Prayer Imagery in a 14th Century Franciscan Missal: (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Douce 313)

Abstract

PRAYER IMAGERY IN A 14TH CENTURY FRANCISCAN MISSAL (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Douce 313)* An ambitious program of illustration, one that is the first of its kind in the history of book illumination, adorns the votive and requiem masses in a remarkable Franciscan missal (MS Douce 313) housed in the Bodleian Library in Oxford.1 There are no known precedents * I would like to extend my appreciation to Father Cassian Reel of Grayfriars, Oxford, whose insights on MS Douce 313 and Franciscan liturgy in general were of great help to me. Special thanks also go to Maureen Pemberton of the Department of Western Manuscripts, the Bodleian Library, Oxford; to William Voelkle of the Piperpont Morgan Library, N.Y.C; and to Carol Purtle of the Department of Art, Memphis State University. Earlier versions of this study were presented as papers at the 17th and 18th annual International Congresses on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, MI, May 1982 and 1983. The University of Southwestern Louisiana graciously helped to subsidize the cost of photographs and reproduction fees for this article. 1 For a more detailed description of the manuscript, see Appendix I. The most complete study of MS Douce 313 is Veronica Condon's thesis, "MS Douce 313. A Fourteenth Century Franciscan Missal in the Bodleian Library, Oxford" (University of Melbourne, 1977), 2 Vols, and "Catalogue of the Illustrated Texts of MS Douce 313" (addendum to thesis, 1979); published 1984 in one volume but without illustrations by Spectrum Publications Pty. Ltd., Victoria, Australia. Shorter notices of the manuscript appear in G. G. Vitzthum, Die Pariser Miniaturmalerei (Leipzig, 1907), 182-83; W. H. Frere, Bibliotheca Musico-Liturgica. A Descriptive Handlist of the Musical and Latin-Liturgical Manuscripts of the Middle Ages, (London, 1901 and 1930), II, 97; S. J. P. van Dijk, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts and Printed Books. Guide to an Exhibition held during 1952 (Oxford, 1952), 24; van Dijk, Sources of the Modern Roman Liturgy, (Leiden, 1963), I, 224, n. 231; II, 364 (hereafter, Sources); Otto Pacht and J. J. G. Alexander, Illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Vol. I. German, Dutch, Flemish, French, and Spanish Schools (Oxford, 1966), 47, # 603; A. G. and H. O. Hassall, Treasures from the Bodleian Library (London, 1976), 105-107; Galerie nationale du Grand Palais, Les fastes du Gothique. Le siècle de Charles V (Paris, 1981), 309-311, f 26i (Notes by François Avril). The entire text of the manu- GLORIA K. FIERO for the illustration of such prayers among medieval missals, nor for an extensive program of illumination whose intention it is to translate the liturgy into visual terms. It is the purpose of this article to examine the representations that illustrate the votive and requiem masses,2 and to offer some hypotheses concerning their function and purpose. MS Douce 313 contains the texts of the fixed and variable portions of the Roman mass based on the revised Franciscan Regula missal of c. 1255-60.3 The manuscript may be dated tentatively to the second quarter of the 14th century.4 Marginal notes indicate that the Douce missal was in the use of St. Jean at Bonneval-les-Thouars (northwest of Poitiers) from the late 16th through the 18th century.5 Though there is no firm evidence for the original provenance of the Douce missal,6 most scholars who have examined the manuscript agree that it was produced in southwest France,7 possibly for the Francisscript is available in microfiche: H. O. Hassall, introd., The Franciscan Missal (MS Douce 313) Medieval Miniatures in Microform, #¦ 6. Major Treasures in the Bodleian Library (Oxford, 1978). 2 See Appendix II. Also listed and discussed briefly in Condon, I, 34-37 These masses are identical in both text and order with those of the second Franciscan Regula missal; see van Dijk, Sources, II, 321-28. Additional votive masses not included herein appear on ff. 404V-415 of MS Douce 313. 8 See V. L. Kennedy, "The Franciscan Ordo Missal in the Thirteenth Century ," Medieval Studies, II (1940), 204-22; van Dijk, Sources, I, 224; and Condon , I, 41. 4 In the calendar, which may have been added to the text shortly after its completion, the feast of...