‘In Spirit the Wiser’

This chapter develops the concept of holy writing by examining letters delivered from heaven, gold writing, and the sanctity of inscription. From the New Minster Charter to the Eadwine Psalter, Chapter 6 asks how modern readers can trace the inherent spirituality and joy of medieval manuscripts—their methods of production, appearance, and use. Close examination of the post-Conquest story of St Wulfstan’s youthful delight in manuscripts reveals the importance for medieval readers of the oculi mentis, the ‘eyes of the mind’—a perceptive form of reading that made spiritual writings accessible and wondrously so. Accessing the potential of holy texts and connecting with them also meant having oneself set into manuscripts, like Books of Hours, or envisioning the potentiality of space for the demonstration of delight through vibrant display of skilful writing.

Visualizing Reading Practices in the Late Middle Ages: Images in a Book of Hours Held at Memorial University

This article studies the images and the Latin and French texts in a Book of Hours of Premonstratensian Use held at Memorial University Libraries. While the Annunciation scene in Books of Hours has been the subject of numerous studies, the Pentecost scene representing Mary reading to the Apostles has received limited attention in research. The article assesses the meaning of these images and their possible connection to reading practices in late medieval Europe.

Gender-Querying Christ’s Wounds

This chapter argues that Christ’s body can be read as a non-binary body in Late Medieval imagery through analysis of images of Christ’s wounds that appear in Books of Hours and prayer rolls. Wounds opened up the gendered representation of the holy body to incorporate aspects of femininity, masculinity and aspects that signify as neither. Through a reading of Christ’s wounds as potential markers of the genderqueer, I argue that an individual’s identification with the non-binary body of Christ could result in identification as a non-binary body for the viewing patron. Genderqueer interpretation of Christ’s body shows how non-binary visual interpretation more broadly is useful for understanding the complexity of medieval bodies and gender.

Visible Past: Urban Space in Flemish Book of Hours of Isabella the Catholic

In this article, images of urban space in the Flemish illuminated books of hours of the 15th century are discussed. The main source is the miniatures of lavishly illuminated Flemish Book of Hours of Isabella the Catholic (The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, the United States). With two special tables author highlights, typologizes, and analyzes the major markers of medieval and renaissance urban space (such as stone bridges, city walls, cathedrals, multi-story houses, etc.) as well as the social structure of miniatures, representing urbanscapes in Flemish Book of Hours of Isabella the Catholic.

Books of Hours

This chapter surveys the history of Books of Hours, prayer books that emerged during the thirteenth century, and for the next three centuries were the principal devotional books of the laity. The author discusses the formats of standard Books of Hours, their iconography, content, numbers and distribution, and elements of their production and ownership.

Benito Arias Montano

Benito Arias Montano (b. c. 1525/27–d. 1598) was a Spanish humanist, censor, polymath, and chaplain to King Philip II, as well as librarian for the royal library at El Escorial. He is best known for having produced the Polyglot Bible—also known as the Biblia Regia (Royal Bible)—printed by Christopher Plantin in Antwerp, a monumental undertaking for which it was necessary to move physically to the Netherlands for an extended period of seven years. There he became an agent of international book culture by virtue of his work on the Inquisitorial Index of prohibited and expurgated books, as well as an acquisitions broker for the Spanish royal library and a circle of prominent Spanish intellectuals including Fernando de Herrera and Francisco Pacheco. In addition to printing the Royal Bible, Plantin also received a contract from the Spanish Crown to print other devotional literature (prayer books, breviaries, missals, books of hours, etc.). Arias Montano supervised this publishing program too. The “Rey Prudente” trusted his judgement enough to request his input on important political decisions after he distinguished himself as part of the Spanish delegation to the Council of Trent, the multi-year gathering which launched the Counter-Reformation. Educated in theology at the Universities of Seville and Alcalá, he also became a Knight of the Order of Santiago. He wrote poetry and prose in both Latin and Spanish on a wide range of topics including medicine, geology, physics, architecture, botany, and even painting. His epistolary correspondence with a transnational network of merchants, diplomats and intellectuals is voluminous. In addition to the above-mentioned languages, he was also fluent in Greek, Hebrew, Italian, and French. His probable converso origins might explain some of his activities as a Hebraist, mostly focused around providing a more literal translation of the Bible than the outdated, but still standard, Vulgate.

Juana of Castile’s Book of Hours: An Archduchess at Prayer

This article examines one of Juana of Castile’s books of hours (London, BL Add. MS 18852) comparing it with those written for members of Juana’s family and seeking to discern how it was used, in order to reassess her peers’ evaluation of her spiritual affinities. It considers how Juana customized her book of hours with a miniature of the Virgin and Child, comparing it with a gifted panel painted by Rogier van der Weyden that Juana treasured to show how she placed herself under the protection of the Virgin. Numbered precepts would be intended for her to instruct any future children and are replicated in Isabel, her daughter’s, book. The office of the Guardian Angel is compared with similar ones in Spain and Burgundy and, like devotion to St Veronica, such prayer is another means of protection. The striking mirror of conscience with its reflected skull, like other similar objects decorated with a skull that Juana possessed, sought to lift her from the decay and sinfulness of the world to the spiritual realm.