French Books of Hours
Making an Archive of Prayer, c.1400–1600

How was the Book of Hours created and used as a book and what did it mean to its owners?

Virginia Reinburg (Author)

9781107460065, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 6 November 2014

312 pages, 39 b/w illus. 2 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.42 kg

'… the editors have assembled contributions that are sparkling with ideas and new perspectives, as well as presenting a vast amount of new information. This publication will be a necessary point of reference for many years to come.' Rowan Watson, AMARC Newsletter

The Book of Hours was a 'best-seller' in medieval and early modern Europe, the era's most commonly produced and owned book. This interdisciplinary study explores its increasing popularity and prestige, offering a full account of the Book of Hours as a book - how it was acquired, how it was read to guide prayer and teach literacy and what it meant to its owners as a personal possession. Based on the study of over 500 manuscripts and printed books from France, Virginia Reinburg combines a social history of the Book of Hours with an ethnography of prayer. Approaching the practice of prayer as both speech and ritual, she argues that a central part of the Book of Hours' appeal for lay people was its role as a bridge between the liturgy and the home. Reinburg describes how the Book of Hours shaped religious practice through the ways in which it was used.

Introduction
Part I. A Social History of the Book of Hours: Prologue to Part I
1. Culture and commerce
2. Owners and their books
3. Prayer book and primer
Part II. An Ethnography of Prayer: Prologue to Part II
4. Words and rites
5. A fragment of a religion
6. Prayer to the Virgin Mary
Conclusion
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Church history [HRCC2], Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], European history [HBJD]