Sacred Leaves Manuscript Collection

The history of the book collection at USF illustrates broad concepts in the history of the Western book, beginning with the manuscript era and moving through the invention of the printing press, the mechanization of printing, and the development of the fine press and the artist’s book. This digital collection highlights illuminated manuscripts including individual leaves that illustrate different types of calligraphic hands and illumination, most dating from the medieval period. Items in this collection are only available online; we do not have physical copies of these items in the USF Library's Special Collections. The original items were returned to the donor.

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Leaf from Legenda Aurea Sanctorum by Jacobus de Voragine, 1480, Verso

Jacobus de Voragine

This leaf comes from an edition of the popular Legenda aurea sanctorum and includes hand-colored woodblock images. The German edition of the Legenda was printed in 1480 in Augsburg by Johann Bambler.
Leaf from Matins, Hours of the Virgin, Rouen, France, Recto

Unknown

More than any other office of the Virgin, Matins offers the most varied collection of additional prayers, hymns, and psalms. Any number of these accessory texts could be recited along with the standard Hour at daybreak, serving to reinforce both the natural experience of a new day, and the metaphysical theme of the Incarnation as embodied by the text's traditional illumination, the Annunciation. The concluding hymn Te Deum laudamus, is a hymn of thanksgiving also reserved for the most exultant occasions of church and state, such as the coronation of a king, or the canonization of a saint.
Leaf from Matins, Hours of the Virgin, Rouen, France, Verso

Unknown

More than any other office of the Virgin, Matins offers the most varied collection of additional prayers, hymns, and psalms. Any number of these accessory texts could be recited along with the standard Hour at daybreak, serving to reinforce both the natural experience of a new day, and the metaphysical theme of the Incarnation as embodied by the text's traditional illumination, the Annunciation. The concluding hymn Te Deum laudamus, is a hymn of thanksgiving also reserved for the most exultant occasions of church and state, such as the coronation of a king, or the canonization of a saint.
Incipit Liber Dyalogorum Beati Gregory ad Petru[m] Diaconum Suum. Liber dyalogorum

Gregory I

The Dialogues of Pope Gregory I (also called Gregory the Great) is a collection of four books of miracles, signs, wonders, and healings done by the holy men of sixth-century Italy.
Mammotrectus Super Bibliam by Johannes Marchesinus

Johannes Marchesinus

This text, printed in 1478, originates from the shop of Franciscus Renner de Heilbronn and Petrus de Bartua. As a manual for clergy members, the Mammotrectus super Bibliam, (literally the "nourisher of the Bible") contains etymological explanations of complex words used in the Bible and liturgical services. It also includes descriptions of the canonical hours and various feast days of the church year.
Leaf from Speculum Historiale, Recto

Vincent of Beauvais

This leaf comes from Vincent of Beauvais' Speculum historiale (Mirror of History), which comprised part of the Speculum maius (The Great Mirror). The historiale recounts the history of the world from the Fall of man in the Garden of Eden through Vincent's lifetime.
Leaf from Speculum Historiale, Verso

Vincent of Beauvais

This leaf comes from Vincent of Beauvais' Speculum historiale (Mirror of History), which comprised part of the Speculum maius (The Great Mirror). The historiale recounts the history of the world from the Fall of man in the Garden of Eden through Vincent's lifetime.
Leaf from Speculum Humanae Salvationis, Recto

Unknown

This leaf comes from an edition of the popular Speculum humanae salvationis printed in 1473 in Augusburg, Germany, by Günther Zainer. This particular leaf illustrates Zainer's use of a strong, bold Gothic type and short, squat figures with large heads bodily outlined with little or no shading.
Leaf from Speculum Humanae Salvationis, Verso

Unknown

This leaf comes from an edition of the popular Speculum humanae salvationis printed in 1473 in Augusburg, Germany, by Günther Zainer. This particular leaf illustrates Zainer's use of a strong, bold Gothic type and short, squat figures with large heads bodily outlined with little or no shading.
Leaf from Gospel Lessons, Northern France, Recto

Unknown

The end of the Gospel of John and the beginning of the Gospel of Luke.
Leaf from Gospel Lessons, Northern France, Verso

Unknown

The end of the Gospel of John and the beginning of the Gospel of Luke.
Leaf from Terce, Hours of the Virgin, France, Recto

Unknown

The Hour of Terce corresponds roughly with 9 a.m. In the manuscript from which this leaf originates, the following three Psalms were included: 119, 120, 121. In addition to these Psalms, and to versicles and responses, Terce typically consists of a hymn, antiphons, a capitulum, and orations.
Leaf from Terce, Hours of the Virgin, France, Verso

Unknown

The Hour of Terce corresponds roughly with 9 a.m. In the manuscript from which this leaf originates, the following three Psalms were included: 119, 120, 121. In addition to these Psalms, and to versicles and responses, Terce typically consists of a hymn, antiphons, a capitulum, and orations.
Bifolium with Opening to Compline, Hours of the Virgin, Paris, France

Unknown

Compline, the eighth and last Hour of the Virgin, was meant to be recited in the evening. The miniature paired with this Compline represents the traditional subject of the Coronation of the Virgin.
Leaf from a Liturgical Calendar, Use of Rome, Italy, Recto

Unknown

Each month of a liturgical calendar begins with the initials KL (for Kalends) to indicate the first day of the month. This header is followed by the name of that month, how many days it contains, and how many days it has in the corresponding lunar calendar.
Leaf from a Liturgical Calendar, Use of Rome, Italy, Verso

Unknown

Each month of a liturgical calendar begins with the initials KL (for Kalends) to indicate the first day of the month. This header is followed by the name of that month, how many days it contains, and how many days it has in the corresponding lunar calendar.
Leaf from Matins, Hours of the Virgin, Troyes, France, Recto

Unknown

Nocturns, prayers initially recited by monks in the evening or early morning, were incorporated into Matins in Books of Hours because this Hour was usually said before dawn. The text of this leaf can be identified as for use of Troyes from the second and third lesson of the first nocture (Benedicta tu) read on Sundays, Mondays, and Thursdays.
Leaf from Matins, Hours of the Virgin, Troyes, France, Verso

Unknown

Nocturns, prayers initially recited by monks in the evening or early morning, were incorporated into Matins in Books of Hours because this Hour was usually said before dawn. The text of this leaf can be identified as for use of Troyes from the second and third lesson of the first nocture (Benedicta tu) read on Sundays, Mondays, and Thursdays.
Leaf from the Fifteen Joys of the Virgin, Paris, France, Recto

Unknown

The Fifteen Joys of the Virgin, often found at the end of French Books of Hours, is an accessory text. The prayer itself is written in French, and is characterized by fifteen repetitions, each beginning Tres doulce dame, or "very sweet lady", and represents a direct address to Mary. It is then followed by repeated requests for her divine intervention as Mother of Christ, in the interest of the praying soul. The recto of this leaf begins in the center of the eleventh repetition with vous eustez quant, and ends with que ii souffrie me, near the end of the twelfth address.
Leaf from the Fifteen Joys of the Virgin, Paris, France, Verso

Unknown

The Fifteen Joys of the Virgin, often found at the end of French Books of Hours, is an accessory text. The prayer itself is written in French, and is characterized by fifteen repetitions, each beginning Tres doulce dame, or "very sweet lady", and represents a direct address to Mary. It is then followed by repeated requests for her divine intervention as Mother of Christ, in the interest of the praying soul. The verso contains the thirteenth repetition appearing in its entirety.
Leaf Opening Matins, Hours of the Virgin, Germany, Recto

Unknown

This leaf originally prefaced Matins, which is the first of the core set of prayers of any Book of Hours, the Hours of the Virgin.
Leaf Opening Matins, Hours of the Virgin, Germany, Verso

Unknown

This leaf originally prefaced Matins, which is the first of the core set of prayers of any Book of Hours, the Hours of the Virgin.
Leaf Opening the Penitential Psalms, Cologne, Germany, Recto

Unknown

The Seven Penitential Psalms (6, 31, 37, 50, 101, 129, and 142), long associated with atonement, were ascribed in the Middle Ages to King David. The translation of Psalm 6 in this manuscript may ultimately derive from that of Geert Grote, but is in a German dialect closer to that of a Prayer Book now in Darmstadt, believed to have been produced in Cologne in the mid-fifteenth century.
Leaf Opening the Penitential Psalms, Cologne, Germany, Verso

Unknown

The Seven Penitential Psalms (6, 31, 37, 50, 101, 129, and 142), long associated with atonement, were ascribed in the Middle Ages to King David. The translation of Psalm 6 in this manuscript may ultimately derive from that of Geert Grote, but is in a German dialect closer to that of a Prayer Book now in Darmstadt, believed to have been produced in Cologne in the mid-fifteenth century.