Rachel Fulton, University of Chicago
Fridays, 2:00-5:00 pm; March 30 - June 8, 2007
Books of prayer, particularly books of hours, are at once some of the most and least studied productions of late medieval manuscript art. Justly famous for the sumptuousness of their illuminations and their appeal to the late medieval laity, it is only recently that these books have begun to be studied in detail for the principal use for which their makers and owners intended them; namely, to pray. The purpose of this seminar is to situate the production and use of these books within the history and experience of prayer as practiced by both clergy and laity from the Carolingian period to the turn of the sixteenth century. Themes and problems to be addressed include the history of so-called private prayer and its relationship to the monastic use of the psalter; the development of alternatives to the psalter as a focus for prayer such as rosaries, rhymed psalters, and the Little Office of the Virgin; spiritual exercises and the development of the book of hours; the relationship between beauty and theology in the experience of prayer as expressed through the production of illuminated books of prayer; and the changes brought about in the practice of prayer towards the end of our period by the introduction of printed books of prayer.
In addition to providing students an opportunity to work closely with some of the most beautiful manuscripts in the Newberry Library collection, this seminar will likewise introduce them to the structures of the monastic liturgy and the practice of lectio divina underpinning the monks' and nuns' performance in the choir; to the debates about the propriety of using images as foci for devotion and the theories of the senses and memory supporting their use; and to the complex relationship between the monasteries as at once "powerhouses" of and models for the prayer of the Christian community as a whole.
Students taking the course for credit will be asked to choose one appropriate manuscript from the Newberry Collection on which to write a 12-15 page research paper due at the end of the quarter. A number of shorter assignments will be given over the course of the quarter in order to assist in the process of writing this paper. Although the majority of the readings for discussion will be in English, students should be comfortable working in Latin for the purposes of their research.
This course should be of interest to students working in history, art history, literature and religious studies.
All students must register for this course. To register, please call the Center for Renaissance Studies at 312-255-3514 or email renaissance@newberry.org