Bøker av Ariane Bergeron-Foote

Books of Hours are probably the most famous of all medieval illuminated manuscripts. Presented here are 12 Books of Hours that date from the origins of the genre in the 13th century to its eclipse in the 16th century.

Although the earliest records of written French date from the 9th century, it was not until the 13th century, when there was an explosion of texts in the 'mother tongue', that French became widespread as a written language. And only in 1539, by King Francis I, was French deemed the official language of the kingdom.