by 36mm., with St. Sebastian tied to a stake and shot with arrows;
23. fol. 75v, small square miniature, 32 by 36mm., with St. Christopher fording the stream;
24. fol. 76v, small square miniature, 36 by 36mm., with St. Adrian, holding a sword and helmet, and with a lion resting against his leg;
25. fol. 77r, small square miniature, 37 by 34mm., with St. Erasmus tied to a board as his torturers prepare to saw him in half lengthways;
26. fol. 78v, small square miniature, 37 by 35mm., with St. Hermes, trampling a demon as another small black demon is exorcised from a figure kneeling at his feet;
27. fol. 79r, small square miniature, 38 by 38mm., with St. Martin on horseback, dividing his cloak for a beggar;
28. fol. 79v, small square miniature, 37 by 33mm., with St. Anthony holding a book and a staff, with one of his boars behind him;
29. fol. 80r, small square miniature, 37 by 35mm., with St. Augustine dressed as a bishop and holding a crosier;
30. fol. 80v, small square miniature, 37 by 38mm., with St. Anne seated and reading to the Virgin and Child who sit at her feet;
31. fol. 81r, small square miniature, 34 by 35mm., with St. Mary Magdalene holding her ointment pot;
32. fol. 81v, small square miniature, 34 by 35mm., with St. Catherine, holding a sword and her wheel of martyrdom, her royal husband kneeling at her feet;
33. fol. 82v, small square miniature, 37 by 35mm., with St. Barbara writing in an open book with a quill;
34. fol. 83r, small square miniature, 37 by 35mm., with St. Appolonia holding a book and a pair of thongs;
35. fol. 83v, small square miniature, 37 by 35mm., with St. Mary of Egypt, naked in a cave;
36. fol. 86r, small square miniature, 37 by 35mm., with St. Gilbert dressed as a Gilbertine monk, and holding an open book and a torch;
37. fol. 101r, historiated initial ‘D’, enclosing the meeting at the golden gate;
38. fol. 112r, historiated initial ‘D’, enclosing the Annunciation to the Shepherds;
39. fol. 115r, historiated initial ‘D’, enclosing the Visitation of the Three Magi;
40. fol. 118r, historiated initial ‘D’, enclosing the Presentation in the Temple;
41. fol. 121r, historiated initial ‘D’, enclosing Herod’s men seizing infants from distraught women;
42. fol. 146v, historiated initial ‘C’, enclosing the Flight into Egypt.
