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• 1 media/Book_of_hours_14601470_p_30.jpg media/BoHR_68rPresentation.jpg media/BoHN18vVirginChild.jpg 2020-02-12T15:01:15-08:00 Books of Hours 17 Books of Hours image_header 2020-10-08T17:14:17-07:00

  About Books of Hours

  By Micaela Rodgers, M.Phil, M.L.I.S.
  
  Books of Hours are perhaps best-known as the "bestseller of the Middle Ages." These incredibly popular manuscripts were quasi-liturgical texts, intended for use of lay persons in their private devotion. These manuscripts were produced in the thousands for the royal, upper, and middle classes in the late Middle Ages. They are often decorated--often highly illuminated--and survive in far greater numbers today than any other genre of manuscript; in part because they were often treated as heirlooms, passed down through the generations of a family. It is also noteworthy that many (if not most) Books of Hours were produced for female owners, possibly because it was a popular gift to mark the occasion of a wedding. Books of Hours offered an opportunity for lavish decoration, and it has been observed by the scholar Roger Weick that the whole history of late medieval manuscript illumination in northern Europe can be studied through Books of Hours alone.
  
  Nearly every Book of Hours begins with a calendar, to inform the reader of various Saints Days throughout the year. The habit of writing each Saint's Day, which would sometimes involve a parish celebration, in red ink is the origination of the phrase, "red-letter day." The calendars can also be useful in helping a scholar determine where a Book was produced or was intended to be used. Many smaller cities or towns have their own commemorative Saints Days which are not celebrated outside the region.
  
  However, the majority of Books of Hours simply follow the Use of Rome, Paris, Sarum (England), Bruges, Reims, and Rouen. The Uses of Rome and Paris are most common, and are therefore the least helpful if a manuscript's provenance is in question. Then again, sometimes a Book of Hours can be a composite, with the various parts of the worship following different uses. Different owners may make additions to the calendar which provide interesting evidence. Additionally, the style of decoration and illumination can indicate where the manuscript was decorated. The more Books of Hours one studies, the better-trained one's eye becomes to the differences in illumination styles.
  
  After the calendar begins the liturgical texts. The central text of every Book of Hours is, of course, the Hours of the Virgin. This set of prayers is also known as the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Many printed versions of these devotional texts, especially those with English translations, can be most often found under the latter title. The Hours of the Virgin were intended to mimic the monastic Divine Office, the specific times during the day at which monks prayed. In monasteries, these hours are as follows: matins, 2 AM; lauds, 5 AM; prime, 6 AM; terce, 9 AM; sext, 12 PM; none, 3 PM; vespers, 4:30 PM; and compline, 6 PM. While for monks, these hours would be strictly observed, lay person's observance tended to be looser. Roger Weick points to one sixteenth-century devotional book which suggests a lay person say matins and prime after rising around 6 AM, completing all the hours up to terce before the main meal, and reciting the rest by suppertime.
  
  This section of the Books of Hours was often embellished with a sequence of illuminated pages, one at the beginning of each hour. These illuminations often include specific symbols which would aid a lay person in understanding the purpose of each Hour. Typically, this includes the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Annunciation to the Shepherds, the Adoration of the Magi, the Presentation to the Temple, the flight to Egypt, and the coronation of the Virgin. Not all Books of Hours feature complete sets of illuminated Hours of the Virgin.
  
  The other texts included in a Book of Hours can vary, but generally a Book of Hours will contain most or all of the following texts: a set of four Gospel lessons (or the Gospel sequences), the account of Christ's Passion from St. John's Gospel, two prayers in honor of the Virgin (obsecro te and O intemerata), the Hours of the Cross and the Hours of the Holy Spirit, the Seven Penitential Psalms, a litany, the Office of the Dead, and the Suffrages of the Saints. Several of these sections included prayers to be said at one or more of the Hours mentioned above. A Book of Hours may also have illuminations for each of these sections as well. Most often, the Gospels are introduced with an illumination for each Saint: St. John, St. Luke, St. Matthew, and St. Mark. Alternatively, an illumination of all four might mark the beginning of the Gospel sequence. The Hours of the Cross typically begin with the Crucifixion, often illuminated.
  
  The great variance in texts, the opulent illuminations, and the enduring popularity of Books of Hours make them a wonderful source for scholarship in a variety of fields. These include, but are not limited to, religious studies, art history, literature, material culture, digital humanities, DNA and chemical analysis, gender studies, progressive bibliography, paleography, and book history.
  
  
  Wieck, Roger S. Painted Prayers : the Book of Hours in Medieval and Renaissance Art . 1st ed. New York: George Braziller in association with the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1997.