Leaf from a Book of Hours

Leaf from a Book of Hours

Medieval Literature

Content Description:
On the front page of this piece (two lines from the top starting with the enlarged B) is Luke chapter 1 lines 68-79. This is known as the Benedictus or Canticle of Zechariah. This is the prayer which Zachariah said when John the Baptist was born. It has been an important part of customary Christian worship services. This is followed by a section from the Doxologia Minor - Glory Be. This is a short prayer of praise to the Trinity.

http://www.preces-latinae.org/thesaurus/Cantici/Benedictus.html

http://www.preces-latinae.org/thesaurus/Basics/GloriaPatri.html

France , ca. 1460

Sara Heflin & Johnny Vaccaro

Visual Description:
These pieces of parchment are excerpts from a French Book of Hours circa 1460. These books were often composed in Latin and were quite portable due to their small size. These books contained biblical prayers, texts, and psalms for devotion. The Latin text is in lettre batarde script. The ink is mainly brown with verse section-header backgrounds of dark red and dark blue with gold ink. There are margin illustrations on the left side of the front page and the right side of the back page. These illustrations include flowers, leaves, and various intricate details in what appears to be green, blue, light tan, brown, blue, and pink. Both the front and the back sections contain 20 lines each.

Latin

Bible Verse

a Book of Hours