Savoy Hours (Hours of Blanche of Burgundy)
Heures de Blanche de Bourgogne
Deus in adiutorium meum intende. Domine ad adiuvandum me festina.
Our renderingO God, come to my assistance; O Lord, make haste to help me.
What it is
Commissioned by Blanche of Burgundy (d. 1348), Countess of Savoy and granddaughter of Saint Louis of France, from the Parisian atelier of Jean Pucelle, this Book of Hours represents one of the finest products of the great Pucelle workshop. The surviving fragment—twenty-six folios containing 50 miniatures and 106 historiated initials—is a remnant of what was originally an extensive illustrated manuscript estimated to have contained approximately 255 miniatures. After Blanche's death the manuscript passed to Charles V of France and then to Charles VI, who gave it in 1409 to his uncle Jean, Duke of Berry. Donated in 1720 by Duke Victor-Amadeus II of Savoy to the University Library of Turin, the main body was destroyed in the fire of 26 January 1904; twenty-six surviving folios, discovered in 1910 at Portsmouth Cathedral Library, were acquired by Yale in 1969 (Beinecke MS 390) and are now digitised.
Why it still matters
The Hours of the Virgin and Penitential Psalms within this manuscript—accessible via Yale's digital Beinecke collections—remain an excellent framework for structured daily Marian and penitential prayer, especially during Lent.
Kept alongside
Hours of Charlotte of Savoy
Heures de Charlotte de Savoie (Horae ad usum Parisiensem)
This Parisian-use book of hours (Morgan Library MS M.1004) bears the added arms of King Louis XI of France and Charlotte of Savoy, his queen consort, confirming Valois royal ownership; Charlotte (d. 1483) was also the documented owner of Gerson's Montagne de Contemplation. The manuscript contains a full Paris-use devotional cycle: calendar, Gospel sequences, Obsecro te, O intemerata, Hours of the Virgin, Psalter of Jerome, Penitential Psalms, litany, Hours of the Cross, Hours of the Holy Spirit, Office of the Dead, Fifteen Joys of the Virgin, Seven Requests of Our Lord, and masses for major feasts. As a single royal commission subsequently kept within the immediate royal family, it never entered the commercial book trade. Its textual richness — combining the standard offices with the rarer Fifteen Joys and Seven Requests — makes it one of the more devotionally complete manuscripts in the Valois corpus.
Officium Beatae Mariae Virginis of Maria Antonietta of Savoy
Officium Beatae Mariae Virginis
An Italian manuscript Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary produced in the second half of the 15th century, attributed to the Flemish illuminator Willem Vrelant by multiple facsimile and art-historical sources. Acquired in 1764 by Carlo Emanuele III of Savoy from the ecclesiastic Sigismond Touttemps, it was subsequently used by his daughter-in-law Maria Antonietta (Maria Antonia Fernanda of Spain, wife of Victor Amadeus III), Queen of Sardinia-Piedmont. The manuscript features 13 full-page miniatures, 13 historiated initials, and 172 decorated initials, depicting scenes of the Annunciation and Lamentation. Now preserved in the Archivio di Stato di Torino—Museo dell'Archivio di Corte (inv. Imago JB.II.34), it remained in active Savoyard court use until the late 18th century.
Sforza Hours (Book of Hours of Bona of Savoy)
Ore di Bona Sforza
Commissioned around 1490 by Bona of Savoy (1449–c. 1503/1505), daughter of Duke Louis I of Savoy and widow of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, for her personal private devotion. Work ceased c. 1494 when Bona was excluded from Milanese power by Ludovico Sforza; the manuscript passed to Philibert II of Savoy and then, after his death in 1504, to his widow Margaret of Austria, who commissioned Gerard Horenbout to complete it c. 1517–1520. The manuscript contains the Hours of the Virgin, the Cross, and the Holy Spirit; the Seven Penitential Psalms; Office of the Dead; Gospel lessons; Passion narratives; and the Marian prayers Salve Regina, Obsecro Te, and O Intemerata. Now held at the British Library (Add. MS 34294), it is one of the supreme examples of Lombard and Flemish book illumination.