Epistle Lectionary of Thomas Wolsey (Christ Church MS 101), 1528
Dublin Core
Title
Epistle Lectionary of Thomas Wolsey (Christ Church MS 101), 1528
Subject
Readings from the Epistles for feast days in Flemish style.
Description
Thomas Wolsey's Epistle Lectionary, a 16th century manuscript richly illuminated in the Flemish style. This large folio still sparkles brightly in all the colours of the rainbow. The book contains readings from the Epistles for a number of feast days throughout the year.
Headings in red identify the occasions; also in red, scorings in the texts to guide oral reading.; Openings and nomina sacra in display roman capitals.; At the openings, full borders with miniatures, gold and pastel borders, including flowers, plants, birds, and heraldic symbols of Wolsey (see Provenance);on one occasion (fol. 20), in the bottom border appear the royal arms, England quartering France modern, within the Garter, with lion and dragon supporters and the motto ‘diev et mon droit’ on scrolls at far left and right (perhaps placed here as Ascension is the feast most often closest to the start of Henry VIII’s regnal year); on another (fol. 36v) the lower border diverges from the usual heraldic presentation and has instead a landscape scene, ships coming into a harbour town, a country monastery (and fishermen) in the foreground.; There are two levels of incipit, the more elaborate with full border and historiated initial (listed above).; Lesser occasions have a seven-line painted gold initial with designs of jewels and occasional floral decoration on a pastel ground (fol. 3, 3v, 6, 7v, 8, 9, 12v, 14, 15v, 16v, 18, 19, 21v, 24v, 25v, 26, 30, 31, 42, 44, 45); initials similar to these are to be found, for instance, in Oxford: Corpus Christi College, MSS. 13 & 14, for which Meghen was the scribe (Trapp, ‘Notes’, no. 8).; Hugh Paget, ‘Gerard and Lucas Hornebolt in England’, Burlington Magazine 101 (1959), 396–402 at 400, identified the illuminator as Gerard. He reproduced the Adoration of the Shepherds (fol. 4v), both in full and in a detail purporting to show the remains of the artist’s signature (figures 43, 45); no such signature is present. Lorne Campbell and Susan Foister, ‘Gerard, Lucas and Susanna Horenbout’, Burlington Magazine 128 (1986), 719–27 (719–21) provided further biographical detail of Gerard but they also raised doubts about his association with Wolsey. More recently, the attribution to him has been downright rejected, and the illuminator cast into anonymity as ‘the Master of Cardinal Wolsey’: Elizabeth Morrison in Thomas Kren and Scott McKendrick, Illuminating the Renaissance. The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe (London, 2003), pp. 503–507. Following the dissertation of S. M. Hardie (unpublished MA thesis, University of Bristol, 1982), Morrison also notes the illuminator’s debt to Albrecht Dürer’s ‘Small Passion’ cycle of 1510. She also proposes that the illumination was made on the continent but, considering the presence of Low Countries artists in England, there seems no reason to make that assumption; indeed, while the artist’s Latin may be poor (see the discussion of Wolsey’s motto in provenance), the facility with Wolsey’s insignia, as well as the familiarity with the features of Henry and Wolsey (fol. 40r) and ability to depict St Frideswide suggest that, at the least, whoever it was, worked under close guidance by an artist with English experience. What is more, a Westminster context is strongly suggested by the fact that the numbering and lettering that appears in these initials also appears in the royal charters relating to Cardinal College; see, in particular, TNA, E 24/20/1 and E24/6/1. Given that it is known that the Horenbouts were used as illuminators for royal documents, this evidence returns us to their milieu.; There are numerous discussions and reproductions of the manuscript. See AT no. 827 (83) and plate lvii (fols 4vand 36v); Otto Pächt, ‘Holbein and Kratzer’, Burlington Magazine 84 (1944), 134–39; Treasures of Oxford (London, 1953), no. 187 (catalogue of an exhibition at Goldsmiths’ Hall); Flemish Art 1300–1700 (London, 1953), no. 623 (166) (catalogue of an exhibition at the Royal Academy); James K. McConica, English Humanists and Reformation Politics under Henry VIII and Edward VI (Oxford, 1965), 69–72; J. B. Trapp and Hubertus S. Herbrüggen, ‘The King’s Good Servant’, Sir Thomas More 1477/8–1535 (London, 1977), no. 43 (37) with plate (fol. 4v); Trapp 1981–82, figure 9 (34, fol. 32v); Georges Dogaer, Flemish Miniature Painting in the 15th and 16th Centuries (Amsterdam, 1987), 161–67 (a discussion of the Hornebouts, with a reference to our manuscript at 166); S. J. Gunn and P. G. Lindley ed.,Cardinal Wolsey: Church, State and Art (Cambridge, 1991),40–42 and plates 10 (fol. 32) and 11 (fol. 36v).; The manuscript has a companion volume, Oxford: Magdalen College, MS lat. 223, by the same scribe and the same illuminator, with the parallel gospel readings; it is a nearly exact twin sister, its dimensions closely congruent, as are the number of illustrations and their subjects. That manuscript, unlike ours, has no date but it is datable, since in it the arms of Wolsey are sometimes impaled with those of Winchester, another bishopric given him in 1529; it may be, though, that, the volume was intended for use in 1530, as Cristina Neagu, ‘Dating Wolsey’s Lectionaries’,Christ Church Library Newsletter, 4 (2008), 2–5 [freely available on-line] argues on the basis of the order of feasts. See further below.
Tan morocco with incised pattern over wood, s. xx (by The Eddington Bindery, 1981). Sewn on six thongs. Pastedowns and endleaves modern paper. On the front pastedown a College bookplate and tag ‘Church Congress Exhibition 292’. The present binding apparently replaced one which, according to the former Sub-Librarian, John Wing (to whom thanks are due for his prodigious memory on this and many other points of detail), was reversed calf over leather, much like that used for the Chapter House manuscripts (see, in particular, Archives D&C vi.c.1 = MS 340). In other words, it would seem to have been rebound for ChCh in the last decades of the seventeenth century.
Headings in red identify the occasions; also in red, scorings in the texts to guide oral reading.; Openings and nomina sacra in display roman capitals.; At the openings, full borders with miniatures, gold and pastel borders, including flowers, plants, birds, and heraldic symbols of Wolsey (see Provenance);on one occasion (fol. 20), in the bottom border appear the royal arms, England quartering France modern, within the Garter, with lion and dragon supporters and the motto ‘diev et mon droit’ on scrolls at far left and right (perhaps placed here as Ascension is the feast most often closest to the start of Henry VIII’s regnal year); on another (fol. 36v) the lower border diverges from the usual heraldic presentation and has instead a landscape scene, ships coming into a harbour town, a country monastery (and fishermen) in the foreground.; There are two levels of incipit, the more elaborate with full border and historiated initial (listed above).; Lesser occasions have a seven-line painted gold initial with designs of jewels and occasional floral decoration on a pastel ground (fol. 3, 3v, 6, 7v, 8, 9, 12v, 14, 15v, 16v, 18, 19, 21v, 24v, 25v, 26, 30, 31, 42, 44, 45); initials similar to these are to be found, for instance, in Oxford: Corpus Christi College, MSS. 13 & 14, for which Meghen was the scribe (Trapp, ‘Notes’, no. 8).; Hugh Paget, ‘Gerard and Lucas Hornebolt in England’, Burlington Magazine 101 (1959), 396–402 at 400, identified the illuminator as Gerard. He reproduced the Adoration of the Shepherds (fol. 4v), both in full and in a detail purporting to show the remains of the artist’s signature (figures 43, 45); no such signature is present. Lorne Campbell and Susan Foister, ‘Gerard, Lucas and Susanna Horenbout’, Burlington Magazine 128 (1986), 719–27 (719–21) provided further biographical detail of Gerard but they also raised doubts about his association with Wolsey. More recently, the attribution to him has been downright rejected, and the illuminator cast into anonymity as ‘the Master of Cardinal Wolsey’: Elizabeth Morrison in Thomas Kren and Scott McKendrick, Illuminating the Renaissance. The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe (London, 2003), pp. 503–507. Following the dissertation of S. M. Hardie (unpublished MA thesis, University of Bristol, 1982), Morrison also notes the illuminator’s debt to Albrecht Dürer’s ‘Small Passion’ cycle of 1510. She also proposes that the illumination was made on the continent but, considering the presence of Low Countries artists in England, there seems no reason to make that assumption; indeed, while the artist’s Latin may be poor (see the discussion of Wolsey’s motto in provenance), the facility with Wolsey’s insignia, as well as the familiarity with the features of Henry and Wolsey (fol. 40r) and ability to depict St Frideswide suggest that, at the least, whoever it was, worked under close guidance by an artist with English experience. What is more, a Westminster context is strongly suggested by the fact that the numbering and lettering that appears in these initials also appears in the royal charters relating to Cardinal College; see, in particular, TNA, E 24/20/1 and E24/6/1. Given that it is known that the Horenbouts were used as illuminators for royal documents, this evidence returns us to their milieu.; There are numerous discussions and reproductions of the manuscript. See AT no. 827 (83) and plate lvii (fols 4vand 36v); Otto Pächt, ‘Holbein and Kratzer’, Burlington Magazine 84 (1944), 134–39; Treasures of Oxford (London, 1953), no. 187 (catalogue of an exhibition at Goldsmiths’ Hall); Flemish Art 1300–1700 (London, 1953), no. 623 (166) (catalogue of an exhibition at the Royal Academy); James K. McConica, English Humanists and Reformation Politics under Henry VIII and Edward VI (Oxford, 1965), 69–72; J. B. Trapp and Hubertus S. Herbrüggen, ‘The King’s Good Servant’, Sir Thomas More 1477/8–1535 (London, 1977), no. 43 (37) with plate (fol. 4v); Trapp 1981–82, figure 9 (34, fol. 32v); Georges Dogaer, Flemish Miniature Painting in the 15th and 16th Centuries (Amsterdam, 1987), 161–67 (a discussion of the Hornebouts, with a reference to our manuscript at 166); S. J. Gunn and P. G. Lindley ed.,Cardinal Wolsey: Church, State and Art (Cambridge, 1991),40–42 and plates 10 (fol. 32) and 11 (fol. 36v).; The manuscript has a companion volume, Oxford: Magdalen College, MS lat. 223, by the same scribe and the same illuminator, with the parallel gospel readings; it is a nearly exact twin sister, its dimensions closely congruent, as are the number of illustrations and their subjects. That manuscript, unlike ours, has no date but it is datable, since in it the arms of Wolsey are sometimes impaled with those of Winchester, another bishopric given him in 1529; it may be, though, that, the volume was intended for use in 1530, as Cristina Neagu, ‘Dating Wolsey’s Lectionaries’,Christ Church Library Newsletter, 4 (2008), 2–5 [freely available on-line] argues on the basis of the order of feasts. See further below.
Tan morocco with incised pattern over wood, s. xx (by The Eddington Bindery, 1981). Sewn on six thongs. Pastedowns and endleaves modern paper. On the front pastedown a College bookplate and tag ‘Church Congress Exhibition 292’. The present binding apparently replaced one which, according to the former Sub-Librarian, John Wing (to whom thanks are due for his prodigious memory on this and many other points of detail), was reversed calf over leather, much like that used for the Chapter House manuscripts (see, in particular, Archives D&C vi.c.1 = MS 340). In other words, it would seem to have been rebound for ChCh in the last decades of the seventeenth century.
Creator
Hand identified as a certain Pieter Meghen.
Source
https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/5e6d8909-74d8-4a36-8290-5a325dbccaa9/surfaces/3de47898-15ce-4375-8c94-d6314c2c3f0b/
Publisher
University of Oxford
Date
1528
Contributor
Hope Yu
Rights
© The Governing Body of Christ Church, Oxford
Format
Codex, Dimensions (leaf): 410 × 300 mm., Dimensions (written): 250 × 155 mm.
Language
Latin
Type
Book -- Epistolary
Coverage
England: Westminster or London
Still Image Item Type Metadata
Original Format
Book
Physical Dimensions
410 × 300 mm
Citation
Hand identified as a certain Pieter Meghen., “Epistle Lectionary of Thomas Wolsey (Christ Church MS 101), 1528,” Hope Yu Omeka Site, accessed April 26, 2026, https://midterm.hopeyu.sites.carleton.edu/Omeka/items/show/3.
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