farfel_n02_070_089

89
May '78
Paris $3.26 (15F)
Book of Hours - French (?) late 15th C
Manuscript leaf - written on vellum - lettre batarde.
5 1/4" x 8" 26 lines to the page.

XS = (Christine - XVIC) p.

No Two mnauscript Books of Hours are exactly alike. Except
for the calendars at the begining, the order of seperate parts
was never fixed + the number of texts included could vary
as much as their position in the book.
Short service or cursus in honour of the Virgin Mary - 1st appeared
in the 10th C. Urban II (1088-99) gave Papal approval by ordering
the service to be recited by clerics for the success of the 1st Crusade
(Officium parvum beate Marie Virginis) Littel Office of Our Lady.
What had started as an accretion to the Breuiary became
the favourite prayer book of lay fold everywhere. Through
the intensity + multiplicity of her cult she became the
most popular expression of faith + devotion in the Middle Ages..
Martins (midnight)
deus in secula seculorum. Amen.
XS matutinas (Lauds 3 AM) beate marie virginis sedim
vrum romane ecclesie.
The book of Hours were deemed so essential a means
of salvation + obtaining indulgences that it is probable
that there were few families of wealth or nobility who
did not possess a copy.