Medieval Manuscripts in the d'Alzon Library: 5. Book of Hours leaf

Origin: Europe, ca. 1400-1500

Provenance: 2010 Tagaste program purchase from the Illuminated Manuscript Company in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. 

Physical description: 12 x 16.5 cm. Gothic textualis. Alternating red and blue lombards at the beginning of each Psalm verse. On the verso side, a two-line L "champ" initial with a gold leaf body. Inside the cavity of the L, white tracery; surrounding the body, a blue and red border. A vine motif with gold leaves extends into the margins 3-4 lines in each direction from the initial.

Further information: This leaf is much smaller than the leaves from liturgical books 2-4, which were owned by religious institutions. The size makes it more suitable for private reading, perhaps by a wealthy layperson. Private ownership of manuscripts became much more common in the late Middle Ages (ca. 1300-1500) thanks to the growth of market economies. Books of Hours (used to pray the Liturgy of the Hours) were especially popular among the laity given the growth of lay devotion in this period.

In such manuscripts, gold leaf illuminations add value that is both economic and spiritual (gold represents the power and presence of God). The gold L-initial marks the beginning of a text that is particularly important in the Liturgy of the Hours: Psalm 148, the "Laudate" psalm, which an observer of the Divine Office would have prayed every morning (hence the name "Lauds" for the first canonical hour).

The leaf contains the following texts: