Foliation: i (post-medieval paper), ii (parchment) + 189 + iii (parchment), iv (post-medieval paper) ff.
Number of lines: 17 lines.
Language: Latin.
Script: humanistic script.
Textual content:
ff. 1r-14v: calendar (numerous mistakes, see Watson 2011).
ff. 15r-16: Psalm 90, ending with a prayer to one's guardian angel.
ff. 16v-18r: blank.
ff. 19r-75v: Hours of the Virgin, for the use of Rome.
ff. 76r-78r: Mass of the Virgin Mary, struck out, perhaps after the 16th century.
ff. 78v-80r: blank.
ff. 81r-97v: Penitential Psalms, Litany, followed by Psalm 69, 10 paired versicles and responses including 4 invocations (one for Pope Leo, i.e. Pope Leo X, 1513-1521), and 10 collects.
ff. 98r-133r: Office of the Dead for the use of Rome.
ff. 134r-137r: Office of the Holy Cross.
ff. 138r-141r: Office of the Holy Spirit.
ff. 141v-177v: series of prayers and suffrages.
ff. 178r-187r: Fifteen Gradual Psalms.
ff. 187v-188v: indulgenced prayer attributed to St Gregory, promising 14,000 years of indulgence when recited before an image of Christ.
ff. 188v-189r: indulgenced prayer said to have been composed by Pope Boniface VI for the king of France, gaining 2,000 years of indulgence when recited before the elevation of the host.
f. 189v: ruled but blank.
Decoration:
4 openings with a half-page miniature on the verso and a historiated initial on the facing recto, the whole surrounded by a full decorated border. The beginning of the text is written in gold on blue or red ground on this facing page.
ff. 18v-19r: Hours of the Virgin. Annunciation and historiated initial D with Virgin and Child. Cameos with initials in the borders. Coat of arms, possibly added later: or, a cross gules charged with nine crescents argent.
ff. 80v-81r: Penitential Psalms. David in prayer and historiated initial D with David playing the psaltery. Cameos with initials in the borders, including one with David displaying the head of Goliath with the letters DR (David Rex) on f. 80v, inscription ‘LAUDATE PUERI DOMINUM’, cameo with head of Goliath on f. 81r.
ff. 133v-134r: Office of the Holy Cross. Crucifixion and historiated initial D with Carrying of the Cross. Cameos with initials in the borders, jewels, skulls, instruments of the passion, Christ as Man of Sorrows, St Veronica’s veil with face of Christ.
ff. 138v-139r: Office of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost and historiated initial D with the dove of the Holy Spirit. Cameos with initials in the borders, cherubs and rabbits.
3 pages with historiated initial accompanied by a decorated border.
f. 76r: Mass for the Virgin. Historiated initial S with Virgin and Child. Cameo bust with letters MN in the border.
f. 98r: Office of the Dead. Historiated initial D with figure of Death as a skeleton with a scythe, above Death are three figures with a papal tiara, an imperial crown and a royal crown. Two white skulls and a scroll with inscription ‘PENSA AL FINE’. Cameos with initials in the borders, figure of Death with scythe and scroll inscribed ‘TIME’ (?).
f. 178r: Gradual Psalms. Historiated initial A with a female saint holding a book, infill with pearls and jewels. Cameos with initials in the borders, inscription ‘IHS’ (for Ihesus).
6- and 7-line decorated initials for the divisions in the Hours and the Office of the Dead (ff. 28v, 38v, 42v, 45v, 48v, 51v, 104r).
Smaller coloured initials.
Binding:
16th century, Florence: wooden boards covered with red velvet (Italian, 15th or 16th century, solid cut-pile velvet, extended tabby ground).
Furniture of two kinds:
1. Corner-pieces and centrepieces on each cover, niello designs inserted into each.
Upper cover: centre, Visitation; top left, St Peter Martyr with knife in the head and martyr’s palm; top right, St Catherine of Alexandria with wheel and martyr’s palm; bottom left, St Christopher carrying the Christ Child; bottom right, St Margaret holding a cross before the flaming mouth of a dragon.
Lower cover: centre, Virgin and Child; top left, St Sebastian with arrow; top right, St Bernardino of Siena with a book and disk with ‘IHS’; bottom left, tonsured saint holding a book, cross and martyr’s palm (?); bottom right, St Nicholas and three small heads of the children he resurrected.
2. Metal clasps and cross-overs at top, lower and fore-edges, hinged on the lower cover. Inserted into the floral design of the plates are enamels, now damaged, with coats of arms as follows:
a. Quarterly, 1 and 4 Checky, argent and sable, 2 and 3 gules with the monogram IHS within a circle of stars or.
b. Paly gules and sable charged in chief argent with a leopard gules, below another chief argent an eagle displayed sable.
c. Argent, a tree eradicated sable supported by confronted leopards (or lions) gules, on a chief argent an eagle displayed sable.
Clasps on top, lower and fore-edges perhaps repaired in the 19th century.
Extensive repair by Roger Powell, Froxfield, England, 1982. New red silk laid on the spine under worn red velvet, metal furniture at each corner, and centre of top, outer and lower corners removed and replaced over 16th-century red velvet; new paper hollow and spine lining added; clasps and catches repaired by Martin Box, silversmith, Bedales School.