View the Rossdhu Book of Hours in Medieval Manuscripts Online
What is a Book of Hours?
What is the Rossdhu Book of Hours?
The contents of the Rossdhu Book of Hours
Tell me more about the pictures and the writing
Digitising the Rossdhu Book of Hours
References & further reading
What is a Book of Hours?
Books of Hours were prayer books popular in the late Middle Ages, from the late 13th to the 16th century. They were intended to be read in private by ordinary people during the course of the day.
Books of Hours centred around a series of prayers addressed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Christ. These were known as the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or the Hours of the Virgin. Hence the Latin term for the book is Horae (Hours).
There are often other prayers and readings in a Book of Hours.
Books of Hours were the best-sellers of the Middle Ages. Devout layfolk wanted to have their own prayerbooks and follow the Church’s programme of daily prayers. People could either buy a readymade Book or commission one. They could choose the prayers they wished to include, the saints they wished to honour, the size and number of illuminated miniatures and initials, and the binding. Religion and art combined in a popular and appealing mix. Each Book is different and carries with it the story of the taste, status, piety and wealth of its owner.
The most famous Books of Hours were the six Books commissioned by the Duc de Berry. Today there still exist more Books of Hours than any other type of illuminated manuscript. There are thirteen Books of Hours and sixteen single pages in public collections in New Zealand.
What is the Rossdhu Book of Hours?
This Book of Hours was made in the Southern Netherlands, probably in Bruges, sometime between 1475 and 1500.
The Book's first owner is thought to have been Elizabeth Dunbar, Countess of Moray who lived in north-east of Scotland with her first two husbands. In the calendar there are brief obituaries, erased but just decipherable under ultra-violet light, for her father (11 August 1429) and her son James (18 March 1493). There are also several saints added, who are associated with the area, including Apollinaris (July 24). Elizabeth's third husband was Sir John Colquhoun, who lived at Rossdhu, near Luss. The date of dedication of the chapel of St Mary at Rossdhu, 6 April 1469, is recorded in the calendar.
The Book was bought by Sir George Grey in 1863 and given to the Auckland City, along with 33 other medieval manuscripts and his collection of books and papers in 1882.
The Book has been digitised and is the first manuscript in our new database
Medieval Manuscripts Online.
The contents of the Rossdhu Book of Hours
Calendar
The calendar lists the saints commemorated on particular days. Special feast days and local saints are written in red, or with colour and illumination.
Fifteen O’s
Fifteen Orisons (prayers) of Saint Bridget of Sweden. Saint Bridget (1303-1373) was canonized in 1391.
Suffrages in honour of the Trinity and the saints
A series of prayers to particular saints.
Hours of the Virgin (Use of Sarum)
A series of prayers, formally known as the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It consists of various combinations of psalms, hymns, prayers, verses and responses to be recited eight times during the day at the canonical hours: Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline.
Hymns and prayers in honour of the Virgin
Devotions in honour of the Passion
The events of the last days of Jesus’s life. Miniatures show the agony in the garden of Gethsemane, betrayal by Judas, Christ before Pilate, the scourging, Christ carrying the cross, the crucifixion, the deposition from the cross, the entombment, the resurrection.
The Biblical account of the Passion is found in the New Testament in the gospels of Saint Matthew, Saint Mark, Saint Luke and Saint John.
Eucharistic devotions
Prayers offered during the Mass.
Penitential psalms
Psalms on the theme of a sinner seeking forgiveness: Psalms 6, 31, 37, 50, 101, 129, 142.
Psalms of degree
Psalms 120-134, the longest psalms.
Litany
A series of prayers to the saints or petitions, followed by OR, “Ora pro nobis” (Pray for us).
Office of the Dead
Psalms and readings to be said around the bier of a dead person. Also recited daily as a reminder of one’s own mortality, or as a protection against dying suddenly and unprepared.
Commendation of Souls
A series of psalms recited after the Office of the Dead.
Psalms of the Passion
Psalms 21-30
Tell me more about the pictures and the writing
The book is written on vellum, which is made from the skin of animals. The language of the writing is Latin, and the script gothic. Many of the words are abbreviated. Dark brown ink has been used for the words of the prayers and readings. For titles, chapter headings or instructions, red ink is used. This is called rubrication. View example. Sometime in the 19th century the book was rebound in dark brown morocco leather.
Illumination
Medieval manuscripts are often described as “illuminated”, meaning embellished with gold and silver, and also luminous colours. These illuminations are found in the first letters of words, borders and pictures.
As well as being decorative and a pleasure to look at, initials and borders help the reader to find the way through a book of tightly written text with no page numbers or punctuation. They play the role of headings and punctuation by marking the start of a new section, and indicating paragraphs, verses, or corrections.Initials and borders vary in size and ornateness within a manuscript. This hierarchy indicates the importance of the text on this page, in comparison with another part of the same manuscript.
Initials
In the Rossdhu Book of Hours there are four types of initial.
- One and two line initials show the beginnings of verses. They are in gold or blue with penwork in black or red. View example.
- Two to three line initials indicate more important sections of the text. They are illuminated with burnished gold on a background of pink or blue, decorated with white tracery. Tiny gold dots and ivy leaves extend from the corners into the margins of the page. View example.
- Four to five line foliated initials are the most ornate. They are found on the most important pages of the book along with miniatures and wide decorative borders. They are in pink or blue, decorated with foliage designs on a gold or coloured background. View example.
- Six to seven line historiated initials contain little pictures related to the text they begin. For example, the letter “L” shows Saint Lawrence - the patron saint of libraries - with his gridiron at the beginning of a prayer to him. View example. The “D” (Domine) of the Seven words from the Cross surrounds a picture of the Crucifixion. View example.
Borders
Borders of acanthus leaves, flowers and fruit, and the occasional bird surround the pages with miniatures and the text written underneath them. Some flowers, such as cornflower, daisy, campion and strawberry are recognizable today. View example.
Miniatures
Today, the word miniature is usually understood to mean a small painting, often a portrait. In a medieval manuscript, miniatures are illustrations to the text in the broadest possible sense. They can range in size from little scenes found inside an initial to a full page picture with no text.
In the Rossdhu Book of Hours the large miniatures show the Saints, the Passion of Christ, the raising of Lazarus from the dead and the ascent of souls into heaven. The people wear 15th century clothing, whether it is court dress, armour, or working dress. The backgrounds are either outdoor landscapes with towns in the distance or interiors.
After the text of a manuscript was written, the illuminator added the borders and initials. Finally, the miniatures were added, usually by a separate skilled artist.
Digitising the Rossdhu Book of Hours
Digitisation of the book of hours was carried out by the Heritage Materials Imaging Facility in Wellington. The manuscript was safely cradled under a Cruse CS 185SL450 Sychron Light scanner. Each page was scanned from above using preservation standard light levels and handling techniques. Large files were created (600ppi at full size of page) and saved on DVD in tiff format. This allows us to provide high quality digital images without having to re-handle the original item.
If you wish to order reproductions of the Rossdhu Book of Hours, please complete our Image Order Form.
References
Margaret M. Manion, Vera F. Vines and Christopher de Hamel.Medieval and renaissance manuscripts in New Zealand collections. Melbourne: Thames and Hudson, c1989.
Further reading
There are also many facsimiles of famous books of hours | 
