Brooch of Claude of France
The Primer of Claude of France was the first book by Claude, the elder daughter of Louis XII. of France and Anne de Bretagne . For many centuries this first book was a prayer book . In England this term was often used for a complete book of hours , but a real primer had shortened and simplified texts suitable for an elementary reader .
description
The primer, made in France around 1505, with the dimensions 26 × 17.5 cm contains two full-page miniatures on 14 pages as well as 37 smaller miniatures in borders . It is in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge (m. 159).
Miniatures
The text starts with the alphabet and then contains the Creed , the Lord's Prayer , graceful prayers , the creation story , Adam and Eve , the Ave Maria , the birth and adoration of the kings, and other basic religious texts. There are slogans above these texts and portraits of the owner are at the beginning and at the end .
On the first page, the little princess appears before her patron saint , St. Claude , Bishop of Besançon . She is shown kneeling in front of him, her hands resting on a closed book lying on a prayer chair covered with a cloth full of heraldic lilies and the letter A, the initials of her mother and St. Anna , mother of the Virgin Mary .
She stands behind her, her arms around Claude and around the young Mary (the heavenly persons can be recognized by their halo ).
On the last miniature the roles are reversed. Here sits St. Anna in front of Claude, an open book on her lap, with the help of which she guides the Virgin Mary, who turns to one side as if to include Claude. St. Bishop Claude presents his protégé St. Anna and Maria. This time the ceiling of the prayer chair has the initial C (by Claude) instead of A. In contrast to the first miniature, the hands of the princess are now on an open book. On the arch above her is written in blue and red words "Mother of God, remember me" . The meaning is clear, the little princess has now learned to read.
Claude of France
Born in October 1498, Claude was the older of the two daughters of Anna of Brittany and her second husband, Louis XII. Her mother thought a lot about the future of her only surviving child, that was Claude for several years, and hoped to arrange a Habsburg connection for her. Negotiations about a marriage between Claude and Maximilian's grandson , Archduke Karl (later Emperor Karl V ) began when both children were almost in the cradle . But Louis XII. after recovering from a serious illness in 1505, insisted that his daughter should marry the next heir to the French throne, her cousin Francis of Angoulême, and officially betrothed the two children the following year. Claude's wedding took place in May 1514, a few months after her mother's death when she was fourteen years old. So she was Duchess of Brittany and, after her father's death a year later, Queen of France . In the course of her life she gave birth to eight children, one of whom succeeded Henry II . She died in 1524 at the age of not yet twenty-five.
Her memory has been preserved in the name "la reine-claude", given to the green plum that was imported into France from the east at that time and first grown for her.
This child's book of hours was replaced by another of the greatest beauty when Claude became Queen of France.
See also
literature
- The primer of Claude of France. In: John Harthan: Books of hours and their owners. German translation by Regine Klett. Herder, Freiburg (Breisgau) et al. 1977, ISBN 3-451-17907-5 , pp. 134-137.
- The primer of Claude de France. MS 159, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Commentary on the facsimile edition, Roger S. Wieck, Cynthia J. Brown, Eberhard König, Quaternio Verlag Luzern, Luzern 2012, ISBN 978-3-905924-10-7