Hours of Catherine de' Medici (Smith-Lesouëf 42)
Heures de Catherine de Médicis (Horae ad usum Romanum)
Obsecro te, domina sancta Maria, mater Dei, pietate plenissima, summi regis filia, mater gloriosissima...
Our renderingI beseech you, holy Lady Mary, Mother of God, most full of piety, daughter of the highest King, most glorious Mother...
What it is
A richly illuminated Franco-Flemish Book of Hours produced in Paris c. 1525–1528 by the Doheny Master, reputed to have accompanied Catherine de' Medici (1519–1589) in her private daily devotion. It contains the standard Horae structure: calendar with saints, Gospel extracts, the Little Office of the Virgin Mary with eight canonical hours, Votive Offices of the Cross and Holy Spirit, Seven Penitential Psalms, Litany of the Saints, Office of the Dead, Suffrages of the Saints, and the Marian prayers Obsecro te and O intemerata. The manuscript passed through several nineteenth-century English collections before Auguste Lesouëf donated it to the Bibliothèque nationale de France in 1913, where it is held as Smith-Lesouëf 42; attribution to Catherine rests on collected provenance rather than a single documentary link.
Why it still matters
A Christian today can pray directly from its core texts—the Seven Penitential Psalms, the Little Office of the Virgin, and the Obsecro te are still in regular devotional use and are freely accessible through modern editions and digital facsimile at Gallica.
Kept alongside
Primer of Claude of France
Primaire de Claude de France
The Primer of Claude of France (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, MS 159) is the most precisely documented royal children's formation book to survive, commissioned by Anne of Brittany c. 1505 as the first book for her eldest daughter Claude, future queen consort of Francis I. Its fourteen pages open with the Latin alphabet, followed by the Pater Noster, Ave Maria, and Apostles' Creed, then graces for mealtimes, Mass devotions, and shortened canonical Hours, accompanied by 37 small miniatures and 2 full-page illustrations. The attribution to the Master of Antoine de Roche is confirmed by the Fitzwilliam Museum; the further identification of this master with Guido Mazzoni of Modena remains tentative, as no comparable French illuminations by Mazzoni survive. The manuscript was acquired by Richard Fitzwilliam in 1808 and bequeathed with his collection to the Fitzwilliam Museum in 1816.
Book of Hours of Eleonora di Toledo ('Eleanor of Toledo Hours')
Libro di ore ad usum Romanum — Eleonora di Toledo Hours
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.
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.