Penitence, Motherhood and Passion Devotion: Contextualising Anne of Brittany's Prayer Book, Chicago, Newberry Library, MS 83

Anne of Brittany’s prayer book, conserved in the Newberry Library in Chicago, has been somewhat neglected in discussions of Anne’s manuscripts. This may be because it has been eclipsed by those other, far more luxurious and illustrated manuscripts owned by Anne, such as the Grandes Heures. However, the devotional themes of this small book, which dates from Anne’s second marriage, to Louis XII, reveal many of Anne’s interests as duchess of Brittany and queen of France. In particular the inclusion of a series of indulgences, an emphasis on St Anne, St Margaret, and St Louis, and a prayer said for the successful delivery of Clothilde, suggest that the prayer book was designed to articulate Anne’s place in the history of French monarchs, as well as her need to provide an heir for both the duchy of Brittany and the kingdom of France. This article seeks to place the little-known Newberry manuscript and its unusual contents in the context of what we already know of Anne’s devotional interests and the events of her life.
Whereas previous scholarship on the manuscript, by Kamerick (Manuscripta, 1995) and L’Estrange (Holy Motherhood, 2008), has focused on the indulgences and childbearing aspects respectively, this article will bring these themes together, suggesting how the manuscript functioned as a whole, articulating a series of Breton and Capetian-Valois devotional legacies that were available to Anne as duchess and queen. Particular attention will be paid to the manuscript’s three miniatures, the illumination of David that opens the manuscript and the Penitential Psalms, and the two illuminations of Christ’s Passion.