The ''De Grey Hours'' (NLW MS 15537C) is a

book of hours The book of hours is a Christian devotional book used to pray the canonical hours. The use of a book of hours was especially popular in the Middle Ages and as a result, they are the most common type of surviving medieval illuminated manuscrip ...

that was produced in Flanders, where the artist tailored the manuscript for the English market by including a miniature of

St Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...

and naming appropriate festivals in the Calendar. There are sixty-seven illustrations in the ''De Grey Hours'', including illuminated miniatures and historiated initials. The manuscript dates from around 1400. Several pieces of evidence are contained within the manuscript that connect it with the Grey family of Blisworth, Northamptonshire: the death of Elizabeth Grey, wife of Sir John, is referred to in an inscription, made during the early sixteenth century, in the Calendar for March; and the family arms inserted in the margins.

Henry Yates Thompson Henry Yates Thompson (15 December 1838 – 8 July 1928) was a British newspaper proprietor and collector of illuminated manuscripts. Life and career Yates Thompson was the eldest of five sons born to Samuel Henry Thompson, a banker from a lead ...

owned the manuscript from 1895 until it was auctioned by Sotheby's in 1920. The ''De Grey Hours'' was purchased by Gwendoline Davies, and donated to the

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales ( cy, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru), Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million boo ...

by her sister

Margaret Davies Margaret Sidney Davies (14 December 1884 – 13 March 1963), was a Welsh art collector and patron of the arts. With her sister Gwendoline, she bequeathed a total of 260 works, particularly strong in Impressionist and 20th-century art, which form ...

in 1951. The manuscript is NLW MS 15537C in the National Library's General Manuscript Collection. File:De Grey Hours cover.png, Manuscript Binding File:De Grey Hours f.21.r.png, f.21.r File:De Grey Hours f.57.r St. Nicholas.png, f.57.r St. Nicholas File:De Grey Hours f.71.r Adoration of the Magi.png, f.71.r Adoration of the Magi File:De Grey Hours f.53.r The Holy Spirit.png, f.53.r The Holy Spirit

References

15th-century illuminated manuscripts Illuminated books of hours National Library of Wales collections {{Manuscript-stub