Canon Grandel’s Prayerbook

This small, unassuming 15th century French book of hours has a great deal to tell us about its history, use, and devotional context.

Who was Canon Grandel?

Canon François-Joseph Grandel was an 18th century Catholic priest ordained in the diocese of Tournai, France. Fr. Grandel was installed as Canon of the Collégiale Saint-Pierre de Lille on September 11, 1766, and his portrait remains in the collections of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-la-Treille in Lille to this day.

His name appears in an inscription on the back flyleaf of the prayerbook, which is why it is known as Canon Grandel’s prayerbook. The inscription reads: Aurait appartenu au chanoine Grandel (“would have belonged to Canon Grandel”).

Provenance

Lille, France

This book of hours is thought to have its origins near Lille, France. The Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary is explicitly stated to be of the Tournai use, and Canon Grandel was a priest serving the Catholic diocese of Tournai, which included the city of Lille. Additionally, the back flyleaf of the prayerbook contains an faint inscription which reads: à la bibliothèque des Capucins de Lille, indicating this book of hours resided at the Capuchin monastery in Lille at some point in its history.

The Book of Hours

In medieval France, the Book of Hours was a popular form of personal religious devotion for laity and clergy alike. Modelled after the monastic tradition of praying the Divine Office in common at set hours throughout the day, medieval books of hours were centred on the Hours of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which included a series of prayers, psalms, hymns, and scripture readings adapted from the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary used in monasteries.

In French Books of Hours, a seminal work exploring the cultural and religious significance of medieval books of hours in France, Virginia Reinburg considers the place that personal prayer held in the life of the Catholic Church: “Prayer was fundamentally collective. Even the most personal, individual prayer was fashioned in the social world of conversation, interaction, and relationships.” Books of hours, then, even when prayed privately, were still intimately related to the liturgical life of the Church in that prayer, by its very nature, is relational. In the mystical conception of intercourse with God and the communion of saints, praying the Holy Hours was a means of situating oneself “in a cosmos ruled by God and his heavenly court”, and the prayers contained within were “part of the practice of everyday life”, marking the hours of the day with pause for reflection and spiritual communion.

Source: Reinburg, Virginia. 2012. French Books of Hours : Making an Archive of Prayer, c. 1400-1600. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Prayerbook Overview

c. 1500 CE

Manuscript Creation

The manuscript bears indications that suggest its creation dates to the mid-15th century.

122 x 90 mm

Dimensions

The prayerbook appears smaller than one might expect, bound in calfskin and inked on vellum.

136

Folios

Curiously, miniatures and certain prayers have been removed.

Manuscript Features

Vellum bound in calfskin

Vellum is a more expensive alternative to parchment, suggesting that whoever commissioned this manuscript may have been a person of means.

Northern Textualis Script

The script bears hallmarks of the northern textualis script: a narrow, sharp aspect, a two-compartment a, the uncial s and d with diagonal ascender, an r shaped like the letter 2, and a narrow o consisting of two straight lines.

Ruled in plummet, below top line

Faint ruling lines appear red, still visible on most folios. The text is written below the top ruling line, indicating that this manuscript was originally created after 1230 CE.

Illumination

Beautiful four-line champ initials begin each section of the Hours, with smaller, two-line champ initials appearing on backgrounds of red, blue, and brown. Pen-flourished initials appear in red and blue throughout.

Missing Miniatures

Physical inspection of the codex reveals approximately 4-6 missing miniatures, which appear to have been removed after the prayerbook was rebound.

18th Century Rebinding

The prayerbook was rebound sometime in the 18th century. Amusingly, the covers were attached upside down. The date 1734 appears on the first folio and back flyleaf, which could indicate the year it was rebound.