OBJECTS IN FOCUS
Figure 7 : WC 48 , fol . 88v
Endnotes :
Figure 6 : WC 48 , fol . 68v
resurrectio et vita ’ ( I am the resurrection and the life ) on fol . 93r . As we have argued elsewhere , we believe this may be a representation of David . 7 In several instances , the portrait includes a branch coming forth from the man ’ s mouth indicating , we believe , the sound of music ( fig . 7 , fol . 88v ).
WC 48 is a magnificent volume , well repaying hours of study . Although it is not one of the named , highly illuminated medieval books of hours , it offers an opportunity to study the many ways in which a book of hours could be visually animated and lead the reader into deeper and richer devotion . It offers its priestowner a large archive of prayers to reflect on and pray to God , Jesus , Mary , and the saints . It reminds him of his sacred duties before the altar . It offers a feast for the eyes both in the richness of the openings of each section and in the whimsical cadels in the Office of the Dead . Thank you , John Lant , for putting this volume into the safe keeping of the Winchester College Fellows ’ Library !
Anne Bagnall Yardley and Jesse D . Mann ( Drew University , Madison , New Jersey )
Find out more about WC 48 in the authors ’ recently published article , ‘ The Prayer Life of a Fifteenth-Century English Priest : Winchester College MS 48 ’, Sacris Erudiri : Journal of Late Antique and Medieval Christianity , LVIII ( 2019 ), pp . 221 – 51 , and their forthcoming article ‘ Facing the Music : The Whimsical Cadels in a Late Medieval English Book of Hours ,’ Peregrinations : Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture , vol . 8 .
1 We are indebted to Richard Foster for information on Lant including the fact that he was a chorister at Christ Church , Oxford . Lant also owned a gospel lectionary originally commissioned by Cardinal Wolsey , which he bequeathed to Christ Church .
2 For a full description of the manuscript and its contents see Neil R . Ker and Alan J . Piper , Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries , Volume
IV : Paisley – York ( Oxford , 1969 ), pp . 632 – 34 .
3 The presence of the music drew us to the manuscript initially . To date we have located just 11 15 th -century English books of hours with musical notation . For a thorough discussion of the implications of the contents of the volume see Yardley and Mann , ‘ Prayer Life ’, pp . 221 – 51 . See also our forthcoming article ‘ Facing the Music ’.
4 Fol . 148v . For a complete transcription of the poem and further commentary , see Yardley and Mann , ‘ Prayer Life ’, pp . 226 , 249 – 50 .
5 For a more complete discussion of the possible unica in this manuscript as well as transcriptions of them , see Yardley and Mann , ‘ Prayer Life ’.
6 Peter Beal defines a cadel as ‘ a decorative flourish on certain lettering in medieval or later manuscripts , characterized by the extension and elaboration of the pen-strokes on letters , usually at the beginning of particular lines . The more convoluted examples include features such as human heads or other figures and designs .’ Peter Beal , ‘ Cadel ’, in A Dictionary of English Manuscript Terminology 1450 – 2000 ( Oxford ,
2008 ), accessed 22 / 7 / 19 .
7 See ‘ Facing the Music ’.
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