TheBedford Hours is a French late medievalbook of hours.[note 1]It dates to the early fifteenth century (c. 1410–30); some of itsminiatures, including the portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Bedford, have been attributed to theBedford Master and his workshop in Paris. TheDuke andDuchess of Bedford gave the book to their nephewHenry VI in 1430.[1] It is in theBritish Library, catalogued asAdd MS 18850.
The manuscript was produced over several stages, including new material that was added as the manuscript passed from owner to owner.[2] The origins of the manuscript are not known with certainty, nor is there agreement on its initial patron. The inclusion of certain heraldic symbols in its decorative programme may suggest an original patronage in the French royal family, perhaps thedauphin,Louis of Guyenne (d. 1415).[3][4] Or this first stage in production might have taken place later, after Louis's death, the heraldic symbols having no immediate reference to patronage, but simply being part of the standard iconographic programme of the workshop.[4][5]
In the early 1420s the manuscript was in the possession ofJohn of Lancaster, the Duke of Bedford who was regent of France on behalf of his nephewHenry VI from 1422 until his death in 1435. In 1423 he gave the manuscript to his wifeAnne of Burgundy as a wedding present.[6] Personalizing additions to the manuscript's illumination that commemorate its ownership by the Duke and Duchess of Bedford include two large portrait miniatures (ff. 256v and 257v), showing John kneeling before St George and Anne of Burgundy kneeling before St Anne.[7]
In 1430 Anne gave the manuscript as a Christmas present to the nine-year-old Henry VI, who was staying with the Bedfords inRouen before his coronation as king of France.[8] This gift was memorialized in the manuscript itself, on f. 256r, in an inscription made at the duke's request, written byJohn Somerset, Henry's tutor and personal physician.[9] It is possible that it was in preparing the book as a gift to Henry that the portrait miniatures of the Bedfords were added, along with other additions to the programme of illumination.[1]
After the Duchess's death, the Bedford Hours was sold in 1786 toJames Edwards, a private collector who outbid the king.[10]George Spencer-Churchill, 5th Duke of Marlborough bought the manuscript, along with the rest of Edwards's library. Then from the sale of the Duke's library,Sir John Tobin bought it: and in 1838 he gave it to his son, the Rev. John Tobin, who sold it in 1851 to the bookseller William Boone.[11] The manuscript was purchased by theBritish Museum in 1852, and now forms part of the British Library's collection ofAdditional manuscripts.[2]
Miniature of the Annunciation, with scenes from thelife of the Virgin, f. 32r
The contents of the Bedford Hours can be divided into several major sections of content normal for a conventional book of hours, with the later addition of three smaller sections of supplementary material, mostly miniatures.[12] These contents are:[13]
(minor insertion) prayers and portraits of John, Duke of Bedford and his wife Anne, Duchess of Bedford (ff. 256r-59v): includes also the inscription by John Somerset, recording the gift of the manuscript to Henry VI
Suffrages to the saints, commemorations of saints, special masses (ff. 260r-87v)
(minor insertion) full-page miniature depicting the legend of theFleurs-de-lis and its presentation to KingClovis (ff. 288r-89v)
The programme of decoration in the Bedford Hours is an outstanding example of late medievalillumination. The artists responsible for the manuscript have not been identified with certainty, but are collectively known as the "Bedford Workshop", and the head artist is likewise known as the "Bedford Master".[14]
The hands of the Bedford Master and the Bedford Workshop have been identified in other manuscripts from this period, including the Salisbury Breviary (Paris,Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS.lat. 17294), also owned by the Duke of Bedford.[12] The illumination of the Bedford Hours is also related to that of theTrès Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (Chantilly, Musée Condé MS 65), illuminated by theLimbourg brothers.[14][15] It is possible that some of the Bedford Hours miniatures were based on images in theTrès Riches Heures.[16]
Other products of the Bedford Workshop include:[17]
the Lamoignon Hours (Lisbon, Gulbenkian Foundation, MS LA 237): made c. 1420 and owned byIsabella of Brittany[18]
^This list is adapted from the list of contents given in Backhouse 1990, p. 63, and'Add MS 18850' on the British Library's Digitised Manuscripts website.
Hermann, Hermann J. (1938).Die Westeuropäischen Handschriften und Inkunabeln der Gotik und der Renaissance. Beschreibendes Verzeichnis der Illuminierten Handschriften in Österreich 7. Vol. 3. Leipzig: Verlag von Karl W. Hiersemann.
König, Eberhard (2007).The Bedford Hours: The making of a Medieval Masterpiece. London: The British Library.ISBN9780712349789.
McKendrick, Scot (2011). "The Bedford Hours". In Scot McKendrick; et al. (eds.).Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination. London: The British Library. pp. 398–99.ISBN9780712358163.
Reynolds, Catherine (2005). "The 'Très Riches Heures', the Bedford Workshop and Barthélemy d'Eyck".The Burlington Magazine.147:526–33.
Spencer, Eleanor P. (1965). "The Master of the Duke of Bedford: The Bedford Hours".The Burlington Magazine.107:495–502.
Stirnemann, Patricia; Rabel, Claudia (2005). "The 'Très Riches Heures' and Two Artists Associated with the Bedford Workshop".The Burlington Magazine.147:534–38.
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