Art, Identity and Devotion in Fourteenth-Century England: Three Women and Their Books of Hours (The British Library Studies in Medieval Culture)

Smith, Kathryn A.

ISBN 10: 0712348506 / ISBN 13: 9780712348508

Published by The British Library and University of Toronto Press, London, Toronto and Buffalo, 2003

About this Item

A clean, bright copy. Spine not creased. 245 x 175 mm. xx, 364 pp + 8 pages of colour plates. B&w illustrations in the text. A study of the De Lisle, De Bois and Neville of Hornby Hours.

Seller Inventory # 78146

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Art, Identity and Devotion in Fourteenth-Century England: Three Women and Their Books of Hours (The British Library Studies in Medieval Culture)
• Publisher: The British Library and University of Toronto Press, London, Toronto and Buffalo
• Publication Date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0712348506
• ISBN 13: 9780712348508
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Near Fine
• Book Type: Book
• Seller catalogs:
  • History

About this title

Synopsis

Art, Identity, and Devotion in Fourteenth-Century England is the first major study of three profusely illustrated, textually diverse books of hours, the De Lisle, De Bois, and Neville of Hornby Hours, all of which were made for three English laywomen: Margaret de Beauchamp, the wife of a baron and loyal royal servant; Hawisia de Bois, a member of a distinguished knightly family; and Isabel de Byron, the matriarch of a rising gentry family.Through detailed analysis of the manuscripts' visual and textual programs, and by embedding the books within a rich interpretive context constructed from religious and secular literature, sermons, and a broad range of artistic and historical evidence, Kathryn A. Smith examines how the three books mediated the devotional experience of their owners and constructed and confirmed their sense of personal, familial, local, and social identity. The study explores the potential functions of illustrated books of hours ? as vehicles for penitent self-examination, familial, and dynastic commemoration and legitimation, and instruction of one's children ? and reveals how the manuscripts' contents and design accommodated these functions. Art, Identity, and Devotion in Fourteenth-Century England offers new insights into the issues of female patronage and book ownership, lay literacy, and the roles and uses of imagery in later medieval religion.

About the Author

Kathryn A. Smith is an assistant professor in the Department of Fine Arts at New York University.