Portable Psalter; England, 14th century, beginning, with early 15th-century additions

Title

Portable Psalter; England, 14th century, beginning, with early 15th-century additions

Shelfmark

MS. Gough Liturg. 18

Date

additions, early 15th–century

14th century, beginning;

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment; paper fly-leaves

Physical extent

228 leaves

Hands

Formal Gothic book hands

Decoration

Prefatory miniatures: fol. xiv verso, John the Baptist, holding a gold disc with an image of a nimbed lamb. fol. xv verso, Crucifixion: Christ on the Cross, the Virgin Mary and St John, holding books, stand on either side; the sun and the moon in clouds above the arms of the Cross. fol. xvi recto, Christ in Majesty: Christ seated, holding an orb, in a quatrefoil with a gold background; the quatrefoil is in a rectangular frame with the symbols of the four evangelists in the corners, holding scrolls with their names. fol. xvii recto, Tonsured cleric in a white (Cistercian (?) or Carthusian (?)) habit, kneeling before the Virgin and Child.

Blue KL monograms decorated with red penwork in the calendar.

8-line historiated initials in gold rectangular frames, some on gold backgrounds, and nearly full borders decorated with coiled tendrils, vine leaves and animal heads at liturgical divisions: fol. 1r, Psalm 1 (initial B(eatus)), King David playing harp. fol. 41r, Psalm 38 (initial D(ixi)), Kneeling King David pointing to his mouth; the face of God with gold nimbus above. fol. 55r, Psalm 52 (initial D(ixit)), The Fool holding a club and a loaf (?). fol. 69v, Psalm 68 (initial S(aluum)), King David praying in waters in the lower part of the initial; half-figure of Christ, holding an orb and blessing, in the upper part of the initial. fol. 87r, Psalm 80 (initial E(xultate)), King David, seated, playing bells. fol. 103r, Psalm 97 (initial C(antate)), Three tonsured clerics singing from a book open on a lectern; a blessing hand of God in a cloud above. fol. 118v, Psalm 109 (initial D(ixit)), Trinity (the Dove smudged).

Borders: see above. The beginning of psalm 26 is missing, but there is an offset of an illuminated border on fol. 27r which it used to face.

2-line alternating red and blue initials, decorated with contrasting purple and red penwork, at the beginnings of psalms.

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

Red and blue penwork borders on every page, decorated with beasts, grotesques, fish, floral and geometric designs.

Penwork line-endings with geometric and floral designs.

Illumination in the 15th-century continuations: 3- to 5-line blue initials with red penwork at the beginnings of the Office of the Dead (fol. 175v), the Hours of the Virgin (fol. 185v) and the Fifteen O’s of St Bridget (fol. 189v).

2-line blue initials with red penwork and penwork borders at the beginnings of the litany, collects, and sections within the offices and within the Fifteen O’s.

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

Simple penwork line-endings.

Rubrics in red ink.

Binding

Polished brown leather (calf?) over pasteboard, 17th century. Double gilt border round the outer edge of the upper and lower covers with four floral corner-pieces; the same design is repeated on the spine. Stamped gilt sheldrake, the crest of Ralph Sheldon, in the centre of the upper and lower covers. ‘57’ painted white on spine. Sewn on three cords. Laid paper fly-leaves without watermarks. Edges of textblock speckled red. Traces of glue on fol. iv, suggesting that it was a pastedown of an earlier binding. Marks and holes on fols. 184–196 left by a pair of clasps from an earlier binding.

Acquisition

Bodleian Library: bequeathed by Richard Gough; received in 1809. Former shelfmark: ‘Gough Missal 57’ (upper pastedown and fol. i recto), see Bliss and Bandinel (1814).

Provenance

Apparently made for a member of a religious order that wore white and had a special veneration for John the Baptist. A miniature shows a tonsured cleric in a white habit, and the original arrangement of the miniatures quite probably had fol. xiv verso facing fol. xvii recto. If the cleric was intended to represent a Carthusian, he might have been a monk of either Hinton or Witham, both of which were dedicated to the Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, and All Saints.

Tynemouth, Northumberland, Benedictine priory of St Mary the Virgin and St Oswin; cell of St Albans : 15th-century calendar, litany and other additions. Similar to Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Lat. liturg. g. 8, a French 14th-century psalter with a calendar, litany, Office of the Dead, the Fifteen O’s of St Bridget and private prayers added in Tynemouth Priory in the 15th century (see ‘Notable accessions’, 1964; the psalter part was missing when it was acquired by the Bodleian).

Ralph Sheldon (1623–1684) , see ODNB: his crest on the binding. His library, housed during his lifetime in Weston in Long Compton, Warwickshire, passed to William Sheldon, who sold them at public auction in August/September 1781 by Christie and Ansell.

Richard Gough (1735–1809) , see ODNB: bought at Sheldon sale for 2s 3d (inscription in his hand, fol. i recto). ‘P. 25 b.’, an inscription in Gough’s hand, perhaps referring to the fact that a leaf containing psalm 25 is missing after fol. 25. ‘C4’ and ‘31’ written in ink on the upper pastedown, almost certainly also by Gough.

Title

A Psalter for use in the Benedictine abbey of St. Albans

Shelfmark

MS. Gough Liturg. 18

Summary

A Psalter for use in the Benedictine abbey of St. Albans, preceded by a calendar (fol. xviii), and followed by:

The usual canticles (fol. 149v)

Creeds (fol. 162)

A litany (fol. 165) with prayers

'Officio Mortuorum' (fol. 175v)

'Matutine de sancta Maria' (fol. 185v)

the 15 Oes (fol. 189v)

Four miniatures are on foll. xivv, xvv, xvi, xvii, and several small ones occur in capitals in the text: a leaf is missing after fol. 187

Date

Written in the 14th century in England

Language

Latin

Physical facet

On parchment, with miniatures, etc., binding, stamped leather with a mallard in centuryre of each side (17th century)

Physical extent

199 Leaves

Custodial history

In the calendar at Dec. 29 is 'Dedicacio ecclesie sancti Albani', and at July 14 'Festum reliquiarum.'