‘Thys moche more ys oure lady mary longe’: Takamiya MS 56 and the English Birth Girdle Tradition

Summary

Takamiya MS 56, a long, narrow vellum roll (1,730 × 80 mm), features Middle English and Latin prayers accompanied by four Passion miniatures. The roll’s date and location indicators suggest production between 1435 and 1450. One rubric mentions the Benedictine abbey of Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, but the eleven surviving books from Tewkesbury provide inadequate support for assuming production in the abbey’s scriptorium. Both sides of the roll contain texts, with miniatures limited to the face. An inscription on the dorse matches the roll’s length of 5 feet 81⁄8 inches to the height of the Virgin Mary. The maker fastened an extra piece of vellum (now attached with tiny modern nails) to guarantee authenticity: ‘Thys moche more ys oure lady mary [longe]’. The roll’s purpose seems clear: ‘And a woma(n) that ys quyck wythe chylde [girde] hir wythe thys mesure and she shall be safe fro(m) all man(er) of p(er)illis’. The dorse combination of the Virgin’s measure with childbirth protection offers conclusive evidence that Takamiya 56 is a birth girdle, a manuscript or printed roll containing texts and images that appropriated the presumed powers of metal or cloth girdle relics. Westminster Abbey and other English monasteries lent girdle relics of the Virgin and other saints to women from royal or noble families for protection in childbirth. Manuscript and printed birth girdles extended similar childbirth protection to women of all classes.

Takamiya 56 reveals significant iconographic similarities to eight English manuscript and printed rolls likely used as birth girdles, most dated to 1475 or later, and shares some texts with them. The majority of the texts on the face of Takamiya 56 emphasize the humanity of Christ and the primacy of his wounds in eucharistic devotions. The three vernacular prayers include ‘The nomber of the droppys of blodde’ (DIMEV 5425) and two unique elevation verses. The Takamiya versions of two Latin prayers, ‘Ave domina sancta maria’ and ‘O nuda humanitas’, may mark their earliest English appearances. Its exact replication of the Virgin’s measure, its theological and apotropaic emphasis upon the Virgin, and its production during the first half of the fifteenth century establish Takamiya 56 as an early example for the birth girdle tradition in England.