RUBRICATION

Rubrication is used throughout this Book of Hours. Within a Book of Hours, one will find that there are antiphons, versicles, and responses. These are made apparent through rubrication. Each of the Hours includes a hymn, psalm, a brief reading, and a prayer. Within these elements are sentences which are headed with a red ‘Ant’, ‘V.’, or ‘R.’ which guide the reader. These will vary from book to book.

The Calendar at the beginning of the book has some rubrication. The Calendar in the Book of Hours keep track of the days by “…citing the feast that was celebrated on that particular day.” In Medieval times, most of these feasts were saints’ days (Wieck). The saints that appear in the Calendar pages are documented in red. It was also common for those saints’ names to be written alternately in red and blue (Hamel). This technique is not used in this particular Book of Hours. The saint names that appear in the Calendar pages include St. Catherine of Alexandria, St. Eloy, St. Genevieve, St. Vincent of Sargossa, and St. Marcoul