Secular Choir Psalter with Antiphons and Hours, Use of Sarum; England, London; c. 1415

Title

Secular Choir Psalter with Antiphons and Hours, Use of Sarum; England, London; c. 1415

Shelfmark

MS. Hatton 4

Place of origin

English, London

Date

15th century, beginning (c. 1415)

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment; paper fly-leaves

Physical extent

124 leaves Hatton 4 is the same height, but about 15 mm narrower than the ‘Ellesmere Chaucer’ (Scott, 1995). The leaves are trimmed both vertically and horizontally, causing the loss of some catchwords and obits in the calendar. According to Scott, Hatton 4 is one of the seven largest psalters to survive from the 15th century (1996, p. 107)

Hands

Large formal Gothic book hand; smaller script used for antiphons, etc.; black ink.

Decoration

Blue KL monograms with red penwork in the calendar.

5- to 6-line pink and blue initials in gold frames and on gold, pink and blue backgrounds, decorated with coiled tendrils and leaves, and full or three-quarter borders, made of gold bars, decorated with sprays of foliage and gold discs, at the beginnings of Matins and Lauds in the Office of the Virgin (fols. 2r and 7r), psalms 1 (fol. 26r), 38 (fol. 43r), 52 (fol. 49v), 68 (fol. 56r), 80 (fol. 64r), 97 (fol. 71r), 109 (fol. 79r) and the Office of the Dead (fol. 106v).

Major initials with full or three-quarter borders, as above.

5- to 6-line pink and blue initials in gold frames on gold, pink and blue backgrounds, decorated with coiled tendrils, sprays of foliage and gold discs, extending into the margins, at the beginnings of the hours in the Office of the Virgin.

4-line pink and blue initial in a gold frame and on gold, pink and blue background, decorated with coiled tendrils and leaves, and a three-quarter border made of gold bars, decorated with sprays of leaves and gold discs, at the beginning of the Commendation of the Souls.

2-line blue initials with red penwork at the beginnings of psalms, canticles, litany, prayers and sections of the offices.

1-line alternating red and blue initials, with contrasting purple and blue penwork, at the beginnings of verses and periods and feasts in the calendar.

Red and blue line-endings.

rubrics in red ink

Binding

Sprinkled brown leather over pasteboard, 18th century. Double blind fillet border round the outer edge of both covers. Blind roll border with arabesque designs next to the spine on both covers. Rebacked in the Bodleian with the original spine relaid. Eight raised bands on spine. Gilt lettering on spine ‘HATTON || 108’. Paper label on spine with ‘M.S. || Hatton || 4’. Paper pastedowns and fly-leaves added when the manuscript was rebacked.

Acquisition

Bodleian Library: bought in 1671 from Scott; came to the Library in September 1671 (see Summary catalogue, vol. 2, part 2, pp. 801–2). Former shelfmark: ‘Hatton 108’ (fol. 2r). On fol. 2r ‘Breuiarium Romanum’.

Provenance

Made for the use in choir in a secular church, as suggested by a large size and the presence of antiphons, versicles, invitatoria, etc. with rubrics referring to secular use. The London origin is suggested by a near contemporary obit of Richard Gregory, a citizen of London, d. 1397 (Scott, 1995), though unlike in MS. Hatton 45 there are no specifically London saints in the calendar or litany. The church may have been St Lawrence Jewry (Lawrence is the only non-biblical saint in the calendar given a vigil) or St Peter’s upon Cornhill in London. Richard Gregory’s will specifies a bequest for interment in the chapel of St Mary at St Peter’s and further bequests for improvements to the church and to the chaplains (see Scott, 1995, p. 103). The rector of St Peter’s upon Cornhill in the first quarter of the 15th century was John Whitby, named as Richard Gregory’s executor on several documents. In a writ, dated 23 October 1397 (London, National Archives, C 131/213), he appears as Richard Gregory’s executor with another chaplain, John atte Felde. In another writ, dated 28 March 1404 (London, National Archives, C 241/193), he appears as the executor of Richard Gregory and administrator of his goods. In A survey of the cities of London and Westminster and the borough of Southwark John Strype reports that the church of St Peter upon Cornhill had a library and a prominent grammar school (1754–55, vol. 1, p. 464) and that the books in the library were ‘viewed and commended’ by John Leland. Leland mentions the library and, selectively, its books in his Collectanea and Itinerary, but does not include any liturgical books (see Hearne, 1774, iv, p. 48; Toulmin Smith, 1906–10, iv, pp. 54–5; Harris, 2005).

15th-century addition of the feasts of St Erkenwald, patron of London, to the calendar (‘Sancti Erkkynvaldi episcopi’, 30 April, and ‘transelacio sancti Erkkynvaldi episcopi londoniensis’, 14 November) suggests that the psalter continued to be used in the diocese of London. The obits in 15th-century hands in the calendar, the addition of the feasts and the presence of corrections and notes comparing the text to the use of Sarum suggest a continued use in a church, rather than private use. The obit ‘leuenthorp’ (27 May) is of John Leventhorpe (b. 1360), Receiver General of the Duchy of Lancaster, who had an office in the city of London and died on 27 May 1435 (see Kerr, 1935). His obit also appears on 27 May in the calendar of an early 15th-century missal, Cambridge, Trinity College MS. B. 11. 3, with other obits of the Leventhorpe family (James, 1900–04). He is buried in Great Saint Mary’s Church, Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire ( Monumental inscriptions, 1989, p. 35).

The records of births of the children of Edward, 3rd Baron Windsor of Stanwell (c. 1532–1574/5) between 1559 and 1572.

Thomas Windsor, 6th Baron Windsor of Stanwell (d. 1641), whose birth is recorded on fol. 22r.

Christopher, first Baron Hatton (bap. 1605, d. 1670), see ODNB. Acquired from Thomas Windsor.

Robert Scott, London bookseller (b. in or before 1632, d. 1709/10), see ODNB: bought as part of the library of Christopher Hatton.