Walters Ms. W.202, Book of Hours

W.202

Book of Hours

Book of Hours

This pocket-sized Book of Hours, ca. 1460-70, was completed in the circle of Willem Vrelant for the use of Sarum. Featuring twenty-seven extant miniatures and twenty-two historiated initials, it is an important example of the prayer books made in the third quarter of the thirteenth century in Bruges for English owners. While this manuscript is not especially unique amongst its peers, it is exemplary because of its impressive pictorial program, including the aforementioned miniatures and historiated initials. The miniatures include decorative details distinctive of the tradition of the Masters of the Gold Scrolls, which was influential in this period. Also notable is the sensitivity to atmospheric landscape effects imbued with spatial and coloristic qualities reminiscent of manuscripts in the Eyckian tradition. Full-page Passion scenes paired with smaller Infancy episodes in the Hours of the Virgin are juxtaposed, resulting in a rare dualism that speaks to the ambitious artistic program exhibited in this manuscript.

Ca. 1460-70 CE

Bruges, Flanders

Authority name: Vrelant, Willem, -1481

Supplied name: Circle of Willem Vrelant

Book

Devotional

The primary language in this manuscript is Latin.

Parchment

Well-selected and prepared thin parchment; cropped; inserted full-page miniatures on thicker parchment, some excised, knife cut at times visible near gutter on next leaf (fol. 214); flyleaves of modern parchment

Foliation: i+263+i

Earlier pencil foliation at lower right of rectos; a newer set of foliation in darker pencil begins on the second of two leaves numbered 81 (used here)

Formula: Quire 1: 12 (fols. 1-12); Quire 2: 8, with ninth folio added (fols. 13-21); Quire 3: 8, with eighth folio added and later removed (fols. 22-29); Quire 4: 14, with first and fourth folios cancelled (fols. 30-41); Quire 5: 8, with first and fourth folios added (fols. 42-51); Quire 6: 8, with first folio cancelled, also with second, fourth, sixth, eighth, and tenth folios added and later removed after fols. 42, 43, 45, 47, 49 (fols. 52-58); Quire 7: 8, with fifth folio added (fols. 59-67); Quires 8-9: (fols. 68-83); Quire 10: 8, with third folio added (fols. 84-90); Quire 11: 10, with second, seventh, and eleventh folios added (fols. 91-103); Quire 12: 6, with third and seventh folios added (fols. 104-111); Quire 13: 10 (fols. 112-121); Quire 14: 6 (fols. 122-127); Quire 15: 10 (fols. 128-137); Quire 16: 6 (fols. 138-143): Quire 17: 10, with tenth folio cancelled (fols. 144-152); Quires 18-20: 8 (fols. 153-176); Quire 21: 8, with second folio added (fols. 177-185); Quires 22-28: 8 (fols 186-241); Quire 29: 8, with third folio added (fols. 242-250); Quire 30: (fols. 251-258); Quire 31: 6, with sixth folio cancelled (fols. 259-263)

Catchwords: None

Comments:

7.3 cm wide by 9.8 cm high

3.8 cm wide by 5.8 cm high

1. Columns: 1
2. Ruled lines: 16
3. Ruled in light-red ink; layout does not apply to calendar: 4.5 cm x 6.2 cm (written surface), 4 columns, 17 lines

fols. 1r - 263v:

1. Title: Book of Hours
2. Hand note: Textura
3. Decoration note: Nineteen full-page miniatures mark the beginning of each hour, with foliate margins on three sides and with eight smaller miniatures and matching foliate margins on the facing text page; twenty-two historiated initials (9 lines) and large blue and rose floral initials against gold grounds (5-7 lines) for major text divisions; smaller initials in gold against blue and rose grounds (2-4 lines) beginning each calendar page and also marking secondary text divisions; rubrics and major feast days in rose; text in brown ink

fols. 1r - 12v:

1. Title: Calendar
2. Rubric: Januarius.
3. Contents: Calendar half full, graded in rose and brown; contains a large number of English saints: Thomas Becket (Jan. 5), Wulstan (Jan. 19), Cedd (Feb. 3), Guthlac (Feb. 4), Julianus (Apr. 17), Elphege (Apr. 19), John of Beverly (May 7), Andrew (May 9), Dunstan (May 19), Thomas Becket (Jul. 7, translation), Grimbald (Jul. 18), Philibert (Aug. 20), Bernard (Aug. 25), Hugh (Oct. 6), Osyth (Oct. 7), Paulinus (Oct. 10), Wilfrid (Oct. 12), Ethelreda (Oct. 17), Friedswide (Oct. 19), Germanus (Oct. 30), Brictius (Nov. 13), Hugh (Nov. 17), Edmund (Nov. 20), Birinus (Dec. 3), Thomas Becket (Dec. 29)

fols. 13r - 24v:

1. Title: Fifteen Prayers on the Passion
2. Rubric: Oratio devota ad christum.
3. Incipit: Ihesus xristus eterna
4. Contents: Fifteen "O"s of St. Brigid of Sweden, ca. 1303-73, canonized 1391; patron saint of pilgrims, founder of order with special devotion to the Passion
5. Decoration note: One full-page miniature on fol. 13v

fols. 25r - 51v:

1. Title: Suffrages
2. Rubric: Memoria de sancta trinitate
3. Incipit: Domine deus omni potens
4. Contents: Fols. 26r-28v: Trinity; fols. 29r-30v: John the Baptist, rhyming; fols. 31r-32v: Thomas Becket, rhyming; fols. 33r-34r: George; fols. 34r-36r: Christopher, rhyming; fols. 36v-37v: Julian Hospitaller; fols. 38v-40v: Erasmus; fols. 41v-42v: Gabriel, rhyming; fols. 43r-44r: Anne; fols. 44v-46r: Mary Magdalene, rhyming; fols. 46v-48r: Catherine; fols. 48v-50r: Margaret, rhyming
5. Decoration note: Full-page miniatures on fols. 25v, 36v, 38v, 41v, 44v, 46v, 48v, and 50v

fols. 52r - 152v:

1. Title: Hours of the Virgin and two devotional sequences
2. Rubric: Incipiunt hore beate marie virginis secundum consuetudinem anglie.
3. Incipit: Domine labia mea aperies
4. Contents: Fols. 52r-116r: Hours of the Virgin, for use of Sarum, Short Hours of the Cross intercalated beginning at Lauds; Seventeen suffrages at end of Lauds, typically headed "Memoria de. . . ."; including miscellany of six before and after eight to male and three to female saints: fol. 74v: Holy Spirit, fol. 75r: Trinity, fol. 75v: Cross, fol. 76r: Michael, fol. 76v: John the Baptist, fol. 77r: Peter and Paul, fol. 78r: Andrew, fol. 78v: Stephen, fol. 79r: Lawrence, fol. 79v: Thomas Becket, fol. 80r: Nicholas, fol. 81r: Mary Magdalene, fol. 81v: Catherine, fol. 82r: Margaret, fol. 82v: All Saints, fol. 83r: for peace, fol. 84r: Cross; devotional sequence focused on the Virgin; fols. 116r-117v: Hymn; fols. 118r-v, 118v-125r: Prayer to the Virgin, rhyming, twenty-nine quatrains, opening word(s) of each rubricated; versicle, prayer; fols. 125r-134r: Four prayers to the Virgin, the third rhyming; fols. 134v-139r: Seven Joys of the Virgin, attributed in heading to Pope Clement, granting Indulgence of 100 days for regular daily recitation: "Quicumque hec septem gaudia in honore beate marie virginis semel in die dixerit .C. dies indulgenciarum optinebit a domino papa clemente qui ea proprio stilo composuit. Virgo templum trinitatis. deus summe bonitatis. . . . (fol. 135r) Per hoc gaudium precamur. quod hunc regem mereamur. habere propicium. Et ab eo protegamur. protecti recipiamur. in terra vivencium . . . De secundo gratulans. cum tu solem . . . (fol. 138v) O maria tota munda. a peccatis nos emunda. per hec septem gaudia. Et secunda nos secunda. et domine tecum ad iocunda paradysi gaudia. Amen. Oratio. O domina glorie. O regina leticie. o fons pietatis. . . ."; fols. 139r-144v: prayer sequence including eight rhymed prayer to image of crucified Christ, crucifix, Christ's head crowned with thorns, and each of five wounds; followed by prayer to the Virgin, St. John the Evangelist, God; fols. 145v-150r: prayer on Seven Last Words of Christ, each rubricated in text, attributed in heading to Bede, faithful recitation on one's knees prescribed to result in protection from devil, malefactors, death without confession, and vision of the Virgin thirty days before one's death: "Oratio venerabilis bede presbiteri de septem verbis christi in cruce pendentis quando orationem quicumque cotidie devote dixerit flexis genibus eam dicens nec dyabolus nec malus homo ei nocere poterit nec sine confessione morietur et per triginta dies ante obitum suum videbit gloriosam virginem mariam in auxilium sibi preparatam."; fols. 148r-149r: two prayers; fols. 150r-152v: five communion prayers; fols. 152r-v: prayer of Indulgence for 2,000 years, ending imperfectly, said in heading to grant to all confessed and contrite reciting prayer between elevation of Host and third agnus dei, attributed to Pope Boniface VIII (1294-1303) in response to King Philip IV's request: "Omnibus confessis & contritis hanc orationem dicentibus inter elevationem corporis christi & tercium agnus dei papa bonefacius concessit .ii. M. annorum indulgenciarum ad supplicationem philippi regis francie."
5. Decoration note: Full-page miniatures on fols. 63v, 85v, 92v, 97v, 101v, 106v, and 110v; miniatures on fols. 52r, 64r, 86r, 93r, 98r, 102r, 107r, and 111r; historiated initials on fols. 74v, 76r, 77r, 78r, 78v, 79r, 80v, 82v, 118v, 125r, 134v, 139r, 139v, 140r, 140v, 141r, 141v, 142r, 142v, 143r, 143v, and 145v

fols. 153r - 167v:

1. Title: Seven Penitential Psalms
2. Rubric: Incipiunt septem psalmi penitenciales.
3. Incipit: Ne rereminiscaris. Domine ne in furore tuo
4. Contents: Fols. 164v-167v: Fifteen Gradual psalms, cues only for first twelve (Psalms 119-130), next three in full (Psalms 131-133)

fols. 167v - 178r:

1. Title: Litany, petitions, invocations, and collects
2. Rubric: Letania
3. Contents: Fols. 167v-178r: Litany, featuring South Netherlandish and English saints, sixteen apostles/evangelists/disciples: Peter to Luke; thirty-one martyrs, including Cornelius, Alexander, Cyprian, Christopher, Thomas (Becket), Edward, Oswald, Alain, Lambert, Wallepaxte; sixteen confessors/monks/hermits including Julianus, Swithin, Birinus; twenty-five virgins, including Soteris, Edith, Afra, Brigid, Genenviève, Christina, Euphemia, Elizabeth; fols. 171v-175r: petitions, invocations, cue to Psalm 69; fols. 175v-178r: seven collects

fols. 178v - 213v:

1. Title: Office of the Dead
2. Rubric: Incipiunt vigilie mortuorum. Antiphona.
3. Incipit: Dilexi quoniam ex audiet
4. Decoration note: One full-page miniature on fol. 178v

fols. 214r - 234v:

1. Title: Commendation of souls
2. Rubric: Incipiunt commendationes animarum.
3. Incipit: Beati immaculati in via qui ambulant in lege domini

fols. 235r - 242v:

1. Title: Psalter of the Passion
2. Rubric: Incipit psalterium de passione domini.
3. Incipit: Deus, deus, meus respice in me

fols. 242v - 263v:

1. Title: Psalter of St. Jerome with introductory prayer
2. Rubric: Beatus vero iheronimus in hoc modo psalterium istud disposuit sicut angelus domini docuit eum per spiritum sanctum porro hoc abbreviatum quod hii qui sollicitudinem huis seculi habent uel homines qui in infirmitatibus iacent aut qui iter longum agunt seu qui naufragio nauigant aut qui bellum commissuri sunt contra hostes seu qui militant contra inuidiam dyabolorum aut qui votum voverit domino contare quotidie integrum psalterium non possunt aut qui ieiuniant et ieiunio nimium debilitantur & qui festa solempnia non custodiunt et qui animam suam saluam volunt facere secundum misericordiam dei et vitam eternam volunt habere assidue cantent hoc psalterium et possidebunt regnum eternam. Oratio.
3. Incipit: Suscipere digneris domine deus
4. Contents: Prayer introducing the Psalter of St. Jerome, which according to the heading he learned from an angel via the Holy Spirit; daily chanting said to provide salvation for careworn and infirm, travelers and sailors, those waging war against an enemy or the devil, those renewing their faith, those unable to chant the entire psalter daily or observe high feasts: "Beatus vero iheronumus in hoc modo psalteium istud disposuit sicut angelus domini docuit eum per spiritum sanctum porro hac abbreviatum quod hii qui sollicitudinem huis seculi habent uel homines qui in infirmitatibus iacent aut qui iter longum agunt seu qui naufragio nauigant aut qui bellum commissuri sunt contra hostes sui qui militant contra inuidiam dyabolorum aut qui votum voverit domino cantare quotidie integrum psalterium non possunt aur qui ieiuniant et ieiunio nimium debilitantur & qui festa solempnia non custodiunt et qui animam suam saluam volunt facere secundum misericordiam dei et vitam eternam volunt habere assiduecantent hoc psalterium et possidebunt regnum eternam. Oratio."; fols. 244v-263: Psalter of St. Jerome, miscellaneous psalm extracts, written consecutively, ending with Psalm 142 and prayer to God
5. Decoration note: One full-page miniature on fol. 244v

fol. 13v:

1. 
2. Title: Salvator Mundi
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Fifteen Prayers on the Passion

fol. 25v:

1. 
2. Title: Trinity: Throne of Grace
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Suffrages

fol. 34v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Christopher carrying Christ
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Suffrages

fol. 36v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Julian the Hospitaller ferrying Christ across river
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Suffrages

fol. 38v:

1. 
2. Title: Erasmus martyred
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Suffrages

fol. 41v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Gabriel
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Suffrages

fol. 44v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Mary Magdalene
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Suffrages

fol. 46v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Catherine of Alexandria
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Suffrages

fol. 48v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Barbara
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Suffrages

fol. 50v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Margaret
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Suffrages

fol. 52r:

1. 
2. Title: Annunciation
3. Form: Large miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin

fol. 63v:

1. 
2. Title: The betrayal and arrest of Christ
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin

fol. 64r:

1. 
2. Title: Visitation
3. Form: Large miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin

fol. 74v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "V" with the Pentecost
3. Form: Historiated Inital "V," 7 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin

fol. 76r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "M" with St. Michael slaying the devil
3. Form: Historiated initial "M," 6 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin

fol. 77r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "P" with SS. Peter and Paul
3. Form: Historiated initial "P," 7 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin

fol. 78r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "A" with St. Andrew
3. Form: Historiated initial "A," 7 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin

fol. 78v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "S" with St. Stephen holding two stones
3. Form: Historiated initial "S," 7 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin

fol. 79r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "L" with St. Lawrence with grill and book
3. Form: Historiated initial "L," 7 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin

fol. 80v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "B" with St. Nicholas as bishop blessing three boys
3. Form: Historiated initial "B," 7 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin

fol. 82v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "O" with All Saints
3. Form: Historiated initial "O," 7 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin

fol. 85v:

1. 
2. Title: Christ before Pilate
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin

fol. 86r:

1. 
2. Title: Nativity
3. Form: Large miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin

fol. 92v:

1. 
2. Title: Flagellation
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin

fol. 93r:

1. 
2. Title: Annunciation to the Shepherds
3. Form: Large miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin

fol. 97v:

1. 
2. Title: Christ carrying the Cross
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin

fol. 98r:

1. 
2. Title: Adoration of the Magi
3. Form: Large miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin

fol. 101v:

1. 
2. Title: Crucifixion
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin

fol. 102r:

1. 
2. Title: The Presentation in the Temple
3. Form: Large miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin

fol. 106v:

1. 
2. Title: The Deposition
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin

fol. 107r:

1. 
2. Title: The Massacre of the Innocents
3. Form: Large miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin

fol. 110v:

1. 
2. Title: The Entombment
3. Form: Full-page miniautre
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin

fol. 111r:

1. 
2. Title: The Flight into Egypt
3. Form: Large miniature
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin

fol. 118v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "S" with the Annunciation
3. Form: Historiated initial "S," 7 lines
4. Text: Devotional sequence

fol. 125r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "O" with the Pietà
3. Form: Historiated initial "O," 7 lines
4. Text: Devotional sequence

fol. 134v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "V" with the Presentation of the Virgin
3. Form: Historiated initial "V," 6 lines
4. Text: Devotional sequence

fol. 139r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "O" with Christ nailed and tied to the Cross by two men
3. Form: Historiated initial "O," 7 lines
4. Text: Devotional sequence

fol. 140r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "A" with St. Veronica holding the veil with the image of the Holy Face
3. Form: Historiated initial "A," 6 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Devotional Sequence, Prayer to Christ's head crowned with thorns

fol. 140v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "S" with hand with bleeding wound rising from a jagged blue cloud
3. Form: Historiated initial "S," 6 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Devotional Sequence, Prayer to Christ's right hand

fol. 141r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "A" with a bleeding hand, rising from a white X
3. Form: Historiated initial "A," 6 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Devotional Sequence, Prayer to Christ's left hand

fol. 141v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "O" with blood streaming from a gash in a white heart at the center and from four round white wounds in the corners
3. Form: Historiated initial "O," 6 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Devotional Sequence, Prayer to Christ's side-wound

fol. 142r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "S" with foot with red wound issuing from a jagged blue cloud above
3. Form: Historiated initial "S," 6 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Devotional Sequence, Prayer to Christ's right foot

fol. 142v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "L" with a foot issuing from a white X above
3. Form: Historiated initial "L," 6 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Devotional Sequence, Prayer to Christ's left foot

fol. 143r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "O" with the Virgin and Child revered by an angel and a laic
3. Form: Historiated initial "O," 7 lines
4. Text: Devotional seqeunce

fol. 143v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "I" with St. John the Evangelist with a gold chalice
3. Form: Historiated initial "I," 6 lines
4. Text: Devotional sequence

fol. 145v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with the Crucifixion with thieves
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 7 lines
4. Text: Devotional sequence

fol. 178v:

1. 
2. Title: The Raising of Lazarus
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Office of the Dead

fol. 244v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Jerome in his study
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Text: Psalter of St. Jerome

The binding is not original.

Rebound in the late nineteenth-early twentieth century by Léon Gruel in Paris; crimson velvet with worn nap; sewn on three recessed cords; spine rounded and backed; edges regilded with traces of gauffering

Made in Bruges, ca. 1460-70, for the use of Sarum; many English saints in calendar

Modern ownership notation on front pastedown: number "4" in blue crayon followed by "I.III.16" written in pencil

Léon Gruel, Paris, late nineteenth or early twentieth century, Gruel and Engelmann bookplate on front pastedown inscribed "N. 935"

Henry Walters, Baltimore, between 1895 and 1931, by purchase from Gruel

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest

Owens, M. B. "Musical Subjects in the Illumination of Books of Hours from Fifteenth-Century France and Flanders." Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1987; p. 402.

De Ricci, Seymour, and W. J. Wilson. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1935; p. 792, cat. no. 224.

Smeyers, Maurits. "A Mid-Fifteenth Century Book of Hours from Bruges in the Walters Art Gallery (MS. 721) and Its Relation to the Turin-Milan Hours." Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 46 (1988): 55-76; p. 74.

Randall, Lilian M. C. Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery. Vol. 3, Belgium, 1250-1530. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press in association with the Walters Art Gallery, 1997; pp. 282-289, cat. no. 256.

Sandler, Lucy Freeman. "Hours of the Virgin and Short Office of the Cross." In Splendor of the Word: Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts at the New York Public Library." Edited by Jonathan J.G. Alexander, James H. Marrow, and Lucy Freeman Sadler. New York: New York Public Library, 2005; p. 240 (n. 1), cat. no. 49.

Principal cataloger: Randall, Lilian M.C.

Cataloger: Herbold, Rebekah

Editor: Herbert, Lynley

Copy editor: Wallace, Susan

Conservators: Owen, Linda; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Emery, Doug; Herbold, Rebekah; Noel, William; Schuele, Allyson; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.; Valle, Chiara; Wiegand, Kimber

The Walters Art Museum

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.