Original leaf from a Renaissance manuscript Book of Hours. 15 lines of text, written in Latin with dark brown ink and blue ink (which is highly unusual) on animal vellum.(105x73mm)
Flanders: Ghent/Bruges?, c. 1500.
The large gold ''KL'' header initials (an abbreviation for KALENDS) are on grounds of violet. Important feast days are in blue, such as Mary Magdalene (22nd – patron saint of sinners) and James the Great (25th – Apostle & martyr).
To the left of the list of saints’ days are repeating series of letters A - G called Dominical Letters since they help find Sundays (after many appropriate calculations). At the far left is an odd column of Roman numerals i - xix called Golden Numbers to indicate appearances of new moons, & counting ahead 14 days, full moons throughout the year (year + 1; divide by 19; remainder is Golden Number - if zero GN = 19). Finally: each month had 3 fixed points: Kalends (1st day) Ides (middle) & Nones (9th day before Ides). All days in between were counted backwards from these points.
Shipped in archival 14x11'' mat.
