Books of Hours 121in the crypt of Saint Peter’s. His body was found intact
in 1605.
Boniface was the target of much abuse both within
and outside the church. His enemies portrayed him as a
heretic, a sorcerer, a sodomite, and a betrayer of the
faith, saying these were the least of his sins. Between
1303 and 1311 Philip IV held the threat of a trial of
Boniface and the possible repudiation of his pontificate
by the church over the head of Boniface’s weaker
successors. Boniface’s conflict with Philip IV led in
the pope’s public humiliation, a precipitous decline
in papal prestige, and a major blow to the late 13th-
century concept of papal monarchy. Boniface took the
medieval theory of papal and theocratic authority to its
most pretentious. At the same time he squandered
papal prestige and power in temporary but common
political disagreement.
Further reading:Thomas S. R. Boase, Boniface VIII
(London: Constable, 1933); Charles T. Wood, ed. Philip
the Fair and Boniface VIII: State vs. Papacy(New York:
Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1967).
bookmaking SeeBOOKS OR CODICES, HISTORY OF.
Book of Kells See KELLS, BOOK OF.
book production SeeBOOKS OR CODICES, HISTORY OF.
Books of Hours Books of Hours are books of PRAYERS
mainly intended for the LAITYand often decorated. The
Book of Hours succeeded the CAROLINGIANprayer book
and the PSALTERof the 12th and 13th centuries, address-
ing a much wider literate public. The production of
Books of Hours underwent a vigorous expansion from
the early 15th century, when didactic images and wood-
cut illustrations were added.
The explosion in the production of this book was pro-
moted by the growing cult of the Virgin MARYand the
increase in literacy and private lay piety. The more elabo-
rate and expensive books were richly illustrated, very fre-
quently with a cycle of the infancy of Christ and a Marian
cycle, from the ANNUNCIATIONto her coronation, as queen
of heaven. The other essential texts and iconography
involved the CALENDARwith signs of the zodiac and labors
of the months, the seven penitential psalms followed by
the litanies of the saints, intercessory prayers to the saints,
and elaboration of the office of the dead. Further subjects
or images were the Hours of the Cross and the HOLYSPIRIT,
the CRUCIFIXIONand PENTECOST, four gospel portraits of
the evangelists, the Marian prayers, images of the Virgin
and Child or the Pietà, and a stereotyped figure of the
book’s recipient, usually a woman. Most texts remained in
LATINas the VERNACULARwas mainly used for secondary
texts, such as the calendar, rubrics, and prayers. The
prayer of the hours by the laity was favored within institu-
tions such as the mendicant Third Orders and CONFRATER-
NITIES. Their daily use was unlikely, emphasizing their
importance as precious and prestigious objects.
See alsoBOOKS OR CODICES, HISTORY OF; ILLUMINA-
TION;LIMBOURSBROTHERS.
Further reading:Janet Backhouse, Books of Hours
(London: British Library, 1985); Robert G. Calkins, Illu-
minated Books of the Middle Ages(Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell
University Press, 1983); John P. Harthan, Books of Hours
and Their Owners (New York: Crowell, 1977); Lesley
Smith and Jane H. M. Taylor, eds., Women and the Book:
Assessing the Visual Evidence (Toronto: University of
Toronto Press, 1997); Roger S. Wieck, Painted Prayers:Adam and Eve from the Warburg Book of Hours
York: George Braziller, 1997).Adam and Eve from the Warburg Book of Hours (Courtesy
Library of Congress)