Stony Brook University Libraries Digital Projects and Exhibits

Items

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  Book of Hours: Horæ Beatae Mariæ Virginis

  Leaf 48. "In the middle of the [15th] century this whole area [the Netherlands and Northern France] was interested in naturalism and made its illustrations so vivid that sometimes they approached those of our seed catalogues. It is not difficult to recognize carnations, pansies, columbines, and strawberries" (Ege). "When such flowery decorations are found on a rather heavy piece of vellum, entangled with the swirling acanthus leaf and accompanied by a heavy lettre de forme script, one can be fairly safe in assigning the leaf to the province of Brabant."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Book of Hours: Horæ Beatae Mariæ Virginis

  Leaf 47. "In assigning this leaf from a Book of Hours to the Netherlands it must be remembered that some sections of the country were once part of France, while others belonged to what is now Germany. In this leaf French characteristics predominate, but in no other country did the study of nature have a more direct influence on miniatures and ornamentation than in the Netherlands. Carnations, pansies, columbines, and many other flowers were faultlessly and realistically drawn" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Book of Hours: Horæ Beatae Mariæ Virginis

  Leaf 46. "The laymen who ordered and purchased theses books would at times stipulate the style of ornament and the amount of burnished gold to be used, and could even, to a certain extent, select the saints they esteemed most and wished to glorify. In this example, the border reveals by its wayside flowers entangled with the heavy acanthus motif of the North and by the use of the "wash" gold that it was executed in Northern France about 1475 A.D." (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Book of Hours: Horæ Beatae Mariæ Virginis

  Leaf 45. "This manuscript leaf came from a Book of Hours, sold probably at one of the famous shrines to which wealthy laymen made pilgrimages. To meet the demand for these books, the monastic as well as the secular scribes produced them in great numbers. The freely drawn, indefinite buds here entirely supplant the ivy, fruits, and realistic wayside flowers which characterized the borders of manuscripts of the preceeding half century. The initial letters of burnished gold on a background of old rose and blue with delicate white ine decorations maintain the tradition of the earlier period. The vellum is of silk-like quality that often distinguished the manuscripts of France and Italy" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Bible: Biblia Sacra Latina, Versio Vulgata

  Leaf 44. "This leaf was written in Germany nearly sixty years after the invention of printing by movable type. Its semi-gothic book hand is similar to the type-faces used by the early printers. The numerous contractions and marks of abbreviation have been inserted boldly, but the little strokes which were added to help identify the letters i and u are barely visible" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Book of Hours: Horæ Beatae Mariæ Virginis

  Leaf 43. "In general, the Books of Hours produced for the devout layman in the Netherlands at the end of the XVth century were written in Dutch. This particular example, however, is in Latin. The heavy, angular, and closely spaced vertical strokes, with very short ascenders and descenders, give a much darker tone to the page than do similar scripts in such northern countries as Germany and England. This book hand resembles very closely the types known as lettre de forme which were used by certain anonymous contemporary printers in the Netherlands between 1470 and 1500 A.D." (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Psalter: Psalterium

  Leaf 42. "This leaf from the Book of Psalms was written from the Benedictine monastery of St. Stephan in Wurzburg and dated 1499 A.D. The book hand closely resembles the fine early gothic types called lettre de forme and used by Fust and Schoeffer in their superb Psalter issued in 1457" (Ege). "A close examination indicates that the scribe apparently tried to imitate printing type characters in many instances."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Dialogues of Gregory the Great: S. Gregorius Magnus, Dialogi

  Leaf 41. "This composite text includes the Dialogues of Pope Gregory I (St. Gregory the Great, 540-604 A.D.), which are largely autobriographical, and his writings on the lives and miracles of the early Italian Church Fathers. The book hand used is known as lettre bâtarde, a semi-cursive hand closely related to the everyday writing used by people" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Thomas Aquinas: Commentary on the Sentences: Super Primo Libro Sententiarum

  Leaf 40. "This text on the Sententiae of Peter Lombard by St. Thomas Aquinas, the "Angelic Doctor," was the forerunner of the latter's great work Summa Theologica. It is most unusual to find the writings of a Church Father presented in a humanistic book hand" (Ege). "In this humanistic script, fusion disappeared, letters became more simple, and shading decreased."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Livy's History of Rome (T. Livii ab Urbe Condita Libri)

  Leaf 39. "The known part of Livy's great work, the History of Rome, was completed about the year 9 A.D. The finished work consisted of one hundred and forty books, of which only thirty-five are extant" (Ege). "These earlier manuscripts had been written in a carolingian or pre-gothic script to which the XVth century humanistic calligraphers assigned the name antiqua littera."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Missal: Missale Lemovicense Castrense

  Leaf 38. "The provenance of this manuscript is clearly designated as Limoges because of the inculsion of certain parts of the masses proper to this diocese, and because of the presence of the coat of arms and obituary records of the noted de Rupe family of that city" (Ege). "The national book hand has become amazingly uniform. In this manuscript as in many manuscripts of the XVth century there is an increasing tendency to speed and slackness."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Epistolary: Epistolarium

  Leaf 37. "Epistolaries are among the rarest of liturgical manuscripts. Their text consists of the Epistles and Gospels with lessons from the Old Testament for particular occasions. Sometimes, as in this leaf, they had interlinear neumes in red neumes in red to assist the deacon or sub-deacon in chanting parts of this section of the church service while he was standing on the second step in front of the altar. This text is written in well executed rotunda gothic script with cold Lombardic intitials. Some of the filigree decoration which surrounds the initial letters has faded because it was executed in some of the fugitive colors which were then prepared from the juices of such flowers and plants as tumeric, saffron, lilies, and prugnameroli (buckthorn berries)" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Book of Hours: Horæ Beatae Mariæ Virginis

  Leaf 36. "Books of Hours, beautifully written, enriched with burnished gold initials, and adorned with miniature paintings, were frequently the most treasured possessions of the devout and wealthy laymen" (Ege). "Books of this small size, two and one-half by three and one-half inches, are comparatively rare. The craftsmanship in this example imitates and equals that in a volume of ordinary size, about five to seven inches. Recently, these small "pocket" editions have been given the nickname "baby manuscripts."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Writings of St. Jerome (Sanctus Hieronymus, Contra Jovinianum)

  Leaf 35. "Jerome, the father of the Latin Church and translator of the Bible, shows in his writings his active participation in the controversies of his day (c. 332 to 420 A.D.)" (Ege). "This fine book hand, lettre de somme, obtained its name from the fact that Fust and Schoeffer used a type based on it for the printing of their Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas in 1467." "Simplicity and dignity are maintained by omitting all enrichment around the burnished gold letters.The first printed books followed the practice seen here of marking off by hand and with a stroke of red the capitals at the beginning of each sentence. Fifteenth century ink frequently had a tendency to fade to a gray tone as in this example."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Psalter: Psalterium

  Leaf 34. "This Psalter was written by Carthusian monks. Of all the orders the Carthusian was the smallest and most austere" (Ege). "The rotunda book hand used in this leaf is representative of the general excellence maintained by Italian scribes at the time when printing was being introduced into their country." "Close observation of the initial letters will frequently reveal a small black letter inserted as a guide for the monk who later added the colored initial. The use of two guide lines for the lettering is unusual. Ordinarily one line, below the writing, was deemed sufficient. The lines were drawn with a stylus composed of two parts lead and one part tin."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Missal: Missale

  Leaf 33. "The Missal, written for the convenience of the priests, combined the separate books formerly used in different parts of the service; namely the Oratorium, Lectionarium, Evangeliarium, Canon, and others. Gutenburg, who printed his famous First Bible about the time this manuscript was written, based his type designs on a contemporary book hand similar to this example. The craftsmen who created this manuscript had the difficult problem of writing, inserted rubrics, and large or small colored initials."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Gradual: Graduale

  Leaf 32. "The suberb example of calligraphy in this leaf illustrates the supremacy of the Italian scribes of the time over those of the rest of Europe. It is frequently assumed that this late revival of fine writing may have been caused by the concern of scribes over the impending competition with the newly invented art of printing. The music staff still retains here the early XIIth century form with the C-line colored yellow and the F-line red. The four-line red staff had been in use for over two centuries before this manuscript was written" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Book of Hours: Horæ Beatae Mariæ Virginis

  Leaf 31. "The first printed and illustrated Book of Hours appeared in 1486. It was a crude work, but later noted printers such as Verard, Du Pre, Pigouchet, and Kerver issued in great numbers Books of Hours with numerous illustrations and rich borders. The decorations were frequently hand colored and further embellished with touches of gold" (Ege). "By this time the ivy spray had a variety of forms. It might be seen springing from an initial letter, from the end of a detached bar, in a separate panel in company with realistic flowers, or forming a three- or four-sided border intermixed with acanthus leaves and even birds, animals, and hybrid monsters which are neither man or beast."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Book of Hours: Horæ Beatae Mariæ Virginis

  Leaf 30. "The text of a Book of Hours consists of Gospels of the Nativity, prayers for the Canonical Hours, the Penitential Psalms, the Litany, and other prayers. The beauty of the rich borders found in some of these books frequently claims our attention more than the text. In these borders it is easy to recognize the ivy leaf and the holly, but is usually more difficult to identify the daisy, thistle, cornbottle, and wild stock" (Ege). "Because of the translucency of the vellum, the flowers, stems, and leaves of the border were carefully superimposed on the reverse side in order to avoid a blurred effect."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Book of Hours: Horæ Beatae Mariæ Virginis

  Leaf 29. "The treatment of the [manuscript's] ivy spray with the single line stem and rather sparse foliage is characteristic of the work of the French monastic scribes about the year 1450. The occasional appearance of the strawberry indicates that the illuminating was done by a Benedictine monk. Fifty years earlier the stem would have been wider and colored, and the foliage rich; fifty years later the ivy would be entangled with flowers and acanthus foliage" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Book of Hours: Horæ Beatae Mariæ Virginis

  Leaf 28. "This Book of Hours shows definite characteristics of the manscript art of France and the Netherlands of about 1450 A.D. It was probably one of the many copies prepared for sale at a shrine to which devout pilgrims came to worship or to seek a cure. The spiked letters and the detached ornamental bar are unmistakably Flemish in spirit, while the free ivy sprays are distinctively French. The burnished metal in the decorations shows the use of alloyed gold (oro di meta) as well as silver" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Antiphonal: Antiphonarium

  Leaf 27. "Antiphonal or responsive singing is said to have been introduced in the second century by St. Ignatius of Antioch" (Ege). "Many of the more than four hundred antiphons which have survived the centuries are elaborate in their musical structure. They were sung in the medieval church by the first cantor and his assistants. Candle grease stains reveal that his small sized antiphonal was doubtless carried in processions in dimly lighted cathedrals. In this example the notation is written on the four-line red staff which was in general use by the end of the XIIth century. The script is the usual form of Italian rotunda with bold Lombardic initial letters."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.