Revised-Office of the Dead in English Books of Hours
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?41 ;225/1 ;2 ?41 01-0 59 1937-90+ 58-31 -90 8@>5/ 59 ?41 .;;6 ;2 4;@=> -90 =17-?10 ?1A?>! /# &')%"/# &)%% >BQBI >DIFLL - ?IFRJR >TCMJSSFE GOQ SIF 0FHQFF OG <I0 BS SIF @NJUFQRJSX OG >S# -NEQFVR '%&& 2TLL MFSBEBSB GOQ SIJR JSFM JR BUBJLBCLF JN =FRFBQDI,>S-NEQFVR+2TLL?FWS BS+ ISSP+$$QFRFBQDI"QFPORJSOQX#RS"BNEQFVR#BD#TK$ <LFBRF TRF SIJR JEFNSJGJFQ SO DJSF OQ LJNK SO SIJR JSFM+ ISSP+$$IEL#IBNELF#NFS$&%%'($'&%* ?IJR JSFM JR PQOSFDSFE CX OQJHJNBL DOPXQJHIS THE OFFICE OF THE DEAD IN ENGLAND: IMAGE AND MUSIC IN THE BOOK OF HOURS AND RELATED TEXTS, C. 1250- C. 1500 SARAH SCHELL SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY SCHOOL OF ART HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS DECEMBER, 2009 1 ABSTRACT This study examines the illustrations that appear at the Office of the Dead in English Books of Hours, and seeks to understand how text and image work together in this thriving culture of commemoration to say something about how the English understood and thought about death in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The Office of the Dead would have been one of the most familiar liturgical rituals in the medieval period, and was recited almost without ceasing at family funerals, gild commemorations, yearly minds, and chantry chapel services. The Placebo and Dirige were texts that many people knew through this constant exposure, and would have been more widely known than other 'death' texts such as the Ars Moriendi. The images that are found in these books reflect wider trends in the piety and devotional practice of the time. The first half of the study discusses the images that appear in these horae, and the relationship between the text and image is explored. The funeral or vigil scene, as the most commonly occurring, is discussed with reference to contemporary funeral practices, and ways of reading a Book of Hours. Other iconographic themes that appear in the Office of the Dead, such as the Roman de Renart, the Pety Job, the Legend of the Three Living and the Three Dead, the story of Lazarus, and the life of Job, are also discussed. The second part of the thesis investigates the musical elaborations of the Office of the Dead as found in English prayer books. The Office of the Dead had a close relationship with music, which is demonstrated through an examination of the popularity of musical funerals and obits, as well as in the occurrence of musical notation for the Office in a book often used by the musically illiterate. The development of the Office of the Dead in conjunction with the development of the Books of Hours is also considered, and places the traditions and ideas that were part of the funeral process in medieval England in a larger historical context. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 5 LIST OF FIGURES 7 ABBREVATIONS 9 INTRODUCTION 10 INVESTIGATING THE OFFICE OF THE DEAD ..............................................................................12 PRAYERBOOKS: BOOKS OF HOURS AND PSALTERS.................................................................... 20 READING CULTURE IN ENGLAND.................................................................................................24 CONTINENTAL AND PRINTED .......................................................................................................29 THE STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS....................................................................................................33 CHAPTER ONE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF THE OFFICE OF THE DEAD ........................................................... 37 THE EMERGENCE OF A CHRISTIAN RITE.................................................................................... 40 EARLY LITURGY AND THE ROMAN ORDO DEFUNCTORUM .................................................... 41 THE OFFICE OF THE DEAD AND CAROLINGIAN REFORM....................................................... 45 THE OFFICE OF THE DEAD IN ENGLAND ...................................................................................50 THE OFFICE OF THE DEAD IN DEVOTIONAL BOOKS ...............................................................57 CHAPTER TWO IMAGES OF THE FUNERAL AND REQUIEM MASS ........................................................................ 61 DEATH AND THE COMMUNITY ..................................................................................................... 63 EARLY VISUAL INFLUENCES AND THE DEATH OF THE VIRGIN .............................................. 68 THE BODY AT REST AND IN PROGRESS ........................................................................................73 MATERIAL EMBELLISHMENTS ....................................................................................................... 78 “NINETY-THREE DOZEN CANDLES”: PROVISION FOR LIGHTS ............................................... 81 “BRYNG IN ÞE WEPARS, ARAYYD IN BLAK” ............................................................................. 95 FUNERAL NARRATIVES: FROM BEDSIDE TO GRAVE ............................................................... 101 CHAPTER THREE SOULS, SAINTS AND SNAILS: OTHER THEMES IN THE OFFICE OF THE DEAD.................... 105 “LORD! TO ÞEE WE BITAKEN ÞE SOULES OF ÞI SERUAUNTIS”: IMAGES OF SOULS.......................................................................................................................... 105 SUDDEN DEATH AND MEMENTO MORI: PREPARING FOR DEATH .....................................118 MIRACLES, VISIONS, AND SAINTS ...............................................................................................127 ANIMAL TALES IN THE OFFICE OF THE DEAD ........................................................................129 BIBLICAL NARRATIVES IN THE OFFICE OF THE DEAD ............................................................134 THE UNDEAD: LAZARUS AND THE PROMSIS OF RESURRECTION .........................................147 3 CHAPTER FOUR MUSIC IN SOCIETY: LEARNING AND USE.................................................................................. 153 MUSIC IN THE MONASTERIES ..................................................................................................... 155 “HOW ADMIRABLE IS THE SCIENCE OF MUSIC” ..................................................................... 157 LAY MUSICAL EDUCATION .........................................................................................................160 CHAPTER FIVE MUSIC, THE PARISH AND THE OFFICE OF THE DEAD ...........................................................167 “WHY DO THE SORROWING, IN THEIR LAMENTATION, EXPRESS THEIR VERY GRIEF WITH MUSICAL MODULATIONS” ...............................................................168 “… AND TO SYNGGE FOR ME AL-SO”: REQUESTS FOR MUSIC ..............................................172 THE MUSICAL VOICE OF THE COMMUNITY .............................................................................. 178 WHY A SUNG SERVICE? ................................................................................................................ 182 CHAPTER SIX MUSIC AND ART IN MEDIEVAL BOOKS......................................................................................189 THE SOURCES ................................................................................................................................ 191 MUSIC AT PART OF THE SERVICE ...............................................................................................197 NOTATION AS MNEMONIC .......................................................................................................... 202 BEAUTIFUL TO BEHOLD: MUSIC AS A VISUAL ART .................................................................. 208 JOB: FUNEREAL PROTAGONIST AND PATRON SAINT OF MUSIC ........................................... 212 “SCRIPTUM EST ANNO DOMINI…”: MADE BY WHOM? .......................................................... 221 CONCLUSIONS WIDER INFLUENCE OF THE OFFICE OF THE DEAD .............................................................. 229 FINAL CONCLUSIONS.................................................................................................................... 231 AVENUES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH ........................................................................................ 235 APPENDICES A: MUSIC TRANSCRIPTION ......................................................................................................... 239 B: CATALOGUE OF MANUSCRIPTS WITH A NOTED OFFICE OF THE DEAD ....................... 241 C: CATALOGUE OF MANUSCRIPTS WITH IMAGES OF THE OFFICE OF THE DEAD............. 247 SUPPLEMENT ............................................................................................................................... 286 BIBLIOGRAPHY MANUSCRIPT SOURCES A .......................................................................................................... 291 MANUSCRIPTS SOURCES B .......................................................................................................... 293 SECONDARY SOURCES.................................................................................................................. 297 FIGURES 329 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to several institutions and individuals for the support that they offered me during my years of research. I should like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Julian Luxford, for his advice, encouragement, and patience. I would like to express my gratitude to those that provided financial support for this project: the University of St Andrews School of Art History, the Thomas and Margaret Rodden Trust, the Russell