Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts

Breviary
Belgium, Bruges, ca. 1500
MS M.52 fol. 2v

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Historiated border containing cama³aeu figures, medallions, and miniature in lower border frames calendar.
Top border, in cama³aeu:
Scene, Sports and Games: Hoop-rolling, and Animal-training -- Figures rolling hoops. Dog jumps through hoop held by man. Another man walks through hoop held by two men.
Left border, decorated with cama³aeu figures, four medallions, and panel:
1) Christ: Presentation -- Joseph the Carpenter, holding dove, and Prophetess Anna, holding candle, stand behind Virgin Mary, rayed nimbus, supporting Christ Child, nimbed, nude, standing on draped altar. Simeon, wearing vestments, extends draped hands towards Him. A fifth figure looks on.
Feast of the Purification of the Virgin celebrated February 2.
Medallion surrounded by four figures playing with hoops and sticks.
2) Amandus of Maestricht, wearing bishop's miter and vestments, holds model of church in right hand and crozier in left hand. He tramples serpent. Beside him, Vedastus of Arras, wearing bishop's miter and vestments, holds cross-staff in right hand and book in left hand. Both figures stand within landscape.
Feast days celebrated February 6.
Below, in cama³aeu, four men, led by fifth man, carry beggar, nude, on stretcher. Sixth beggar, supporting himself with crutch, crouches underneath stretcher.
3) Apostle Peter, wearing triple-crowned tiara and papal vestments, hands joined, is seated in throne surrounded by clergy, including cardinal, holding cross, and bishops.
Feast celebrated February 22.
Below, in cama³aeu, boar and monkey face each other.
4) Apostle Matthias, holding halberd in left hand, stands before patterned cloth. In background, crowd drags Matthias by ropes (Apostle, Matthias: Martyrdom).
Feast celebrated February 24.
Below, in cama³aeu, two cocks face each other.
5) Zodiac Sign: Pisces -- Two fishes in water. Below, PISCES inscribed in cama³aeu.
Lower border:
Month, Occupation: February -- Woman carries poles on back toward four laborers tending vines in vineyard in which is watchtower. First laborer carries poles on his back. Second laborer trims vine with knife. Third laborer chops vine with pickaxe. Fourth laborer ties vines to pole. To left, in background, man plows field with plow pulled by oxen.
Scene within landscape with buildings and river or lake.