Northwestern France (Loire valley?), 1470-1480

The inclusion in the calendar of St. Launomarus (18 January) helps to localize this Book of Hours to Northwestern France or perhaps even the Loire valley. St. Launomarus was the abbot of Corbion, a small monastery near Chartres. After his death in the late sixth century, he was buried in Blois. His cult is fairly localized within the Chartres diocese and the Loire valley, and the inclusion of his feastday in the calendar, combined with the fact that the liturgy in the manuscript follows the usage of Bourges, also in the Loire valley, makes it fairly certain that the manuscript was produced in that region. This miniature precedes the Office of the Dead. Job, naked and unshaven, sits knee-deep on a dung heap as a friend attempts to console him in his misfortune.

Fig. 1: Parchment, 87 folios, 163 x 100 (97 x 58) mm, 1 column, 21 lines, in Latin, written in Gothic cursive script.