Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
"Medievalists will welcome Marking the Hours....This richly illustrated analysis of Books of Hours used for prayer and meditation shows what can be learned from the scribbles and annotations that the owners, including many women, have added." Sarah Williams, BBC History Magazine
Review
"This is a glorious feast of a book. Yale University Press has, as always, devoted extraordinary resources to making it both beautiful and good....With Duffy as our guide, the apparently random scribbles of often nameless men and women start to sound like a clear message from the distant past." Kathryn Hughes, The Guardian (UK)
Review
"The most beautiful history book of the year" Ruth Scurr, The Times (London)
Review
"Marking the Hours is a fascinating book, full of insights into medieval spirituality and religion. Written with style and wit, it is also sumptuously illustrated. Like its subject, this is a book to treasure." Juliet Barket, Literary Review
Review
"[A]n arresting and beautiful book..." Paul Johnson, The Spectator
Review
"Eamon Duffy's Marking the Hours brilliantly opens up 'windows on men's souls' as well as being this year's most beautifully produced work of history." John Adamson, The Sunday Telegraph
Review
"[P]assionate and knowledgeable about the faith of ordinary English people before the Reformation...[Duffy] has yet again opened for the reader a window into the medieval world of faith and fervour." Catholic Herold
Review
"[An] enchanting and engaging inquiry into the private devotions of English men and women in the late Middle Ages....Probably the most intimate glimpse possible into medieval social history." Christopher de Hamel, New York Review of Books
About the Author
Eamon Duffy is professor of the history of Christianity, Cambridge University, and fellow of Magdalene College. He has received many prizes for his previous books, including the Longman-History Today prize and the Hawthornden prize.