Browse Items (1166 total)

Italy; Late 15th Century. Latin Text; Humanistic Book Hand. 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…

France; Late 15th Century. Latin Text; Lettre Bâtarde.

This composite text includes the Dialogues of Pope Gregory I (St. Gregory the Great, 540-604 A.D.), which are largely autobiographical, and his writing on the lives and miracles of the early…

Germany (Würzburg); Late 15th Century. Latin Text; Angular Gothic Script, Gothic Notation. This leaf from the Book of Psalms was written in the Benedictine monastery of St. Stephan in Würzburg and dated 1499 A.D. The book hand closely…

The Netherlands; Late 15th Century. Latin Text; Bold Angular Gothic Script.

In general, the Books of Hours produced for the devout layman in the Netherlands at the end of the 15th century were written in Dutch. This particular example, however, is…

Germany; Late 15th Century. Latin Text; Semi-Gothic Script.

The Vulgate Bible, a translation credited to St. Jerome, was adopted by the Catholic Church as the authorized version. This leaf was written in Germany nearly sixty years after the…

France; Late 15th Century. Latin Text; Gothic Script. 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…

Northern France; Late 15th Century. Latin Text; Gothic Script.

The Book of Hours, the prayer book of laity, usually contains 16 sections. The section on prayers to the Virgin is the most important and most used, and its manuscripts exceed in…

The Netherlands; Late 15th Century. Latin Text; Angular Gothic Script.

In assigning this leaf from a Book of Hours to the Netherlands it must be remembered that some sections of that country were once part of France, while others belonged to what…

The Netherlands; Late 15th Century. Latin Text; Lettre de Forme. In the 15th century Books of Hours were as much in demand in the Netherlands as they were in France and England. In many of these books it is difficult to distinguish the Dutch Hours…

Germany; Early 16th Century. Latin Text; Lettre Bâtarde.

A Missal gives the service of the mass and is used by the clergy. The text is lengthy and in this large script would occupy many hundred pages. One wonders why this particular manuscript…