Finally, a shift in devotional practice toward more personal piety created interest in artworks that cultivated individual reflection and engagement, and these customized books were perfect for the task, as shown in this painting of a woman with her book of hours ( 32.100.47). Devotion to the Virgin Mary was a key focus of the Christianity of the period. The manufacture of manuscripts shifted from clerical control to professional scribes, artists, and booksellers. Increasing literacy among a wider circle of the population-both men and women-expanded the market for books in general. Several factors contributed to the demand for books of hours. The patrons of early books of hours were all members of the nobility while that high-end patronage continued, with the growth in cities and the rise of a prosperous bourgeoisie, more ordinary citizens also could own books of their own. The buyer could specify how many painted initials to include, and even pay by the initial. As much as books of hours were flexible in the number and variety of prayers to include, they could be even more varied in decoration, ranging from a few painted initials to lavish books with fully illuminated borders and multiple full-page pictures. A patron could choose which and how many supplemental texts to include, and this flexibility, which allowed for a high degree of personalization, contributed to the popularity of the type. 114v), and prayers to saints called Suffrages (see 54.1.1, fol. 11), hours focusing on the Cross, a group of psalms that express penitence or regret ( 2015.706, fol. In addition to the Hours of the Virgin, books of hours may include five to twenty-five further elements, of which some of the most common are a calendar ( 22.24.5), a set of gospel lessons ( 2011.353, Mark, p. It is a series of prayers and praise for the Virgin Mary as the mother of Jesus, meant to be recited at the eight canonical hours. The Little Office of the Virgin (the formal name for the Hours of the Virgin) was much simplified and thus accessible to a wider public interested in taking on some of the practices of the clergy and those in religious orders. The practice of praying at multiple times of the day and night was based upon the Divine Office, a liturgy chanted in religious communities that gathered for prayer at Matins (before daybreak), Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext (around noon), None, Vespers, and Compline (after sunset). That text, a set of prayers in eight sections meant to be said at regular intervals throughout the twenty-four-hour day, is called the Hours of the Virgin, and is the basis for the term book of hours. No two are exactly alike, although they share one group of devotions. Thousands of books of hours made between 12 survive today in libraries and museums, testament to their popularity in their heyday, especially in northern Europe from the fourteenth to the mid-sixteenth century, more books of hours were made than any other type of book. These were books of hours, functional prayer books made for the nonordained, and the paintings in them were intended to foster reflection and devotion. Many accompany a devotional text of a type originally chanted in monasteries that was adopted for use by lay people. Some of the greatest paintings and drawings of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance are not displayed on church and museum walls instead, they shine forth from the pages of books.
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