Book of Hours of Eleonora di Toledo ('Eleanor of Toledo Hours')
Libro di ore ad usum Romanum — Eleonora di Toledo Hours
Miserere mei, Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam tuam; et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum dele iniquitatem meam.
Our renderingHave mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy; and according to the abundance of your compassion, blot out my iniquity.
What it is
This richly decorated Book of Hours (Victoria and Albert Museum, National Art Library, London; MSL/1953/1792) was made in Florence for Eleonora di Toledo, Duchess of Florence, after her marriage to Cosimo I de' Medici in 1539, completed by the scribe Aloysius on 10 February 1541 with her post-marriage heraldic arms prominently displayed. It contains the Hours of the Virgin, a Mass for the Virgin, the Penitential Psalms with Litany, and the Hours of the Cross. Decoration features elaborate miniatures with full borders incorporating both Medici and Emperor Charles V emblems, reflecting Eleonora's dual Spanish-Florentine identity. A Spanish inscription dated 22 September 1576 confirms the manuscript was in Madrid by that date, consistent with Eleonora's Spanish entourage.
Why it still matters
The four devotional units — Marian Hours, Marian Mass, Penitential Psalms, and Hours of the Cross — are each independently prayed today; the Penitential Psalms (6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143) remain one of the most powerful frameworks for a Christian's personal examination of conscience.
Kept alongside
Book of Hours of Lorenzo de' Medici the Younger (Hours of Lorenzo II)
Libro de horas de Lorenzo de Medici el Joven
A pocket-sized Book of Hours on parchment (Biblioteca Lázaro Galdiano, Madrid, Inv. 15512 / Ms 13312) commissioned by Pope Leo X as a wedding gift for his nephew Lorenzo II de' Medici and Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne in May 1518. Despite the tragedy of both recipients dying within a year of the marriage, the manuscript survives as a witness to the private devotional culture Leo X fostered for the Medici family. Its 316 parchment pages carry the canonical Hours of the Virgin (Use of Rome) with eleven full-page miniatures and sixteen pages of ornamental borders adorned with Medici emblems — diamond rings inscribed 'Semper' and interlocking rings symbolising faith, hope, and charity.
Hours of Catherine de' Medici
Heures de Catherine de Médicis — Livre d'heures, use de Paris
A magnificently illuminated Book of Hours (BnF, Smith-Lesouëf 42, Paris) made c. 1525–1528 and associated by tradition with Catherine de' Medici (1519–1589), though the BnF catalogue itself describes it as 'so-called because it may have belonged to Catherine de Médicis' — ownership is traditional attribution, not documentary. Catherine was the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, and thus granddaughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent, making her a first cousin once removed of Clement VII, who arranged her 1533 marriage to the future Henri II of France. The manuscript carries the calendar, four Gospels, Little Office of the Virgin, Votive Offices, Penitential Psalms, Litany of Saints, and Office of the Dead in Franco-Flemish Renaissance style. Its transmission history before acquisition by Auguste Lesouëf (donated to BnF 1913) passed through nineteenth-century English auction sales, precluding a firm Medici ownership chain.
Flemish Book of Hours of Marie de Medici (MS. Douce 112)
Livre d'heures flamand de Marie de Médicis (Bodleian MS. Douce 112)
A Flemish Book of Hours made c. 1515–1520 in Bruges or Ghent by the Master of the David Scenes in the Grimani Breviary, containing 45 full-page miniatures of exceptional quality. Marie de' Medici acquired it during her exile in Brussels and Amsterdam after her break with Richelieu in 1631, and it remained with her until her death in Cologne in 1642. A contemporary note by Francis Douce on the pastedown records it as 'formerly belonging to Marie de Medicis, queen of France, who left it at Cologne whence it came into possession of Fockem'; Douce purchased it from H. Fockem, Rector of St. Ursula at Cologne, in December 1832 and bequeathed it to the Bodleian Library in 1834. The standard Horae programme — Office of the Virgin, Seven Penitential Psalms, Litany of Saints, and Office of the Dead — is preserved intact.