The Pabenham-Clifford Hours
Office of the Dead
Texts and Images
Recited while mourning the deceased at home and during the church service before burial, the Office of the Dead was also a text for private devotion. It consists of the three liturgical Hours of Vespers, Matins, and Lauds. The first of the three, Vespers, almost certainly would have opened with a large historiated initial, but the leaf containing it is missing. Remaining text divisions are marked by ornamental initials.