Primer of Claude of France
Primer of Claude of France was the first book of the little princess, and for many centuries was this first book, a prayer book. In England this term was often used for a complete book of hours, but a genuine primer was shortened and simplified texts that were suitable for an elementary reading book. Primer of Claude, eldest daughter of Louis XII. of France and Anne of Brittany, is a delightful example.
Description
The fibula was born in France in 1505, with the dimensions 26x17, 5 cm. 14 pages contain two full-page miniatures and 37 smaller miniatures in Borders. It is located in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, m. 159
Miniatures
The text begins with the alphabet and then contains the Creed, the Our Father, table prayers, the story of creation, Adam and Eve, the Ave Maria, Birth and Adoration of the Magi and other basic religious texts. About these texts are mottoes, and at the beginning and end of which are portraits of the owner.
On the first page the little princess stand before their patron saint, St.. Claude, bishop of Besançon, on. It is shown kneeling in front of him, her hands resting on a closed book lying on a prie-dieu, which is covered with a cloth full of lilies coat of arms and letters A, the initial of her mother and the St.. Anna, mother of the Virgin Mary.
These stands behind her, put her arms around both Claude as the young Maria ( the heavenly people are recognized by their halo ).
On the last thumbnail the roles are reversed. Here sits the hl. Anna ago Claude, an open book on her lap, through which it guides the Virgin Mary, who turns to the side, as if to involve Claude. The hl. Bishop Claude presented his protégé St. Anna and Mary. The ceiling of the Betstuhls has time on the initial C ( Claude ) instead of A. Unlike the first miniature the hands of the princess are now on an open book. On the bow on her is in blue and red words "Mother of God, remember me ." The meaning is clear, the little princess has been learning to read.
Claude of France
Born in October 1498 Claude was the older of the two daughters of Anne of Brittany and her second husband, Louis XII. Her mother thought a lot about the future of their only surviving child after that was Claude for several years, and hoped to arrange a Habsburg connection for them. Negotiating a marriage with Maximilian's grandson Claude, the Archduke Charles ( later Emperor Charles V ) began when both children were still almost in the cradle. But Louis XII. was after recovering from a serious illness in 1505 that his daughter must marry the next heir to the French throne, her cousin, Francis of Angoulême and the two children became engaged officially in the following year. Claude's wedding took place in May 1514, several months after the death of her mother when she was fourteen years old. She was thus Duchess of Brittany, after the death of his father a year later Queen of France. She gave birth to seven children, one of which as Henry II, who succeeded. She died in 1524 at the age of twenty-five years, not yet.
Their memory is preserved in the name of " la reine -claude ", which was that green plum given, which had been introduced at this time from the east in France and first grown for them.
This book of hours a child was replaced by another of the highest beauty, when Claude was Queen of France.