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Most of the illustrations and borders on our
library webpages have been scanned from one of our late mediaeval
illuminated manuscripts - an office book
(but not quite a Book of Hours, because it lacks the Hours of Our Lady)
that dates from around AD1490 and comes from northern Europe.
The manuscript is not specially rich, and there are many similar items in
collections around Europe, but this one appears to have been commissioned
by someone who in some sense shared in the Franciscan charism. The illumination is
relatively unusual in that the Virgin Mary is very rarely shown as a nursing mother -
but Franciscan manuscripts seem to be more likely than many other traditions to use
this theme to emphasize the humanity of the Son of God.
This illumination of a saint venerating the Virgin and Child may depict Saint Francis himself.
So why does the saint apparently wear a very pale habit, when we see so
many pictures of friars minor in brown, dark grey or black?
Well, the earliest Franciscans did not identify themselves by wearing a particular
colour. Instead, their habits were made out of whatever cheap cloth was available in the
region where they found themselves. This would often have been unbleached and
undyed and, therefore, a dirty grey colour, giving rise to the popular
designation of Franciscans as Greyfriars. At the time and in the place that this manuscript was
produced, the cheapest stuff would very likely have been quite pale.
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