The 15th-century prayer roll of Queen Margaret of Anjou, owned by Jesus College, is the latest college manuscript to become part of the Digital Bodleian collection.
The prayer roll, which Margaret would have used primarily for personal devotion, dates from between 1445 and 1453 and is attributed to William Abell – a professional illuminator who created such works for wealthy 15th century patrons. A beautiful, fragile and rare object (less than twenty-five examples are known to exist), it shows the Queen at prayer, kneeling at her prie-dieu. When unfurled to its full length, the roll is about 160 cm long and comprises two pieces of overlapping parchment.
Prayers to the Virgin Mary arranged in a wheel or ‘rota’, above a depiction of Queen Margaret of Anjou kneeling at prayer, followed by the text of three successive prayers to Mary.
Margaret was the wife of King Henry VI and their marriage was a pivotal factor in the ending of the Hundred Years War. In 1448 she founded Queens’ College Cambridge and, with Henry suffering from ill-health, played a leading role for the Lancastrian cause in the War of the Roses.
It is thought that the prayer roll, which featured in the British Library’s Royal Manuscripts exhibition in 2011–12, came in to the College’s possession in the late 17th century. Alumnus Christopher Muttukumaru (Law, 1970), who has generously sponsored the cost of uploading the images to Digital Bodleian, wrote about the prayer roll’s journey to Jesus in a 2017 article:
“Visitors to the Weston Building of the Bodleian will have noted the giant 16th century tapestry maps of parts of England — the Sheldon Tapestries. They were commissioned for Ralph Sheldon (1537–1613). His great grandson was also a Ralph Sheldon (1623–1684). From the time of his wife’s death in 1663, the younger Sheldon spared no expense in enriching the collection in his library at Weston in Warwickshire. Between 1674 and 1681, Sheldon engaged Anthony Wood to catalogue the collection. Wood’s two catalogues provide the clue to the migration of the Sheldon collection.
According to an article in 1939 in the Bodleian Library Record, Sheldon bequeathed most of the collection to the College of Arms. But the article records that Wood had been an “unworthy trustee, for several Vincent-Sheldon MSS, now in the Bodleian, were retained by him for his own use, and were later sold by him to the Bodleian or came to that library with Wood’s own collection”. It later transpired that “over twenty manuscripts destined for the College of Arms, found their way, through Wood, to Jesus College Library, for Wood’s disgust at the lack of a princely fee for his work at Weston …” Jesus College Library contains, besides the eight printed books which belonged to Wood, some forty manuscripts which bear his signature, ABosco, or his initials.
On the back of the prayer roll, Wood has inscribed the following: “the picture within drawne was made for Margaret of Anjou, wife of Hen 6 of England, as it appears by the arms joyning to it//1681 ABosco”.
The prayer roll can be viewed in full on Digital Bodleian here.