Psalter ('The Bromholm Psalter'); England (?Norwich), early 14th century, with additions, mid-15th century

Title

Psalter ('The Bromholm Psalter'); England (?Norwich), early 14th century, with additions, mid-15th century

Shelfmark

MS. Ashmole 1523

Place of origin

English, East Anglia , probably Norwich; additions, English

Date

14th century, beginning;

additions, 15th century, middle

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment; fly-leaves made of 18th-century laid paper with watermarks.

Physical extent

264 leaves

Hands

Large formal Gothic book hands of the 14th and 15th centuries; black and brown ink.

Decoration

Fols. 1-168: KL monograms in the calendar on gold backgrounds, decorated with flowers, leaves and arabesque designs

Fols. 1-168: 5- to 6-line historiated initials and full illuminated borders, decorated with flowers, leaves, gold discs, at liturgical divisions in the psalter:

fol. 50r, Psalm 38 (initial D(ixi)): King David, kneeling, pointing to his mouth with one hand and to the Devil (defaced) with another hand, looking up at Christ in a cloud above, blessing. fol. 65r, Psalm 51 (initial Q(uid)): a man in a hood stabbing with a sword another, lying on the ground with eyes closed. fol. 66r, Psalm 52 (initial D(ixit)): Psalmist speaking to the Fool in a hood with bells and a bladder on a stick; a blessing hand of God in clouds above. fol. 99r, Psalm 80 (initial (E(xultate)): tonsured cleric singing from a book and four musicians playing instruments in the lower part of the initial; enthroned Christ flanked by two angels with censers in the upper half of the initial. fol. 116v, Psalm 97 (initial (C(antate)): in the upper part of the initial Christ as the Architect of the Universe, holding a compass, with birds to his right, animals to his left, and fishes of the sea below; in the lower part of the initial seated King David pointing to Christ above and listening to clerics singing from a book. A crowned figure, blowing two trumpets, separates the upper and lower parts.

Fols. 1-168: 2-line initials on gold backgrounds and borders, decorated with anthropomorphic and zoomorphic designs, flowers, leaves, and gold discs at the beginnings of psalms. Initials decorated with grotesques appear on fols. 54r, 98r, 110v, 112v, 114r, 121v, 122r, 136v, 142r, 144r and 150v; with birds on fol. 143r; with bird and animal heads and masks on fols. 149r and 154r; with fish on fol. 139v. Underdrawing occasionally visible (e.g. fols. 145r, 151r).

Fols. 1-168: 1-line alternating gold and blue initials decorated with alternating red and blue penwork at the beginnings of verses. Instructions for rubricator often survive. On fol. 77r and after the initials are by a 15th-century illuminator.

Fols. 1-168: Line-endings with floral and geometric designs. Line-endings on fol. 77r and after, containing grotesques, animals, animal heads and masks, floral and geometric designs, were added by the 15th-century illuminator responsible for decoration in the litany and hymnal.

Fols. 169-258: 2-line initials on gold backgrounds and borders (right margin), decorated with anthropomorphic and zoomorphic designs, flowers, leaves, arabesque designs and gold discs, at the beginnings of canticles, litany and hymns. Initials decorated with grotesques appear on fols. 220r, 250r, 256v; with birds on fols. 187v, 200v; with a leaping dog on fol. 249v; with bird and animal heads and masks on fols. 172r, 215v; with human heads and masks on fols. 173v, 181r, 188v, 194, 196r, 197r, 221r, 222v.

Fols. 169-258: 1-line alternating gold and blue initials decorated with red or blue penwork at the beginnings of verses and periods.

Fols. 169-258: Line-endings with grotesques, animals, animal heads and masks, floral and geometric designs.

– ‘Wills’ (Willelmus (?)) is written twice on decorative scrolls forming part of the line-ending decoration on fol. 174r, and ‘Wils sad’ on fol. 212v, possibly the name of the artist. Other line-endings are also occasionally inscribed: ‘merci’ (fol. 133r); ‘þis is | J esus: nazarenus| rex’ (fol. 169r); ‘p | p: | p | p’ (fol. 169v); ‘I. nazaren usrex Iud.’ (fol. 177v); ‘Ave maria’ (fol. 178r); ‘J esus| marci’ (fol. 209r).

Rubrics in red ink.

Musical notation

Square notation on staves of four red lines in the office of the Dead and the hymnal.

Binding

Light brown leather over pasteboard, late 17th or early 18th century. Double blind fillet lines round the outer edge and c. 35 mm away from the spine on both covers. Rebacked in the Bodleian with the original spine relaid. Five raised bands, edged by double blind fillet lines, and a gilt wreath with arms of Elias Ashmole on spine. Gilt lettering on spine: ‘Ash: || 1523 .’ Evidence of paper label on spine. Laid paper fly-leaves, perhaps contemporary with the binding. Fol. 259 is a former pastedown of a medieval binding with offsets of a wood board and paste deposits from six double cords.

Acquisition

Bodleian Library: transferred from the Ashmolean Museum in 1860. Folded plate from James and Cockerell (1926) stuck to fol. i recto, inscribed by Sydney Cockerell, signed and dated ‘SCC Jan 5 1926’.

Provenance

Made for the Cluniac priory of St Andrew, Bromholm, Norfolk : evidence of the calendar. Most canticles, litany and hymnal, also intended for Cluniac use, as well as 1-line initials and line-ending decoration after fol. 77r were added to complete the manuscript, probably still in the possession of the Priory in the 15th century. The script, ruling, and choice and hierarchy of the elements of decoration in the 15thcentury continuations closely imitate those of the original psalter. Fol. 259, which was a pastedown of a medieval binding, has 15th-century ruling (darker and finer than the 14th-century ruling of the psalter) on the verso and a hymn to the cross, which may have been associated with Bromholm (see ‘Text’), added in a 15th-century hand. At 15 June 'Dedicacio ecclesie S. Andree de Bromholmia et altaris in capella noua'. ( MLGB3: Liturgical evidence, often to be found in the kalendar).

‘Johannes Pumfrett’, 15th century, fol. 259.

Sir Edmund Wyndham of Felbrigg, Norfolk(?): see below.

Sir Richard Southwell (1502/3–1564), see ODNB: presented by Edmond Wymondham (Edmund Wyndham (?)); ‘Ex dono Edmundi Wymondam militis amico suo Ric ardo Suthwell militi xmo die Septembris 1562’ (fol. 6v); ‘Sapit qui Sustinet R. Southwell.’ (fol. 1r).

Elias Ashmole (1617–1692), see ODNB.

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford: donated by Ashmole to Oxford University in 1677.