Today in class, we discussed various manuscripts. One particular collection that stood out to me was the Duke of Berry’s Books of Hours. The Duke owned six of these, thus signifying that he was collecting them as objects of art rather than purely devotional objects. I thought it was interesting that the largest of these books of hours was too large to be used practically. Thus, it was designated as a sort of coffee table book, something to be admired, but not practical for everyday prayer. This demonstrates a larger shift of religious objects becoming luxury items meant to be collected rather than for purely pious purposes. Books such as these books of hours allowed collectors to indulge their desire for luxury whilst appearing to conform to the Christian ideal of avoiding excess.