Books of Hours

El Libro de horas de Carlos V es un testimonio muy importante de la producción de manuscritos iluminados en Francia en los años finales del siglo xv y los primeros del siglo xvi. Es un libro de una riqueza iconográfica extraordinaria, tanto por su abundancia, más de mil doscientas miniaturas, como por la originalidad de muchas de ellas. Libro destinado a una alta familia francesa, probablemente de París, logra desarrollar a lo largo de sus páginas un complejo discurso teológico que sirvió a los fieles que lo utilizaron como guía en su vida cristiana. Debió de ser empleado y admirado por el emperador Carlos V y después de una larga y compleja historia es hoy en día una de las principales joyas de la colección de manuscritos iluminados de la Biblioteca Nacional de España.

"Pourquoi l'Église catholique invite-elle aujourd'hui tous les baptisés - les laïcs comme les prêtres et les personnes consacrées - à célébrer la liturgie des Heures ? Est-ce là une utopie ou un vœu pieu ? Quelle expérience peut-on faire dans cette prière, qui soit suffisamment profonde pour provoquer une fidélité au quotidien ? L'intuition de base de ce livre est le rapport entre expérience spirituelle et célébration de la liturgie des Heures, même partielle et individuelle. L'expérience humaine faite dans cette pratique au cours d'une journée peut en effet être vécue dans le mouvement même de passage de la mort à la résurrection du Christ (le mystère pascal). Le parcours proposé est historique puis théologique. Sont d'abord détaillées la transformation du bréviaire clérical en une liturgie des Heures soi -disant praticable par tous dans la suite du Concile Vatican II, puis diverses réceptions théoriques et pratiques de cette réforme de l'office divin, dans le monde francophone principalement. La partie la plus novatrice de l'ouvrage touche à la théologie dans ses aspects systématiques, spirituels et pastoraux. Les justifications théologiques traditionnelles - nécessaires pour fonder une pratique effective de la prière des Heures par les laïcs aujourd'hui - y sont approfondies et développées. La théorie ici exposée se situe dans la suite d'une théologie plus 'expérientielle' apparue dans les années 50. Elle est aussi fondée sur les acquis d'autres sciences humaines. L'enjeu est important. Grâce à l'expérience de 'passage' pascal qu'elle permet, la liturgie des Heures est devenue un moyen privilégié offert à tout baptisé désirant vivre quotidiennement l'Évangile et la suite du Christ.
reviews: recensions : Samuel GOYVAERTS, in : Questions liturgiques 90 (2009) 267-270 ; Benoit MALVAUX, in : Lumen Vitae 65 (2010) 467-468 ;; Félix MOSER, in : Études théologiques et religieuses 86 (2011) 421-422 ; Joris GELDHOF, in : Ephemerides theologicae lovanienses 86 (2010) 509-510 ; J.V.D.S., in : Tijdschrift voor Liturgie 50 (2010) 288-290 ; Michèle CLAVIER, in : Mélanges de Science Religieuse (2010) 75-76 ; Paul PHILIBERT, in : Worship 82/2 (2011) 172-174 ; St. DANDE, in : Nouvelle Revue théologique 133/1 (2011) 124-125 ; Patricia M. RUMSEY, in : Journal of ecclesiastical History 62 n° 3 (2011) 572-573 ; Bernadette MÉLOIS, in : Célébrer n° 388 (2011) 64; André HAQUIN, in : Revue théologique de Louvain 41 (2010) 410-412"

Dans l’histoire de la prière des Heures, la recherche se heurte souvent à cette vaste et complexe question : Quels offices étaient fréquentés par les fidèles laïcs et de quelle façon ? Parmi les sources les plus précieuses, les livres de prière restent souvent méconnus ou négligés, largement absents des bibliothèques universitaires. Ils ont pourtant permis pendant plusieurs siècles à des laïcs de prier tout ou partie de l’office divin. Cet article esquisse une histoire de ces livres de prière. S’il est très difficile d’accéder à la pratique effective de la prière, l’étude indique clairement une prise en considération croissante d’une possible participation des laïcs à l’office divin. La première partie présente l’évolution vers deux types de livres à partir de l’origine commune des livres d’Heures médiévaux. Est ensuite rappelé le rôle fondamental des vêpres dominicales dans la pastorale catholique, en tant que prière hebdomadaire de toute la paroisse, certes plus ou moins suivie, jusqu’à leur quasi disparition dans les années 60. La troisième partie analyse les livres, surtout du XXe siècle, généraux comme les Paroissiens ou spécialisés comme les divers types de bréviaires. La production de livres permettant la prière des Heures s’amplifie considérablement dans les années 1920, tout en se diversifiant, dans un processus ininterrompu jusqu’au Concile Vatican II, nouveau tournant dans l’histoire de la prière des Heures par les laïcs.

The angelological section of a late medieval Book of Hours (Paris, ca. 1420-1430) culminates in a prayer that draws extensively on angelic imagery from the Book of Revelation. As this Apocalyptic prayer seems to have no parallels in the secondary literature, a transcription and translation of its text are provided here. The prayer ignores the many afflictions of the Apocalypse and focuses wholly on the vision of the highest heaven. Moreover, its paraphrasing of Biblical passages makes a number of approximations that inform about popular Christian belief of the time. While the angelological section of the manuscript was provisionally identified as the Hours of the Angels, the available text from this section lacks any rubrics for the canonical hours. Two manuscripts – Comites Latentes 124 (ca. 1500) and the surviving fragment of Les Heures de Savoie (the Savoy Hours, ca. 1335-1370) – are identified as containing versions of the Hours of the Angels, allowing their texts to be compared with the angelological section of the Parisian book. As an aside, it appears from first principles that folios 5 and 12 in the current remnant of the Savoy Hours (Beinecke MS 390) were contiguous in the original manuscript, a proposal consistent with information provided in 1911 by Count Durrieu about lacunae in the now-lost main codex. These two folios preserve a portion of the Savoy Hours of the Angels, one that differs considerably from the corresponding segment in Comites Latentes 124. Despite the variability evident in authentic Hours of the Angels, it seems that the angelological section of the Parisian manuscript may represent some other devotional text, such as a meditation on the celestial hierarchy that is not partitioned according to the canonical hours.

The illuminated Book of Hours, the most popular product of the late medieval book market, is a compilation of prayers and short offices designed for private lay devotion. As a new type of Prayer Book it evolved from the Psalter in the course of the 13th century: initially its secondary supplement, it gradually began to expand and eventually detached from it to become an autonomous volume. Art historical research on early Books of Hours is very limited and the origin of their painted decoration has never became the subject of a detailed survey. The present study attempts to fill this lacuna in the Franco-Flemish area, a region where the production of Prayer Books attained its largest scale. The main part of the dissertation concerns the origins of Books of Hours and provides an iconographical analysis of early stages of their illumination. In order to elucidate their nature, it was necessary to examine the evolution of the Psalter decoration, which began to change its scope and function during this transitional period, thus preparing the ground for this new type of devotional book. The basis of the present thesis is a large catalogue of manuscripts, some of them unknown in the scientific literature, accompanied by a detailed iconographical repertory. The text, provided with rich illustrative material, has an interdisciplinary character: the issues discussed are embedded in a broader historical, theological and social context.

La Edad Media mantuvo la tradición, codificada perfectamente en la Antigüedad, de imbricar en los funerales celebrados en honor de las personas más destacadas de la sociedad un ritual privado, restringido a un ámbito familiar, con otro público dirigido al reconocimiento de la ciudadanía.
El protocolo empezaba con la preparación sacramental para el óbito y la liturgia de la extremaunción y continuaba con el tratamiento del cadáver con  su amortajamiento y la exposición pública del mismo. Concluido este proceso, una procesión fúnebre trasladaba al difunto a su lugar de inhumación. La esfera de lo privado o semi-privado adquiría una dimensión ciudadana de notable vistosidad que terminaba en el templo donde la celebración de la misa de exequias obligaba a la espectacularización del edificio y a su engalanamiento con catafalcos, tejidos, escudos y otras alhajas  litúrgicas.
Lo fúnebre, por tanto, extendió su escenografía a la esfera de lo doméstico, lo ciudadano y lo religioso. Calibrar la relación de estas prácticas, de carácter temporal y por tanto efímeras, con la iconografía desarrollada en los sepulcros y en los espacios fúnebres constituye uno de los hilos argumentales de esta ponencia con el convencimiento de que el universo artístico, en gran medida, actuó a modo de “símil fotográfico” de unos usos consuetudinarios claramente definidos. Para ello, en el presente texto hemos acudido a los textos de la época –tanto las Crónicas en su descripción de muertes reales como los textos poéticos en la evocación de defunciones imaginarias– y a las miniaturas, especialmente, a las que ilustran los llamados oficios de muertos de los Libros de Horas.

As the Dunois Master, the Munich Golden Legend Master, fl. from ca. 1420 to ca. 1450-1460, is one artistic figure originating from the Bedford workshop. This miniaturist was active mostly in Paris, but his work also shows connections with provinces like Normandy and the Loire valley.

This paper is based on a 48-manuscript catalogue, among which are 41 books of hours. The study aims at bringing out the iconographic and stylistic Master's salient features. Among the first, one notes a deep interest in details and ornaments, which is to be found in finely wrought haloes, vaults with festooned ribs, books and furniture. Within the corpus, ears of wheat in cribs are noteworthy due to both their frequency and novelty. They are subject to deep insight due to the meaning they bear, and to the possible relationship between this motif and the contemporary spirituality, especially the Modern Devotion. Stylistically, typical of the Munich Golden Legend Master are falling lip-corners, eyebrow arches marked with line, which he also largely uses to underline flesh tones and object outlines. His range of colours is varied and full of contrasts. 
Calendars and marginal decoration have also been used to compare manuscripts, in order to build chronological groupings within the corpus.
The Munich Golden Legend Master has been, either directly or via models available inside the Bedford workshop, influenced by the Limbourgs, the Egerton Master and northern painting. He cooperated, being the chief illuminator or simply helping by painting a few miniatures, with other artists, whether documented or not, and may have worked for both English and French patrons.

Bruno Restif, « Les gestes et postures de la prière individuelle dans la production iconographique française, du milieu du XVe au milieu du XVIIe siècle », Europa moderna. Revue d’Histoire et d’Iconologie, n° 5, 2015, publication en ligne (europamoderna.com).

he verbal contexts for the image of the Dead Christ formed an important component of its received meaning for medieval viewers and readers. 1 While most of this volume focuses on the Man of Sorrows as an autonomous image in panel painting and other media, the sheer variety of texts he illustrates in manuscripts signals the polyvalence of the figure as a sign and reaffirms its centrality to the religious practices of the late Middle Ages. Before turning to specific instances of texts accompanying the Dead Christ, let us consider the nature of their interrelationships. One question that should be asked is how, exactly, the images are connected to their texts, whether as illustrations or as parallel forms of expression. I favor the term "accompaniment," which implies nothing more than the physical juxtaposition of text and image; viewer and reader determine the meaning of the pairing and the balance between the two media. Thus the reception of the image and text together constitutes a cognitive response in which the text plays a far more important role than as an accessory to the illustration. As Flora Lewis states, "the texts provide the words through which devotion speaks, the images through which the objects of devotion are visualised, and thus they play an affective as well as reflective role." 2 While particular combinations of text and image are conventional in the manuscript tradition, each image is effectively also in conversation with other images that may relate less well to the text at hand. As Bernhard Ridderbos points out, "different versions of the Man of Sorrows do not represent theological concepts directly but rather refer to existing representations, between which a certain tension results as properties have been selected from them." 3 A similarly creative tension can emerge between the Imago pietatis and the texts it illustrates, for neither of the two components was originally intended to be accompanied by the other. Consequently, in many cases the connection between the Dead Christ and his accompanying texts demands explanation, for which reason we turn first to the manuscript context.

The paper analyses five examples of French litanic paraphrases from different periods: the medieval paraphrase La letanie from the Book of Hours of the Diocese of Evreux and the farce Le pèlerinage de marriage, Paraphrase des Litanies de la Vierge Marie of Martial de Brives (1653), Litanies de la Sainte Vierge, ou de Lorette. Traduites en vers français, et paraphrasées en forme d'ode sacrée (1837) of Marie-Louis-Auguste Demartin du Tyrac Marcellus and Les Litanies de Satan of Charles Baudelaire. The paper aims to explore the most common methods used to transfigure the liturgical form into a literary work, amongst others: enclosing litanic lines into stanzaic form, maintaining the Latin intercalations, parodying them, and applying a monorhytmic strategy. The analysis involves raising the themes of the identity of the person speaking in the paraphrases (singular or plural) and of the shape and order of two fundamental elements of litanic texts, that is, invocations and supplications.

En la actualidad, con la aparición del libro electrónico, estamos en magníficas condiciones para entender lo que supuso la invención y posterior expansión de la imprenta a mediados del siglo XV y las consecuencias que tuvo sobre la producción y comercialización de los manuscritos en general y de los iluminados en particular. Ahora, como entonces, asistimos a un cambio de paradigma en la producción y difusión de los textos escritos, cuyo contenido sigue siendo el mismo, pero cuyas posibilidades de multiplicación y sus facilidades de uso crecen, entonces y ahora, exponencialmente.

Resumo: Os Livros de Horas integram a maior categoria de manuscritos iluminados que sobreviveram até os dias atuais e são ricas fontes para compreender a organização do tempo, do espaço e dos valores da cultura cristã. Neste sentido, este paper tem como objetivo explicar de que forma os Livros de Horas constituíramse como um importante instrumento para a realização de práticas devocionais leigas, sobretudo, nos séculos XIII a XV. Além de esclarecer o processo de confecção destes códices e analisar os seus possíveis usos e funções na Europa medieval.

When the story of Bathsheba's Bath appeared in Late Medieval Books of Hours, it always prefaced the Penitential Psalms in these manuscripts. Traditionally, these Penitential Psalms were associated with the Deadly Sins. This article will explore the visual and textual implications of this iconography in relation to its placement in Books of Hours and it will emphasize the visual narrative strategies that the artists used to prepare the reader-viewer for the appropriate performance of penitence.

En la Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza, entre las alhajas del tesoro de la Virgen, se conserva un libro de horas guarnecidas en plata que es uno de los objetos más excepcionales de la colección. El diminuto libro, cuyas tapas antaño de plata sobredorada datan del primer tercio del siglo XVI, está formado por hojitas de vitela y todavía se cita según la tradición como “el libro de horas de Santa Isabel”, a pesar de que varios especialistas habían coincidido en señalar la imposibilidad de esta atribución. En nuestro artículo documentamos su llegada al Pilar y presentamos el resultado de nuestras investigaciones sobre su propietario inicial, además de nuestras hipótesis sobre su origen, datación, errónea vinculación con Sta. Isabel de Portugal y su largo camino desde el noroeste peninsular hasta su llegada como ofrenda piadosa al tesoro de la Virgen.


In Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar among the jewels in Our Lady’s regalia a Book of Hours with silver bindings is kept, being one of the most outstanding objects of the collection. The minute book, the covers of which, once silver-gilt, date back to the 16th century, is composed of vellum tiny pages and it is still known, according to tradition, as “The Book of Hours of Saint Elizabeth” even though several specialists had agreed  to point out that this attribution as impossible. In our article we document the moment it arrived at the Cathedral-Basilica and we present the outcome of our research about its original owner (besides our hypothesis about its origin), dating, its inaccurate connection with Saint Elizabeth of Portugal, as well as its long way from the northwest of the country to its arrival as a pious offering at the treasury of The Virgin.

The starting point for the following reflections is an unusual and little-known picture cycle to the Office of the Dead that first appeared in a Parisian printed book of hours on 22 August 1509. 1 The most conspicuous feature of these engravings is their direct textual reference, which sets up a multi-layered system of meaning, one that can be discerned in parallel or even selectively for contemporary devotional and reading practice. Thus biblical texts from the office are included in speech banners in all the illustrations. Furthermore, in the first edition French verses not derived from the text of the book of hours have been added below each illustration. Anyone using this book for prayer was thus offered the choice between different modes of reception, which could also be taken up in parallel, each requiring a different educational background: for the prayer of the Latin office, for the understanding of the illustrations and their dimensions of meaning, and for the reading of the illustrations in connection with vernacular or Latin verses. The printers and publishers of the first edition were Jean Barbier and Guillaume Le Rouge. The designs for the metalcuts came from the workshop of the Paris illuminator Jean Pichore. The eleven engravings in total form part of a sequence distinguished not only by its scale-all the hours of even the smaller offices are illustrated equally in size-but also by the specific iconographic programme of pictorial themes which have no established models in this constellation, although in the Office of the Dead they refer back individually to diverse iconographic traditions.

The text sketches a general outline of the use of biblical cycles in the Late Middle Ages in manuscripts made for didactic and devotional purposes. The different types of Bibles produced between the 13th and 14th centuries in France are introduced, from those made for courtly patrons, to those connected with the university. The varied instruments elaborated in order to spread the knowledge of the Bible through images, from the Bibliae Pauperum to the Speculum Humanae Salvationis are analized and connected to the devotional use of biblical images, disseminated in particular through Books of hours.

Se in origine tale funzione devozionale veniva svolta principalmente nel contesto pubblico della chiesa, nel corso del Medioevo, in particolar modo dal XIII secolo, si assiste a una sempre maggiore diffusione di raffigurazioni sacre in ambito privato. Ciò è dovuto all'affermarsi in contesti monastico-conventuali di una spiritualità rinnovata che privilegia la preghiera intima e personale. Questa, grazie all'opera svolta in particolar modo dagli Ordini mendicanti, si diffonde poi nel contesto laicale portando ben presto ad affacciarsi sul panorama europeo un pubblico di laici colti desideroso di nuove forme devo-Luca Di Palma è uno studioso di Storia della miniatura. in basso Il codice aperto sulla Visitazione (ff. 20v-21r).

in England and Normandy in the Middle Ages, ed. D. Bates and A. Curry (London, 1994), pp. 299-313 (p. 311). Thanks are due to Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, midwife to this essay. 2 Jocelyn Wogan-Browne has suggested (pers. comm., 23 April 2008) that 'fault' is a 'standard form in the French of England' and that the motto might mean 'I must do it' ('noblesse oblige'), which is one clear reading of it. For another nuance in meaning, see the conclusion of this essay.

Ahora bien, el término mysterium (derivado del verbo griego myo: cerrar, ocultar), que aparece una y otra vez en los formularios litúrgicos, precisa una aclaración. El misterio cristiano no consiste, como suele pensarse, en algo enigmático, ni en un mero rito celebrativo, ni tampoco nos sitúa ante una realidad oculta, inaccesible o incognoscible, sino que es sobre todo revelación. Consiste en la actuación liberadora o salvífica de Dios en la historia. Es más, el misterio es una Persona, tiene un rostro humano, se ha visibilizado en Jesús, el Mesías tan esperado del pueblo de Israel 3 . Comprendemos así el carácter exultante de la liturgia de Navidad. Se trata, al mismo tiempo, de una realidad inagotable, nunca conocida en su totalidad, en razón de su infinita riqueza interna. Por eso el abad Máximo el Confesor (ca. 580-662) se refería al misterio como a «algo siempre nuevo, al que nunca la comprensión de la mente puede hacer envejecer», y admitía que ese inmenso misterio de la divina Encarnación «continúa siendo 1. Hesbert: Corpus Antiphonalium Officii, iii, n. 3763.

During the latter part of the fifteenth century, metal badges were frequently attached to religious manuscripts. The objects were often removed at a later date, but traces found in the parchment -impressions, metal residue, and sewing holes or adhesive -reveal their former presence.

The activity of the Florentine-Marchigian painter, Antonio di Domenico da Firenze, in the field of book illustration is here reconstructed for the first time. His masterpiece as an illuminator is identified in a book of hours now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge made for the Ferretti, a noble family from Ancona.

El 2 de junio de 1453, en la plaza pública de Valladolid fallecía en la picota Álvaro de Luna, otrora poderoso privado de Juan II de Castilla. Moría el hombre y se iniciaba un proceso de reivindicación memorial que tuvo en su hija María de Luna y en su familia política, el poderoso linaje de los Mendoza, a sus principales valedores.

in: Die Kunst der brevitas. Kleine literarische Formen des deutschsprachigen Mittelalters. Rostocker Kolloquium 2014, hg. von Franz-Josef Holznagel und Jan Cölln in Verb. mit Ricarda Bauschke-Hartung und Susanne Köbele (Wolfram-Studien 24), Berlin 2017, S. 137–153.

Refletindo sobre uma sensação de leveza e dilatação da passagem temporal, a pesquisa elabora a expressão “tempo suspenso” e analisa de que maneira essa singular percepção pode ser transmutada em códices. Para sua compreensão, dialoga sobretudo com duas produções artísticas: Em busca do tempo perdido (1908–1922), de Marcel Proust, e A última tempestade (1991), de Peter Greenaway. A primeira foi escolhida por discutir uma sensação como estopim para a elaboração de uma poética. A segunda, por colocar o códice artesanal como receptáculo de um assunto. O campo formado pelas duas referências aglutina a temática levantada e representa princípios geradores e norteadores no desenvolvimento de uma sintaxe visual composta de referências históricas e formais da estrutura do códice. Ademais, para a compreensão da dilatação do tempo foram analisadas obras clássicas japonesas onde se encontram características próprias dos termos wabi-sabi e ma. Elas são a representação estética de um método no qual a práxis poética é um momento decisivo na estruturação do objeto final. A partir dos diálogos estabelecidos, foram realizados sete livros de artista, chamados de códices, cada um apresentado separadamente em capítulos formados por registros fotográficos e textos contextualizadores dos assuntos elaborados.


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Reflecting upon a soft and expanding sense of the passage of time, this research elaborates the term “suspended time”, analyzing how this singular perception is possibly transformed into codex art. It dialogues mainly with two artistic works for further comprehension: Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time (1908-1922) and Peter Greenway’s Prospero’s Book (1991). The first one has been chosen for debating a sensation as the trigger for the elaboration of poetics. The second one for setting the handicraft codex as receptacle of a subject. The field formed by both works ties together the presented topic and represents the generative and guiding principles of a visual syntax made up of formal and historical references from the codex structure. Furthermore, in order to comprehend the expansion of time, classical Japanese works in which specific characteristics of the terms wabi-sabi and ma appear, have been analyzed. They are the aesthetic representation of a method in which the poetic praxis has a major role in the final object construction. Seven artists’ books named codex have been created out of the established discussion, each one is presented separately in chapters formed by photographic records and guiding texts about the formulated topics.

SUMMARY
Like nearly all mediaeval Books of Hours in Arabic, the horologion
contained in Sinai Ar. 232 has not been edited or published. A close
examination of its content reveals the particular geographical and ecclesialsituation of this Arab Orthodox tradition in the 13th century. The
commemoration of "local" saints at compline are reliable evidence that this manuscript is from Sinai. The manuscript contains elements indicating community and also private prayer. The ritual is situated at a moment of liturgical transition, with elements of the middle Jerusalem tradition (after 8th century reform) and others of the new, neo-sabaite tradition. The Arabic terminology also witnesses to Syriac influence, and some of the saints mentioned are Alexandrine or, indeed, Coptic. This paper seeks to identify and examine these various elements, and also mentions what might be called an "ecumenical" approach in the manuscript between Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian Orthodox Churches.

Per imparentarsi con gli Asburgo, Ludovico il Moro, signore di Milano, diede in sposa a Massimiliano I, vedovo dell'affascinante Maria di Borgogna, la nipote Bianca Maria Sforza, offrendole in dote una montagna di ducati, argenti, arazzi e monili e anche un prezioso Libro d'Ore passato di recente presso lo studio bibliografico di Jörn Günther L A S T O R I A D E L L A miniatura è un campo di studi capace ancora oggi di riservare gradite e inaspettate sorprese. Recente infatti è la comparsa sul mercato antiquario europeo, presso lo studio bibliografico di Jörn Günther, di un inedito Libro d'Ore lombardo della fine del Quattrocento. Il piccolo manoscritto, di appena 98 × 70 mm, rivela fin da subito, nella ricca e squisita ornamentazione miniata, il prestigio e la raffinatezza dei suoi originari e illustri Luca Di Palma è uno studioso di Storia della miniatura.