Taymouth Book of Hours
The Taymouth Book of Hours was not named after the first owner, but owes its name to the fact that the book was in the possession of the Earl of Breadalbane at Taymouth Castle , Perthshire , in the late 18th century .
description
- Liturgy of Sarum . England , around 1325-1340. 16.3 × 11.5 cm, 195 ff.
- Calendarium - illustrations , 397 border decorations and miniatures .
- British Library , London, Yates Thompson ms. 13
Joan from the Tower
The first owner was a lady of the court who appears several times in the manuscript, "almost certainly" Joan , daughter of Edward II of England , born in 1321 in the Tower of London and in 1328 as a child with the three years younger David II of Scotland was married. In the book of hours she can be seen at a prayer before mass , after the calendar, kneeling in front of the altar at which a priest is celebrating. She wears a crown and a pink cloak, which is lined with feh , the coat of arms. At the bottom of the page, the author of the prayer, St. Hieronymus , the opening words "Sweet King, at the beginning of this mass."
This prayer, like several others, is written in French , a language more appropriate than English for a 14th century princess , especially when, like Joan, she had a French mother, Isabella of France .
Miniatures
This prayer book is notable for the vivid drawings of religious and secular subjects at the bottom of almost every page. During the hours of prayer for the Virgin Mary , the lauds are accompanied by thirty hunting scenes with exclusively female participants. The first scene is a rabbit hunt in which a lady shoots an arrow at a rabbit that is sitting surprisingly calm in front of its round burrow. On the opposite side, the lady lets her dog loose on the animal, while two of her companions watch from a castle on the left. You have to scroll through the manuscript in order to follow the ladies hunting for various prey.
In the third illustrated introduction, the ladies have reached the final stage in hunting the royal stag. The rituals of the hunt are presented in detail, such as the curée , the evisceration of the animal, the présent , and finally the mort , the death of the animal, which a huntress announces with her horn. On the opposite side are the crucifixions of St. Peter , head down, and the stoning of St. Stephen depicted. Her sufferings ( memories ) are here, quite unusually, included in the text of the Laudes.
The last introduction from the Taymouth Book of Hours appears at the beginning of the Gradual Psalms . Once again the royal owner of the book can be recognized, kneeling like a child before the enthroned Christ, to whom she is recommended by Mary. The different proportions are intended to make the personalities of heaven recognizable.
While the young lady kneels in front of Christ, a group of naked souls at the foot of the side is led to hell by the devils on the instruction of a stern angel with an erect sword . Below the damned is the desperate inscription "Oh woe, oh woe, unhappy sufferers, oh woe, oh woe!" Their tortures are shown on the next page in a lively sequence of images that must have shuddered the reader.
Opposite the damned is the more pleasurable feast of the saved souls, all of whom, clad in the same coats and bonnets, are received by Peter at the gateway to paradise . Two angels sound the fanfares from the battlements . More angels are lined up against the fortified walls of the heavenly city to see the newcomers, who have been miraculously furnished with clothes after the resurrection so that they do not arrive in heaven naked. At the bottom of the page is the inscription "Here the souls approach paradise".
Executive artist
The miniatures come from an outstanding artist, probably even from several, the Annunciation scene of the Matutin is more beautiful than others. The chessboard-like background of punched gold, against which the figures stand out, creates a great effect. The manuscript is designed in the style of Jean Pucelle , which was widespread at the time.
literature
- Taymouth Book of Hours. 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. 46-49.
Individual evidence
- ^ Francis Klingender: Animals in Art and Thought. To the end of the middle ages. Routledge & Paul, London 1971, ISBN 0-7100-6817-4 , pp. 415-427, therein the report on the deer hunt.