A 15th Century Book of Hours

Since there are two Marian feasts today, Our Lady of Ransom, the patronal feast of the Mercedarian order on the general calendar, and Our Lady of Walsingham, the patronal feast of the Anglican Use Ordinariates, I thought it would be good day to enjoy pictures of a Book of Hours, in which the Little Office of the Virgin is central liturgical text. This example comes from one of my favorite websites, that of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Département des manuscrits. NAL 183), which however provides no information about it other than the fact that it was made in 15th century. (From the style of the pictures, I’d guess much closer to the end of the century than the beginning.) You can click each image to enlarge it.

The 1st part of calendar page for the month of September; each month has the sign of the zodiac that begins within it (Libra in this case), and the representation of an agricultural or domestic labor typical of that month (trodding the winepress here) at the bottom. Literally every page of this book has decorative borders like the two floral sections here, many of which also include birds and other animals (some real, some imaginary); the two seen here are typical of the rest of the book.

The rest of September. Books of Hours often have a Saint noted on every single day of the calendar, even though they were not all celebrated liturgically. The more important are written in gold letters, as here, Ss Matthew the Evangelist and Michael the Archangel.

Books of Hours commonly include a group of four Gospels, one from each of the Evangelists: John 1, 1-14, the Gospel of Christmas day; Luke 1, 26-38, the Annunciation; Matthew 2, 1-12, the Epiphany; and Mark 16, 14-20, the Ascension. This image introduces the Gospel from St John, who is shown in his exile on the island of Patmos.

The beginning of his gospel.

St Luke

St Matthew

St Mark

This image introduces the first of two very long prayers to the Virgin Mary, Obsecro te and O intemerata, which are part of the standard repertoire of material in most books of Hours, and usually placed one right after the other.

The second prayer, O intemerata.

The heart of any book of Hours is the Little Office of the Virgin, and it is typical to introduce each Hour with an image from Her life. Here we have an unusual example of the creation of Eve as the image before Matins, the first verse of which is written in the border. (The three prophets in the corners are not labelled.)

This image of the Virgin and Child in heaven, with the Tree of Jesse, is placed right next to the previous one.

At the beginning of Lauds, the Visitation.

At Prime, the birth of Christ.

At Terce, the Annunciation to the Shepherds.

At Sext, the Adoration of the Magi.

At None, the Presentation in the Temple.

At Vespers, the Flight into Egypt.

At Compline, the Coronation of the Virgin.

Many books of Hours also include two very brief votive Offices, of the Cross and of the Holy Spirit, which are usually placed right after the Office of the Virgin.

There are several different motifs which may introduce the Seven Penitential Psalms in a book of Hours. Here we have the beginning of the episode of David and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11-12), which is mentioned in the title of the Miserere, Psalm 50, the penitential psalm par excellence.

Part of the Litany of the Saints; luxury Books of Hours such as this one often have decorative elements added between the end of a line of text and the margin, as we see here.

Two images introduce the Office of the Dead; Christ in majesty at the Last Judgment, with the dead rising from the earth below Him...

and the Raising of Lazarus. In the upper right-hand corner is represented Job being scolded by his wife, since the lessons of Matins of the Dead are taken from his book, and at the lower right, Death slaying a noblewoman.

This image of the Virgin and Child introduces a popular series of prayer addressed to Her in French, also found in many other books of Hours.

A prayer in French to the Trinity.

Most books of Hours contain a good number of suffrages, votive commemorations of the Saints, which were generally said independently of the Office of the Virgin. In this book, the pictures which accompany them are much less detailed than in many other luxury manuscripts. The first is St Michael.

St John the Baptist.

St John the Evangelist.

Ss Peter and Paul

St Andrew

St James

St Anne

St Catherine of Alexandria