Detail from an iIlluminated manuscript done by the Bedford Master a French illuminator active in Paris during the fifteenth century. His chief assistant is known as the Chief Associate of the Bedford Master. Noah's Ark is the vessel in the Genesis flood narrative by which Noah saves himself, his family, and a remnant of all the world's animals when God decides to destroy the world because of mankind's evil deeds. This detail of a full page miniature appears in "The Bedford Hours" an important French late medieval illuminated manuscript book of hours. It was a gift from the Duke and Duchess of Bedford to their nephew King Henry VI. A book of hours is an illuminated, Christian devotional book that was popular among the Christians of Northern Europe during the Middle Ages.