'Fitzalan Prayerbook', a 15th-century devotional manuscript written and illuminated in England, bearing the arms of the Fitzalan Earls of Arundel.

File

Identifier: Adv.MS.53.3.14

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The contents of the manuscript are as follows:

(i) The Roman series of psalter collects. See ‘The Psalter Collects’. Each collect is preceded by the incipit of its psalm. Folios containing the collects for psalms 1-8, 68-83, 91-97, 104-110 and 146-150 are missing. (Folio 1.)

(ii) Psalter of Saint Jerome. (Folio 16.)

(iii) Litany. (Folio 24.)

(iv) The verses `In iiij poyntis my will or I hens departe`, in a 16th-century hand. They are published from another manuscript in ‘Religious Lyrics of the XVth century’, pages 255-258. (Folio 25 verso.)

Ruled in ink. Sections (i)-(iii) are written in littera textualis formata. Initials throughout these sections are in gold or blue with blue or red decorative penwork. A few have been cut out.

Large initials and floral borders mark the ferial divisions of the psalter and the beginning of the psalter of St Jerome (folios 3, 4 verso, 7, 17). These contain the arms (rather damaged) of members of the Fitzalan family, Earls of Arundel.

For a series of similar arms, see `The Monumental brasses of London and Middlesex`, part 1, pages 67-112.

There are some pen trials in the form of an alphabet (folio 26 verso), and an engraved portrait, 1776, of Thomas of Woodstock has been loosely inserted (folio iii).

Dates

Creation: 15th century.

Language of Materials

Includes verse in Middle English.

Extent

1 Volumes (iii + 26 folios.)

Additional Description

Arrangement

Collation: 1⁸ (-1; single leaf added at beginning of gathering), 2⁸ (-2, 3, 5, 7), 3⁸ (-5), 4⁸, single leaf. 22 lines. With catchwords. Signatures survive on some folios.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Vellum (folio iii paper). Mediaeval binding of pink leather over bevelled wooden boards, clasp missing.

Custodial History

The name Garrard occurs inside the back cover in a 16th-century hand. The manuscript contains the bookplate of Bateman of Middleton Hall. It later belonged to Christopher Lynch (died 1860) who exhibited it to the British Archaeological Association (see the ‘Journal of the British Archaeological Association’, viii, page 364). Some notes in his hand on folio iv attribute the original ownership of the volume to Thomas of Woodstock or a member of his family. The bookplate of W R Macdonald, Albany Herald is on the inside back cover. The manuscript was bequeathed to the Advocates’ Library in 1924 by Mrs W R Macdonald.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Presented, 1925, by the Faculty of Advocates to the nation on the foundation of the National Library of Scotland.

Bibliography

Wilmart, André. ‘Psalter Collects’, Henry Bradshaw Society, volume lxxxiii (London, 1949).
Brown, Carleton. ‘Religious Lyrics of the XVth century’ (Oxford, 1939).
Boutell, Charles. `Monumental brasses of London and Middlesex`, part 1, in ‘Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society’, i (1860).
‘Journal of the British Archaeological Association’, viii (1852-1853).