The Divine Office -- the inspiration for Cycle of the Day -- was the daily cycle of services that medieval (and modern) monks and nuns would pray as their primary "job." These services were a mix of biblical readings (especially from the Old Testament Book of Psalms), prayers, and hymns or religious songs. These services each had a different name and fell at these times of the day: Matins: about 2 am, this was the longest service of the day Lauds: this is a short service that would be said a couple hours after Matins, ideally to end at dawn Prime: the first of the "short midday" services, it was held immediately after Lauds Terce: the second short midday service, it was held around 9 am Sext: the third midday service, around noon None: the fourth midday service, around 3 pm Vespers (aka evensong): the primary evening service, held around dusk Compline: a short service held right before bedtime The Mass is a separate service because it played a different role in medieval religious life. This was the service in which the sacrament of the Eucharist was observed (in medieval Christian doctrine, the sacrament in which the bread and wine "really truly" became Jesus's actual flesh and blood). A variety of songs and scriptural readings would precede the sacrament itself; the Mass could be fairly compact or quite elaborate, depending on how extended this section was. In a monastery or nunnery, Mass would have been said after Prime; in a parish church, it might have been said at dawn or later in the morning. A "gradual" is the book that contains the music to be sung by the choir during the Mass. Unlike today's hymnals, these books are supersized; something your table might consider is what function such a huge music book might play, especially in contrast with modern hymnals. UGA's Spanish Gradual contains, in its opening two pages, much information about where it was made and who it was made for. If someone at the table has Spanish, you may be able to work that information out for yourselves. If you don't, call over one of the UGA professors and we'll help you with it. The Brunswick Gradual is a visitor to UGA. It lives at the Brunswick-Glynn County Library on the coast of Georgia, and this is the first time any of us at UGA have seen it in person! So we're all learning about it together. Cycle of the Day is an artist's book produced by book artist James Trissel (d. 1999) in 1991. Trissel was a painter and eventually printer/book artist who was a professor at Colorado College. You'll want to find the colophon (the statement of the book's origin, often by the printer, at the end of the book) to learn more about how Trissel was engaging with medieval books of hours and breviaries. If you want to dig more into Trissel, here's a short biography written by his son: https://www.coloradocollege.edu/iapps/Bulletin/Fall99/Trissel.html
