Illustrations of the Four Last Things in English pre-Reformation Printed Books of Devotion

The thesis is an account of the illustrations extant in printed books of devotion in pre-Reformation England. In particular, it studies the illustrations in relationship to the texts which they accompany, in an attempt to discover something of what the lay reader in England on the eve of the Reformation was being taught, both directly and indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally, through illustrated books of private devotion. Although their rate of survival is scant and patchy, these books provide evidence of the religious information with which the layman was presented, and suggest something of what he may have understood of his religion. In some cases a comparison with works produced and available on the Continent is relevant. Through this study, it is also possible to make inferences about some of the vast number of books or of series of images which have not survived. In Part One the material is divided thematically according to the subjects of the primary texts, and a detailed study made of all the illustrations used in pre-Reformation print in England on the Four Last Things. Part Two is an account of what the material shows of the English reading habits and of the roles played by the books in their daily devotional life. It studies the effects on lay devotional life by print and printers, including the changing message on religious matters caused unintentionally or intentionally by printers and the changed understanding for the layman reading these books.