Book of hours of Saint-Omer
The book of hours of Saint-Omer got its name not after the first owner, but after the city of Saint Omer in what is now northern France, which St. Audomar , also Omer or Otmar, a monk and first bishop of Tarvanna (now Thérouanne ), in the 7th century . Century Christianized and founded. It is noted in the calendar of the book of hours on October 17th and 21st. These entries of the consecration of his church and the finding of his relics are in blue .
description
- Liturgy of Arras . Northern France, around 1320-1330. 15.3 × 10.5 cm, 155ff.
- Figural initials on a dotted and diamond-shaped gold background , stick and ivy leaf - borders with drolleries and other figurative border decorations .
- British Library , London , Add. ms. 36684
Marguerite de Beaujeu
The manuscript was written and illuminated for Marguerite de Beaujeu .
She was a niece of Humbert II and was married to Ebles VIII, called Hélie († before 1297), Vicomte de Ventadour . Marguerite was also a niece of Guillaume de Beaujeu , a Grand Master of the Templar Order .
Her son Bernard, succeeded Vicomte de Ventadour in 1329, came into the possession of the county of Montpensier in 1358 . Robert and Bernard de Ventadour, sons of Bernard, sold Montpensier in 1381 to Jean de Valois, duc de Berry .
Miniatures
Marguerite appears on the margins of those pages on which miniatures indicate the main subdivisions of the text. In the office of Mary she kneels in sexton on a platform held by a monkey and watches the adoration of the kings. She can also be seen in the penitential psalms , this time during the journey into hell, which grieves her because she has put her prayer book on the floor or dropped it; maybe her dog offers her some comfort . Christ's Descent into Hell, a dramatic and popular subject, is often found in connection with the Last Judgment in books of hours . The account of Christ's descent into limbo after the crucifixion to save the souls of the righteous comes from the apocryphal gospel of Nicodemus and is not contained in the canonical gospels . The Hellmouth was usually depicted as the jaw of the monster Leviathan . On the relevant page of this Book of Hours, the frame of the initial D develops from the hind legs of a winged animal in the upper left corner, whose head and front legs are lost in the wickerwork. Similarly, the initial of the Adoration of the Magi develops from a winged monkey.
literature
- Book of hours of Saint-Omer. 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. 50-53.