Sir Robert Knolles and the Patronage of the Carmelite Missal (Add. MSS.29704-5, 44892): Assessing the Visual Evidence

Abstract

This article reviews the question of who patronized the London 'reconstructed' Carmelite Missal (Add. MSS. 29704-5, 44892). This has been raised before, and Sir Robert Knolles (d. 1407), a major patron of London Whitefriars, suggested. However, his connection to the Missal has not been examined in any detail. Through consideration of the iconography of the Missal's patron images, as well as the wider scheme of the Missal, relationships are identified between the Missal and architectural sites patronized by Sir Robert and his wife Constance. In particular, their devotions find particular resonance in the illuminations of the manuscript, and new understandings of certain images in the Missal are put forth to support Sir Robert’s patronage of the manuscript.