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Books of hours (Latin:horae) are Christianprayer books, which were used to pray thecanonical hours.[2] The use of a book of hours was especially popular in theMiddle Ages, and as a result, they are the most common type of surviving medievalilluminated manuscript. Like every manuscript, each manuscript book of hours is unique in one way or another, but most contain a similar collection of texts,prayers andpsalms, often with appropriate decorations, forChristian devotion. Illumination or decoration is minimal in many examples, often restricted to decorated capital letters at the start of psalms and other prayers, but books made for wealthy patrons may be extremely lavish, with full-pageminiatures. These illustrations would combine picturesque scenes of country life with sacred images.[3]: 46
Books of hours were usually written in Latin (they were largely known by the namehorae until "book of hours" was relatively recently applied to them), although there are many entirely or partially written invernacular European languages, especially Dutch. The closely relatedprimer is occasionally considered synonymous with books of hours – a medievalhorae was referred to as aprimer inMiddle English[4] – but their contents and purposes could deviate significantly from the simple recitation of the canonical hours. Tens of thousands of books of hours have survived to the present day, inlibraries and private collections throughout the world.
The typical book of hours is an abbreviated form of thebreviary, which contains theDivine Office recited inmonasteries. It was developed forlay people who wished to incorporate elements ofmonasticism into their devotional life. Reciting the hours typically centered upon the reading of a number ofpsalms and other prayers.
A typical book of hours contains theCalendar ofChurch feasts, extracts from theFour Gospels, the Mass readings for major feasts, theLittle Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the fifteenPsalms of Degrees, the sevenPenitential Psalms, aLitany of Saints, anOffice for the Dead and theHours of the Cross.[5] Most 15th-century books of hours have these basic contents. The Marian prayersObsecro te ("I beseech thee") andO Intemerata ("O undefiled one") were frequently added, as were devotions for use atMass, and meditations on thePassion ofChrist, among other optional texts. Such books of hours continue to be used by many Christians today, such as the Catholic “Key of Heaven” prayer books, theAgpeya of Coptic Christianity orThe Brotherhood Prayer Book of Lutheranism.[6]
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The book of hours has its ultimate origin in thePsalter, which monks and nuns were required to recite. By the 12th century this had developed into thebreviary, with weekly cycles of psalms, prayers,hymns, antiphons, and readings which changed with the liturgical season.[8] Eventually a selection of texts was produced in much shorter volumes and came to be called a book of hours.[9] During the latter part of the thirteenth century the Book of Hours became popular as a personal prayer book for men and women who led secular lives. It consisted of a selection of prayers, psalms, hymns and lessons based on the liturgy of the clergy. Each book was unique in its content though all included the Hours of the Virgin Mary, devotions to be made during the eightcanonical hours of the day, the reasoning behind the name 'Book of Hours'.[10]
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Many books of hours were made for women. There is some evidence that they were sometimes given as a wedding present from a husband to his bride.[9] Frequently they were passed down through the family, as recorded in wills.[9] Until about the 15th century paper was rare and most books of hours consisted ofparchment sheets made from animal skins.
Although the most heavily illuminated books of hours were enormously expensive, a small book with little or no illumination was affordable much more widely,[7] and increasingly so during the 15th century. Theearliest surviving English example was apparently written for a laywoman living in or nearOxford in about 1240. It is smaller than a modern paperback but heavily illuminated with major initials, but no full-page miniatures. By the 15th century, there are also examples of servants owning their own Books of Hours. In a court case from 1500, a pauper woman is accused of stealing a domestic servant's prayerbook.[citation needed]
Very rarely the books included prayers specifically composed for their owners, but more often the texts are adapted to their tastes or gender, including the inclusion of their names in prayers. Some include images depicting their owners, and some theircoats of arms. These, together with the choice of saints commemorated in the calendar and suffrages, are the main clues for the identity of the first owner.Eamon Duffy explains how these books reflected the person who commissioned them. He claims that the "personal character of these books was often signaled by the inclusion of prayers specially composed or adapted for their owners." Furthermore, he states that "as many as half the surviving manuscript Books of Hours have annotations, marginalia or additions of some sort. Such additions might amount to no more than the insertion of some regional or personal patron saint in the standardized calendar, but they often include devotional material added by the owner. Owners could write in specific dates important to them, notes on the months where things happened that they wished to remember, and even the images found within these books would be personalized to the owners—such as localized saints and local festivities.[8]
By at least the 15th century, the Netherlands and Paris workshops were producing books of hours for stock or distribution, rather than waiting for individual commissions. These were sometimes with spaces left for the addition of personalized elements such as local feasts or heraldry.
The style and layout for traditional books of hours became increasingly standardized around the middle of the thirteenth century. The new style can be seen in the books produced by the Oxford illuminatorWilliam de Brailes who ran a commercial workshop (he was inminor orders). His books included various aspects of the Church'sbreviary and other liturgical aspects for use by the laity. "He incorporated a perpetual calendar, Gospels, prayers to the Virgin Mary, the Stations of the Cross, prayers to the Holy Spirit, Penitential psalms, litanies, prayers for the dead, and suffrages to the Saints. The book's goal was to help his devout patroness to structure her daily spiritual life in accordance with the eight canonical hours, Matins to Compline, observed by all devout members of the Church. The text, augmented by rubrication, gilding, miniatures, and beautiful illuminations, sought to inspire meditation on the mysteries of faith, the sacrifice made by Christ for man, and the horrors of hell, and to especially highlight devotion to the Virgin Mary whose popularity was at a zenith during the 13th century."[11] This arrangement was maintained over the years as many aristocrats commissioned the production of their own books.
By the end of the 15th century, the advent ofprinting made books more affordable and much of the emerging middle-class could afford to buy a printed book of hours, and new manuscripts were only commissioned by the very wealthy. TheKitab salat al-sawai (1514), widely considered the first book in Arabic printed usingmoveable type, is a book of hours intended for Arabic-speaking Christians and presumably commissioned byPope Julius II.[12]
As many books of hours are richly illuminated, they form an important record of life in the 15th and 16th centuries as well as theiconography of medieval Christianity. Some of them were also decorated with jewelled covers, portraits, andheraldic emblems. Some were bound asgirdle books for easy carrying, though few of these or other medieval bindings have survived. Luxury books, like theTalbot Hours ofJohn Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, may include a portrait of the owner, and in this case his wife, kneeling in adoration of the Virgin and Child as a form ofdonor portrait. In expensive books, miniature cycles showed theLife of the Virgin or thePassion of Christ in eight scenes decorating the eightHours of the Virgin, and theLabours of the Months and signs of the zodiac decorating the calendar. Secular scenes of calendar cycles include many of the best known images from books of hours, and played an important role in the early history oflandscape painting.
From the 14th century decorated borders round the edges of at least important pages were common in heavily illuminated books, including books of hours. At the beginning of the 15th century these were still usually based on foliage designs, and painted on a plain background, but by the second half of the century coloured or patterned backgrounds with images of all sorts of objects, were used in luxury books.
Second-hand books of hours were often modified for new owners, even among royalty. After defeatingRichard III,Henry VII gave Richard's book of hours to his mother, who modified it to include her name. Heraldry was usually erased or over-painted by new owners. Many have handwritten annotations, personal additions and marginal notes but some new owners also commissioned new craftsmen to include more illustrations or texts. Sir Thomas Lewkenor ofTrotton hired an illustrator to add details to what is now known as theLewkenor Hours. Flyleaves of some surviving books include notes of household accounting or records of births and deaths, in the manner of later family bibles. Some owners had also collected autographs of notable visitors to their house. Books of hours were often the only book in a house, and were commonly used to teach children to read, sometimes having a page with thealphabet to assist this.
Towards the end of the 15th century, printers produced books of hours withwoodcut illustrations, and the book of hours was one of the main works decorated in the relatedmetalcut technique.
In the 14th century the book of hours overtook the psalter as the most common vehicle for lavish illumination. This partly reflected the increasing dominance of illumination both commissioned and executed by laymen rather than monastic clergy. From the late 14th century a number ofbibliophile royal figures began to collect luxury illuminated manuscripts for their decorations, a fashion that spread across Europe from theValois courts of France and theBurgundy, as well asPrague underCharles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and laterWenceslaus. A generation later, DukePhilip the Good of Burgundy was the most important collector of manuscripts, with several of his circle also collecting.[13]: 8–9 It was during this period that theFlemish cities overtook Paris as the leading force in illumination, a position they retained until the terminal decline of the illuminated manuscript in the early 16th century.
The most famous collector of all, the French princeJohn, Duke of Berry (1340–1416) owned several books of hours, some of which survive, including the most celebrated of all, theTrès Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. This was begun around 1410 by theLimbourg brothers, although left incomplete by them, and decoration continued over several decades by other artists and owners. The same was true of theTurin-Milan Hours, which also passed through Berry's ownership.
By the mid-15th century, a much wider group of nobility and rich businesspeople were able to commission highly decorated, often small, books of hours. With the arrival of printing, the market contracted sharply, and by 1500 the finest quality books were once again being produced only for royal or very grand collectors. One of the last major illuminated book of hours was theFarnese Hours completed for the RomanCardinal Alessandro Farnese in 1546 byGiulio Clovio, who was also the last major manuscript illuminator.
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SeeCategory:Illuminated books of hours for a fuller list
The book of hours was the favourite prayer-book of lay-people, and enabled them to follow, in private, the church's programme of daily devotion at the seven canonical hours.
In short, the Brotherhood Prayer Book is a fully catholic book of hours refracted through the lens of the Lutheran confessions.
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