Leaf from an Antiphonary: Initial H with the Nativity (recto) and Text (verso)

The border ornament and initial design of this leaf have stylistic affinities with South German illumination of the late 1400s and particularly with the Augsburg workshops. It survives along with two known sister leaves with textual and illustrative references to Saint Clare. This saint was widely venerated during the Middle Ages and is closely associated with Saint Francis who installed her with a group of nuns in a community at Assisi. Francis prescribed an austere way of life for the nuns who afterward became known as the Poor Clares. Saint Clare died in 1253 and was canonized in 1255. The prominent references to Clare in the parent codex to which this leaf belongs implies that it was made for a religious community of that order, perhaps in Augsburg or elsewhere in South Germany. The text reads: <em>Hodie nobis celorum rex</em> (On this day the king of heaven). This is the first matins response for Christmas Day.