Books of Hours grew out of the Psalter and the Breviary and for more detailed
information on collecting, grading and buying Books of Hours; there are a
number of authoritative texts available to the curios reader.
- Books of Hours Reconsidered (Studies in Medieval and
Early Renaissance Art History) Hindman, Sandra Published by Brepols
Publishers ISBN 10: 1905375948 / ISBN 13: 781905375943
- The Book of Hours. A textual explanation of 15th
century illuminated manuscripts Published by Barbara J. Raheb, Van Nuys,
CA, 1979
- French Books of Hours: Making an Archive of Prayer, C.1400
- 1600 Reinburg, Virginia Published by Cambridge Univ Pr, 2012 ISBN 10:
1107007216 / ISBN 13: 9781107007215
- An Intimate Art : 12 Books of Hours for 2012 Hindman
Sandra and Bergeron-Foote Ariane Published by Les Enluminures,
Paris-Chicago-New York, 2012 ISBN 10: 0983854637 / ISBN 13: 9780983854630
- Books of Hours and Their Owners Harthan, John Published
by Thames & Hudson Ltd, 1977 ISBN 10: 0500232172 / ISBN 13:
9780500232170
- Time Sanctified: The Book of Hours in Medieval Art and
Life Wieck, Roger S. Published by George Braziller, 1988 ISBN 10:
0807611891 / ISBN 13: 9780807611890
- Painted Prayers The Book of Hours in Medieval and
Renaissance Art Wieck, Roger S. Published by W. W. Norton & Co Inc.,
1997 ISBN 10: 0807614181 / ISBN 13: 9780807614181
Just to highlight a few
books about books of hours. There are also many individual books written about
books of hours as well as facsimiles of the books. A beginning collector can
first purchase the texts about books of hours (some of which are somewhat hard
to find and can be pricey (~$75-$250) and can be found at Advanced Book Exchange or on Biblio and once the appetite has been educated,
collecting the facsimiles of famous works; while not the same as possessing an
original work, can be rewarding. One thing we don't recommend is buying
individual 'leaves' of Books of Hours, unless you know exactly which book they
came out of and it is worth. Collecting, individual leaves is a market but
unless it is a very rare leaf, while unique, offers a fraction of what a
complete book of hours possesses in the way of presentation and worth. Retail
pricing of books of hours can vary widely, ranging on the low side for
incomplete works in the $15,000 to the upper end of $900,000 for a
well-documented rare book of hours.
The books of hours were
made mostly for women, but books are also made for the male of the house. Books
of Hours were passed down and sometimes were divided amongst family members to
keep the peace within the family. Books prior to printing could be as expensive
as possessing rare gems, silver, gold and even land. The rare books made for
the kings, queens, princes and princesses that have been identified and are a
part of medieval history, are quite expensive and many are held by museums and
rare books libraries across the world. The works usually always have facsimiles
made and reproduced in limited editions so they too have become valuable.
Examples of the Structure of a Typical Book of Hours:
The Calendar
The Calendar page is
filled with information and is actually a regional guide to where in Europe or
in what we now call the United Kingdom the book was intended. There are usually
three columns, one for the calendar. The first column is known as the ‘Golden
Numbers’ or the days of the new moons or full moons throughout the year. The
second column is known as the ‘Dominical Letters’ (a through g) that help a
reader find the ‘Sundays’ of the month. The third column is the ancient Roman
calendrical system listing the Ides (id), the middle of the month and the
Kalends (kl), the first day of the month and Nones the ninth day of the month.
These three fixed points were used to count backwards to all other dates.
The Red and Blue
lettering are for the Saints days and were known as ‘Red Letter’ days, which
were the more important dates to celebrate the Virgin Mary, and other more important Saints. The calendar
in the Books of Hours were also known as ‘perpetual calendars’ as they did not
include the more important celebration holidays such as Easter or Christmas,
but those dates could be calculated backwards from the perpetual dates. The
listing of Saints also helps regionalize the origin of the Book of Hours, also
known in the Latin form as ‘Horae’.
Hours of the Virgin
Also known as the Little
Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a set of inspirational lessons, prayers
and brief phrases that refer to the ‘eight’ canonical hours of the day that
date back to Roman times and were and are still chanted in monasteries. The
eight are Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext None, Vespers and Compline. Matins
and Laud were often sung before sunrise. Prime was often used to teach children
to read, hence the word ‘Primer’ is derived from this section. The structure is
usually laid out as a series of vesicles that are followed by responses: “Lord
open my lips and my mouth shall tell forth thy praise” Response: “God, come to
my assistance”. Everything, of course is in Latin. “Domine labia mea aperies et
os maeum annunciabit laudem Deus in adjutorium meum intende”
Below
is an example describing the time of day and the miniature
Hour
|
Time
Of Day
|
Miniature
|
Matins
|
the wee hours
|
Annunciation–
Angel Gabriel greets Mary
|
Lauds
|
dawn
|
Visitation–
Mary visits Elizabeth
|
Prime
|
mid-morning
|
Nativity–
Birth of the Christ child
|
Terce
|
late morning
|
Annunciation–
Angels appear to the shepherds
|
Sext
|
noon
|
Adoration of
the Magi– Magi come to see the Christ child
|
None
|
mid-afternoon
|
Presentation
in the temple– Mary presents the Christ child
|
Vespers
|
sundown
|
Flight into
Egypt– Mary & Joseph flee Herod as directed in a dream
|
Compline
|
late evening
|
Coronation of
the Virgin– Mary crowned Queen of Heaven
|
Litany
The Litany: Invocations to God, the Blessed Virgin and
assorted saints, each followed by the abbreviation "or", the Latin
incipt for "ora pro nobis" ("pray for us"). HRC MS 4, p.
174. Mid-15th Century. Latin and French. Leaf size 7.3 x 5.2 in. One or more litanies
of the saints normally follow the Penitential Psalms. In a litany, the reader
invokes, one by one, a long list of favorite saints, martyrs, confessors, and
holy virgins, ending each phrase with the Latin words ora pro nobis ("pray
for us"). Economy-minded scribes often abbreviated this common ending with
the letters "or," as in the pictured example from HRC MS 4.
An
example of a Litany page in a book of hours
Office of the Dead
During the middle ages,
death, famine, early loss of life was more common than living a full rich life.
Lives were in the words of a famous English scholar Thomas Hobbes: “Solitary,
poor, nasty, brutish and short”. The church realizing the nature of existence and
the need for solace through the divine spirit of Christ, Mary, the angels and
God, created the rather lengthy section known as the Office of the Dead.
“As in the examples
shown here, the illustrations frequently present the evangelists at work
writing their gospel onto a scroll or codex and using the implements employed
by medieval scribes. The traditional symbol, or attribute, of the evangelist
often appears in the illustration, as in these examples from the Ransom Center
collections.
The illustration for St.
John nearly always shows the apostle seated on the Isle of Patmos—as in this
example from HRC MS 5—where Christian tradition holds that he composed the Book
of Revelation. The remaining illustrations normally show the relevant apostle
working in a scriptorium or study.”
Penitential Psalms
“A Book of Hours often
contains one or both of two well-known cycles of Psalms: the Seven Penitential
Psalms and the Gradual Psalms (Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143 and
Psalms 120–134, respectively, in the King James Bible).
These and other Psalms were
so well known to medieval worshipers that each Psalm is often indicated only by
its incipit, or opening line. The reader is expected to recite the remaining
lines from memory.
When the Penitential
Psalms include miniatures, they often open with a scene from the life of King
David—a bad example of adulterous behavior but a comforting model of repentance
and forgiveness—as in these wonderfully illuminated images from an early
example of a printed Book of Hours.”
Bravery
in Battle and Absolution and Gratitude from the King…
Prayers of the Virgin
This section is mostly
text in many books of hours and if there is an image, it is always Mary and her
Son, Jesus. “The Obsecro te ("I beseech thee") and the O intemerata
("O immaculate Virgin"), two prayers addressed to the Blessed Virgin,
are present in nearly all 15th-century Books of Hours. Each of these prayers is
written and recited in the first person and makes a plaintive appeal directly
to the Virgin Mary for aid and intercession with her Son. The prayers are
sometimes personalized, with the name of the book's original owner inserted
into the text or the accompanying illustration. The Obsecro te specifically
asks that death not come suddenly or unexpectedly, a plea that may have
provided some comfort against the toll of plague and war that afflicted
late-medieval Europe.
An image depicting the
Virgin Mary at prayer, usually with her Son, symbolizes Mary's role as
intercessor in these prayers and is the traditional image for this section. As
shown in the example from HRC MS 6, the Virgin is sometimes pictured alone next
to the Obsecro te prayer. The Prayers to the Virgin have no fixed position
within a Book of Hours, but often the prayers are placed between the Gospel
Lessons and Hours of the Virgin.”
Suffrages
This is the section
where particular Saints and their trials and tribulations and exaltations
overcoming the injustice that usually results in the loss of their lives for
God and their beliefs. “God or the three Persons of the Trinity always begin
the Suffrages, followed by the Virgin, the archangel Michael, and John the
Baptist (the last two prominently positioned because of their importance as
judge and intercessor, respectively, at the Last Judgment). The apostles appear
next, followed by male martyrs and confessors (non-martyr saints), female
saints and virgin martyrs.
Each Suffrage is
composed of four elements: three ejaculations (antiphon, versicle, response)
followed by a longer prayer (oratio). The first three elements constitute a
string of praises. As for the prayer, its first half recounts an episode from
the saint's life or touches on some important aspect of the saint's holiness;
the second half of the prayer is always a petition for aid from God through the
saint's intercession.”
The Gospels
A strange outcome of the
church’s domination of the canonical writings is that households during the
middle ages did not own a complete bible or even a partial bible. In 405 the
definitive version of the bible known as the Vulgate and it reigned supreme for
over 1,000 years. Anyone not a priest could NOT own a bible. Bibles prior to
the printing press were hand scribed and far too expensive for anyone to own. The
possession of bibles is a relatively new and the first really popular bible
that was effectively marketed and distributed in Europe and England was by Anton
Koberger and is known as the Koberger bible, printed in Latin and High German.
The Gospels in the books
of hours were the only way that families could read them, other than attending
church and having the priest include a gospel in their liturgy. The gospels allowed the books of hours to
become divine religious possessions that families could look to in their own
dire hours of need for prayer and comfort when the church or a priest were not
available. The gospels is really the cornerstone of the entire books of hours,
linking all of the sections and making the book of hours an important family
possession.
Richard Gabriel- Calix Books
