Book of Hours and Prayers

The expansion of the Burgundian realm was not always achieved without obstacles. This is demonstrated by Philip the Good’s intervention in the Hook and Cod wars, a dispute in the County of Holland that dragged on for many years. It put Philip in a position of conflict with the illustrious and decisive Jacqueline, (1401-1436), Countess of Holland and Zeeland, Countess of Hainaut and Duchess of Bavaria. In the end she was forced to capitulate and had to yield her domains to the Burgundians.

This manuscript is said to have been made for no less a figure than this Jacqueline. Researchers have inferred this from the profuse decorations, the abundant use of gold leaf and arguments based on the content of the work. It is a book of prayers and hours encased in an 18th-century binding. The son of the knight Thomas de Schietere de Lophem (1769-1824) donated it to the Bruges library as part of a bequest in 1824.