Choir Psalter, Augustinian Use; England, partly at Oxford (?); c. 1260 and 15th century, second half (after 1457)

Title

Choir Psalter, Augustinian Use; England, partly at Oxford (?); c. 1260 and 15th century, second half (after 1457)

Shelfmark

MS. Laud Lat. 114

Date

c. 1260

15th century, second half (after 1457)

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment; paper fly-leaves

Physical extent

213 leaves

Hands

Large formal Gothic book hands. From fol. 175 onwards written by William Symon(‘Anime eius et anime omnium fidelium defunctorum p er misericordiam dei in pace requiescant Amen. Quod Will elmusSymo.’ on fol. 210r). Signed by him on fol. 60v, with his initials appearing frequently (e.g. fols. 7r, 8r, 199v, 200v, 208r–v).

Decoration

Gold KL monograms with floral designs and gold discs in the calendar.

Historiated initials (6 to 8 lines high) at liturgical divisions and full borders decorated with flowers, foliage, fruit and gold discs. The opening words of most psalms are written in gold. fol. 7v Psalm 1 (initial B(eatus)) King David seated, holding a book, with a harp beside; the hand of God appears above, blessing; landscape in the background. fol. 35r Psalm 26 (initial D(omino)) King David kneeling, holding a vessel in a raised hand; the face of God appears above; landscape in the background. fol. 53r Psalm 38 (initial D(ixi)) King David seated on a low wall of an enclosed garden (?), holding sceptre; landscape in the background. fol. 70r Psalm 51 (initial Q(uid)) Young David, holding stones and a sling, faces Goliath, dark-faced, in armour, left hand raised, right clasping a sword, a stone hitting his forehead. fol. 71r Psalm 52 (initial D(ixit)) King David seated, holding a sceptre, pointing towards a dancing jester in a hood with ears and bells, parti-coloured costume of blue and orange, holding a deflated bladder on a stick and a horn. Faces in the border. fol. 88r Psalm 68 (initial S(aluu(m)) Crowned nude King David, half-submerged in a river, hands joined in prayer, looking at the face of God appearing above; landscape in the background. fol. 108v Psalm 80 (initial E(xultate)) Interlacing stems, decorated with flowers or leaves; the incipit in blue letters with red penwork. fol. 127v Psalm 97 (initial C(antate)) King David, seated, with hands raised; five clerics standing in front of him, the foremost holding a scroll with music in square notation on a four-line red stave; the incipit in blue letters with minimal red penwork. fol. 130v Psalm 101 (initial D(omine)) King David, with hands joined in prayer, kneeling on grass in a walled enclosure; the face of God appears above; the incipit in blue letters with red penwork. fol. 148r Psalm 109 (initial D(ixit)) Trinity: two seated figures with cruciform halos, each holding a book, marked with alpha and omega, and blessing; their feet rest on five heads of their enemies; a white dove with cruciform halo flies downwards between them; gold background. The initial and the first three words of the psalm, written in gold, are contained within a rectangular panel, surrounded by a border with a winged dragon at the top; a small figure of a kneeling Augustinian nun, in a black mantle over a white tunic, reading a book, to the left.

Full borders, see above.

2- to 4-line gold initials, in pink and blue frames, decorated with floral designs at the beginnings of psalms, canticles and prayers.

1-line alternating gold and blue initials, decorated with penwork, at the beginning of verses and periods.

Binding

Brown leather over pasteboard, 17th century. One gilt and one black fillet line round the outer edge of both covers. Gilt arms of Laud at the centre of both covers. Six raised bands on spine, decorated with gilt fillet lines. Gilt lettering on spine: ‘PSALM || M S’. Three paper labels on spine, containing respectively: ‘168 || B’, handwritten in black ink; cross in red ink; ‘Laud. Lat. || 114.’, printed. Laid paper pastedowns and fly-leaves with watermarks. Fragments of two ties. Edges of textblock speckled red. Evidence of the former binding at fol. 211v.

Acquisition

Bodleian Library: first donation from Laud, 22 May 1635. Former shelfmark: ‘B. 168’ (upper pastedown and fol. i verso), cf. spine.

Provenance

Made in Oxford (?): fols. 8r–174v are written and partially illuminated (leaving space for further illumination) in the tradition of the de Brailes workshop. An image on fol. 148r suggests that the manuscript was intended for an Augustinian nunnery.

Lacock, Wiltshire, Abbey of St Mary the Virgin and St Bernard, of Augustinian nuns , by the middle of the 15th century: evidence of the added calendar and the litany. Fols. 7–174 may have belonged to a psalter bequeathed to the abbess of Lacock by Bishop Ralph Erghum of Salisbury in 1399 after the death of his sister Agnes (Smith, 1985).

The name of Thomas Becket and titles ‘pape’ are erased, presumably at the Reformation.

‘Edward Baskeruile, Doctor of Deuinitie’, fol. 1r, possibly the Oxford Franciscan who became chancellor of Hereford Cathedral in 1555 (Foster, 1891–92, p. 81), though Hunt (Summary catalogue, vol. 1, p. 52) believes that the signature dates from Elizabethan period (see a discussion in Smith, 1985).

William Laud (1573–1645), see ODNB: ‘Liber Guilielmi Laud Archiep iscopi Cantuar: et Cancellarij Vniuersitatis Oxon: 1633’, fol. 1r.

Title

Psalterium etc.

Shelfmark

MS. Laud Lat. 114

Summary

1. Augustinian choir psalter (unfinished), c. 1260.

2. Calender and Psalter (completion of fols. 7-174), 15th century, second half.

Date

c. 1260, 15th century, second half

Language

Latin

Physical extent

210 Leaves

Custodial history

Maybe from Augustinian nunnery of Acornebury. Frere 170. Manuscript 1812 acquired by the Bodleian Library