Portable Psalter, Dominican Use; England, 13th century, third quarter

Title

Portable Psalter, Dominican Use; England, 13th century, third quarter

Shelfmark

MS. Rawl. G. 23

Place of origin

English

Date

13th century, third quarter

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment

Physical extent

178 leaves

Hands

Formal Gothic book hand, black ink.

Decoration

Gold KL monograms with blue penwork in the calendar.

5- to 6-line historiated initials in gold frames on gold backgrounds at liturgical divisions: fol. 30v Psalm 26 (initial D(ominus)) King David kneeling before an altar, pointing to his eyes. fol. 44v Psalm 38 (initial D(ixi)) King David kneeling before an altar, hands joined in prayer; a blessing hand of God above. fol. 56v Psalm 51 (initial Q(vid)) Crowned Saul stabbing himself with a sword. fol. 57r Psalm 52 (initial D(ixit)) Seated King speaking to the naked Fool, eating bread (?) and holding a club. fol. 69r Psalm 68 (initial S(aluum)) Jonah in the whale’s mouth in the lower part of the initial (rubbed); half-figure of Christ, blessing, in the upper part of the initial. fol. 84v Psalm 80 (initial E(xultate)) King David, seated, playing two bells. fol. 99v Psalm 97 (initial C(antate)) Three tonsured clerics, singing from a book open on a lectern (probably unfinished). The book is inscribed with music and ‘Alleluia homo pon[... ??]’.

4-line gold initial, decorated with penwork, at psalm 119 (fol. 130r).

4-line blue initial with penwork at psalm 109 (14th-century addition; fol. 116r).

2-line gold initials, decorated with blue penwork, at the beginning of psalms, canticles, litanies, prayers and textual units in the Office of the Virgin.

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

Penwork line-endings, alternately red or blue, with arabesque designs, animal figures and heads, and grotesques.

Rubrics in red ink.

Binding

14th- or 15th-century binding of faded pink leather over oak boards. Nails with fragments of two ties, made of dark fabric, on the upper cover; metal fittings of two pins on the lower cover. Fragment of a paper label on spine with lettering ‘B (N) || Raw(l)’. Sewn on four double thongs.

Acquisition

Bodleian Library: bequeathed by Rawlinson; accessioned in 1756. Former shelfmarks: ‘Auctarium Rawlinson 23’ (fol. 1r); ‘586’ (pastedown and fol. 3v).

Provenance

Made for a Dominican patron: evidence of the calendar and litany.

Inserted prayer for ‘Cecilie’, 13th century, fol. 175a (see ‘Text’).

Wilton, Wiltshire, Abbey of St Mary the Virgin and St Edith, of Benedictine nuns (?): litany added in the 14th century for the use of a nunnery dedicated to Sts Mary and Edith, probably the Abbey of Benedictine nuns at Wilton in Wiltshire.

Additions in the calendar including obits of Beatrice Bowman (23 May 1458) and Thomas Bowman (3 June 1462).

Inscriptions, fols. 3r (erased) and 177v.

Thomas Rawlinson (1681–1725) , see ODNB: no. 299 in his sale, March 1733/4 (?).

Richard Rawlinson (1690–1755) , see ODNB.