Lehigh Codex 19 Book of Hours, Use of Rome

Description This Book of Hours of the Use of Rome appears to have been produced in Flanders for a member of the Ayala family in Spain, as it contains a coat of arms identifiable with this Spanish family (fol. 3r: Argent, two wolves passant sable in pale, a bordure gules charged with eight saltires or), as well as Spanish rubrics for a series of fifteen unusual prayers that appear to be associated with Giles of Rome (fols. 109r-188v, beginning lacking), and an inquisition verification inscription on fol. 181v, dated to 1573. The manuscript does not have a calendar; it begins with the Hours of the Virgin followed by the Hours of the Virgin for Advent. These sections are followed by the Mass of the Virgin and the Obsecro te and O intemerata prayers. After several blank folios, the manuscript continues with a series of fifteen prayers that can be associated with Giles of Rome, the beginning of which is lacking. The penultimate section consists of the Office of the Dead. Finally, the book ends with a prayer of Saint Augustine, "O Dulcissime domine iesu christe." The book lacks any significant illumination apart from initials at each of the major sections and a strewn-flower border with coat-of-arms on fol. 3r.