Exhibit of the Month: December 2024
book
December 11, 2024 - January 14, 2025 Ante-room to the General reading Room (gate A), open Monday to Saturday 9 am - 7 pm (see opening hours of the NL)
Admission 20 CZK (free for the NL readers)
The Hours, Tracts, Prayers
Bohemia 1380–1420,
NL Prague, shelf mark XVII A 18
ff. 71v–72r
The exhibited manuscript is a collection of religious texts and prayers written in Czech, intended for an unknown woman or group of women. Its first part is dedicated to the three-hour offices, i.e., the prayers that were to be recited regularly during the day (ff. 1v–35v). The next part contains texts focused on the suffering of God (ff. 35v–56v) – a retelling of the Passion, the Laments of Virgin Mary, and a translation of the Stabat mater sequence. They are followed by a morally instructive tract with the incipit Kterak mají všěckerny skutky zpósobeny býti [How All Deeds Are To Be Caused] (ff. 57r–72v). Other folios, likely appended to the aforementioned texts later, include Výklad Otčenáše [The Exposition of the Lord’s Prayer], the prayers before and after the Communion, and finally, the so-called first Spor duše s tělem [Dispute Between the Body and the Soul] (73r–88v).
The manuscript contains no features that would help identify its owner(s). In terms of craftsmanship, it definitely cannot be classified as a luxury product of contemporary book culture. Therefore, we can assume that it was not intended for highborn clients. Although the initials were meant to be decorated, this task was left incomplete for unknown reasons. Several initials are supplemented with a simple fleuron, which was probably made by the rubricator. On the displayed folio, this decoration accompanies a passage from the tract entitled Kterak máme kázanie poslúchat [How Should We Listen to Sermons]. It is the only instance in the manuscript where a foliate ornament appears in the middle of the folio. Evidently, the topic held particular significance to the producers. The manuscript might be attributed to the Friars Preachers or Dominicans, as suggested by the origin of some of the texts within the collection. However, this cannot be stated with certainty. Despite the unknown provenance or ownership, the manuscript provides valuable insight into what a book of spiritual texts intended for women might have looked like on the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries.
The digital copy of the manuscript is available at the digital library Manuscriptorium >>
