The Book of Hours and the Macclesfield Psalter
The Lectures
The Book of Hours: A Medieval Best Seller
Books of Hours functioned as devotional aids or prayer books for laymen and women and were produced in prodigious numbers across Western Europe during the late Middle Ages. Today they are the most numerous and lavishly illustrated type of manuscripts to survive from the medieval period and yield fascinating insights into the practices of scribes, illuminators and patrons in an era when books were laboriously written and decorated by hand.
The Macclesfield Psalter: Piety and Humour in 14th century England
In 2003 a previously unknown illuminated medieval Psalter was discovered at Shirburn Castle, Oxon. Subsequently sold by the Earl of Macclesfield, the Macclesfield Psalter, as it became known, lives now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, thanks to the generosity of the Art Fund and others. The book’s vibrant, occasionally ribald, illustrations, and carefully copied texts shed light onto the patterns of the devotion, humour, aesthetic taste and everyday concerns of the wealthy 14th-century, English man, who commissioned and used this endlessly fascinating book. The lecture will explore the Macclesfield Psalter in detail, as well as setting the book into a broader context.
The Speaker
Dr Sally Dormer is a lecturer and tutor for the Early Medieval Year Course at V&A. Dean of ‘European Studies’ for 2 US Universities. Freelance lecturer for The Art Fund. Study tours, cruises and tour groups. BA (History) University of Durham; PhD (Medieval Manuscript illumination) and MA (Medieval History of Art) Courtauld Institute.
The Timings
- Registration: 10:15 (coffee will be served between the lectures, not before)
- First lecture: 10:30 – 11:30
- Break for coffee and cake
- Second lecture 12:00 – 13:00 with questions afterwards
How to Book
Bookings for this morning of Special Interest will open in January 2026.