French books of hours: making an archive of prayer, c. 1400-1600
The Book of Hours was a 'best-seller' in medieval and early modern Europe, the era's most commonly produced and owned book. This interdisciplinary study explores its increasing popularity and prestige, offering a full account of the Book of Hours as a book - how it was acquired, how i...
| Résumé: | The Book of Hours was a 'best-seller' in medieval and early modern Europe, the era's most commonly produced and owned book. This interdisciplinary study explores its increasing popularity and prestige, offering a full account of the Book of Hours as a book - how it was acquired, how it was read to guide prayer and teach literacy and what it meant to its owners as a personal possession. Based on the study of over 500 manuscripts and printed books from France, Virginia Reinburg combines a social history of the Book of Hours with an ethnography of prayer. Approaching the practice of prayer as both speech and ritual, she argues that a central part of the Book of Hours' appeal for lay people was its role as a bridge between the liturgy and the home. Reinburg describes how the Book of Hours shaped religious practice through the ways in which it was used. A social history of the book of hours. Culture and commerce ; Owners and their books ; Prayer book and primer -- An ethnography of prayer. Words and rites ; A fragment of a religion ; Prayer to the Virgin Mary |
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| Description: | Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015) |
| ISBN: | 1139030493 |
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139030496 |