It turns out this pairing shows up elsewhere, too. Morgan Library and Museum, MS G.55, fols. Two miniatures of the Last Judgment in the Hours of Pierre de Bosredont, both featuring a hare or rabbit in the lower-left margin. Hunting scenes are not uncommon in medieval art, as hunting was a popular pastime for the elite, but is there any chance that this one could have something to do with the Last Judgment? In the bottom-left corner, we see a hunting greyhound, apparently distracted and facing away from three animals playing and snacking on the other side of the page. Even though they look similar to other medieval drawings of rabbits, the hunting methods on display-hunting with dogs and trapping-may point to them instead being hares. Such creatures are somewhat ambiguous, representing either rabbits or hares. There is a hunter in the upper-left corner, attempting to capture prey that is facing away from him, obliviously enjoying the flowery meadow. More puzzling than the main illustration is what we see in the accompanying margins, which depict a medieval hunt. Images like the one in the Belleville Hours would have reminded readers to remain dedicated to their religious practice so as to not meet the same fate as the damned souls in the illustration. This event-grisly, terrifying, hopeful, and triumphant at the same time-is a common subject in medieval books of hours. Devils appear in the bottom right, reading out names of damned individuals who are being mercilessly devoured by the flaming maw of hell. In the image, Jesus appears at the top, arms outstretched, surrounded by saints and angels, as the pious followers of Christ await their ascent into heaven. One of the most detailed scenes in the manuscript shows the Last Judgment. Harry Ransom Center, Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts 8, fol. These paintings may have been amusing to their artists and the many reader-viewers who enjoyed them, but there is at least one instance where the imagery in the margins seems to resonate with the miniature it surrounds.įrom the Belleville Hours, a miniature of the Last Judgment with hares or rabbits being hunted in the margins. In the same position a couple of pages later, we see two “wild men” (mythical men covered in hair) rolling around in a field of floral designs, brandishing what appear to be knives they are under a beautiful and dignified representation of the Holy Trinity. Generally, this marginal content appears to be wholly unrelated to the primary illustrations it surrounds.įor example, in the lower margin of the page showing the Crucifixion, we see a man wrangling two snails on leashes. Surrounding the more than three-dozen miniatures still present-each illuminated with gold-one often finds something typical in books of hours yet seemingly bizarre: lavish plant life punctuated by chimerical and undignified beasts called grotesques or hybrids, and a range of other peculiar figures and scenes. ![]() Among other scenes and figures, one encounters the Four Evangelists, the major events in the story of Jesus, and notable saints. Even at this size, they manage to include both elegant calligraphy and stunningly detailed miniature paintings and decoration. Today, the book’s parchment leaves measure only 12.1cm x 8.3cm (~4.8″ x 3.3″). ![]() Harry Ransom Center, Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts 8, fols. ![]() One particularly fine example at the Center is a volume known as the Belleville Hours, crafted in mid-15th-century France for Marie de Belleville, granddaughter to King Charles VI her name appears in one of the book’s French-language prayers.įrom the Belleville Hours, a miniature of the Crucifixion with snails in the lower margin and part of a French-language prayer naming Marie de Belleville. Originally meant by their artists to stoke fervor and imagination, they were surely compelling to medieval devotees, too. But while these prayers are what give these books their conventional name, the vivid pictures in many surviving examples are what usually grab the attention of modern audiences. They are divided into eight sections to be read at different times, or “hours,” of the day. The exact contents vary somewhat from copy to copy, but central in all of them are a group of prayers devoted to the Virgin Mary. Though from different places, all were made during the fifteenth century, and each contains a variety of Christian devotional texts. Visit the Center’s website to learn more about its collections and get involved.Īmong the many manuscripts from medieval Europe at the Ransom Center are nearly a dozen compact volumes known as books of hours. This and other articles in Primary Source: History from the Ransom Center Stacks represent an ongoing partnership between Not Even Past and the Harry Ransom Center, a world-renowned humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin.
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