The Beauvais Missal: Number 15

The vellum is worn, there is a small hole, which is probably a defect in the original animal\u27s skin. According to Denison University, there is evidence that the manuscripts have been trimmed slightly. On ours, a small part of the decoration seems to have been cut at the top of the Verso.; Five Decorated letters on verso, four on recto; Italian Gothic Rotunda; T, B, M, M and S. All done in red and blue with floral like decorations in white and splashes of gold leaf. The backgrounds continue up and down the page making floral patterns.; Ege is particularly interested in the garden motifs here. Floral imagery is typically associated with later manuscripts. The University of Saskatchewan says about this, The ivy suggests the text is like a garden, full of natural mystery and truth, to be entered and experienced by the reader. ; The decoration of the letters is vine like and has leaves on their ends.; The Beauvais Missal is the most famous and the most elaborate of the manuscripts in Ege\u27s collection. This was given to the Beauvais Cathedral as a gift from Robert de Hangest who stipulated that Mass be dedicated to him on November 3rd of every year. While one modern manuscript dealer claims that this leaf is in the style of the Hours of Yolande of Soissons, completed in Amiens, this seems unlikely. These images are reminiscent of the stained glass in the Beauvais Cathedral (a book on the stained glass of Beauvais Cathedral was written by Michael W. Cothren and published by Princeton University Press in 2006). Beauvais Cathedral was infamously difficult to construct, it collapsed several times and ultimately just the choir was built. In 1284, the year before this Missal was commissioned, the vaults had collapsed again. This event was discussed by Maury I. Wolf and Robert Mark in an article for Speculum in July of 1976. Robert de Hangest\u27s gift, then, came at a time when the church was in dire need.; Black, red, blue, orange, and gold inkshttps://digital.kenyon.edu/mdvlmanuscripts/1033/thumbnail.jp