French books of hours : making an archive of prayer, c. 1400-1600
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Bibliographic Information
French books of hours : making an archive of prayer, c. 1400-1600
Cambridge University Press, 2014
- : pbk
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 242-288) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
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.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Part I. A Social History of the Book of Hours: Prologue to Part I
- 1. Culture and commerce
- 2. Owners and their books
- 3. Prayer book and primer
- Part II. An Ethnography of Prayer: Prologue to Part II
- 4. Words and rites
- 5. A fragment of a religion
- 6. Prayer to the Virgin Mary
- Conclusion
- Bibliography.
by "Nielsen BookData"