Books of Hours

Resumen. El presente trabajo se centra en uno de los códices iluminados más destacados que se conservan en los fondos de la Biblioteca Capitular de Toledo. Se trata de un misal destinado al cardenal Juan de Medici (1475-1521), futuro papa León X, cuya procedencia se vincula a la colección personal del cardenal Javier de Zelada (1713-1801), donada a la catedral primada a finales del siglo XVIII. Este manuscrito se distingue por su extraordinario aparato decorativo, compuesto por iniciales y viñetas iluminadas que reflejan los rasgos estilísticos característicos del iluminador toscano Atavante degli Atavanti (c. 1452-c. 1525). Realizado hacia finales del siglo XV, el misal constituye un ejemplo sobresaliente de la producción artística italiana de la época, al tiempo que pone de manifiesto la riqueza y sofisticación estética inherente a los fondos capitulares toledanos. Palabras clave: Códice iluminado; catedral de Toledo; Atavante degli Atavanti; manuscritos; coleccionismo.

Pismo i sacrum to relacja, która inspiruje badaczy od wielu lat, ale polifonia zjawiska nie ułatwia syntetycznego ujęcia. Rękopisy z kręgu sacrum poświadczają starą konstatacje o potędze słowa pisanego, opinii którą wyrazili jako pierwsi antropolodzy za Claude Lévi-Straussem i Jackiem Goody. Pismo to narzędzie w celu dominacji i podboju. Jeśli przypomnimy często komentowane zdanie Michaela Clanchy, iż życie tekstów średniowiecznych zamyka się w trójkącie: making -keepinig -using, to w przypadku średniowiecznych tekstów sakralnych obraz zamyka się w kręgu piśmienności kościelnej i odzwierciedla relacje między różnymi poziomami kultury. Przypomnijmy, że podstawowy podział na litterati i illitterati wprowadzony przez Herberta Grundmanna, oznaczał uczonego i nieuczonego w Piśmie Świętym, a dopiero połączenie illitteratus ac idiota oznaczało analfabetę lub -jak to określał Jakub z Paradyżapopulus sine litteris. Relacje jeszcze lepiej tłumaczy znaczenie słowa bibliotheca, które w kręgach kościelnych oznaczało tylko księgi Pisma Świętego, źródła wiary w chrześcijaństwiereligii księgi. Wszystko to, co powyżej, obrazuje zjawisko ujęte w tytule: uzus sakralny jako monopol pisarzy kościelnych, a w kręgu pism religijnych szczególnie. Czy była to wspomniana dominacja z podbojem, można polemizować. Kodeksy w uzusie sakralnym spełniały rolę narzędzia do organizacji i formowania kultu, zarówno na poziomie wyższym, uczonej refleksji teologicznej, liturgicznej, kanonicznej, biblijnej, jak też niższym poziomie do budowania pobożności i duchowości indywidualnej w duszpasterstwie. o drugie z wymienionych obszerne kościelne piśmiennictwo sakralne jest ujmowane T pod wspólnym mianem, zaproponowanym przez Leonarda E. Boyle'a oraz Josepha Goeringa, pastoralia, które w najszerszym ujęciu obejmuje "wszelkie podręczniki, pomoce lub techniki od dyrektyw biskupich po mnemotechniczne wykazy siedmiu grzechów głównych, które pozwoliłyby kapłanowi lepiej zrozumieć jego urząd, nauczać swój lud i udzielać sakramentów (...) pogłębić ich wiarę i pobożne zachowania". Należą doń różne gatunki piśmiennictwa pastoralnego: podręczniki spowiednicze, traktaty o cnotach i wadach, komentarze i wykłady modlitw, katechizmy, zbiory kazań, kolekcje exemplów kaznodziejskich, traktaty z kazusami teologiczno-moralnymi, statuty synodalne, akta wizytacji. Takie piśmiennictwo, które rozwinęło się po IV Soborze Laterańskim z 1215 roku, stanowiło fundament w długim procesie chrystianizacji, ewangelizacji i wyznaczyło drogę do powstania późniejszych katechizmów. Perspektywę źródłoznawczą wyznaczają przede wszystkim repertoria: Mortona W. Bloomfielda, Richarda Newhausera i Istvána Petera Bejczy, ponadto bliższego stosunkom w Europie Środkowej Jiřego Kejřa oraz Johanna Baptisty Schneyera. Tytułowy uzus sakralny realizuje się najpełniej w pastoraliach, w pragmatycznym piśmiennictwie duszpasterskim, które towarzyszyło obszernym kolekcjom kazań. ORCID AUTORA: 0000-0001-8345-5307 prof. dr hab. Krzysztof Bracha Instytut Badań Literackich PAN Medieval codex in sacral use an introduction to the issue LITURGICA Wykład 2 Średniowieczna książka w uzusie sakralnym CZWARTEK, 22 I 2026 Ewangeliarz na tronie Kodeks jako obraz królującego Chrystusa-Logosu Wystąpienie ukazuje wpływ myśli teologicznej Orygenesa na symboliczną stronę wydarzeń soboru w Efezie (431), w trakcie których biskup Cyryl umieścił na tronie Ewangeliarz, widząc w nim realnie obecnego pośród zgromadzenia Jezusa Chrystusa. Zastąpienie przewodzącego tradycyjnie obradom ojców soborowych cesarza Zbawicielem, wpisuje się również w proces poszukiwania teologicznego uzasadnienia dla autonomii Kościoła i jego emancypacji spod władz imperialnej. Wydarzenia efeskie, a także kształtująca się po nicejskim soborze (325) teologiczna idea Chrystusa-Króla władcy wszechświata oraz orygenejska koncepcja wcielającego się w Pismo Logosu wywarły duży wpływ na wczesnochrześcijańską ikonografię, przyczyniając się do wykształcenia nieznanych jej wcześniej tematów. Dostrzeganie w kodeksie Ewangeliarza realnie obecnej osoby Syna Bożego implikowało ewolucję rytuału liturgicznego związanego z publiczną ekspozycją kodeksu w efekcie czego, włączono doń wiele elementów z imperialnego ceremoniału.

Niniejsza praca dotyczy przedstawień ciała, nagości i narządów płciowych w Bardzo bogatych godzinkach księcia Jeana de Berry, wykonanych w latach 1412-1416 przez Pola, Jeana i Hermana de Limburg. Modlitewnik ten jest nie tylko odzwierciedleniem zainteresowań jego patrona, ale także odbiciem kultury średniowiecza i licznych tradycji literackich i ikonograficznych. Przedmiotem pracy jest pięć miniatur: Styczeń fol. 1v, Luty fol. 2v, Człowiek anatomiczny fol. 14v, Adam i Ewa, fol. 25v i Chrystus opuszczający pretorium fol. 126v. Każda z nich prezentuje skomplikowane operacje wizualne i odmienne sposoby przedstawiania ciała i genitaliów.

Review of: Libro de Horas de la Biblioteca Nacional de Mexico. Silvia Salgado Ruelas y Tonantzin Stephani Saldana Torres. Mexico: Fondo Editorial Estado de Mexico (FoeM), Secretaria de Educacion del Gobierno del Estado de Mexico (Coleccion Fundiciones), 2016, 152 pp. ISBN 978-607-495-504-0.

Le livre d’Heures McGill, MS 156 n’a jamais fait objet d’une etude scientifique exhaustive, hormis quelques notices placant son elaboration en Franche-Comte ou en Bourgogne apres 1450. En effet, ce manuscrit offre plusieurs difficultes d’identification et d’interpretation. Ainsi, le caractere composite de ses textes liturgiques, tout en pointant vers l’Est de la France, rend opaque la definition de son usage ; son decor, partiellement deteriore et mutile, ne fut jamais lie a un atelier particulier ; son hagiographie se refere a un horizon cultuel apparemment heteroclite. Nous tenterons de relever ces defis grâce a une analyse detaillee des dimensions codicologique, hagiographique, liturgique et artistique de ce manuscrit, laquelle menera a de nouvelles hypotheses concernant l’usage liturgique, les circonstances de l’elaboration et la datation de ce livre d’Heures. De meme, nous proposerons d’associer le decor de ce manuscrit a l’atelier d’un des enlumineurs les plus interessants de ...

Per le proposte di recensione, si prega di inviare i volumi alla Redazione. La rivista si avvale della procedura di valutazione e accettazione degli articoli double blind peer reviewing. Per le fotografie di questo numero, l'Editore si scusa per eventuali omissioni o errori e si rende disponibile per integrare ed emendare, se informato dagli aventi diritto.

The authors of the article address the question of the originality and significance of the Christo­logical interpretation of five psalms (Ps 2; 20[19]; 45[44]; 99[98]; 110[109]) included by Fr. Jakub Paweł Radliński in his work titled The Royal Throne, published in 1735 for the needs of the Priestly Confraternity in Sanok. The book was prepared as a formation manual. For this reason, its reading prompts questions about the criteria for selecting the texts, the purpose of the Christological interpretation of the psalms, the originality of the edition in relation to other works of this type, as well as the specific theological and spiritual message it conveys. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the research, the authors employ various methods and approaches. They begin by presenting the particular features of Radliński’s trans­lation of the psalms in comparison with other Polish translations of the Psalter from the 14th–18th cen­turies. This contextual study is also important from a hermeneutical perspective, as it allows one to assess the theological correctness and the legitimacy of the Christological criterion in the translation of the psalms. Next, the psalm texts are subjected to an exegetical analysis that takes the canonical approach into account. In the next stage, the confraternity book is compared with other similar texts discovered in various libraries and archives in Poland for the purposes of the study. The use of the com­parative method makes it possible to determine its historical value, biblical and theological distinctive­ness, and ultimately to indicate the purpose of applying the Christological criterion in the translation of the psalms with reference to the formation of priests, who were the intended recipients of the book. The fruit of the thoughtful selection of psalms and their interpretation is the presentation of Jesus Christ as High Priest and King, an encouragement for the clergy to adopt an attitude of adoration toward Him and, as a consequence, to imitate His virtues. The emphasis on the dignity of Christ and His authority over the entire world was particularly important in the post-Reformation context, which had significantly diminished the value of the sacrament of Holy Orders.

Paper fragments of four Greek manuscripts have been discovered in the Russian National Library during the restoration of the binding of the Gospel in Arabic, with a Latin translation, published by the Medici printing house in Rome in 1591. According to my attribution, these are liturgical texts: 35 leaves from an Octoechos with Arabic notations in the margins, an edge-cut bifolium with the liturgy of St. Basil the Great, one edge-cut leaf from a Book of Hours, and a schematic drawing of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. My analysis of the paleography of the writing of these fragments allows me to conclude that all these manuscripts were created in the Greek communities of the Basilian monasteries of Southern Italy and Sicily in the 13th to the 15th centuries, and the drawing, apparently, before the middle of the 16th century. The Gospel of 1591 first belonged to the famous Russian intellectual Simeon Polotsky, then passed to the renowned copyist of the Moscow Printing Court, Priest Nikifor Semyonov, and after that it came to be found in the library of Sylvester Medvedev. This Arabic Gospel and especially the Greek fragments from the binding are unique in our archival collections representing late medieval and early modern book culture.

In late medieval Europe, veils signified mourning by covering either images or bodies. During Lent, they were draped over religious images in an iconoclastic gesture that marked Christ's suffering and death, setting the stage for their dramatic unveiling on Good Friday to enact his resurrection. Similarly, mourners wore black robes that covered their heads and bodies during funerals. Though these two practices have been studied separately, this paper examines them together by comparing two sets of images: depictions of the veiled Christ in scenes of the Mocking, and representations of mourners, especially those on the tomb of Louis of Laval in his book of hours. I argue that Lenten veiling, funerary robes, and images of the veiled Christ all perform a state of 'deanimation', a suspended condition between life and death. Veiling enacts this by treating bodies like images (through iconoclastic concealment) and images like bodies (by presenting them as suffering). Building on studies by Amy Knight Powell and Noa Turel, I adopt the term 'deanimation' to show how these visual performances draw on Pauline image theology: the idea of Christ as both body and image, and the Church as his body awaiting transformation into his image at the Last Judgement. This theological framework also helps explain the hierarchical distinctions expressed through mourning robes, which have previously been described as a 'liminal' form of dress. Given the Church is a collective body, its images do not 'constitute' bodies, to draw on frameworks analysed in the introduction to this collection, as though images and bodies were clearly distinct. The 'deanimate' body, whether individual or collective, is rather both body and image, articulating mourning for the dead in being bodies that do not yet conform to the image of Christ.

This paper discusses the emergence of a specific decorative technique, developed by scribes producing legal textbooks in late twelfth-century Bologna. The migration of this marginal, penwork technique is traced from Bologna to Paris and Oxford, and identified in surviving manuscripts known to have been in the possession of Reading Abbey in the thirteenth-century.

Liturgical research today needs, more than ever, solid studies that come to support and confirm the continuity, authenticity, and stability of the living liturgical tradition of our Church. Therefore, any work that considers liturgical sources can only enrich research. The Taurinensis B. VII. 30 is, in my opinion, for the study of Liturgy in general, and for the history and evolution of Byzantine church hymns in particular, clear evidence of the continuity and stability of our worship structures and rites, since it contains liturgical rites attested in the 8 th and 9 th centuries, which do not seem to have changed much to this day. The codex contains fragments from the Psalms, from the Biblical Songs (odes) and from various commentaries on the Psalms and Odes; fragments from troparia and from the orders of certain Canonical Hours such as: Hour I, III, VI, IX, Obednitsa, Great Compline and Midnight Office. I therefore consider that a brief presentation of it at the Conference is an occasion for real joy.

Con la voluntad de abordar los vínculos de intimidad que las mujeres medievales establecieron con los llamados libros de horas, y a fin de demostrar como estos fueron espacios de cultura, amistad, devoción y espiritualidad femenina libre, esta propuesta plantea el estudio del contenido escrito e iluminado de algunos libros de plegarias comisionados por mujeres entre los siglos XI y XV.
Para corroborar dicha hipótesis, veremos como las mujeres medievales que encargaron libros de plegarias reflejaron en ellos – mediante la inclusión de inscripciones, signaturas, retratos, emblemas familiares, recordatorios conmemorativos y comentarios personales – el testimonio de su existencia, dejando constancia de su paso por el mundo. Igualmente, añadiendo al compendio de plegarias preexistentes oraciones especiales que interpelaban sus sentimientos piadosos, legaron, entre las páginas de dichos libros, el recuerdo de sus intereses, preocupaciones y preferencias devocionales.
Asimismo, teniendo en cuenta como los libros de horas fueron, en algunas ocasiones, el primer punto de contacto de las mujeres medievales con la lectura, y estando presentes en estos recursos gráficos y visuales como abecedarios, rimas de vocabulario o marcas de puntuación – usadas por las madres para guiar y acompañar el aprendizaje de sus hijas –, veremos cómo los libros de horas funcionaron también como espacios de educación y transmisión de cultura entre mujeres.
Igualmente, fijándonos en los testamentos de mujeres propietarias de libros de horas y en su regalarse y legarse entre madres e hijas, amigas o vecinas queridas dichos objetos preciados – y las esperanzas depositadas en sus plegarias –, hablaremos de estos como espacios de amistad, reciprocidad y afecto entre mujeres. Y es que los libros de horas medievales devinieron amuletos que inmortalizaban y afianzaban, como sellos simbólicos, los vínculos de complicidad e intimidad tejidos entre mujeres, actuando como espacios de encuentro y circulación de autoridad femenina.
Así pues, considerando los libros de horas comisionados por mujeres como respuestas materiales a una creciente necesidad femenina de experienciar la devoción y la espiritualidad propia de manera libre, íntima, personal y sin intermediarios; como pequeños tesoros personalizados que fueron también herramientas educativas y culturales; y como símbolos de intimidad, amistad y estima que fortalecieron los lazos de unión entre mujeres; la presente propuesta sugiere que también través de los libros de horas encargados por mujeres, y en el rastro de su memoria, creencias e identidades inscrito en sus libros, podemos hablar de la vida de las mujeres en la edad media.

Claude d’Urfé was ambassador to the Valois at the Council of Trent (1546-48), and delegate to the Kingdom of France at the Holy See (1548-51). He is primarily known to specialists in the French Renaissance for two particular commissions he made during his Italian stay: firstly, Renaissance artworks intended to decorate the chapel of the medieval castle of his ancestors, La Bâtie, in the Lyon countryside; secondly, his Book of Hours, currently kept in The Huntington Library. This study aims to highlight the archaeological watermark of both the chapel and the book, which has so far been overlooked by scholars.

Books of Hours, or horae, were popular medieval devotional texts that enabled laypeople to follow the Church’s daily prayer cycle. Rooted in the Little Office of the Virgin, they included psalms, prayers, and hymns for each canonical hour. Highly customisable, they reflected regional traditions and personal devotion. Widely used across Europe, horae guided daily spiritual life and were central to late-medieval lay piety.

Powstanie i rozwój drukarstwa w Kaliszu w wiekach XVII i XVIII są związane z działalnością jezuitów, którzy założyli w tym mieście pod koniec XVI wieku Kolegium, a następnie seminarium duchowne. W ciągu 190 lat (1603-1793) pracująca dla potrzeb tych instytucji drukarnia, w początkowym i końcowym okresie swej działalności zmieniająca właścicieli i nazwy, była niezwykle prężnym ośrodkiem wydawniczym, posiadającym liczne przywileje. Wydawano przede wszystkim druki o charakterze religijnym, ale także podręczniki, wielokrotnie wznawiano różne

This chapter introduces the volume by presenting key concepts and outlining contributions. Starting from the observation that various features of medieval manuscripts give material shape to the images of history with which manuscript makers worked, it explores the interrelation of concepts, medium, and practices in manuscripts dealing with history. In addition to being informed by ideas about history, manuscripts could serve to form and modify such ideas by drawing on the practices and conventions of making and using manuscripts of the milieus that produced and held them. With examples from Peter of Poitiers' Compendium historiae in genealogia Christi and the Grandes chroniques de France, it makes the case for the centrality of the manuscript medium and the makers of manuscripts in bringing into shape ideas about time, history, and meaning.

This study offers an in-depth exploration of the visual representation of Roman Rite liturgical altars in medieval images from the 13th to the 15th centuries, presenting a fresh perspective on the altar as a central and complex element of medieval liturgical furnishings. It examines key iconographic themes, such as the introit Ad te levavi animam meam and masses celebrated by saints, often depicting divine interventions during the Eucharist. Additionally, the research investigates the role of performative visual elements, such as curtains, which contributed to the depiction of sacred space within altar scenes. These visual devices help convey the altar as a space imbued with spiritual significance. Drawing on a wide range of contemporary visual and documentary sources, the study traces the continuity and variation in the altar's iconography, offering a nuanced understanding of its role in medieval Christian worship. By examining how artists employed visual symbolism to emphasize the sanctity of the altar, this research sheds new light on the ways medieval altars were imagined and represented in the broader context of medieval art.

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.

Activists fighting evictions in Madrid develop various social, affective, and material connections with and disconnections from their homes. This is especially important for people who are immersed in a regime of economic austerity and neoliberal housing policies that have provoked the social and material unmaking and remaking of homes. These processes take place and are performed through the making and unmaking of material and affective links that people have with objects, materials, and infrastructures. I show how making, unmaking, and remaking precarious homes are multifaceted processes that involve material destruction and reconstruction. They are also affective and political responses to austerity and material loss. More importantly, they bring the intimacy and care for the home to the realm of political activism within the PAH (Platform for People Affected by Mortgages).

In its opening chapters, the paper presents the establishment of the museum, the characteristics of the historical collection, and the creation and structure of the photographic and documentary material. Using the basic museum activities, such as the creation of collections, professional treatment, cataloguing and digitisation, the author works her way up to historical research. The second part of the paper deals with the Koralewski family. The author has professionally assessed this family collection comprised of 144 collector’s pieces. She outlines a brief family genealogy and its connections to the town of Levice.

Le livre d’heures, emblème de la piété laïque et domestique à la fin du Moyen Âge, a longtemps été étudié sous l’angle de son décor. Conçus comme des supports personnalisés de dévotion, ces ouvrages ont été modifiés par leurs propriétaires successifs, ajoutant ou supprimant des éléments selon l’évolution des pratiques liturgiques et des valeurs. Une étude codicologique portant sur quarante-et-un livres d’heures du diocèse de Metz et neuf autres liés à la production messine permet d’examiner ces manuscrits sous toutes leurs dimensions : objets de prestige, outils spirituels, mais aussi témoins de l’histoire et de la transmission culturelle. Leur parcours ne s’arrête pas au Moyen Âge : à l’époque moderne, ils circulent entre familles et institutions, sont adaptés, collectionnés ou parfois délaissés. Cette recherche s’attache à décrypter, à travers les traces matérielles laissées sur le parchemin et les reliures, la perception et l’usage de ces ouvrages dans les Trois-Évêchés du XVI au XVIIIe siècle.

Assiettes creuses, circulaires, à bordures à 6 pointes
intercalées d'accolades à centres plats,
à fonds plats, et bordures plates. D = 25,5cm
en faïence de grand feu, dont une avec dorure 
& 
Assiettes à 6 accolades à bordures plates
de l’atelier de FAUCHIER.

The social and political ideology of the Carolingian empire was shaped by
intellectual culture and the development of books. This is seen in the development of devotional manuscripts such as Psalters and Sacramentaries. Such books were used as aids to prayer and incorporated innovations that reflected the political aspirations and religious and cultural priorities of the Carolingian age. This shaped a devotional culture that extended beyond monasteries to the court and aristocratic elites.
Several paratextual elements of these manuscripts remained present in later manuscripts including the widely circulating Books of Hours and
subsist in contemporary exhibitions, particularly Chester Beatty’s Heavenly
Flowers’, a display of the sixteenth-century Hamilton Field Book of Hours. There are methodological similarities between original manuscripts and their contemporary exhibitions, including visual stimulation, interpretive functions and dissemination of knowledge. However, exhibitions often avoid making explicit connections to their original cognitive and religious functions, promoting instead their aesthetic and historiographical value.

En determinadas ocasiones el propio significado de un objeto puede llegar a convertirse irrevocablemente en causa intrínseca de su degradación. El cantoral, como libro de música litúrgica de gran formato, era utilizado en un entorno eclesiástico y a menudo elaborado tras los propios muros religiosos. Su lenguaje y significado no contemplaban por tanto su dimensión fuera de este contexto. Así, su propia definición ha ido forjando una historia material singular; la gloria y esplendor que ampararon estas colecciones durante su época de uso diario en instituciones eclesiásticas ha quedado frecuentemente relegada al olvido, amén del comercio y despiece de muchos de estos elementos patrimoniales una vez que cayeron en desuso.

A pesar de su desafortunada historia, aún conservamos algunos ejemplos de estas maravillosas colecciones en significativos centros religiosos e instituciones culturales públicas y privadas, aunque el desconocimiento y desinterés que ha acompañado a estos complejos libros ha provocado que muchas de estos ejemplares aún permanezcan en el anonimato. Por otro lado, entre las colecciones localizadas, salvo en contadas excepciones, la mayor parte de los volúmenes independientemente de que se encuentren descontextualizados o no, aún permanecen en la tónica general de sus inicios: el nulo diálogo con el público.

Los libros de coro son artefactos culturales de gran belleza e importancia histórica pero en desuso; esta situación les ha llevado a convertirse poco a poco en bienes distantes en el tiempo anclados en el pasado, cada vez más desconocidos, más complicados de valorar y, por tanto, peor conservados en general. Además para la difusión de su conocimiento no hay actividades culturales dirigidas a establecer conexión entre ellos y las nuevas generaciones de corta edad. Con esta propuesta experimental se ha pretendido dar a conocer este patrimonio bibliográfico a un grupo de niños, planteando una nueva estrategia, que les haga atractivo el conocer estos libros y entender sus características, promoviéndose así la sensibilización y revalorización hacia este patrimonio tan complejo y particular.

En el presente estudio, James Marrow ilumina con sus reflexiones respecto de las novedades introducidas por la pintura de los primitivos flamencos entre los siglos XV y XVI, y en particular por la miniatura holandesa bajomedieval, de uso privado y devocional, presente en los Libros de Horas y de oración. Según el autor, las novedades introducidas por los iluminadores de los Países Bajos, -incluido el propio Jan Van Eyck en las Horas de Milán-Turín-no apuntan sólo a la formalidad de los libros en cuestión sino que también articulan el contenido y el significado de las imágenes, definiendo así una particular relación entre el lector de las Horae y las mismas, en el período que va desde fines de la Edad Media hasta los comienzos del mundo moderno. El análisis del profesor de Leuven se inicia examinando las novedades formales que supone el aporte de la miniatura holandesa: novedades de formato, que incluyen la aparición de nuevas formas de libro, como el chansonniere o libro de amor en forma de corazón (v.gr.

En el presente estudio, James Marrow ilumina con sus reflexiones respecto de las novedades introducidas por la pintura de los primitivos flamencos entre los siglos XV y XVI, y en particular por la miniatura holandesa bajomedieval, de uso privado y devocional, presente en los Libros de Horas y de oración. Según el autor, las novedades introducidas por los iluminadores de los Países Bajos, -incluido el propio Jan Van Eyck en las Horas de Milán-Turín-no apuntan sólo a la formalidad de los libros en cuestión sino que también articulan el contenido y el significado de las imágenes, definiendo así una particular relación entre el lector de las Horae y las mismas, en el período que va desde fines de la Edad Media hasta los comienzos del mundo moderno. El análisis del profesor de Leuven se inicia examinando las novedades formales que supone el aporte de la miniatura holandesa: novedades de formato, que incluyen la aparición de nuevas formas de libro, como el chansonniere o libro de amor en forma de corazón (v.gr.

Between the late 14th and early 15th centuries, many village and parish churches from the Spiš and Gemer counties of the Kingdom of Hungary (now Slovakia) were decorated with wall paintings depicting the Passion of Christ. These Passion cycles provide a valuable visual record for examining how theological, social, and local devotional influences impacted the planning, depiction, and arrangement of scenes. Using select churches as case studies, this paper explores how these frescoes drew upon devotional writings—such as the Meditationes Vitae Christi and Legenda Aurea—while incorporating popular practices like the veneration of the Virgin Mary and Corpus Christi.

By analysing the iconography and arrangement of the scenes in the churches of Žehra, Ochtiná, Podolínec an Slatvina,  I investigate how these cycles were intentionally designed to evoke emotional engagement, inspire piety, and reflect societal attitudes, including anti-Jewish sentiment and the promotion of humility. I also examine the impact of contemporary Passion Plays and liturgical practices on the structure and content of these visual narratives. This study offers new insights into how the Passion cycles of Spiš and Gemer served not only as theological tools but also as reflections of local devotional and cultural dynamics, enhancing our understanding of medieval religious art in the region.

The communist regime is a system that intends to control all aspects of life. To do such a thing, it needs to control the way people behave, what they do and what they think. In this manner, the communist regime in Romania extended its influence both in the way of life of adult workers, and of young people. Along the Communist Party, in Romania and in all communist countries, existed a youth organization, in this case called the Union of Communist Youth. Its mode of organizing and functioning were like the ones of the party and its purpose was to train young people according to the political-ideological characteristics of the regime. Members of the U.C.Y. had all sorts of activities, and one category referred to marking festive moments, anniversaries, the majority related to historical events, but all of them interpreted in the regime’s manner. In the following pages we will see how the youngsters from Oradea, members of the U.C.Y., were celebrating such moments in the 1970s and in the early 1980s.

O livro de horas do século XV registrado com o número 50,1,022 na Fundação Biblioteca Nacional, no Rio de Janeiro, faz parte de um conjunto de quatro manuscritos medievais provenientes da biblioteca da Casa do Infantado, de propriedade dos secundogênitos da Família Real portuguesa e que, antes de chegar ao Brasil, haviam sido incorporados à Real Biblioteca Portuguesa. No caso específico do manuscrito 50,1,022, ele também possui um superlibris do Marquês de Pombal em sua encadernação, datada do século XVIII, que serve como pista de sua procedência antes de chegar ao acervo brasileiro. Além disso, também sabemos que o manuscrito 50,1,022 possui uso da diocese de Rouen. Localizada na região da Normandia, ao norte da França, Rouen foi um importante centro de atividade artística 2 no século XV, sendo superada apenas por Paris. François Avril (2016) 3 atribui a autoria desse livro ao ateliê de um importante artista 1 Graduanda em História pela FFLCH/USP. Pesquisadora do LATHIMM/USP.

Há na Biblioteca Nacional, no Rio de Janeiro, o que pode ser considerado uma raridade: uma coleção de manuscritos medievais em um acervo público brasileiro. Trata-se de uma pequena coleção composta de oito livros de horas medievais do século XV, sendo quatro deles oriundos da Real Biblioteca Portuguesa, que chegaram aqui em 1810, após a transferência da família real portuguesa para o Brasilquanto aos restantes, eles são provenientes de doações individuais feitas à Biblioteca Nacional. Além da escassez de fontes, há também uma carência de estudos brasileiros relativos às imagens medievais e, sobretudo, que tratem dos manuscritos dessa coleção. Existem algumas exceções, como os trabalhos de Damião Berge, frei beneditino fluminense, que elaborou um estudo sobre a coleção, na década de 1970, intitulado Livros de horas manuscritos iluminados da Biblioteca Nacional do Rio de

The collection of medieval manuscripts from the Diocesan Library in Pelplin is the most numerous one among those held by church institutions and the fifth in the general ranking of all Polish library collections. As many as 187 out of 273 volumes held at the Pelplin Diocesan Library are of Cistercian origin. Part of the former Cistercian repository has been dispersed among different archives in Poland and abroad (Berlin, Kórnik, Linköping, Poznań, Toruń, Warszawa, Wilno and Wrocław). 202 medieval manuscripts have already been identified (also in this study) as volumes from the former Cistercian repository. Out of these, 34 codices were copied at the monastic scriptorium in Pelplin sometime between the beginning of the 14th century and ca. 1427 (these include: a fragment of an antiphonary, which now forms the upper and the lower pastedowns of Graduale L 21; two quires sewn into a 13th-century Processionale Cisterciense; a cartulary and a Liber mortuorum – the latter two volumes are not discussed here since they are not decorated). No manuscripts testifying to the later evolution of the scriptorium have been selected as plausible candidates for an analysis in this dissertation. The Pelplin manuscripts have been identified on the basis of provenance notes, colophons, chronicle records and, last but not least, a comparative analysis of pen-flourish motifs. It should be pointed out that only 15 manuscripts have been singled out in previous studies so far as works originating from the Cistercian scriptorium in Pelplin. Moreover, the ascription of some of these volumes was merely impressionistic (four volumes do not meet the criteria adopted in this dissertation and, therefore, their Cistercian provenance cannot be verified).
The aim of this dissertation is to establish the scope of the scattered Cistercian collection by comparing and verifying the state-of-the-art research on the Pelplin Library and the local scriptorium. The methodology adopted here involves codicological, historical-artistic and paleographical aspects. Owing to this multi-dimensional approach, it has been possible to establish certain facts concerning the organization of work within the scriptorium and its dynamics over four generations (furthermore, an attempt has been made to estimate the number of monks responsible for the writing and for the decoration of parchment and paper leaves).
The most important part of the study is the historical-artistic analysis of the pen-flourish. On the basis of a comparative analysis of the pen-flourish it was possible to identify a group of medieval manuscripts written at the Pelplin scriptorium. Accordingly, chapter Pen-flourish at the Pelplin scriptorium – the evolution and authors, outlines the evolution of the decorations in the scriptorium over the span of more than one century. It focuses on such aspects as the transfer of the composition techniques and the formal skills from the master to a disciple, and the continuity of ars illuminandi per analogiam to ars scribendi or ars dictandi, as practiced in Cistercian monasteries. The methodology adopted in this dissertation, in particular, research into the historical-artistic, paleographical and codicological aspects, was not only instrumental in the identification of the above-mentioned 32 Pelplin manuscripts, but it also helped to determine the chronological arrangement of the sources.
The activity of the scriptorium at the Pelplin monastery (documents are outside the scope of this dissertation) was initiated in the 1st quarter of the 14th century, or, perhaps, slightly earlier – at the beginning of the 14th century. The first codex copied there has been dated to 1319 on the basis of a colophon analysis. Presumably, two decorators were active there in the first decades of the 14th century. They both drew the decorations in an informal style, applying a thin line. This style was derived from the formal techniques originally created in the mother house in Doberan. One of the artists decorated the book from 1319, mentioned above, and four other volumes, namely, 17 (27), 27 (44), 57 (66) and Ms. theol. lat. fol. 483 from Staatsbibliothek in Berlin. All of these manuscripts were copied by four scribes. The affiliation of the second artist as a Pelplin-based illuminator is highly plausible but it has not been verified equally convincingly. The latter artist decorated manuscripts from the beginning of the 14th century. He drew pen-flourish motifs in three manuscripts: 45 (96), 66 (116), L 36, which were copied by eight copyists. The next stage of the scriptorium activity can be associated with the second part of the 14th century. This is when Sermones hiemales 50 (78) were copied (1357). Five other manuscripts, namely, 3 (4), 20 (47), 51 (95), L 9 and L 21, were made in the 3rd quarter of the 14th century. The books were copied by at least five scribes and decorated by three illuminators. The most prolific artist of the group painted the pen-flourish in five codices imitating the motifs and compositions introduced by his predecessors. This illuminator drew thick lines, which makes his compositions heavy and often somewhat clumsy.
The last quarter of the 14th century is distinguished by one decorator (and likely also the scribe) – friar John and at least five copyists. Between 1375 and 1400 John decorated eight manuscripts: 67 (134), 85 (186), 99 (199), 109 (198), 156 (204), 180 (218), 182 (220) and L 13. Two of them bear colophons, namely, 85 (186), dated 1395, and 99 (199), dated 1400. As far as Graduale L 13 is concerned, its date has been established on the basis of the year given in the chronicle – 1375 – presumably the time when it was copied in Pelplin. The decorations carried out by friar John are distinctive and bear a number of characteristic features, such as specific motifs (especially the swelled bulbs) and their assembling as well as a characteristic flowing line. His pen-flourish details are distinctively light, clear, almost transparent.
The most fruitful period of the Cistercian scriptorium was the 1st quarter of the 15th century. Ten manuscripts (additionally a cartulary and Liber mortuorum) were copied at the time by at least six copyists and decorated by four illuminators: 5 (1), 8 (5), 14 (17), 15 (10), 16 (16), 22 (11), 23 (19), 98 (206), 181 (219), L 21a. Two of them imitated the solutions and the style of friar John. But they were not merely passive adapters. Rather, they expanded his repertoire of motifs reshaping some of them and merging others in novel ways. One of the decorators – educated elsewhere or, perhaps, inspired by other compositions – drew straight pen-flourish compositions based on two details only. Finally, the last decorator imitated the solutions derived from the Pelplin school in the 1st and 3rd quarter of the 14th century.
The identification of the manuscript sources which formed part of the pre-war Pelplin archives has been only marginally discussed in the dissertation. According to a 20th-century inventory, 29 volumes from this repository are missing. One of the missing sources may possibly be identified with a codex which bears a Pelplin classmark 210 (138) and is now held at the University Library in Warsaw. Another one has been tentatively associated with the Archdiocesan Archive in Poznań. The latter bears classmark 209 (137) (nb. the same classmark appears on one manuscript currently held in the Pelplin library). Yet another volume bearing a former Pelplin classmark (but not the contemporary one), namely 39 (56), can be found in the National Ossoliński Institute Library in Wrocław.
To conclude, this dissertation provides some answers to the questions regarding the art of illumination and other scribal activities in the Teutonic Order. The analysis presented here focuses on the pen-flourish decorations characteristic for one scriptorium but the adopted methodology paves the way for an extensive analysis in related areas.