A letter from the Editor

Dear Friends:
Books of hours contain devotional texts designed to aid private prayer, and they were often lavishly illuminated. Because no other book was created in greater quantity in the late Middle Ages, the book of hours has come to be called the medieval bestseller.

The illuminated manuscripts, from the 12th to the first third of the 16th centuries provided historical chronicles, novels and scholarly treatises, translations of antique authors, and also included Biblical and liturgical manuscripts. Manuscript books produced for kings and great aristocrats were written and decorated by the finest calligraphers and artists of the age. The most famous book of hours was given to Mary, Queen of Scots by her uncle, the Duc de Guise, when she was still betrothed to the Dauphin, the future Frances II. It was created and beautifully illuminated in France in the second quarter of the 15th century. One particularly beautiful Book of Hours is the 15th century manuscript 'Grands Chroniques de France'. It was created in 1455-1457 for the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good, who vied with the French king for wealth and power.

The 15th century Marian Book of Hours has all the characteristics of the golden age of French manuscript illumination: in the landscapes and perspective, the light and the color of the draperies with details highlighted in gold, and gold backgrounds to the borders. The rich decoration of the margin includes foliage and a variety of fruits and flowers, animals and human figures. It has an obvious feeling for nature. The lower parts of the calendar pages, as in many 15th century books of hours, bear country scenes appropriate to the corresponding months; these are an important documentary source, and confirmation of the artistic excellence of this Book of Hours.

Manuscript books were tediously but carefully written by hand, each page with unique initials and decoration. The creation of an illuminated manuscript was complex and required the joint labors of professional scribes to write the text in scripts of their time and artists to illuminate the pages with decorated initials and foliated borders. Vellum of soft, unblemished calf, goat or sheepskin was scraped to an even thinness and smoothed with pumice stone until flexible, opaque and white. The sheets were ruled leaving spaces for initials and the text carefully copied with a quill in uniform calligraphy. The scribe would often write the initial letter of a chapter or prayer larger in red called rubrics. Decoration was added to the borders and initials with pen work flourishes and branch extenders in colors of Gold. Pigments used by the Medieval Painter were the rich, dark blue of lapis lazuli or azurite, vermilion red, verdigris and malachite green. Explore the world of 12th to 16th century illuminated manuscripts and the romantic medieval times, visit:

Getty Online Exhibit: The Medieval Bestseller

University of Oxford - Bodleian Library

Book of Hours of Queen Isabella of Castile

God Bless. OM

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