Compared to the Renaissance, medieval art is slightly less popular and receives less attention from the public. However, we love to reclaim or at least remember parts of art history that seem a bit forgotten and that is why in this article we will talk a little about the Books of Hours.

As such, these books were manuscripts replete with illuminations and miniatures that accompanied psalms, hymns, and prayers. These used to be made personally and to order, therefore, each one had different characteristics and elements than any other Book of Hours. For example, illustrations and hymns were often selected to suit the client, although the illustrations were not strictly necessary. This may seem somewhat confusing since they are usually considered as a characteristic element of these books, which considerably raised the price of the manuscript, however, they were dispensable. People with less economic possibilities could opt for a book without illustrations or miniatures and find them at completely accessible prices.

However, they did have aspects that were part of each one of them or, they were considered typical content in them, since they had a utility to fulfill for the religious who commissioned them. These elements were: The Office of the Dead, the Litany of the Saints and the Hours of the Virgin Mary. The first is made up of the Penitential Psalms, these are seven and consist of prayers to God for forgiveness, so that their prayers are heard and that their sins are not rebuked in the wrath of the Lord, such as Psalms 6 and 101 (“Domine, ne in furore” and “Domine, exaudi” by their Latin names) known in Spanish as “Do not rebuke me, Lord, in your anger” and “Hear, Lord, my prayer” respectively. On the other hand, the Litany of the Saints has 5 parts: Supplication to God, Invocations to the Saints, Invocations to Christ, Supplications for needs and Conclusion.

Finally, The Hours of the Virgin Mary. These were a division of the day that was used in the medieval era to establish the eight canonical hours in which prayers were held in monasteries and these could be followed by devotees with their Books of Hours, whose name comes from these also known as Marian Hours.

On the other hand, the origin of the manuscript is different. The monks and nuns in the monasteries had to recite a set of psalms a day, the great variety of these was gathered in a book known as the Psalter. This one was a bit more complicated and had to be memorized in its entirety by monks and priests. Over time, this would become known as a Breviary, whose content consisted of psalms, prayers and readings, among other elements of the liturgy of the hours of the Catholic office. Later, a less strict and customizable version would go down in history as the Book of Hours we know.

Another possible origin?

Several centuries before Christ, around 1500, a civilization with enormous cultural and scientific development had created a book very similar to the Book of Hours. We are talking about the Book of the Dead that the Egyptians made.

Egyptian mythology was extremely rich, the worldview and the set of gods that made it up was broad. Among their myths, there was the belief that the dead had to go through multiple tests in the Duat (the underworld) and the judgment of Osiris to have a peaceful rest in the afterlife. The Book of the Dead consisted of spells that would help the deceased with all these difficulties and challenges in their journey through the underworld after their death.

Like the Book of Hours, these were usually commissioned and made personally and uniquely for each person who asked for one, although it was more marked in Egyptian culture that the Book of the Dead was specifically for the high-ranking members of their social pyramid (priests, nobility, etc.).

Although we cannot affirm that the Book of Hours is based on or precedes the Book of the Dead since the Psalter is known as its origin, sharing the existence of the Egyptian book and its similarities with the Catholic manuscript serves a little to compare and create some perspective on the history of art and the multiple creations that we have developed throughout it beyond the classic format of painting on the easel.

Source: History of Art.