Middle English Literature

Plate of Lovell Lectionary

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Anne of Burgundy, duchess of Bedford,
before St. Anne
British Library MS Additional 18850, fol. 257v (Bedford Hours)
Language: Latin and French
Manuscript date: ca. 1423
Medieval illuminated manuscripts and paintings frequently include portraits
of secular and religious donors (see also “Royal Benefactors,” p. 154). The
sumptuous full-page illumination from the Bedford Hours depicts Anne
of Burgundy (1403–32) kneeling over a book before her patron, St. Anne,
the mother of the Virgin Mary (behind St. Anne), and the infant Jesus.
The man on the right of the duchess may be Joseph; on the left side are
St. Anne’s husbands; at bottom are St. Anne’s other daughters and their
husbands separated by the armorial of the duke and duchess. Anne of
Burgundy’s motto, “Jen suis contente,” repeats throughout the background.
The Bedford Hours was probably commissioned by both Anne and John
of Lancaster (1389–1435), duke of Bedford, possibly to celebrate their
marriage in 1423. The duchess and duke, and their families, owned several
other major illuminated manuscripts, including the analogously sumptuous
Bedford Hours and Psalter (see also “Books,” p. 235). The principal
artist, the Master of the Duke of Bedford, completed the book in his Paris
workshop before 1430 when the duchess presented it to their nephew,
the 9-year-old Henry VI, who had just been crowned king. The Hours
includes on the preceding page an illumination showing John, duke of
Bedford, with St. George, and the volume as a whole contains many other
large miniatures, historiated initials, and roundels. The traditional ideas that
St. Anne taught Mary to read and that the Virgin was reading at the time of
the Annunciation, common images in late medieval art, were important
archetypes for women’s literacy.
Primary documents and further reading
Backhouse, J. (1990) Medieval Manuscripts in the British Library: The Bedford Hours.
New York: New Amsterdam.
Meale, C. M. (ed.) (1993) Women and Literature in Britain, 1150–1500. Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press.
Scott, K. L. (1996) “Introduction: The Production of Illustrated Books in the
Fifteenth Century in England.” In Later Gothic Manuscripts, 1390–1490, 2 vols.
London: Harvey Miller.

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Stratford, J. (1993) The Bedford Inventories: The Worldly Goods of John, Duke of
Bedford, Regent of France (1389–1435). London: Society of Antiquaries of
London.
Sutton, A. F. and L. Visser-Fuchs (1997) Richard III’s Books: Ideals and Reality in
the Life and Library of a Medieval Prince. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton.
Williams, E. C. (1963) My Lord of Bedford, 1389–1435. London: Longmans, Green.

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