Book of Hours miniatures (around 1525)

On the wall next to and above the display case we see the rules of the colfspel from the Tyrocinium and various miniatures from books of hours with images of golfers. One of them, enlarged on a wall of the central display case, is a miniature from a breviary (that is a book of prayers or hours), attributed to Simon Bening from Bruges, around 1520 or 1530. Simon Bening (1483-1561) is considered to belong to the Flemish Renaissance.

The edge illustration at the bottom left of the miniature is one of the few images of the medieval colfspel. On display are three colvers, each with its own colfstok and ball, playing to a dimple. Centuries before the creation of the game of golf, people already knew what ‘putting’ was.