Late medieval Books of Hours

MS leaf; vellum; 142 x 104 mm

                                                                 [recto]   

The beginning of the text of 'O Intemerata' (O immaculate Virgin), a prayer of intercession to the Virgin, which is one of the most popular optional prayers in the Book of Hours, along with 'Obsecro te'. Written in rounded Gothic script.

In the flower and leaf border, there is a figure of a devil with a pitchfork.

For the Latin text of 'O Intemerata', see André Wilmart, Auteurs spirituals et texts dévots du moyen âge latin (Paris, 1932), pp.488-90.