Original leaf from a medieval manuscript Book of Hours. 14 lines, of red-ruled Latin in dark brown ink, written in fine gothic script on animal vellum. (103 x 73mm – 4 x 2 3/8’’)
One two-line illuminated initial in burnished gold on a red and blue ground with white penwork – extending into the margin top and bottom with a delicate floral design in burnished gold, green, blue and brown; seven one-line illuminated initials alternating in gold with violet penwork and blue with red penwork; one illuminated line extender in red and blue.
England, c. 1440 (likely Syon Abbey, by a member of the Bridgettine Order).
The two-line illuminated “D” begins Psalm 22 (King James 23) 1-4: “ Dominus regit…” (The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me…).
English manuscript Books of Hours are very uncommon. In 1533 Henry VIII decreed that books relating to the practices of the Church of Rome should be destroyed. Most of the remaining examples were held secretly in private hands.
The Bridgettine (or Brigittine) Order was a monastic religious order of Augustinian nuns. The Bridgettine monastery of Syon Abbey, Ipswich, Middlesex was founded and royally endowed by Henry V in 1415 and became one of the richest and most influential religious communities in England until its dissolution under Henry VIII.
Presented in an archival 14 x 11'' mat
