Portable Psalter; Latin with French additions; England, Winchester (?); France (additions); 13th century, first quarter, with additions of 13th century, second quarter and 14th century, middle

Title

Portable Psalter; Latin with French additions; England, Winchester (?); France (additions); 13th century, first quarter, with additions of 13th century, second quarter and 14th century, middle

Shelfmark

MS. Liturg. 407

Place of origin

additions, France

English, Winchester(?)

Date

additions, 13th century, second quarter;

13th century, first quarter;

and 14th century, middle

Language

Latin

Middle French (ca. 1400-1600)

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment; marbled paper fly-leaves

Physical extent

258 leavesLeaves were trimmed in rebinding, occasionally causing the loss of decoration.

Hands

Psalter: large, formal Gothic book hand; dark brown ink.

Hymnal: smaller, less formal Gothic book hand; light brown ink.

Decoration

Gold KL monograms on blue and pink backgrounds in the calendar.

Full-page Beatus-initial (fol. 9v) in two compartments: the upper with David, as a young man, tearing apart the jaws of a bear, and the lower with David, as a bearded older man, seated and playing the harp.

The opening words of the psalm are written in gold.

One-third of a page to half-page historiated initials on gold backgrounds at psalms 26, 38, 51, 52, 68, 80, 97, 101 and 109. Close stylistic and iconographical links with the Imola Psalter (Imola, Biblioteca comunale MS. 100) and London, British Library, Royal MS. 1 D. X (Morgan, 1982). fol. 40r Psalm 26 (initial (D)ominus) The Anointing of David. Samuel holds a horn of oil over David’s head. fol. 59v Psalm 38 (initial D(ixi)) The Judgement of Solomon. Seated Solomon, with legs crossed, holding a sceptre; in front of him stand a young man with a drawn sword and the two women, holding the infant. fol. 76v Psalm 51 (initial Q(vid)) Doeg beheading Ahimelech; another man stands behind Ahimelech, pointing at Doeg. fol. 77v Psalm 52 (initial D(ixit)) Saul throwing his spear at David, who is playing harp (I Samuel 18). fol. 94v Psalm 68 (initial S(alvvm)) Two sailors in a boat throw Jonah overboard into the jaws of a whale. fol. 117v Psalm 80 (initial E(xultate)) Jacob wrestling with an angel. fol. 137r Psalm 97 (initial C(antate)) The Virgin Mary seated with the Child, blessing, on her knee. fol. 140r Psalm 101 (initial D(omine)) Christ blesses Ecclesia, who kneels before him, crowned and holding a chalice. fol. 159r Psalm 109 (initial D(ixit)) Christ enthroned, blessing.

3-line gold initials on blue and pink backgrounds, decorated with arabesque designs, at the beginning of psalms 21 (fol. 33v), 114 (fol. 163v), 118: 81 (fol. 173r), 118: 129 (fol. 176r), 119 (fol. 179v), the first daily and the first weekly canticle (fols. 204r, 215v).

2-line similar initials at the beginnings of psalms and canticles.

1-line gold or blue initials, decorated with blue and red penwork, at the beginnings of verses and periods.

Line-endings used occasionally.

Plain red or blue 1- or 2-line initials in the hymnal.

Rubrics in red ink in the hymnal.

Binding

Brown leather over pasteboard, French, 19th century. Blind fleur-de-lis and floral designs framed by four crossing blind fillet lines on covers. Turn-ins with gilt dentelles, including the name ‘Hardy-Mennil’ between the rows of decoration on the upper turn-in. Five raised bands on spine; panels between the bands are decorated with blind fillet lines and fleur-de-lis designs. Gilt lettering on spine: ‘LIBER | PRECUM || CODEX MANUSCR.|| MS || BODL.’ (‘MS || BODL.’ is added over the original fleur-de-lis design). Gilt lettering ‘B || 19’, apparently superimposed over earlier patterning, partly covered with a paper label with ‘MS . . .’ written in ink. Metal fittings with fleur-de-lis design on both covers for a now lost clasp. Marbled pastedowns and fly-leaves. Gilt edges of the textblock. Rust marks on fols. 1–5 and 249–250 indicate the presence of a pair of clasps on an earlier binding.

Acquisition

Bodleian Library: bought from Jackson on 20 October 1873 for £34 4s. Earlier shelfmarks: ‘B 19’ (fol. i verso), ‘MS. Bodl. Addit. vii A. 7’ (fols. i verso and iii verso).

Provenance

Amesbury, Wiltshire, Priory (cell of Fontevrault) and later abbey of Sts Mary the Virgin and Melior, of Benedictine nuns : perhaps written in Winchester for the Priory of St Mary and St Melor at Amesbury, the calendar has Winchester features and includes Melor, highly graded in blue (fol. 5v). (cf. MLGB3).

Adapted for Franciscan use in northern (?) France in the middle of the 14th century through many additions to the calendar and psalms, and the addition of the hymnal.

‘frere Vsebius Foublet’, 16th or 17th century (fol. 1r).

Dealer’s price-code in pencil ‘Rs/-/-’ (fol. 253r, top left).

Rev. John C. Jackson. Nineteenth-century pencil notes listing English saints on fol. ii recto (by Jackson (?)).