Random historical chatter about Scotland, Scottish or British history, the sixteenth century, the Reformation, or Mary, Queen of Scots. I may also throw in a thing or two about the Middle Ages.
I have been fascinated with Books of Hours for a long time. I finally found this beautiful replica on Amazon and wanted to share with you what it looks like on the inside and a little bit of information about it. I am by no means on expert of these types of books, nor manuscripts for that matter and welcome any input from others who know more about it than me.
The Book of Hours
A Book of Hours is a devotional book that was popular with Christians in the Middle Ages. A typical Book of Hours contained the following:
A Calendar of Church Feasts
Excerpts from the four Biblical New Testament Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
The Hours of the Virgin (a devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary)
The Litany of Saints (a formal prayer of the Catholic Church)
The Office of the Dead (a prayer cycle for the Canonical Hours, said for the repose of the soul of a descendent.)
The Hours of the Cross (not sure about this one, but I believe it is prayers and hymns said at matins)
Page showing the calendar of Church Feasts from The Master of Mary of Burgundy.
Who was Mary of Burgundy?
The Book of Hours that I have is titled, The Master of Mary of Burgundy. However this book did not belong to Mary of Burgundy. It is named after an illuminator that created works for her.
Mary of Burgundy was the only child of the Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold and his second wife, Isabella of Bourbon. When the duke died at the Battle of Nancy in 1477, Mary inherited all her father’s Burgundian lands, making her the richest woman in Europe. She married Maximilian of Hapsburg who eventually became the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I after Mary’s death.
Mary was the mother of Philip the Fair, who was the husband of Joanna of Castile, daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. She also had a daughter, Margaret, Duchess of Savoy.
Mary was killed in a riding accident during a falcon hunt when she was 25 years old.
Mary of Burgundy by Michael Pacher, 1435-1498 Public Domain
Who was the Master of Mary of Burgundy?
The Master of Mary of Burgundy was a Flemish illuminator and painter that was very successful in the late 15th century. His real name is not known. Rather, he is known by what is called a Notname, a name given to an artist whose identity has been lost. The name of the Master of Mary of Burgundy comes from two of his most popular works: two Books of Hours created for Mary of Burgundy.
Who owned the Master of Mary of Burgundy Book of Hours?
This book of hours was created for a man named Engelbert of Nassau. Engelbert was Count of Nassau and Vianden and Lord of Breda, Lek, Diest, Roosendaal, Nispen, and Wouw. He was a knight and a leader of the Privy council of the Duchy of Burgundy.
It is believed that Engelbert passed the Book of Hours on to Philip the Fair, son of Mary of Burgundy, as a gift. Philip’s coat of arms was added to the book after he took possession.
Engelbert of Nassau~Masters of Portraits of Princes, 1490. Public Domain.
Philip the Fair (or, the Handsome)~Juan de Flandes, 1500. Public Domain.
The Master of Mary of Burgundy Book of Hours has gold-gilded pages and is printed on heavy, glossy paper. The printed version of each picture looks as if it were painted in real gold, giving you a little idea of what the original would have looked like. It is very colorful, as you can see from the above pictures.
Get your copy of The Master of Mary of Burgundy Book of Hours here.
*Please note: this post is part of a series. To read the parent post clickhere*
A Rough Start
James V of Scotland was just a toddler when his father, James IV died during the Battle of Flodden Field, making him the next King James of Scotland. He was the fourth child and only surviving legitimate son of James and his wife Margaret Tudor (sister of Henry VIII).
Born in April 1512, he was crowned in September of the following year, becoming the seventh monarch of the Stuart Dynasty. Too young to rule, his mother ruled as regent for a spell. When she married Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus the following year, she unknowingly forfeited her rights to rule as James’ regent. In her place, the king’s uncle, John Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany became regent.
Albany was pro-French, renewing the Auld Alliance that would promise James a royal French bride. With French sentiments in Scotland strengthened, the king’s mother fled to England and stayed there for some time. When Albany left Scotland on business, Margaret returned to Scotland and worked to eventually declare James free to rule without a regent. This agreement was made with the understanding that James would govern under the supervision of several Scottish lords, each taking a turn in overseeing the king’s power.
King James V as a boy Scottish National Portrait Gallery
When it came time for James’ step-father, the Earl of Angus to take his turn, he took James prisoner and ruled in his place. Several attempts were made to free the young king and he finally escaped to resume his power when he was 15 years old. One of his first acts as king was to exile the Douglas family. He even went so far as killing Angus’ sister, Janet Douglas, Lady Glamis, by burning her at the stake for witchcraft.
Due to the Auld Alliance, James procured the hand of Madeleine of Valois, the daughter of French King Francis I. She was frail and sickly from the time she was a child and her father refused at first to allow James to marry her. Finally convincing Francis to allow the marriage, they married in January 1537. However, Madeleine died of consumption seven months later without giving James an heir.
Less than a year later, James married the 21 year old widow, Mary of Guise.
A Wanted Woman
Mary of Guise was born in Lorraine, France in 1515. She was the eldest of twelve children born to Claude of Lorraine, Duke of Guise and Antoinette of Bourbon. When she was 18, a marriage was arranged for her to Louis II d’Orléans, Duke of Longueville. She bore Louis a son, whom they named François, and was pregnant with their second child when her husband died of what is believed to be smallpox. Her second son was named after his father, but only lived a few months after his birth.
Mary was young, attractive, intelligent, and valuable to the French court. Soon the king of France was looking to put her many assets to good use. It didn’t take long for her to be courted by two kings: James V, the king of Scotland, and Henry VIII, the king of England.
Mary and James had met the previous year when he came to France to meet Madeleine. He thought her attractive and now turned his attentions toward her in an effort to maintain French-Scottish relations. Henry VIII had lost his third wife, Jane Seymour the year before as well. When he got wind of James’ intentions, he too sought to obtain Mary’s hand in marriage to prevent the union. It is said that Mary was concerned for her safety at the hands of the English king, making a comment on her small neck as an excuse not to marry the man, a reference to his beheaded queen, Anne Boleyn.
Eventually, Francis I of France decided that James would be the better match. They were married by proxy in France in May 1538. Due to the death of her first husband, the Duke of Longueville, Mary’s young son would have to be left behind in France as he was now the new Duke of Longueville. She arrived in Scotland a month later and was married to James in St Andrews Cathedral.
The Good Wife
It didn’t take long for Mary to give James a desired heir. Their first son, James, was born in May 1540 and a second, Robert, joined in April 1541. However, both boys died just days after Robert was baptized. Unfortunately, as with any good queen, the show must go on, and less than a year later Mary was pregnant again.
The Beginning of the End
With the death of James’ mother and the bonds of relationship between nephew and uncle being strained over the burgeoning Protestant reformation, James soon found himself at war with his uncle Henry. Having ignored his uncle’s urging to break away from the Catholic church, he added insult to injury when he refused to meet with Henry. The English king, being the tyrant that he was initiated an attack on Scotland.
Scottish forces suffered a great loss at the Battle of Solway Moss. The king, who did not fight in the battle because he was sick with a fever, sunk further into despair. When the news reached the king that his wife had given birth to a daughter on 8 December, and not the desperately hoped for son, the king is believed to have made the prophetic, yet disheartening statement, “It began with a lass and it shall end with a lass”, making a reference to the beginning and ending of the House of Stuart.
James died six days later, with only one legitimate child left alive to take the throne: Mary.
The Show Still Must Go On
After James’ death, Mary of Guise continued to carry the Catholic torch in Scotland. She spent quite a bit of her time battling the Scottish lords for the regency and trying to avoid Henry’s matrimonial advances toward herself and her young daughter. By this time Henry had worked his way through two more wives and was still interested in adding Mary of Guise to that list. If that didn’t work, he wanted the young queen for his heir, Edward. When it became apparent that he would get neither, he initiated a war with Scotland known as the Rough Wooing. Determined to protect her daughter from an English marriage, she snuck the child away to France when Mary was five years old. Arrangements were made for her to be brought up in the courts of the French king, and eventually marry his son, the Dauphin, Francis.
Mary, Queen of Scots as a child ~ by François Clouet
In 1550, Mary of Guise returned to France and reunited with her only daughter whom she hadn’t seen in two years. She travelled extensively throughout France but eventually made her way back to Scotland where she eventually took over regency in 1554. She worked closely with her brothers, the Cardinal of Lorraine and the Duke of Guise and these dealings kept Scotland and France in close diplomatic relationship for as long as she held the regency.
As Protestantism grew in Scotland, Mary’s influence declined. However, she managed to maintain control of the regency until her death due to dropsy in 1560. Her body was eventually snuck to France, and Queen Mary was able to attend her mother’s funeral.
Below are pictures from my time spent at Stirling Castle, one of the principal places of residence for King James V and Mary of Guise. It is located in Stirling, Scotland. These pictures were taken in June 2017.
I love adding animals to my stories. They make the characters seem more real, or maybe more relatable, and add a certain dimension to the world that I am creating on paper. In The Queen’s Almoner, Thomas has a favorite horse, Achaius, that makes several appearances, and Mary is given a white Clydesdale horse that becomes endeared to her (Clydesdales were a fairly new breed in the latter half of the sixteenth century, but they did exist). She names him Pureté. The queen is also given a small pup and names him TomTom (after the main character, of course!) TomTom only appears in two scenes, but I wanted to add a dog to the menagerie of animals in the book because the Queen of Scots was known to own a pup or two in her lifetime (a woman after my own heart, after all!) and legend has it that there was one hidden under her skirts when she was executed.
My next book goes a little further back in history to the medieval times of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine (12th century). I wanted to add a small lap dog to my story, as a pet for Henry’s mistress, Rosamund. If you know anything about Henry II and Rosamund, you might know that hers is a not-so-happy ending. Therefore, I wanted her to have a small comfort in life in the form of a lovable pup. This made me wonder—did medieval people keep pets like we do now, and if so, what kind of pets did they keep?
The Purpose of a Pet
Animals have always played an important part in the lives of humans. The most obvious, and most common use has been as an important food source for ancient peoples who not only ate the meat, but used the skins, bones and even fat for everyday uses. However, a dead animal is not the only useful animal. Humans have used animals for hauling and heavy lifting, herding other animals, a means of transportation, hunting and providing protection.
According to Medieval Pets, by Kathleen Walker-Meikle the term “pet” is a relatively new word, not coming into popular use until the sixteenth century. The word, as we now use it refers to an animal that is kept for companionship or amusement. This type of animal is usually allowed access to parts of the home that other animals would not be allowed. In medieval times, such animals were not called pets. However, we do have evidence of animals living in close approximation with humans and being used for hunting, protection, and companionship, just as they are today.
Pets in Society
In medieval times, the type of pet you owned sometimes depended on whether you were a man or woman. Your vocation or social standing also dictated whether it was acceptable for you to own a certain type of pet. Depending on who you were might also determine your purpose for owning an animal and what you used it for.
Some of the most popular animals for men in the middle ages were, as you can image, the animals that would be useful in hunting, fighting and all the other manly things that men did in medieval times. Since women’s roles were vastly different from men’s in the middle ages, their choice of pet was usually for completely different reasons.
Types of Pets
Horses
Benozzo Gozzoli – Procession of the Magi
Although not always thought of as pets, horses were very important to the medieval man. He relied heavily upon a good horse to quickly get him where he needed to go, and for assisting him in the hunt. Horses were also used for warfare. A good warhorse could stand as tall as 4-5 feet and must be strong enough to not only carry the man in armor and his weaponry, but they also needed to be able to bear the weight of their own protective gear. They were very expensive and were usually only owned by nobility or knights who could afford them.
Dogs
Dogs were another popular animal among men. Most dogs kept by men in medieval times were used for hunting. Large breed dogs, such as the wolfhound were popular, but they were not the only type of dog used in hunting. Mid-size and smaller breeds were useful in hunting as well. Just don’t expect to see them lying in their master’s lap later in the evening.
Women and clerics were also known to keep dogs. Small lap dogs were used more for companionship and loyalty and were popular with those that did not spend a lot of time outdoors (i.e. employees of the church and females). Opponents of pets felt that the practice of keeping dogs was a waste of time when women could have been doing something more beneficial with their time. However, ancient texts, manuscripts and art all indicate that dogs were a very popular pet to keep.
Cats
Kitty plays with the spindle as the nun tries to spin. Mischievous pawn of Satan or playful companion? From the Maastricht Hours, the Netherlands (Liège), 14th century.
Cats are another animal that served more than one purpose. Medieval records indicate that cats were employed in many cathedrals for the purpose of keeping the churches clear of mice. And they truly were employees, in the sense that they were listed on the payroll and money was set aside in the budget to supplement their feeding if they didn’t catch enough mice.
Cats were companions as well, although at times, just as with dogs, it was considered frivolous to keep a cat as a pet. According to Dr. Mark Whelan, Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Manchester, a cat was the one animal allowed to accompany the anchorites into their cellular seclusion. Anchorites were men and women who pledged to forsake all worldly possessions and commit to a life of solitude for the sake of religious service by being shut away in seclusion. Although pets were frowned upon in this way of life, one cat was permitted, should the anchorite find that seclusion was too hard to bear.
There is conflicting information about cats as pets in the Middle Ages, especially when it comes to religious leaders. Medievalist, Dr. Irina Metzler presents another side of cat ownership in medieval Europe. According to Dr. Metzler, many religious authorities viewed cats as tools of the devil. Their stealth and cunningness in mouse-catching was admired but are not qualities that are considered when choosing a good companion. Medieval people believed that animals were simply created by God to serve humans. The cat is not a creature that can be easily trained and shows no tendency toward loyalty. This lack of obedience caused the cat to become more associated with the devil. People became suspicious of cats and accused them of evil intent. Yet, many people preferred cats as pets and they still pop up in medieval literature and artwork like the stubborn little creatures that they are. Even modern cat owners will admit to you that their cat has them well trained and not the other way around.
15th century manuscript from Dubrovnik, Croatia. Proof that cats do what they want and cannot be trained. 😊 Photo credit: Emir O. Filipovic, July, 2011
One final thought about cats…
If you can’t tell, I am very amused at the thought that a lot of medieval people thought cats were the spawn of Satan. I like cats, I really do, but I do think they have a mind of their own and really are up to no good a lot of times. When I think of naughty cats, this video comes to mind…enjoy!
Birds
Birds are one of the most versatile animals kept in medieval times. They have served many purposes, some of which predate the Middle Ages by hundreds of years.
In the truest sense of the word “pet”, birds were kept for pleasure and for elaborate display. Songbirds such as those from the Canary Islands and parrots like those found in the New World were favorites among kings and queens and other people of wealth.
Yet birds have served in other capacities and have been more than just a pretty face or a lovely song. Birds like falcons and hawks were used in medieval times for hunting larger game such as ducks and herons. Pigeons (also known as doves in some texts), have a long-standing history of carrying messages, and the folks in the Middle Ages put them to good use for that very purpose as well.
To Each His Own
Badgers, weasels, ferrets, squirrels and even monkeys made for popular pets in the Middle Ages as well. As with most pets during the medieval time period, most of these animals would have been kept by royalty or those of wealth who had money to spare for feeding such exotic creatures.
In ancient manuscripts, animals are known to have held a symbolic meaning but many of the animals we see in these medieval texts were kept as pets. And if we didn’t already know that the medieval manuscript artists had a sense of humor, one would think that ferociously fighting bunnies were a popular pet as well. 😊
For further reading on this topic, I highly recommend Medieval Pets by Kathleen Walker-Meikle. Not only does she address the history of pets in the Middle Ages, but medieval pet care, acquisition, problems and much more.
The Rose and the Thistle 