Walters Ms. W.89, Book of Hours

W.89

Book of Hours

Book of Hours

This pocket-size Book of Hours was created ca. 1380 to commemorate the wedding of Raoul II de Raineval (d. 1392) and Isabelle de Coucy (d. 1413). Its most unique feature is the illuminated heraldic initials containing the arms of Coucy and Raineval at canonical divisions. Particularly, the combined heraldry at Matins in the Hours of the Virgin highlights their marriage. The bride is depicted in a donor portrait kneeling in front of the seated Virgin and Child in one of the prefatory miniatures (fol. 3v) with Coucy's heraldic shield. Charming drolleries appear at major text divisions.

Last quarter of the 14th century CE

Paris

Book

Devotional

The primary language in this manuscript is French, Old (842-ca.1400). The secondary language of this manuscript is Latin.

Parchment

Medium to heavy parchment, well prepared; flyleaves are modern parchment

Foliation: i+161+i

Modern pencil foliation, upper right corners rectos

Formula: Quire 1: 4, first folio missing (fols. 1-3); Quires 2-10: 8 (fols. 4-75); Quire 11: 6 (fols. 76-81); Quire 12: 8 (fols. 82-89); Quire 13: 4 (fols. 90-93); Quires 14-21: 8 (fols. 94-157); Quire 22: 4 (fols. 158-161)

Catchwords: Centered on versos lower margin throughout

Signatures: Several signatures extant, lower right corners rectos, eg. fol. 76r

Comments:

8.3 cm wide by 11.5 cm high

3.2 cm wide by 5.6 cm high

1. Columns: 1
2. Ruled lines: 11

fols. 1r - 161v:

1. Title: Book of Hours
2. Contents: Use of Paris; written in French with Latin rubrics
3. Hand note: Textura formata
4. Decoration note: Three full-page miniatures; eight heraldic initials in Hours of the Virgin (4-5 lines); one heraldic initial at the beginning of Penitential Psalms (4 lines); decorated initials at secondary text divisions (2 lines); gold versals on cusped rose and blue ground with white patterns flourish throughout (1 line); vine boarders around main text divisions, drolleries at bas-de-page, occasionally accompanied by winged dragons; line fillers with geometric motifs throughout; rubrics in red throughout; text in medium brown ink

fols. 1v - 3v:

1. Title: Prefatory image cycle
2. Contents: No text; image cycle with female saints and donor
3. Decoration note: Full-page miniatures fols. 1v, 2v, and 3v

fols. 4r - 134v:

1. Title: Hours of the Virgin
2. Incipit: Domine labia mea
3. Contents: Use of Paris; main text in French with Latin opening invocation; fol. 23r: instruction for French and Latin recitations of "Pater noster" underlined in red before Lesson 1 in Matins; fols. 118r-v: prayer for female suppliants after "Magnificat" in Vespers
4. Decoration note: Heraldic initials fols. 4r, 36v, 66v, 79r, 86v, 103r, and 122v

fols. 135r - 161v:

1. Title: Seven Penitential Psalms
2. Rubric: Septem psalmi. Domine ne in furore tuo
3. Incipit: Dieu en ton jugement
4. Contents: Latin incipits used as rubrics, followed by the main text in French; blank fols. 160v-161v
5. Decoration note: Heraldic initial fol. 135r

fol. 1v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Catherine
3. Form: Full-page miniature

fol. 2v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Margaret in prayer before God
3. Form: Full-page miniature

fol. 3v:

1. 
2. Title: Isabelle of Coucy in prayer before the Virgin and Child
3. Form: Full-page miniature

fol. 4r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with conjoined arms of Isabelle de Coucy and Raoul II de Raineval
3. Form: Illuminated heraldic initial "D," 5 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Matins
5. Comment:

   Combined heraldry indicates the marriage of Coucy and Raineval.

fol. 36v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with the arms of Raoul II de Raineval
3. Form: Illuminated heraldic initial "D," 4 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Lauds

fol. 66v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with the arms of Isabelle de Coucy
3. Form: Illuminated heraldic initial "D," 4 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Prime

fol. 79r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with the arms of Raoul II de Raineval
3. Form: Illuminated heraldic initial "D," 4 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Terce

fol. 86v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with the arms of Isabelle de Coucy
3. Form: Illuminated heraldic initial "D," 4 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Sext

fol. 94r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with the arms of Raoul II de Raineval
3. Form: Illuminated heraldic initial "D," 5 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: None

fol. 103r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with the arms of Raoul II de Raineval
3. Form: Illuminated heraldic initial "D," 5 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Vespers

fol. 122r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "C" with the arms of Isabelle de Coucy
3. Form: Illuminated heraldic initial "C," 4 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: Compline

fol. 135r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with the arms of Raoul II de Raineval
3. Form: Illuminated heraldic initial "D," 4 lines
4. Text: Seven Penitential Psalms

The binding is not original.

Rebound by Léon Gruel, Paris, late nineteenth or early twentieth century; red leather over possibly original wooden boards; possibly original sewing, sewn on five tawed (?) thongs; clasps are modern; fore-edge tabs contemporary with rebinding

Created ca. 1380 in Paris for the marriage of Raoul II de Raineval (d. 1392) and Isabelle de Coucy (d. 1413)

Léon Gruel, Paris, late nineteenth or early twentieth century; his bookplate on front pastedown, unnumbered; number '1476' found on his handwritten dealer description originally attached to front flyleaf, now in WAM file (slip has been imaged here with manuscript)

Henry Walters, Baltimore, purchased from Gruel before 1931

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest

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. 785, cat. no. 176.

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, pp. 371-372.

Sinclair, Keith Val, and Jean Sonet. Prières en ancien français: Additions et corrections aux articles 1-2374 du Répertoire de Sonet, Supplément. Townsville: James Cook University of North Queensland, 1987, p. 173.

Wieck, Roger S. "Time Sanctified: The Book of Hours". 41 No.4. The Walters Art Gallery. 04/1988:cover, 1-5, detail from fol.3v; p. 1.

Wieck, Roger S. Time Sanctified. The Book of Hours in Medieval Art and Life. New York: George Braziller. 1988, pp. 34 and 179, cat. no. 14, fig. 6 (fol. 3v).

Randall, Lilian M. C. Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery. Vol. 1. France: 875-1420. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989, pp. 194-195, cat. no. 73.

Reinburg, Virginia. French Book of Hours: Making an Archive of Prayer, c. 1400-1600. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012, p. 69, fig. 10 (fol. 3v).

Principal cataloger: Randall, Lilian M.C.

Cataloger: Han, Yuna

Editor: Herbert, Lynley

Copy editor: Dibble, Charles

Conservator: Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Emery, Doug; Han, Yuna; Tabritha, Ariel; 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.