Psalter in Latin and French; Italy or Southern France (?), 13th century, end

Title

Psalter in Latin and French; Italy or Southern France (?), 13th century, end

Shelfmark

MS. Canon. Liturg. 393

Place of origin

Italy(?) or Southern France (?)

Date

13th century, end

Language

Latin

Old French (842-ca. 1400)

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment, prepared in the southern manner; paper fly-leaves

Physical extent

263 leaves Leaves were trimmed in rebinding, occasionally causing the loss of text and decoration.

Hands

Formal southern French (?) book hand; brown and black ink.

Decoration

Red and blue penwork KL monograms in the calendar.

Miniatures (fols. 237r–256v): the creation of Eve (fol. 237r) Adam and Eve in Paradise (fol. 237v) Adam and Eve cast out of Paradise (fol. 238r) the building of Noah’s Ark (fol. 238v) Jacob, Abraham and Isaac, seated, holding books (fol. 239r) Prophets who prophesied the coming of Christ (fol. 239v) Annunciation (fol. 240r) Nativity (fol. 240v) Herod speaking to three kings (fol. 241r) three kings kneeling before the Virgin and Child (fol. 241v) Massacre of the Innocents (fol. 242r) Baptism of Christ (fol. 242v) Presentation in the Temple (fol. 243r) the Finding of Christ among the Doctors (fol. 243v) the Wedding at Cana (fol. 244r) Christ, standing on the shore with another disciple, speaking to Sts Peter and Andrew in a boat on the sea (fol. 244v) Christ speaking to Zacchaeus in the sycamore (fol. 245r) Christ and the woman taken in adultery (fol. 245v) Mary Magdalene drying Christ’s feet with her hair (fol. 246r) Christ healing ten lepers (fol. 246v) the resurrection of Lazarus (fol. 247r) the temptation of Christ (fol. 247v) the entry into Jerusalem (fol. 248r) Christ preaching in Jerusalem (fol. 248v) the Last Supper (fol. 249r) Christ washing the feet of the disciples (fol. 249v) Christ praying in the Garden of Gethsemane (fol. 250r) the Betrayal (fol. 250v) Flagellation (fol. 251r) Christ carrying the Cross (fol. 251v) Crucifixion (fol. 252r) Descent from the Cross (fol. 252v) Entombment (fol. 253r) the Harrowing of Hell (fol. 253v) Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene (fol. 254r) Christ appearing to two disciples travelling to Emmaus (fol. 254v) Christ appearing to the apostles (fol. 255r) Christ and St Thomas (fol. 255v) Christ instructing the apostles (fol. 256r) Ascension (fol. 256v).

Historiated initials at liturgical divisions and the beginnings of texts. The cycle is different from the Liège cycle (see Oliver, 1988, vol. 1, pp. 51–77), but there are some similarities, e.g. the depiction of the psalmist, pointing to his eyes, and standing next to Christ in psalm 26, and possibly a reference to mass in the illustration of psalm 97. fol. 1r Summary of Christian faith (initial N(os)), Approximately 12-line initial with a bearded saint, addressing a crowd of people, and pointing up at Christ, seated, holding a scroll. fol. 15r, Psalm 1 (initial B(eatus)), 13-line initial infilled with nimbed King David (?), kneeling (?) before a seated man; seated Christ above, holding a book. fol. 42v, Psalm 26 (initial D(ominus)), 7-line initial with standing Christ, holding a book, and a young man in a short tunic, pointing to his eyes. fol. 61r, Psalm 38 (initial D(ixi)), 7-line initial with a man kneeling before Christ, who holds a book. fol. 77v, Psalm 52 (initial D(ixit)), 7-line initial with the Fool, as a bearded man in a short tunic, speaking to standing Christ. fol. 94r, Psalm 68 (initial S(aluum)), 8-line initial with nimbed kneeling King David with outstretched hands in the lower part of the initial, and seated Christ, holding a book, in the upper part of the initial. fol. 115v, Psalm 80 (initial E(xultate)), 7-line initial with nimbed King David, kneeling with outstretched hands in the lower part, and half-figure of Christ, holding a book, in the upper part. fol. 134r, Psalm 97 (initial C(antate)), 7-line initial with a man holding a chalice (?) and a book, kneeling before seated Christ. fol. 153v, Psalm 109 (initial D(ixit)), 7-line initial with nimbed King David kneeling before Christ. fol. 215r, Office of the Dead (initial D(ilexi)), 6-line initial with a male and a female mourner, standing next to a bier with a body.

One 7-line initial with penwork flourishing at the first weekly canticle (fol. 193v), and simpler 3-line initials at the 4th and 5th collects (fol. 213v).

2-line red and blue initials, plain, or decorated with penwork, at the beginnings of psalms, canticles and prayers.

1-line plain red and blue initials at the beginnings of periods and verses.

Rubrics in red ink; guide-letters for the rubricator often survive.

Binding

Soranzo’s binding: parchment over pasteboard; small stiff flaps on the fore-edges of covers. ‘393’ written in black ink on spine. Brown leather label on spine, framed with gilt arabesque decorations, with gilt lettering ‘PSALT. SEU BREV || AD USUM GALLIC. || ET VITA CHRISTI || DELINEATA || COD. MEMB.’. Sewn on four cords. Pastedowns and fly-leaves of paper with brown, blue and yellow floral designs (carta bassanese). Fragment of a printed text used under upper pastedown.

Acquisition

Bodleian Library: bought in 1817 from Canonici’s nephew Giovanni Perissinotti. Earlier shelfmark in pencil: ‘Miscel. Liturg. 393’ (fol. iii recto and verso).

Provenance

Made in Italy or southern France for use of Liège (?). The calendar and litany appear to have been copied from a Liège original; a mixture of Latin and French suggests a French exemplar and scribe, though the dialect is not that of Liège (Wallon), but the standard literary language of the period (Franco-Picard scripta). The miniatures may be based on an earlier Italian exemplar and the parchment is prepared in the southern manner. St Bartholomew is in red in the calendar, and the litany is followed by a collect in his honour. The litany and the calendar include Dominican and Franciscan saints, and the Office of the Dead is of Dominican use. The psalter was probably made for a lay patron as suggested by the absence of grading in the calendar, the presence of elementary prayers, such as Pater noster and Ave Maria, of the Latin alphabet, texts explaining the basics of Christian doctrine and the use of the vernacular (including rubrics for miniatures).

‘Lodouiqu’ on fol. 236av in a near-contemporary hand in red ink.

15th-century additions of Franciscan saints in the calendar; the addition of St Eligius of Noyon with a French form of his name.

15th-century notes on the recitation of psalms in Latin and French.

A strip of paper pasted to fol. iii recto with a short description of the manuscript: ‘Psalterium. Codex membran. in 4o saec. circ. xiv. Continet praeviam Decalogi expositionem lingua Gallica; post Psalterium orationes variae ad privatum usum; et 40. icones, quae mysteria exhibent Veteris et Novi Testamenti’. The description is in an Italian, 18th-century (?) hand, but not the hand of Canonici or any of the earlier owners and librarians whose handwriting is illustrated in Mitchell (1969). Similar descriptions in the same hand are also found in MS. Canon. Bibl. Lat. 42, MS. Canon. Bibl. Lat. 85, MS. Canon. Pat. Lat. 88, MS. Add. D. 47, MS. Canon. Liturg. 105, MS. Canon. Liturg. 155, MS. Canon. Liturg. 377.

Jacopo Soranzo (1686–1761): binding; ‘Breviarium, seu Psalterium ad usum Gallicum’ written by Soranzo’s librarian Francesco Melchiori on fol. iii recto. After Soranzo’s death by about 1780 at Cá Cornèr at San Maurizio, Venice (Mitchell, 1969).

Matteo Luigi Canonici of Venice (1727–c. 1806): bought soon after 1780.

Title

A Psalter, with canticles

Shelfmark

MS. Canon. Liturg. 393

Summary

A Psalter, with canticles, etc., in Latin and French, each Latin verse being followed by its translation: preceded by an introduction to Christian morality, in Latin and French (fol. 1: beg.' Nos debemus scire quare omnes debemus esse filii Dei... Nous deuons sauoir que nos deuons estre tout fils de Deu'), and a Latin calendar (fol. 8): and followed by:

'Les Vespre des Mors & tout lautre Offisse', in Latin (fol. 215)

'Auctorites', sayings of the Fathers, in French (fols. 224v, and, misplaced, 14, 257)

At fol. 237 are forty curious drawings, chiefly of the Life of Christ, but including six from the Old Testament. They are drawn in outline with the occasional use of red

There are also in the volume a few illuminated capitals.

Date

Written in about A.D. 1300 in the Netherlands

Language

French

Latin

Physical facet

On parchment, in double columns, with drawings, etc., see scope and content

Physical extent

260 Leaves

Custodial history

'Lodouigu' occurs on fol. 236av (14th cent.). The litany (fols. 211-2) and calendar point to the neighbourhood of Liége (in litany, Antropius ?, Mengoldus of Huy, Oda: in calendar, on Sept. 17, 'Lambertus episcopus & martyr Leodij', in red, etc.).