Script and Textual Contents

Description and Contents

Most of the texts are written in Latin in Gothic bookhand (textualis). Some texts added during the second campaign (c. 1445-1451) are written in French in hybrid Gothic bookhand known as bastarda (e.g. fol. 238v).

The scribe Jean L’Avenant, a professional member of the Parisian book trade documented as a royal scribe from 1350 until 1386, wrote most of the texts in the Grandes Heures’ original campaign. Acting as Philip the Bold’s scribe and book agent, he probably managed the entire project, including the artists’ work, since the ducal accounts record the payment he received for the completion of the Grandes Heures in 1379.

fols. 1r-12v Calendar

fols. 13r-26v, 90r-105r Hours of the Virgin

fols. 27r-32v Penitential Psalms

fols. 32v-35v Litany

fol. 36r-v Prayer O excellentissima et gloriosissima atque sanctissima virgo (15th-century addition)

fols. 37r-57r Office of the Dead

fols. 57r-62v Gradual Psalms

fols. 62v-76v Hours of the Holy Spirit

fols. 76v, 78r-v Hours of the Cross (incomplete)

fols. 79r-80v Ordo, Prefaces and Canon of the Mass

fols. 106r-108r Prayer in Latin verse summarizing events in the New Testament (begins imperfectly)

fol. 108r Suffrage to St Claude

fols. 109r-120v Votive Masses for each day of the week to be said in the Sainte-Chapelle

fols. 121r-213r Votive Masses for major feasts, including 15th-century additions (fols. 190r-192v, 193v, 200r-202r)

fols. 213r-219r Prayers in French and Latin to be said at Mass

fols. 219r-225r Prayers to Christ in French, including 15th-century addition (fols. 221-225)

fols. 226r-260v Suffrages with French rubrics, including 15th-century additions (fols. 237r-238v, 242r-243v, 252r-257v)

fols. 260v-261r Two prayers in French to be said at the Elevation of the Host

fols. 261r-262v Prayer O intemerata in French

fols. 263r-264v Prayer Obsecro te in French

fols. 264v-266v Prayers to Saints Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Guardian Angel and St John the Baptist

fols. 266v-271v Lord’s Prayer

fols. 271v-273r Hymn to the Virgin

fols. 273v-274r Meditation on the Passion in verse

fols. 274v-275v Two Passion prayers in French, followed by a Latin version of the second prayer added in the 15th-century