Illuminated Latin Prayer Leaf
Ink, gold, and pigments on parchment
10.6 x 15 cm
ca. 15th century CE, possibly from the Kingdom of France (present-day France)
This diminutive folio comes from a fifteenth-century Latin prayer book. The small size of prayer books like these points to their use, as they could typically be carried around with their reader throughout the day. This particular leaf is beautifully illuminated, with hand-drawn floral motifs and decorative margin borders executed in black ink and accentuated with alternating patterns of gold, red, and blue. These motifs are common to late medieval French books, similar to some borders of the Book of Hours, Use of Toul featured in this catalogue.
The text is neatly arranged in fourteen lines of Gothic script and contains a Fidelium prayer:
Oh God, creator and redeemer of all faithful, grant to the souls of your servants and handmaids the remission of all their sins; that through pious supplications they may obtain the pardon which they have always hoped. Through our Lord, Jesus Christ, your son, who lives and reigns with you.
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to god.
Bradford Davis
Digitized manuscript at Temple Digital Collections
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