Angels and the Book: an analysis of 'angelic' devotional material from a sample of C15th manuscript Books of Hours

• Main Author: Sarson, Delia
• Published: University of Reading 2014
• Subjects: 242
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.625492

This thesis provides a new analysis of late medieval personal devotion to angels in England, built upon freshly compiled primary evidence. This evidence consists of devotional material collected from a large sample of fifteenth-century Latin manuscript Books of Hours either produced in England or produced elsewhere for the English market. The use of a properly constructed sample of manuscripts in this research has provided a large and varied body of material for analysis. It has also revealed trends and patterns stemming from a clear context, relevant to both the material and to the Books of Hours containing it, across a significant number of manuscripts. Whilst angels feature in all Books of Hours, often in support of devotion to other figures, the emphasis of this thesis has been analysis of the material in which the angels themselves are the main focus of devotion. These 'angelic' texts and illuminations are important because they represent the choices and preferences of individuals, both lay and religious, concerning the contents of their Books of Hours. The main body of the thesis is an analysis of this textual and visual evidence and of its manuscript settings, which leads into fresh devotional perspectives and findings. These relate to both those who composed or produced the materials and those who used them in their Books of Hours. Analysis also leads to the suggestion of new hypotheses concerning the surprising range of sources which was drawn upon in creating specialised and erudite texts.