Readily recognizable, this leaf comes from the idiosyncratic, but utterly charming Book of Hours (now believed to have been a Prayerbook) that was perhaps made for John Knyvett of Winwick (c. 1322–1381), possibly in his memory or for a direct descendant. John Knyvett had close ties to the royal crown, having served as Lord Chief Justice, Lord Chancellor, and as one of the executors of the will of King Edward III.



The present miniature illustrates the moment from the life of Saint Margaret of Antioch when she emerges from the dragon that had swallowed her whole. According to Jacobus de Voragine’s Golden Legend, a collection of saints’ lives compiled between 1259 and 1266, Margaret, meaning pearl, was “shining white in her virginity.” Smitten with her, a pagan prefect wished to take her as his wife, but when brought before him she proclaimed that she was a Christian, which he abhorred. Refusing to give up her faith, Margaret was repeatedly tortured, first brutally on the rack, and then imprisoned. While in prison, there appeared to her “a hideous dragon…who drew her into his maw.” When Margaret made the sign of the cross, she emerged unscathed from the beast. The legend continues with further temptations to her Christianity, until finally, the prefect ordered her beheaded, but she pleaded to say one last prayer that “whenever a woman in labor should call upon her name, the child might be brought forth without harm.” In the miniature we see Margaret, brightly dressed in red, emerging from the body of the frightful beast, its jaws still grasping her garment, the red cross that helped her emerge appearing directly above her praying hands. It is thus that she became patron saint of childbirth and figures prominently in imagery especially for women in the Middle Ages.



A complete description is available upon request.