Hours of Elizabeth the Queen (BL Add MS 50001)
Horae ad usum Sarum (Hours of Elizabeth the Queen)
Domine labia mea aperies et os meum annuntiabit laudem tuam.
Our renderingO Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise.
What it is
Described as the most lavish Book of Hours produced in fifteenth-century England, this manuscript (British Library Add MS 50001) bears the autograph signature 'Elisabeth the quene' in the hand of Elizabeth of York, wife of Henry VII and mother of Henry VIII. It contains three sequences of Hours—of the Virgin, of the Cross, and of the Passion—alongside 423 painted narrative initials of exceptional quality. As the foundational devotional object of the woman who initiated the Tudor dynasty, it embodies the Catholic contemplative inheritance that shaped the dynasty before the Reformation remade English devotion. Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, later owned the volume.
Why it still matters
The Sarum Hours of the Virgin, penitential psalms, and Office of the Dead in this manuscript represent the pre-Reformation devotional core that informed every subsequent Tudor prayer book; the manuscript is fully digitized by the British Library and freely accessible.
Kept alongside
English Primer (The Prymer)
Prymer or Lay Folks' Prayer Book
The English Primer ('Prymer') was the standard lay devotional book in England from the 14th to 16th centuries, used by children and adults alike to learn both literacy and prayer. Beginning as a first reading book combining the alphabet, Pater Noster, Ave Maria, and Creed, it grew to include the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Seven Penitential Psalms, the Fifteen Gradual Psalms, the Litany of the Saints, and the Office of the Dead. Chaucer's reference in the Prioress's Tale (c. 1386) to a seven-year-old boy learning his 'primer' confirms its role in children's formation, and Eleanor of Castile purchased 'seven primers' in Cambridge in 1289 for royal household use. The royal culmination was Henry VIII's King's Primer (1545), principally compiled by Archbishop Cranmer and prescribed by royal proclamation as the only permitted primer in England.
Beaufort Hours (Beaufort/Beauchamp Hours)
Horae Beatae Mariae Virginis (Beaufort Hours)
The Beaufort Hours (British Library, Royal MS 2 A.XVIII) was made c. 1430–1443 and first owned by Margaret Beauchamp (c. 1410–1482), Duchess of Somerset, wife of John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset. It passed to her daughter Margaret Beaufort (1443–1509), mother of Henry VII, who used it as her primary private devotional book throughout her adult life. Margaret Beaufort's handwritten Latin prayer followed by the English inscription 'This prier foloweg is for the king' confirms its use as an intercessory instrument for the Tudor dynasty, and she used its calendar to record major dynastic events including Henry VII's birth. The manuscript contains Hours of the Virgin, Office of the Dead, Penitential Psalms, suffrages, and a litany.
Lady Margaret Beaufort's Book of Hours (MS N.24, St John's College Cambridge)
Horae ad usum Coutances
A French illuminated Book of Hours, use of Coutances (MS N.24), now in the Old Library of St John's College Cambridge, which Lady Margaret Beaufort owned and used for personal devotion throughout her life. Surviving portraits of Margaret depict her kneeling before this very manuscript open on a lectern. The illuminations are by the Fastolf Master, active c. 1415–1450, with gold-leaf borders interspersed with fruit and flowers; Margaret later inscribed the book to Lady Anne Shirley, and it is also known as the Shirley Book of Hours. As a surviving object of royal private devotion rather than a text for circulation, it bears witness to the daily prayer rhythms of the most powerful woman of early Tudor England.