[15th century illuminated manuscript]. NORMANDIE] Hours for the use of Rouen, northern France (Rouen?), last quarter of the 15th century, circa 1470-1480. Volume: 224 × 165 × 52 mm. [162] vellum leaves. Page 213: × 152 mm. Calendar. Writing area: 65 × 90 mm; upper margin 37 mm; lower 85 mm; inner 27 mm; outer 22 mm. One column of 16 lines, line spacing 6 mm. Large initials: 28 × 14 mm; small initials: 11 × 7 mm. Body text. Writing area: 95 × 65 mm; upper margin 38 mm; lower margin 85 mm; int. 27 mm; ext. 22 mm. One column of 15 lines, line spacing 6 mm. Large initials: 30 × 27 mm; medium initials 26 × 20 mm to 17 × 14 mm; small initials: 15 × 5 mm. Bound in 19th-century havana Russian leather, spine with 3 broad, protruding faux-nerves, gilt title and date, cold-finish decorated boxes edged with gilt roulettes and fillets, boards decorated with multiple frames composed of cold-finish and gilt roulettes and fillets, rhombus in the center, rotated roulette at the edges, green morocco lining and endpapers, edges formerly gilt and painted with two-tone floral motifs (slight rubbing, unstuck). PROVENANCE The hypothesis of a female patron, suggested by the presence of a woman praying before the Virgin and Child (f. 149r), is supported by the addition of the name of Saint Catherine, on the date November 25, by a hand different from that of the copyist. Calendar (f. 1r-12v) The calendar, in French, refers to the custom in Rouen. It mentions Saint Sever (February 1) and Saint Austreberte (February 10), both commemorated in a 15th-century breviary from Rouen (Leroq. B. 539); Saint Vigor (March 5), bishop of Bayeux from 511 to 538; Saint Valery (April 1), bishop of Rouen, attested to in several 15th-century Rouen manuscripts; Saint Méen (April 15), founder of the eponymous abbey in Ille-et-Vilaine; Saint Vaast (April 16 and July 16), to whom a dozen churches are dedicated in the Somme; the translation of the relics of Saint Ursin (June 12), celebrated in the dioceses of Rouen, Lisieux and Sées (Leroq. B.539, Lat. 1323, B.631, Lat. 1334); Saint Maclou (July 15); Saint Vivien (August 28), celebrated on the 26th in a 15th-century manuscript from the diocese of Rouen (Lat. 1334); Saint Mellon, bishop of Rouen (October 21); Saint Maclou (November 15 and July 10), attested to in several 15th-century breviaries from the dioceses of Bayeux, Coutances, Troarn, Lisieux and Sées (Leroq. B.572, B.469, Lat. 1323, Leroq. B.620, B.571, B.544, B.545, B.661); and Saint Ursin (December 30), celebrated in a series of breviaries and missals used in Rouen and Bayeux (Leroq. B.539, B.572, B.571, M.725, M.724, Lat. 1334). Contents Sequences from the four Gospels (f. 13r-18v): Jn 1, 1-14 (f. 13r- 15r); Lc 1, 27-38 (f. 15r-16r); Mt 2, 1-12 (f. 16r-17v); Mc 16, 14-20 (f. 17v-18v). Oraisons à la Vierge (f. 18v-25v): "Obsecro te" (f. 18v-21v); "O Intemerata" (f. 21v-25v). Hours of the Virgin (27r-78v) [the rubrics indicating the next office generally appear after the prayers of the preceding office; this ensures that the volume is complete, which is confirmed by the order of the leaves]: matins (f. 27r-37v); lauds (f. 38r-51v), ending with a series of antiphons and prayers to the Holy Spirit, St. Michael, St. John the Baptist, St. Lawrence, St. Nicholas, St. Catherine, St. Margaret, for peace [f. 52 virgin]; prime (f. 53r-58r); tierce (f. 58v-61v); sexte (f. 62r- 64v); none (f. 65r-67v); vespers (f. 68r-73v); compline (f. 74r-78v). Penitential psalms (f. 79r-91v), followed by the litanies of the saints (f. 91v-95v), which include Saint Mellon of Rouen (f. 93r) and Saint Maclou (f. 93v) [f. 96 blank]. Abbreviated Hours of the Cross (f. 97r-100r): matins (f. 97r-98r); prime (f. 98r-v); tierce (f. 98v); sexte (f. 98v-99r); none (f. 99r); vespers (f. 99r-v); compline (f. 99v-100r). Abbreviated Hours of the Holy Spirit (f. 100v-103v): matins and lauds (f. 100v-101v); tierce and sexte (f. 101v-102r); none (f. 102r-v); vespers (f. 102v-103v) [f. 104 blank]. Hours of the Dead (f. 105r-147v) [in this section, the text lacks the rubrics separating the offices]; [f. 148 blank]. The volume ends with two prayers in French. The first (f. 149r-154v), dedicated to the Virgin, follows the text of the Quinze joies Notre Dame, whose verses alternate with the Ave Maria. The second (f. 154v-162v) is a devotional oration addressed to Christ, alternating with the Pater noster. The success of these orations in the last decades of the 15th century was largely due to the rise of the Rosary confraternities and the distribution of the Livre et ordonnance de la dévote confrérie du Psaultier de la glorieuse Vierge Marie. The particular success of these texts in Brittany, the homeland of the Dominican Alain de la Roche who encouraged this devotion, is not surprising given the origin of our manuscript. E