Collection ID: 0023 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

Funders

• Council on Library and Information Resources

Call number

Publisher

Language

Origin

Place

France or Flanders

Notes

• Initial D with St. Nicholas of Myra (or Bari)
   
• This initial begins the prayer for Matins of the feast of the Translation of St. Nicholas of Myra (or Bari, May 9), 'Deus qui tuorum pro salute fidelium beatissimi Nycolay corpus Barrum de Mitrea transferri ...' (God, who for the salvation of your faithful, had willed the body of the Blessed Nicholas to be transferred to Bari from Myra). St. Nicholas, whose legendary acts of charity led to his association with the gift-giving Santa Claus, lived in Myra, a town in modern-day Turkey, and died there in 346. His relics remained there until May 9, 1087, when several citizens of the Italian city of Bari took his bodily remains from Myra and brought them to Bari, where they can be found today. For various reasons that legends always purport to arise from divine providence, the bodies and relics of saints could be moved or 'translated' from one site to another. The day of a saint's translation is often celebrated as a feast day in the medieval calendar. The fact that St. Nicholas' translation is given special attention in this fragment may indicate that the original manuscript was intended for use in or around the town of Bari.
   
• This image shows the reverse of a cutting with an historiated initial that begins the prayer for the celebration of the feast of the Translation of St. Nicholas of Myra (or Bari). The liturgy of this feast begins in the second column.
   
• Saint Peter
   
• The decorated initial marks the prayer for Matins for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul the Apostles (June 29), 'Deus qui apostolo petro coliatis clauibus reg[ni] celestis ...' (O God, who committing to the apostle Peter the keys of the heavenly kingdom).
   
• This image shows the reverse of a cutting with an historiated initial that begins the prayer for the celebration of the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul the Apostles. The liturgy continues on this page.
   
• This leaf and Lewis E M 28:21b are from the same manuscript as Lewis E M 28:22-23.
   
• The Raising of the Cross
   
• This leaf contains part of the recited during the ferial Office at Sext on Sundays, beginning with Psalm 118:81-128, 'Defecit in salutare in tuo anima mea ...' (My soul pines for your salvation). The text begins with a miniature depicting the raising of the Cross witnessed by Pilate and another figure. The two men raising the cross grasp ropes that were never painted in by the illuminator. This scene and others in an illustrated leaf in the Free Library's collection from the same manuscript (Lewis E M 28:23) were once part of a larger cycle of Passion scenes from the psalter section of a breviary. Two other leaves in the collection (Lewis E M 28:21a-b) are also from the same manuscript but from another section.
   
• This image shows the reverse of an illustrated leaf from a breviary, containing parts of the liturgy for read during during the ferial Office at Terce on Saturdays.
   
• Initial D with a monk chanting and scenes from Christ's Passion
   
• This leaf contains part of the liturgy recited during the ferial Office at Lauds on Friday, beginning in the middle of the Canticle of Habakkuk. The scenes in the lower margin are from Christ's Passion. In the lower left, Caiaphas, the high priest of the court of the Sanhedrin, rends his vestments at what he believes are Christ's blasphemies, an act recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In the next scene, Christ is blindfolded and mocked by tormentors. In the far right, Pilate's wife, as told in the Gospel of Matthew, warns Pilate not to condemn the innocent man because she had a dream in which she suffered on account of his death.
   
• These scenes and another in an illustrated leaf in the Free Library's collection from the same manuscript (Lewis E M 28:22) were once part of a larger cycle of Passion from the psalter section of a breviary. Two other leaves in the collection (Lewis E M 28:21a-b) are also from the same manuscript but are from another section.
   
• This image shows the reverse of an illustrated leaf from a breviary, containing parts of the liturgy for read during during the ferial Office at Lauds on Fridays.
   

Extent

Support

Script

Keywords

• 15th century
• Historiated initial
• Breviary
• Liturgy
• France
• Belgium
• Flemish
• French
• Fragment

Licenses

• Text

  These images and the content of Free Library of Philadelphia Lewis E M 28:21-23: Historiated initial D from a breviary depicting St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

  URL

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• Text

  To the extent possible under law, Free Library of Philadelphia, Special Collections has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this metadata about Free Library of Philadelphia Lewis E M 28:21-23: Historiated initial D from a breviary depicting St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra. This work is published from: United States. For a summary of CC0, see https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/. Legal code: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode.

  URL

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