{"id":8569,"date":"2026-01-26T23:42:27","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T23:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sjvdenver.edu\/library\/?page_id=8569"},"modified":"2026-01-26T23:42:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T23:42:27","slug":"fascimile-petites-prieres-of-renee-de-france","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sjvdenver.edu\/library\/fascimile-petites-prieres-of-renee-de-france\/","title":{"rendered":"Petites Pri\u00e8res of Ren\u00e9e de France"},"content":{"rendered":"

Petites Pri\u00e8res of Ren\u00e9e de France<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Stolen from Montecassino Abbey in 1994 and still unrecovered today: the beautiful prayer booklet of Ren\u00e9e de France, lovingly embellished with gold-decorated miniatures and floral borders on every page.<\/p>\n

The enchanting\u00a0Petites Pri\u00e8res of Ren\u00e9e de France<\/em>\u00a0was created around 1517 for the younger sister of the French queen Claude de France (1499\u20131524) by the renowned illuminator named after the bibliophile queen, the Master of Claude de France. It is undoubtedly one of the most magnificent prayer books of the French Renaissance and is particularly impressive for its outstanding book decoration. Astonishingly naturalistic depictions of flowers of all kinds transform the pages of the work into a true sea of flowers. The ornate bouquets often look as if real flowers were lying on the parchment pages of the manuscript. They frame both text and image pages, in whose gold-decorated, artistic miniatures the owner of the codex, Ren\u00e9e de France (1510\u20131574), is depicted no less than five times. After the manuscript miraculously survived religious wars, book burnings, and other turmoil over the centuries, it was stolen in 1994 during an exhibition at the Abbey of Montecassino and remains missing to this day.<\/p>\n

One of France\u2019s most beautiful illuminated manuscripts originated in Paris in 1517. It is the so-called\u00a0Petites Pri\u00e8res of Ren\u00e9e de France<\/em>. The stunningly beautiful small book was made\u00a0for the younger sister of the French Queen Claude de France<\/strong>. It is one of the most valuable Renaissance books of hours and besots every beholder with its lavish book adornment. The work contains\u00a012 full-page miniatures, richly gilded miniatures<\/strong>. Five of these miniature depict Ren\u00e9e, the owner of the work, herself. All the pages of text are adorned with the\u00a0most finely colored and gilded floral embellishments<\/strong>.\u00a0112 painted and gilded initials<\/strong>\u00a0parse the text of the prayer book.<\/p>\n

The Sister of the Queen<\/h3>\n

Ren\u00e9e de France was the youngest daughter of King Louis XII and his wife, Anne de Bretagne. While her older sister Claude became Queen of France through her marriage with Francois I, Ren\u00e9e became the\u00a0Duchess of Ferrara<\/strong>\u00a0as a result of her 1534\u00a0wedding with Ercole II d\u2019Este<\/strong>, the son of Lucretia Borgia. She took her\u00a0Petites Pri\u00e8res<\/em>\u00a0with her to the court of Ferrara, where it is supposed to have served her religious education. During the religious wars of the 16th century, Ren\u00e9e saved the lives of several Calvinists, and the\u00a0court of Ferrara became a refuge for protestant scholars<\/strong>, including Cl\u00e9mont Marot and John Calvin. Her sympathy with Protestantism lead to a break with her husband, who had conducted the inquisition in Ferrara as part of the Counter-Reformation since 1545. Only a\u00a0very few manuscripts<\/strong>, which were considered to be Catholic, were\u00a0saved<\/strong>. Among these was the\u00a0enchanting\u00a0Petites Pri\u00e8res<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The Mysterious History of the Codex<\/h3>\n

The Master of Claude de France was most likely<\/strong>\u00a0responsible for the design of the precious prayer book. This court artist already completed some codices for the young Queen Claude that are famous worldwide to this day. Due to the similarities between the miniatures of the\u00a0Petites Pri\u00e8res<\/em>\u00a0and those of the\u00a0Primer of Claude de France<\/em>, it is assumed that both came from the same artist. As the book\u2019s owner Ren\u00e9e left Ferrara and returned to France in 1560 after the death of her husband,\u00a0she had to leave the prayer book in Italy for reasons that are unclear to this day<\/strong>. It remained in safe-keeping in the\u00a0Biblioteca Estense<\/strong>\u00a0until the first years of the 18th century. At that time the manuscript disappeared in a secretive and unclarified manner, only to\u00a0reappear in 1780 under mysterious circumstances<\/strong>. It found itself in the Biblioteca d\u2019Este until 1994. In this year, the work was presented in an exhibition in the Abbey of Montecassino, where it fell victim to\u00a0a still unexplained art theft<\/strong>. The\u00a0original of the\u00a0Petites Pri\u00e8res of Ren\u00e9e de France<\/em>\u00a0remains missing<\/strong>\u00a0to this day.<\/p>\n

Codicology<\/h3>\n

Alternative Titles
\n<\/strong>Book of Hours of Ren\u00e9e de France
\nLibro d’Ore di Renata di Francia
\nBlumengebetbuch der Ren\u00e9e de France
\nLibro di Preghiere di Renata di Francia<\/p>\n

Type<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuscript on parchment<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Size \/ Format
\n<\/strong>52 pages \/ 12.2 \u00d7 8.8 cm<\/p>\n

Origin
\n<\/strong>France<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Date
\n<\/strong>Ca. 1517<\/p>\n

Epochs
\n<\/strong>Late Middle Ages Onwards<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Style
\n<\/strong>Renaissance<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Genre
\n<\/strong>Private Devotion Books<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Language
\n<\/strong>Latin<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Script
\n<\/strong>Humanistic minuscule<\/p>\n

Illustrations
\n<\/strong>12 miniatures, some of which are full-page, and 112 champie initials, as well as ornate borders and gold decorations on all pages<\/p>\n

Content
\n<\/strong>Prayers for private devotion<\/p>\n

Patron
\n<\/strong>Ren\u00e9e de France (1510\u201374)<\/p>\n

Artist \/ School
\n<\/strong>Master of Claude de France<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Petites Pri\u00e8res of Ren\u00e9e de France Stolen from Montecassino Abbey in 1994 and still unrecovered today: the beautiful prayer booklet of Ren\u00e9e de France, lovingly embellished with gold-decorated miniatures and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8569","page","type-page","status-publish"],"yoast_head":"\nPetites Pri\u00e8res of Ren\u00e9e de France | Cardinal Stafford Library<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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