by Samara Chee Zhao Ern
Books of Hours were some of the most commonly owned books in the late Middle Ages and would often be the first (or only) book owned by literate individuals. They were also packed with sentimental value; records show many Books of Hours being given to one’s child or loved one and being handed down through families; some books include dates of births, deaths, marriages, baptisms, and more. Due to their popularity and sentimentality, they allow us to take a look at the culture and beliefs of the late Middle Ages.
Books of Hours were divided into sections such as calendars, prayers and litanies, psalm, verses, and more. The leaf on display is taken from the calendar section, with important feast dates and holidays marked out at the top in two columns, and two simple precepts written below the dates. The first precept is written in Latin and taken from a series of ‘characterisations’ of the various months; for example, the precept for June associates the month with mead and beer. The second precept is written in Middle French and explains that since June is the month where things begin to die (leading up to autumn and winter), a 36-year-old man should be looking for a wife before he enters the metaphorical autumn and winter of his life. This reveals social expectations of the time; for example, bachelors in their mid-thirties were expected to be looking for wives before it was too late for them.
This particular leaf comes from an early printed Book of Hours, soon after the transition from manuscript to print. Prior to mechanical printing, Books of Hours were entirely hand-written and hand-illustrated; combined with the labour and manufacturing costs for parchment or vellum, these books were expensive. However, Books of Hours were still bought by people from all classes, from aristocrats to merchants to tradesmen to commoners; hence the Book of Hours’ reputation as ‘the medieval best-seller’. With the invention of mechanical printing, the cost of the books dropped, and printers and publishers capitalised on the demand for Books of Hours to make a significant profit.
Despite the shift to print, this leaf (and many others like it) retain elements of the manuscript tradition to appear more familiar to readers and thus increase their appeal. For example, the displayed leaf contains red lines running across the page; these lines are called ‘rulings’ and were used to write in straight lines. With mechanical printing, such rulings were unnecessary, marking their presence as purely aesthetic. The initial letters at the top of the page (on the displayed leaf, the illustrated ‘K’) were also hand-painted on after printing. Part of hand-painting the initials is due to the difficulty of printing in multiple colours, but also to maintain continuity with manuscript traditions. The leaf then indicates that new printing technology did not significantly change the appearance of books; rather, printers took care to ensure printed leaves appeared familiar to their readers.
The leaf thus offers a window into life in the late Middle Ages, marking the transition from manuscript to print and reflecting the social culture of the time period.
