Marking the Hours: English People and Their Prayers, 1240-1570

by Eamon Duffy

In this richly illustrated book, religious historian Eamon Duffy discusses the Book of Hours, unquestionably the most intimate and most widely used book of the later Middle Ages. He examines surviving copies of the personal prayer books which were used for private, domestic devotions, and in which people commonly left traces of their lives.  Manuscript prayers, biographical jottings, affectionate messages, autographs, and pious paste-ins often crowd the margins, flyleaves, and blank spaces of such books. From these sometimes clumsy jottings, viewed by generations of librarians and art historians as blemishes at best, vandalism at worst, Duffy teases out precious clues to the private thoughts and public contexts of their owners, and insights into the times in which they lived and prayed. His analysis has a special relevance for the history of women, since women feature very prominently among the identifiable owners and users of the medieval Book of Hours. Books of Hours range from lavish illuminated manuscripts worth a king’s ransom to mass-produced and sparsely illustrated volumes costing a few shillings or pence. Some include customized prayers and pictures requested by the purchaser, and others, handed down from one family member to another, bear the often poignant traces of a family’s history over several generations. Duffy places these volumes in the context of religious and social change, above all the Reformation, discusses their significance to Catholics and Protestants, and describes the controversy they inspired under successive Tudor regimes. He looks closely at several special volumes, including the cherished Book of Hours that Sir Thomas More kept with him in the Tower of London as he awaited execution.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Religion, Medieval, Christianity, British Literature, Research

201 pages, Hardcover

First published January 3, 2007

About the author

Eamon Duffy is Professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Cambridge, and former President of Magdalene College.

He describes himself as a "cradle Catholic" and specializes in 15th to 17th century religious history of Britain. His work has done much to overturn the popular image of late-medieval Catholicism in England as moribund, and instead presents it as a vibrant cultural force. On weekdays from 22nd October to 2nd November 2007, he presented the BBC Radio 4 series "10 Popes Who Shook the World" - those popes featured were Peter, Leo I, Gregory I, Gregory VII, Innocent III, Paul III, Pius IX, Pius XII, John XXIII, and John Paul II.

Reviews

[Carl Waluconis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this a few years ago, but some recent readings made me dig through my shelves and examine at it again. This brilliant study examines the markings people made in what was in those times, one of the most important books for them, their prayer books, called the"Book of Hours". Because these years saw religious battles between Catholicism and Protestantism, the books shift ground, with in some cases passages deleted, and then maybe added again. Some marks are seminally important in the religious debates, such as those in Thomas More's prayer books as he awaited his own execution. But with few books in most households, the marks in the books were often not spiritual. Duffy tells us, "Prayers seem to have been judged ‘good’ not by the eloquence of their content, but by their reputed utility and effectiveness: a ‘good prayer’ was more like a well-tested cookery recipe than an eloquent poem which exactly or profoundly articulated one’s deepest feelings." The prayers seemed to possess magic-like qualities, such as for instance calming a storm. When collecting this material, Duffy had to convince book sellers that he wanted and preferred copies that were to a collector, "damaged. With many illustrations of the beautiful volumes and their previous owners' markings , this interdisciplinary study is remarkable and memorable.

[Austin Benson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The chapter on Thomas Mote’s prayer book really makes this one

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellant study of late medieval Book of Hours from England (both manuscript and print). Building on his argument in the Stripping of the Altars, Duffy demonstrates that late medieval piety was not marked by individualism or a trend toward "Protestantism" but that late medieval Christians (whether Richard III or Thomas More) interiorized a communal often conventional devotional life firmly established a liturgical context. He is able to demonstate the very slow acceptance of Reformed theology through the way that book owners edited their Book of Hours to conform with royal decree. Excellant read.

[verbava · Rating 5 out of 5]

невеличке, зате щедро проілюстроване дослідження про часослови й те, як ними користувалися в пізньосередньовічній і ранньореформістській англії. тобто у фокус потрапляють як рукописні, так і друковані часослови, і даффі, звісно, згадує про окремі вишукані екземпляри, але найбільше його цікавлять недорогі й масові книжки. недорогі манускрипти — теж, бо, скажімо, у тих рукописах, над оздобленням яких не заморочувалися, а просто вставляли туди куплені оптом комплекти ілюстрацій, з’являлися зайві — порожні — сторінки, і на цих сторінках користувачі писали, а для дослідника соціального життя книжки немає нічого захопливішого за читацькі нотатки.

це захоплення, звісно, поділяють не всі, і в передмові до книжки даффі згадує про листування з бібліотекарками, які перепитували, чи точно саме ці сторінки йому відфотографувати — бо гарні мініатюри на інших, а тут просто якесь безсовісне калякання, і є тільки надія, що це хтось у власній книжці писав, а не в бібліотечній. це премилі історії, і даффі переказує їх без зверхності, то з самого початку стало ясно, що ми з ним подружимося.

мабуть, найважливіший у дослідженні — наголос на спільнотному значенні часословів. даффі починає з того, що є два погляди на роль цих книжок (які були не просто основними молитовниками для світських людей, а й загалом найпопулярнішими книжками періоду — тобто це на них найчастіше вчилися читати, у них лишали важливі нотатки, ними виховували смак):
• згідно з першим, часослови підштовхували до приватизації, індивідуалізації релігійного життя;
• за другим — вони, навпаки, були додатковим інструментом для залучення у релігійну спільноту.

даффі пише, що сподівається показати слушність саме другої думки, і спочатку елегантно, ненав’язливо, серед інших тез наводить свідчення на її користь, а потім, десь на середині книжки, коли ми йому вже віримо й любимо те, як він пише, вмикає full-on polemic mode, розпочинаючи пристрасну, хоча від того ні разу не менш аргументовану дискусію з представниками першого погляду (названими на ім’я!). це просто майстер-клас із академічного срачу полеміки.

[Joanna Hazelden · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Duffy mentions in his book, the things people wrote in the margins and back of their Horae tells you a bit about them and how they used their prayer books. Even though this subject is separate from the Book of Common Prayer, you can sense the latter's evolution from the Horae. The illustrations and examples added interest and the book is well footnoted. The narrative is wonderful and really stitches together all kinds of Books of Hours to prove the points he is making. How the prayer books evolved from hand lettered manuscripts to printing press is interesting. Obviously the Reformation changed what was in the books, with a clumsy attempt to "de-Catholic" books that produced some ugly state sponsored protestant versions. He makes important points that the books were not created to isolate laypeople from religious community, but to add to their understanding while in Church and to allow them to add private devotions.

[Denise Kettering · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful book full of colorful images of the variety of Book of Hours that were present from the late medieval to the early modern era. Eamon Duffy traces the way these books functioned as devotional objects, family record-keeping devices, and demonstrations of wealth and prosperity. The strength of the book is Duffy's deep expertise in this area tied with the specific examples that he discusses. He gives meaningful examples and the rich images included also help to illustrate the complex history of these books. Overall, this text outlines with word and image the differences that emerged among prayerbooks and how they were used across a relatively long period.

[Mark McPherson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this work. Really quite eye-opening. Though I wish Duffy spent more time on the content of the prayer books itself.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

As one would expect from Eamon Duffy, a well researched piece. Beautifully illustrated to provide examples to Prof Duffy's points. Clear, concise, eminently readable.

[John Osman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Duffy explores not just late-medieval English prayer books but, more importantly, the markings made by the users of the prayer books.

Duffy reiterates that it was not the text but the illuminations which attracted people to these books. As such, these prayer-books stand between the age of stain glass windows and the age of the printed text.

And what is fascinating about these books is how they were customized during production AND during usage, from the inclusion of the users name in the prayer text to illuminations of the users in prayer, All of which assisted the users in their spiritual journey and made the prayer book - and thus the prayer experience - a very intimate and individualistic moment. Some have even claimed that these prayer-books contributed to an increase in individualism in prayer - with its inward focus on the individual as opposed to an outward focus on God. This is aptly dubbed "Spiritual whining."

In this book the reader will learn, among other things, the origins of the book of hours, the main contents or prayer text of the book of hours, how many of these books were made for women, the importance of image over text, the importance of the prayer books for social status, how they kept family histories and genealogies well before the Bible, and Duffy's most important focus, ow they were personalized.

This book is a great read

[Elizabeth Judd Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully illustrated book about the prayer books known as the Book of Hours. The text and photos go together pretty much seamlessly; if the author is talking about a specific Book of Hours then an illustration will be right on the same page with it, or have a dedicated photo page right after (in fact, my only real issue with the book is that I found my eyes jumping to the photo captions, which made reading the main text feel a bit disjointed at times; but having the photo with the text outweighs that distraction in my mind).

The author's intent here is to show how these Books of Hours were used not just as prayer books, but how people added to--marked--the books with family records, notes on prayers, etc.; and how things like superstition and the changes brought on by the English Reformation made a mark on the books. The role of these books in women's lives is also discussed at length.

This is a lovely, interesting book which delves into English medieval and Tudor history, social history, religion, and art; highly recommended to people interested in any or all of those topics.

[Drew Darby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picking up a certain avenue of investigation that arose in his Stripping of the Altars, Eamon Duffy once again did a great job of drawing me in to the world of Pre-Reformation English Christianity.

The two strongest points of the book were Duffy's insightful considerations of the personal prayer books he examined, as well as the annotations of the owners which they bore, as well as the abundance of illustrations the book has.

Perhaps my expectations were too high (based on The Stripping of the Altars), but while the material that is there is most illuminating, I finished the book with the sense of wishing there were more to it. In other words, too short!

Nevertheless, it provided a wonderful peek into the popular piety of the time.

[Kevin de Ataíde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another superlative book by this author, actually rather short but well illustrated. It uses the lay books of the Hours of prayer to demonstrate the ebb and flow of the prayer life of the English just before King Harry's reformation, and then the collapse of that piety under the successive regimes of King Edward and Queen Elisabeth, with the brief respite of Queen Mary's short reign. It is a great joy to see those aspects of English Catholicism in these old books that were preserved among the recusant families and then became commonplace again after 1829 and remain so to this day in many places in England.

[Tom]

Good review in America: http://www.americamagazine.org/conten...

Sounds like strong mix of writing and art. Might have to break my current ban on buying new books for this one.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

The kind of satisfyingly choc-full-of-cool-stuff history book you just want to chew on and savor as Duffy teases out an entire lost world, brought to life from literally (heh!) the margins.

[AskHistorians]

A beautifully illustrated (and surprisingly cheap) study of Books of Hours, the medieval precursor to the modern Book of Common Prayer.

[Fay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting points of view of the Book of Hours (particularly their role in the protestant reformationof England) from a catholic point of view.

[Conor · Rating 3 out of 5]

In typical Duffy fashion this book is well written and keeps you engaged and interested from start to finish. A wonderful book!

[Brackman1066 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't agree with all his arguments, but very readable.