A good way to start the Marian month of October is by enjoying this particularly glorious Book of Hours, since the principal text in any such book is always the Little Office of the Virgin Mary. This particular example was made around 1430 for Marguerite, a daughter of Louis I, duke of Orleans, born in 1406, who was countess of Vertus and Etampes from 1420 until her death in 1466. The repertoire of sacred images is not especially large, but the ones it does have are very richly detailed, and the floral borders which are found on every page of very intricate and beautiful. (Bibliothèque nationale de France. Département des Manuscrits. Latin 1156B)
It begins, as most Books of Hours do, with a calendar. Every day has an entry, but many of the Saints were not kept liturgically, and in any case, none of them were mentioned in the Little Office itself. The most important feasts are written in gold letter, and here we see the name of St Denys on October 9th, but no other indication of liturgical rank is given.
The second part of the calendar for October.
Many books of Hours included a group of four Gospels, one from each of the Evangelists: John 1, 1-14, the Gospel of Christmas day; Luke 1, 26-38, the Annunciation; Matthew 2, 1-12, the Epiphany; and Mark 16, 14-20, the Ascension. Here we see St John on the island of Patmos, where he wrote the Apocalypse, with his eagle next to him.
In this particular case, the folios which contained the latter part of this Gospel, the image of St Luke, and the beginning of the Gospel of the Annunciation are now missing. (A few other illustrated pages elsewhere are also missing.) Here we see St Matthew with the angel...
and St Mark with his lion.
Most books of Hours also include two fairly long prayers to the Virgin, known from their incipits as
Intemerata and
Obsecro te.
At the beginning of the second prayer, Marguerite of Orléans is depicted kneeling in prayer before the Virgin and Child.
The most common arrangement in Books of Hours of this period is for each Hour of the Little Office to be introduced with an image of an episode of the Virgin’s life. The repertoire of these is not absolutely fixed, but the set we see here is the common standard. Before Matins, the Annunciation; the Office is said according to the Use of Rome, in which the invitatory is the words of the angel Gabriel to Mary, “Ave, Maria, gratia plena; Dominus tecum.”
An example of some of the more decorative letters which are found at the beginning of many verses; these are used throughout the book.
Before Lauds, the Visitation.
Before Prime, the Birth of Our Lord.
Before Terce, the apparition of the angels to the shepherds.
Before Sext, the Adoration of the Magi.
Within the typical repertoire, the Presentation of Christ in the temple normally appears before None, but in this manuscript, the picture has gone missing. Before Vespers, we see the flight into Egypt...
and before Compline, the Coronation of the Virgin.
Books of Hours usually also contain two brief Offices of the Cross and of the Holy Spirit, each Hour of which consists only of a short hymn, an antiphon, a versicle and a prayer. In this case, there is a picture before each of these Hours, where some manuscripts only have one at the beginning. The Hours of the Holy Spirit will be shown in the second part of this article. Before Matins, the arrest of Christ in the garden. (This Office has no separate Lauds.)
Before Prime, His appearance before Pilate.
Before Terce, the carrying of the Cross to Mt Calvary.
Before Sext, the Crucifixion.
Before None, the death of Christ on the Cross. The last two images, the deposition from the Cross (before Vespers) and the entombment (before Compline) are missing.
