book of hours
Medieval devotional manuscript
A book of hours is a medieval Christian devotional text containing prayers, psalms, and readings organized around the canonical hours—the eight times of day designated for prayer.
These illuminated manuscripts were personal prayer books for laypeople, often lavishly decorated with miniature paintings and gold leaf.
The most famous examples, like the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, are treasured as masterpieces of medieval art.
Liturgical dawn devotions
- laudsExpresses high admiration
- primeReadying for action
- sextExplicit mobile communication
- noneNot a single one
vespers · compline · psalms · antiphon · suffrages · litany · calendar · rubric
Reduced-scale representation
- vellumPrepared calfskin for writing
- calligraphyOrnamental handwriting art
- borderOuter edge or limit
- pigmentColor-imparting material
gilding · marginalia · drollery · acanthus · burnished · vermillion · grisaille · roundel
Treated hide for manuscripts
- codexAncient bound manuscript
- folioSingle-fold page format
- scribeManual document copier
- bindingLegally or morally required
quill · recto · verso · colophon · gatherings · quire · ruling · pricking
Monastery manuscript workshop
- monkCloistered religious devotee
- abbeyMonastic house of worship
- LatinAncient Roman language
- FlemishBelgian Dutch variant
Burgundian · atelier · limner · workshop · commission · patron · duchess · nobility
Sincere religious devotion
- contemplationSustained reflective attention
- meditationFocused attention practice
- prayerAddress to deity
- intercessionActing on another's behalf
veneration · layperson · patron · kneeling · oratory · indulgence · prayerbook · missal
matins
Liturgical dawn devotions
none · vespers · compline · psalms · antiphon · suffrages · litany · calendar · rubric · collect
miniature
Reduced-scale representation
- vellumPrepared calfskin for writing
- calligraphyOrnamental handwriting art
- borderOuter edge or limit
pigment · gilding · marginalia · drollery · acanthus · burnished · vermillion · grisaille · roundel · quatrefoil
parchment
Treated hide for manuscripts
binding · quill · recto · verso · colophon · gatherings · quire · ruling · pricking · catchword
scriptorium
Monastery manuscript workshop
Flemish · Burgundian · atelier · limner · workshop · commission · patron · duchess · nobility
piety
Sincere religious devotion
- contemplationSustained reflective attention
- meditationFocused attention practice
- prayerAddress to deity
intercession · veneration · layperson · patron · kneeling · oratory · indulgence · prayerbook · missal · breviary
- devotional itemsBible, devotional, hymnal, prayer journal, prayer card
- medieval arttapestry, ivory carvings, fresco, Lindisfarne Gospels, parchment
- prayer booksbreviary, prayerbook, breviaries, missal, missals
- Catholic Devotionalsmissal, breviary, novena, daily devotional, litany
- church booksBible, missal, hymnal, missals, breviary
- Divine Officelauds, vespers, compline, sext, none
book of hoursmissal
Catholic service text collection
pontifical · breviary · gradual · lectionary · ritual
book of hourssiddur
Jewish daily worship text
Quran · Bhagavad Gita · Talmud · Book of Shadows · Book of the Dead
book, hour, hours, bookish, hourly, booklet, bookshelf, bookmark, hourglass