Verso: 14 lines of text in Latin written on vellum in two sizes of a gothic bookhand, Ruled in red and rubrics in red. One two-line illuminated initial 'B' and two one-line initials in raised and burnished gold on blue and salmon grounds outlined in black and with fine internal white penwork. One line filler.
Recto: Four similar one-line illuminated initials and three line fillers.
Origin: Northern France.
Date: c.1480.
Content: The leaf is from the Office for the Dead, at Lauds. The text on Verso begins with the closing verses of Psalm 150 (KJV 151). The illuminated initial 'R' indicates the Requiem:
Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis. (Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord: and let perpetual light shine unto them.)
Then follows the antiphon: Omnis spiritus laudet Dominum. (Let every spirit praise our Lord.), and the versicle: a porta inferi (from the gates of hell) followed by the response Erue Domine animas eorum. (Deliver their souls O Lord.)
The two-line illuminated initial 'B' begins The Song of Zachariah, from Luke 1:
Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel: quia visitavit, et fecit redemptionem plebis suae. Et erexit cornu salutis nobis: in domo David pueri sui.
(Blessed be our Lord God of Israel: because he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people. And hath erected the horn of salvation to us: in the house of David his servant.)
Condition: The leaf is in very good/excellent condition. The illuminations remain colourful and bright. It is unconditionally guaranteed genuine.
Size: Leaf: approx. 150x105 mm. Please note that shipping is invoiced separately.
Notes: The Office of the Dead (its old name was Office for the Dead) was in the back of every Book of Hours the way death itself was always at the back of the medieval mind. While the name may conjure images of grief and decay, in fact praying The Office was an act of love. It was the cause of considerable anguish for medieval men and women to think of the potentially long periods of time their relatives would spend in the painful fires of purgatory. Along with the funding of funerary Masses, praying the Office was considered the most efficacious means of reducing this fiery price of obtaining paradise. These aids were essential, because only the living could help the dead. The Office of the Dead includes a moving series of readings from the Old Testament Book of Job. The trials endured by Job become an allegory for one's time on earth, or one’s relatives in purgatory.
Item No: MBH205
