MEDIEVAL TREASURE: Book of Hours from Troyes c. 1260 for sale

From the 12th century new types of liturgical handbooks developed. The breviary was the primary invention furnishing clerics with much need handbooks,, while Books of Hours (“domesticated liturgical books”) rapidly superseded Psalters and even Psalter-Hours as the preferred prayer book of the laity. recently a very early specimen was brought to market by Les Enluminures: A Book of Hours from Troyes c. 1260. Price: $255.000

Presentation

Books of Hours − especially the early thirteenth-century extant examples− can well be referred to as “domesticated liturgical books” (as coined by M.Clanchy, 1993). They rapidly superseded Psalters and even Psalter-Hours as the preferred prayer book of the laity. Books of Hours became important for the lay in the thirteenth century especially in connection with the edicts of the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215, which adopted a decree imposing on the laity a confession at least once a year to a priest. A Book of Hours was a visual and textual support for individual devotions through daily prayer, satisfying a new form of personal piety, especially amongst the laity. To date, some seventy Books of Hours, or Psalter-Hours, that date before 1300 and were made in France have been identified. But, the discovery of any new example merits close attention, because there is much research still to be done on the origins of Book of Hours, their patronage, production, and use.

The present manuscript is one of the earlier surviving independent French Books of Hours, similar in size and page-layout to the de Brailes Hours (London, BL, Add. MS 49999), considered the earliest surviving English example. A census of the extant north French examples of thirteenth-century Books of Hours is underway (undertaken by A. Bennett 1996), and this survey reveals that each one appears singular in make-up and sequence of texts and in choice of illustrations, probably because each was made at the behest of a particular individual (Bennett, 1996, p. 21). Bennett studied this personalization of Books of Hours in the particular case of a French Book of Hours made for a laywoman named Marie in the 1270s, now on loan to the Cloisters (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, MS L. 1990.38). The Hours for Marie offer a “rich yield of textual and pictorial information on the devotional practices of a woman and her family early in the reign of Philip III” (Bennett, 1996, p. 21).

Like the Hours of Marie, this exceptionally early and important Book of Hours is of French origin but it was once owned by a Catalan textile merchant in the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century. It is preserved in a fine early Mudejar binding, probably added by a subsequent Spanish owner. The upper pastedown and facing page are inscribed, in Catalan, with a list of quantities of textiles, beginning: “Dra]p [ d]arras — xlvi al Pelos darras — xl al Drap engles….” The place-names include Arras, England, Chillons, Ypres, Ghent, Lille, Douai, Cambrai, Valenciennes, St. Quentin, Bonneville, St. Omer, Beauvais, Provins, Huy, Saintes, Venice, Trieste, Reims, Vitry, and St. Fergera. On the following page is inscribed, by another hand but also in Catalan, a list of the so-called Champagne Fairs and their dates, beginning: “The Lagny fair begins on the day after New Year; The Bar-sur-Aube fair begins on the Tuesday before mid-Lent; The Provins May fair begins on the Tuesday before the Ascension; The Troyes fair of St John begins on the first Tuesday after the fortnight of St. John’s Day…” (on the Champagne Fairs, see J.L Abu-Lughod,1989, chapter 2). The Champagne Fairs were of great importance economically and culturally. Abu- Lughod describes the installation, the lodgings, the storage halls, with traders and bankers flocking from all parts of Europe and even from further afield. The heyday of the Champagne Fairs was the mid-thirteenth to the mid-fourteenth century. The decline arguably started in 1284 when Philip the Fair, the future king of France, married Joan I of Navarre, Countess of Champagne, and thus the County of Champagne became part of the royal domain: the incentives for traders that the Counts of Champagne had previously offered were removed.

Description

This Book of Hours, apparently from Troyes, is in Latin with additions in Catalan. It is an illuminated manuscript on parchment from France, perhaps Champagne, possibly Troyes, c. 1260-1270. It contains nine historiated initials by an unidentified hand, which might be considered a stylistic unicum.

It consists of 1 + 118ff and is written in a single column of 12 lines ruling of single verticals bounding 13 horizontals, with two top and bottom projected across, in black and written in a Gothic textura semi-quadrata in black, with red dabs for capitals. Calendar entries and antiphons are written in a gothic textura rotunda; some scribal errors suggest unfamiliarity with the text.

It is bound in a 14th – 15th century Spanish Mudejar binding of brown goatskin tooled with intertwined ropework, on wooden boards with clasp lacking. Codex is placed in a red morocco case gilt. Parchment leaves have been trimmed for rebinding, probably in the 15th century. It wants one calendar leaf and has two blanks and shows some thumbing and darkening of leaves, some rubbing and flaking of pigment and pastedowns are somewhat wormed. Dimensions 122 x 93 mm.

1. Apparently written for use, and perhaps at, Troyes. The Hours of the Virgin is not entirely consistent with the Troyes text of the later Middle Ages, but where it deviates it usually corresponds with the readings of Sens, about 35 miles to the west. The original calendar points to southeast of Ile-de-France, most likely Champagne and Burgundy. The litany ends with Romana, who was a follower of Lucian of Beauvais, and both are included in the litany; Lucian of Beauvais is also mentioned in the calendar (8 Jan.).

2. Late-13 th or early 14 th -century Catalan owners, surely itinerant textile merchants, used the blank flyleaves for memoranda concerning their stock and the Champagne Fairs, two of which were held in Troyes. There are lists of quantities of textiles found on the upper pastedown and first flyleaf. There are also a number of southern French and Spanish entries which have been added to the calendar, including ‘Eulalia barch’. (i.e. of Barcelona, 12 February), her translation (24 October), Ermengardus bishop of Urgell (3 November), and the dedication of Barcelona cathedral (18 November). Another Spanish owner made further alterations to the Calendar and had the volume rebound.

3. Laurence Witten, New Haven, Catalogue 4 (1957) no 53, with his (?) pencil annotations on a front flyleaf.

4. Sotheby’s, New York, 21 May 1974, lot 220, use of Sens, not sold; Christie’s, 27 Nov. 1992, lot 10 p. 19; color pls. ff. 29v, 55, p. 18; Quaritch, Catalogue no. 4882, lot 10, for 27,500 Pounds.

Text

Textually this manuscript is quite simple, with only the most essential contents of a Book of Hours (Hours of the Virgin, Seven Penitential Psalms, Litany with Petitions and Collects), without additional texts such as the Hours of the Cross and Holy Spirit, or Office of the Dead. There are no personal prayers. Although of unknown use, liturgical evidence points tentatively to the region of Troyes and Sens as the origin of these Horae (with the Little Hours from Prime to None, and the last hour of Compline, following Troyes use). The original Calendar points to southeast Ile-de-France, that is Champagne and Burgundy. The litany ends with Romana of Beauvais, who was a follower of Lucian of Beauvais, and both are included in the litany, and Lucian is mentioned in the Calendar. These Horae are quite endearing as a portable model of simple contents with pictured initials that would satisfy the basic needs of a user. The gender is not specific enough, except one very small clue in the preces: “Sacerdotes tui induantur iusticiam” found in two Brabant Psalter-Hours, perhaps for beguines, and one French Book of Hours for an abbess (Paris, BnF, MS n.a.l. 560, f. 148v: [Here for the Priest].” Sacerdotes tui induantur iusticiam. Et sancti tui exultent” [from Psalm 131:9]; see Leroquais, 1927, vol. II, pp. 256- 258, no. 283).

Illustrations 

The subjects of the historiated initials are:

• f. 13, Initial D, Virgin and Child enthroned;
• f. 29v, Initial D, Annunciation;
• f. 46v, Initial D, Visitation;
• f. 55, Initial D, Nativity, with the ox, ass, and Christ above, Mary and Joseph below;
• f. 60, Initial D, Flight into Egypt;
• f. 65, Initial D, Adoration of the Magi (the Adoration of the Magi is out of its normal biblical sequence, which is perhaps related to the fact that the adjacent rubric mistakenly identifies the hour of None as Terce);
• f. 70v, Initial D, Presentation in the Temple;
• f. 80v, Initial D, Flagellation;
• f. 89, Initial D, David enthroned.

It appears that the historiated initials in the present Horae ought to be considered something of stylistic unicum, with charming but nevertheless simple short figures composed of angular contours; vivid colors of blue, maroon, green and golden yellow; simple, black contours and facial details; and plain foliagespatulate leaves. A distinctive feature of female and male figures is the charming rouge used for their cheeks. Amongst the interesting decorative features, one should note the diagonal penwork shafts (or pen-flourished diagonal sprays) in lower margins on nearly every page, comparable to those found in other Horae of the same era such as Baltimore, Walters MS 40, Walters MS 97 and the Hours of Marie (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, MS L. 1990.38). These were popular in thirteenth-century manuscripts in Paris or the Ile-de-France region from the 1220s to the 1270s (see Bennett, 1996, note 28: “Penwork sprays, diagonal or horizontal, in lower margins warrant further investigation”).

With regards to the pictorial program of the historiated initials, which serve as visual cues to each particular text, so far no close parallels are known for the style of the artist of this book. The initials (with the exception of the Scene of Flagellation at Compline) adopt a cycle for the Infancy of Christ (in six initials, from Lauds to Vespers). The Matins initial (height higher than the others) continues the iconographic subject of the Virgin and Child since c. 1220 (Vienna Hours ÖNB, Cod. 1904; Rouen, BM, MS Leber 6; New York, PML MS M. 92; Baltimore, MSS Walters 40, Walters 97; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, MS L. 1990.38 “Hours of Marie”). To quote Bennett: “In French books of hours for the most of the thirteenth-century, representations of the Virgin and Child were customary for Matins of the Virgin…” (Bennett, 1996, p. 25). Of interest in the present Horae is the very early occurrence of the Infancy cycle in the historiated initials that illustrate the Hours of the Virgin. Indeed, prior to these Horae, one finds full-page miniatures of the Christological cycle prefacing the Psalter-Hours (e.g., Rouen, BM, MS Leber 6), or Hours (New York, PML MS M.92). In the present “Troyes” Horae, the narrative illustrations are, so to speak, transferred to and integrated with the initials of the canonical hours of the Virgin (except Matins and Compline).

The historiated initials found in these Horae apparently constitute one of the earliest examples to picture a Christological cycle directly in the initials of all the canonical hours. Painted towards the end of the reign of King Louis IX (1216-1270) and the beginning of the reign of Philippe III le Hardi (1270-1285), this book is situated in the interesting period that paved the way for the renewal of illumination that started to take place under the reign of Philippe IV le Bel onwards. A book such as the present one testifies to the slow but sure resurgence of provincial ateliers — such as here at Troyes or Champagne — in place of the domination of Paris and the region of Ile-de-France region, effectively ending the “monopoly” of Paris. Our codex was painted locally in Champagne (Troyes) but destined to travel and be used across Europe, going beyond local liturgical use and particularities to suit a very early Catalan and Iberic owner.

SOURCE:

Presentation is quoted from the sales catalogue at the internet. See the full presentation of the manuscript at Les Enluminures

Turn the pages of the book

READ MORE:

Abu-Lughod, J.L. Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350, New York and Oxford, 1989.

Bennett, A. “A Thirteenth-Century French Book of Hours for Marie,” Journal of the Walters Art Gallery [Essays in Honor of Lilian M. C. Randall] 54 (1996), pp. 21- 37, citing this manuscript on p. 28 and note 72.

Bennett, A. “The Transformation of the Gothic Psalter in Thirteenth-Century France,” in The Illuminated Psalter: Studies in the Content, Purpose and Placement of its Images, ed. F. O. Büttner, Turnhout, Brepols, 2004, pp. 211-221, citing this manuscript on p. 220, note 48.

Clanchy, M. From Memory to Written Record: England 1066-1307, Oxford and Cambridge, 1993.

Donovan, C. “The Mise-en-Page of Early Books of Hours in England,” in Medieval Book Production: Assessing the Evidence, ed. L.L. Brownrigg, Los Altos Hills, 1990, pp. 147-161.

Holweck, F.G. Calendarium liturgicum festorum Dei et Dei Matris Mariae, collectum et memoriis historicis…, Philadelphia, 1925.

Leroquais, V. Les livres d’heures manuscrits de la Bibliothèque nationale, 3 vols., Mâcon, 1927.