Book of Hours Leaf

Description: 

Book of Hours Leaf
Dutch (Utrecht), 1440    

ink on vellum
height 16 cm

Portland State University Library Special Collections
Mss. 19, Rose-Wright Manuscript Collection no. 11

 

Kate Steinberg, Medieval Portland Capstone Student, Winter 2005
This single leaf from a mid-fifteenth century Dutch Book of Hours provides an important opportunity to examine part of a Book of Hours used by the common laity. Made of smoothed and whitened vellum, the design of the page is simple. A moderate margin frames the text neatly arranged in 19 lines in a single column on both the recto and the verso. The red ruling is faded. The recto features a simple decorated initial 'L', measuring three lines high and laid in gold leaf on a blue ground with white highlights. Continuing off the initial, a thin blue and gold line runs the entire length of the page, at the top and bottom three gold leaves sprout horizontally. Alternating red and blue simple capital letters denote the beginning of a sentence, and "psalm9," written in red, appears in the text near the top of the page. Midway down the verso side, the letter 'I' in solid gold stretches two lines tall, with lively red Litterae Florisae, or pen flourishes, to decorate the space around the golden letter in small circular details. The pen flourishes continue in full swoops running along the left margin. The verso has three red and three blue capital letters, and a few words written entirely in red. The script is written in a gothic minuscule style in dark brown ink.

A point of distinction here is that the language used is Middle Dutch, the vernacular of the Netherlands in the mid-fifteenth century. Books of Hours were almost exclusively written in Latin except for those produced in the Netherlands, which were commonly written in the vernacular due to the spiritual revival that swept over the Dutch provinces emphasizing pious reading and private meditation on the humanity of Christ. This movement, called the Devotio Moderna, stressed reading and education in the laity and saw a surge in manuscripts translated and produced into the vernacular, especially Books of Hours.

This Book of Hours was most likely produced in Utrecht around 1440, contemporary to the well-known Dutch example of the Book of Hours of Catherine of Cleves. Utrecht was the seat of a powerful bishopric and was a city with a long artistic tradition. During the fifteenth century, it became the most important center for book production, and several characteristic traits define the Utrecht school of manuscript illumination. However, the rich and decorative courtly style has been the focus of scholarly attention, leaving the more common and modest examples significantly understudied. Because the Book of Hours that this leaf was taken from was dismantled, it remains unknown whether a miniature faced it, or if the decoration was mostly marginal and limited to decorated initials and pen flourishes.

Background Essay
Devotio Moderna and its Effect on fifteenth-century Dutch Books of Hours:

Dutch Books of Hours have a somewhat different history and were produced under another set of circumstances than those made in other Northern European countries in the high Middle Ages. This difference can be attributed to a vital shift in spiritual life that occurred in the provinces of Holland in the late fourteenth century. Dutch reformer Geert Grote (1340-1384), a canon and deacon of the church, withdrew from the world in pursuit of God and embarked on a life of spiritual purity and solitude. However, his powerful spiritual conversion compelled him to return and teach both those residing in monastic communities and laity how to experience a personal relationship with God through trust in God and meditation on the humanity of Christ. His teachings, a movement called the Devotio Moderna, quickly gained a large following and he founded the lay group the Brothers and Sisters of the Common Life, and later a canonical branch called the Canons Regular of the Congregation of Windesheim. Those who belonged to the Common Life took no vows but voluntarily lived in poverty, chastity, and obedience. They aspired to live as the first Christians had, and were expected to work and not beg. Clerics of the order were involved in manuscript production and worked both as scribes and as illuminators. The money they earned went into founding schools throughout the Netherlands.

Grote's teachings opposed asceticism and stressed personal salvation; this was chiefly done through pious reading, writing, and meditation. The order put an emphasis on education, sparking a heightened demand for personal prayer books, Books of Hours being the most common type of material used for private devotion. Grote translated a version of a Book of Hours into Dutch, known as the Getijdenboek van Geert Grote. His translation became widely used, thus allowing those not educated in Latin to participate in this movement of spiritual renewal. The surge of Books of Hours produced in the Netherlands in the later Middle Ages was likely influenced and shaped by the renewed spiritual movement taking place initiated by the Devotio Moderna.

Suggestions for Further Reading:

Delaisse, L.M.J., A Century of Dutch Manuscript Illumination. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968.Marrow, James, H. The Golden Age of Dutch Manuscript Painting. New York: George Braziller, 1990.