Office for Consecrating a Bishop
Texts and Images
Twelve unfinished miniatures, some inked or coloured by a later hand, illustrate the final part of the manuscript. The first miniature shows an archbishop receiving a newly elected bishop (fol. 103r), and the last one depicts the bishop receiving his crosier. In the last two quires (fols. 127-140), the original, elegant free-hand drawings by the Master of the Cambridge Pontifical of Renaud de Bar delineate all elements of the design, from facial features to the ornamental details of borders, initials and bas-de-page scenes.
Archbishop anointing the bishop’s head (Office for Consecrating a Bishop)
The Master of the Cambridge Pontifical of Renaud de Bar designed this page, but did not finish painting the decoration. The partial bar border, also incomplete, is decorated with foliate motifs. The unfinished historiated initial U shows a standing bishop, and the unfinished historiated initial H depicts a deacon kneeling before a bishop. A rabbit, armed with a club, threatens a snail in the bas-de-page.