Circa 1500 Dutch Devotions to St. Anne

[Devotions to St. Anne in Dutch].
[The Netherlands, ca. 1500].
Illuminated manuscript on paper and vellum. (BRMS 32)

Consisting entirely of Dutch prayers dedicated to St. Anne, the text of this volume begins with the words (in translation) “Here begins a beautiful, graceful garland of holy St. Anne, mother of the mother of our dear Lord, Jesus Christ.”  Primarily written on paper, the manuscript also includes a vellum leaf illustrated with a damaged illumination of the Virgin and Child with St. Anne. Promoted mainly by the Franciscan Order, devotion to St. Anne was especially widespread during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.