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The "De Brailes Hours," The Earliest Surviving English Book of Hours

Circa 1240
De Brailles Hours, named after the Oxford illuminator William de Brailles, who left two signatures in the manuscript. British Library Add MS 49999.

De Brailles Hours, named after the Oxford illuminator William de Brailles, who left two signatures in the manuscript. British Library Add MS 49999.

The "De Brailes Hours" (British Library MS Add. 49999), the earliest surviving separate English book of hours, was probably created about 1240 for an unknown laywoman whose generic "portrait" is shown four times in the manuscript. It has been suggested she was from North Hinksey near Oxford, and possibly called Suzanna. 

The illuminator of the manuscript, William de Brailes, is one of only two English artists of the 13th century whose name is associated with surviving works, and the only 13th-century English non-monastic illuminator known to have signed his work. In this manuscript he signed his name twice. It is also possible that de Brailes may have been a scribe.

The surname de Brailes means "from Brailes", a town in Warwickshire, about 30 miles north of Oxford. Documentary sources reveal that de Brailes lived and worked in Oxford, with his wife Celena, in a bookmaking community based around the present site of the chapel of All Souls College. The "De Brailes Hours" includes two self-portraits. The initial 'C' shows a tonsured figure praying, with the hand of God above. To the left the red inscription reads "W de brail q. me depeint"  (W. de Brailes, who painted me").

In July 2014 a digital facsimile of the De Brailes Hours was available from the British Library at this link.

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