Winchester College Publication Treausry: Collections Bulletin 2019-2020 | Page 7
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’.
Winchester College Collections 2019 – 20 7