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Book of Hours
A Book of Hours is a prayer book to be read in private by ordinary people. Private recitation of prayers was an expression of the lay person’s desire to imitate the prayer life of the religious and clergy.
Books of Hours were extremely popular from the late thirteenth century onwards, and sold in immense numbers. They were often profusely illuminated in gold, and decorated with miniatures and elaborate borders.
Calendar
The calendar listed the saints commemorated on particular days. Special feast days and local saints are written in red, or with colour and illumination.
Commendation of Souls
A series of psalms recited after the Office of the Dead.
Devotions
Prayers.
Eucharistic prayers
Prayers offered during the Mass.
Fifteen O’s
Fifteen Orisons (prayers) of Saint Bridget of Sweden. Saint Bridget (1303-1373) was canonized in 1391.
Historiated initial
An initial letter containing an identifiable scene or figures, sometimes relating to the text.
Hours of the Virgin
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.
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.
Joys of the Virgin
Prayers celebrating the joyous moments of the Virgin Mary’s life: The Annunciation, Visitation, Conception of Christ, Nativity, Adoration of the Shepherds, Adoration of the Magi, Presentation of Christ in the Temple, Christ among the Doctors, Marriage feast at Cana, Multiplication of Loaves, Passion of Christ, Resurrection, Pentecost, Ascension and Assumption of the Virgin.
There are usually fifteen joys, but five, seven and nine also appear.
Litany
A series of prayers to the saints or petitions, followed by OR, “Ora pro nobis” (Pray for us).
Miniature
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.
O intemerata! and Obsecro te!
O matchless one! I beseech you! Two of the most popular prayers to the Virgin, seeking her aid as intercessor to God for the benefit of the sinner.
For the full text of these prayers, see: Roger S. Wieck. The book of hours in medieval art and life. London: Sotheby’s, 1988.
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.
Passion of Christ
The events of the last days of Jesus’s life. Miniatures often 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.
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.
Psalms of the Passion
Psalms 21-30.
Rubrication
A title, chapter heading, or instruction that is not strictly part of the text but which helps to identify its components. Red ink was often used to distinguish such elements, hence the term, which derives from the Latin for red, rubrica.
Seven Last Words
A prayer built around the last words Jesus spoke on the cross.
Suffrages
A series of prayers to particular saints.
Use of Sarum
The text of a Book of Hours, particularly the saints listed in the calendar, varied from city to city or region to region. This was known as the “Use”. The Use of Sarum or Salisbury was widespread throughout England and in continental manuscripts made for English customers.
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