A Manual for Personal Piety: The Book of Hours

Book of Hours manuscript kept at Harvard University

People have always encountered God outside outside of the times and spaces designated for worship. Consider how Moses stood in front of the burning bush, or how Jacob watched angles traversing their heavenly ladder.

Few of us have encounters like these, but we certainly hope to encounter God during times of personal devotions or quiet times of prayer. We usually take it for granted that these moments involve some kind of printed material: a Bible, a book of devotions, a volume of prayers, or perhaps a hymnal. For most of Christian history, however, printed materials were costly and rare, with very few people having access to books. During most of the Middle Ages, for instance, everything was handwritten on animal skins, making the duplication of books very time-consuming and expensive. Even the priests and monks who were charged with reading text during worship services had to share copies that belonged to the entire community.

Detailed artwork accompanied the text (wikipedia.org)

It wasn't until the year 1200 or so that this began to change and Christians started to have book-based personal devotions. This was the time when wealthy lay persons began to get hold of their own books of prayers, called Books of Hours because they were adapted versions of the "liturgy of hours"—the daily prayer services held throughout the day by monastic orders. For about three hundred years these were the most popular books in Europe. They provided a way for laity to participate in the prayers of the church, whether they did so at home or during the services held in the parish. Such books gave lay persons (albeit initially only rich ones) personal access to psalms, prayers, scripture passages, and important dates that were previously held only by the clergy. (Important days of the church year were written in red ink in the books' calendars; they became known as "red letter days.") 

 

Books of Hours were not only spiritual and practical, but they were also works of art in themselves, often containing elaborate illustrations of what the text was describing. In fact, medieval Books of Hours contain some of the best artwork from the period.


A fascinating aspect of these books are the notes that were added by their owners. These included important dates like weddings and births, and the owners would also add their own personal prayers. Some of the more common additions were devotional prayers that could be used while the priest celebrated Communion. There were also protections for one’s home and requests for deliverance from an untimely death. A fascinating book from 15th century was owned by John Talbot, the Earl of Shrewsbury. He spent considerable time fighting in France, so his Book of Hours contains prayers relevant to an English soldier in that situation: prayers for a good death, pardon for sin, charms for protection, and petitions to particular saints associated with the areas where he campaigned. Furthermore, his own book was designed to match the format of his wife’s, with each one having the same joint portrait of the couple.

1300s manuscript from England. At the Boston Public Library.

These books, and the prayers they contained, allowed for European Christians to become more interior in their spiritual practices. It would be going too far, however, to accuse these personal devotional practices of encouraging radical individualism. Remember, people in that time rarely read silently to themselves. Most people read out loud, pronouncing all the words, even if they were alone. Unless you were alone in the wilderness, it was difficult to have personal devotions that were also private. Furthermore, the content of the Books of Hours was meant to enhance, not replace, the worship in the parish church. These books also provided the material necessary for the heads of households to lead prayer services in their homes, which were regular events that included the entire family and their servants.

For more information about Books of Hours, check out these resources:

• Eamon Duffy's 2006 book, Marking the Hours: English People and their Prayers 1240-1570, focuses on the hand-written additions that people made to their own books: family trees, personal prayers, and records of important events in their lives.
  
• Boston Public Library has a page devoted to manuscripts that are in their own collection.
• Harvard University's Houghton Library has a page about their holdings, which includes descriptions of the books' contents, with detailed images of several.