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Book of Hours
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Parchment, iii modern paper flyleaves + 217 fols. + iii modern paper flyleaves, 184 x 124 (111 x 65) mm, 16 long lines, ruled in pink ink, leaf lost after fol. 66.
BINDING: 19th century, gold-tooled and blind-stamped brown leather over pasteboards.
CONTENTS: fols. 1r – 6v Calendar (in Middle Dutch); fols. 7r – 18r Hours of the Cross; fols. 19r – 98v Hours of the Virgin; fols. 99r – 106v Gradual Psalms; fols. 106v – 107v Prayer to the Virgin in Middle Dutch; fol. 108r – 108v Prayer to the 11,000 Virgins; fols. 110r – 135r Penitential Psalms and Litany; fols. 136r – 142r Hours of the Holy Spirit; fols. 142v – 154v Hours of the Passion; fols. 156r – 210v Office of the Dead; fols. 212r – 217r Hours of St Francis.
DECORATION: Eleven full-page framed miniatures with full acanthus and floral borders including angels, birds, apes, or archers, at major text divisions:
fol. 18v Hours of the Virgin, Matins, Agony in the Garden; fol. 37v Lauds, Christ before Pilate; fol. 50v Prime, Flagellation; fol. 56v Terce, Christ crowned with thorns, palm in hand; fol. 62v Sext, Carrying of the Cross; fol. 71v Vespers, Deposition, Virgin supported by St John; fol. 80v Compline, Entombment with Three Women and St John; fol. 109v Penitential Psalms, David penitent; fol. 135v Hours of the Holy Spirit, Throne of Mercy Trinity, scroll inscribed ‘gode lof’ in border; fol. 155v Office of the Dead, Raising of Lazarus; fol. 211v Hours of St Francis, St Francis receiving stigmata.
ORNAMENTATION: Blue, pink or green white-patterned initials [4 – 6 ll.] on gold grounds or gold initials [4 ll.] on blue and dark pink white-patterned grounds, mostly with floral or interlaced infill, but occasional enclosing Christocentric motifs, e.g. Head of Christ crowned with thorns for the Hours of the Cross (fol. 7r, D, 5 ll.) or Christ’s monogram for the Office of the Dead (fol. 156r, D, 5 ll.), with partial bar borders and full acanthus and floral borders, that on fol. 142v at the Hours of the Passion including shield with Christ’s wounds;
gold initials [2 ll.] on blue and dark pink white-patterned grounds; alternate gold and blue one-line initials with brown or red pen-flourished infill and frame; blue and dark pink line-fillers with white geometric designs and gold balls; capitals highlighted in liquid gold.
History note: Richard, seventh viscount Fitzwilliam of Merrion (1745 – 1816), acquired in 1814; his bequest, 1816.
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1816) by Fitzwilliam, Richard, 7th Viscount
15th Century, Late
Circa
1475
CE
-
Circa
1499
CE
Support
composed of
parchment
Text
Height 111 mm
Width 65 mm
Page
Height 184 mm
Width 124 mm
Accession number: MS 145
Primary reference Number: 169686
Project ID: 81
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Manuscripts and Printed Books
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Book of Hours" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/169686 Accessed: 2025-12-05 08:01:29
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/169686
|title=Book of Hours
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-05 08:01:29|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-169686
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
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<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/portfolio/F25982D9_7CB9_CFFF_028E_8BBFC531887C/522/313/large_MS_145_f71v_mas.jpg"
alt="Book of Hours"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Book of Hours</figcaption>
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