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Books of Hours
- Prayer Books for a Broad Spectrum of Society
In the later Middle
Ages, the laity used Books of Hours, books with prayers for specific
times of the day. These devotions were prefaced by a calendar marking
the important feast days that varied with location, for example those
of Rome were slightly different from those of England. The books invariably
included the penitential psalms, the Mass for the dead and commemoration
of souls, and a section called the psalter of St. Jerome. With the English
break with Rome, a new set of regulations governed the prayer books.
Medieval books were defaced in order to conform to injunctions against
depiction of God, saints, and reference to Thomas
Becket, Bishop of Canterbury and papal supremacy.
Fifteenth-century
lavishly illustrated manuscripts
![](images/thmbSMS35HoursFol.jpg) Book
of Hours of the Virgin Mary MS 35 1425-1450 defaced, on the left.
The soul being brought to heaven (as a half figure in a sheet on the
left) is untouched but the two angels and the image of God have been
defaced.
Book of Hours - belonging to Cardinal
Thomas Wolsey (Cardinal and Lord Chancellor) MS 57, on the right.
The book was not defaced because it was taken to Continent and returned
when Catholics could once more worship openly.
Book of Hours of Mary
Queen of Scots, below right, carries text only. This is a small
personal book which is believed have been in her possession while she
stood on the scaffold at Fotheringay for her beheading. The December
calendar shows in red December 25 Nativitae Domini (the birth of the
Lord) and in black Dec. 29 Thome epis. et m. (Thomas Becket, bishop
and martyr).
See
English and imported Books of Hours in the Huntington Library: England,
written ca. 1405 and Bruges,
made ca. 1450 for English export
Printed books of
hours from the early 16th-century
These books were less
costly since they were printed on paper in multiple examples. An international
trade allowed books from France or the Low Countries to be edited to conform
to English devotions. This was called Sarum Usage: Sarum is an older form
of Salisbury.
![](images/thmbSPHours1512-3.3fol.jpg) Book
of Hours, printed in Paris, 1512: contains English directions such
as "for frendes in syknes or in necessite" or "for thy
frende that is deed" before the Latin prayers.
Book of Hours,
on the right, printed London, 1526. The December calendar, appropriately
ends with the Last Rites (Extreme Unction) being administered by a priest
to a dying man. Here, however, Tudor censors have intervened to strike
the name of Thomas Becket on December XXIX (29), as well as other interventions.
See Printed
leaf, Paris, 1526 Sarum Usage, Keio University Library
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