A 14th Century religious Book of Hours
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| This small codex (octavo size) medieval manuscript
(probably 1380-90), is a hand illuminated Book of Hours. It is in French
on vellum and is one of the rare treasures at Charlecote Park. Books of
Hours are designed for devotional study and contain prayers, Psalms and
other texts for use in personal religious contemplation. As you can see
it is in Latin with a Gothic script. The day was split into 8 parts which
is when Monks would stop their other work and enter a period of prayers
and meditation. The book contains suitable texts and prayers for this so
they became known as a Book of Hours. This copy would have been hand drawn
by monks. and was owned by Thomas Lucy III. It is tiny and can be held in
the palm of your hand. When I last checked on-line there were copies for
sale at £292,124, £150,235, and £121,023. |