Monastic Choir Psalter with Collects; England, Canterbury; 13th century, first quarter (before 1220) with additions, 14th century, beginning

Title

Monastic Choir Psalter with Collects; England, Canterbury; 13th century, first quarter (before 1220) with additions, 14th century, beginning

Shelfmark

MS. Ashmole 1525

Place of origin

English

English, Canterbury; additions, English

Date

13th century, first quarter (before 1220);

additions, 14th century, beginning

14th century

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment; fols. i–ii, iv–v and 187–191 are 18th-century laid paper fly-leaves

Physical extent

196 leaves

Hands

Large formal Gothic book hands, the work of several scribes; black and brown ink.

Decoration

Medallions with the Signs of the Zodiac in the margins, mid-page, in the calendar.

Gold KL monograms in the calendar, decorated with acanthus-leaf and floral designs and miniatures of the Labours of the Months: March: breaking ground with a hoe; April: seated figure in long tunic and cloak holding plants in both hands; September: threshing corn; October: sowing winter wheat.

6- and 9-line initials decorated with coiled stems and animal heads on gold background at the beginnings of psalms 32 (fol. 26v) and 80 (fol. 67r). Space of 10 lines is left where the pasted-in initial of psalm 26 has been removed (fol. 21r).

Historiated and decorated 3- to 5-line initials, gold or on gold backgrounds, decorated with human figures and heads, animals, birds and grotesques at the beginnings of psalms, canticles, collects and litany. Preparatory sketches occasionally survive in the margins (fols. 33v, 37v, 39r). Many initials are cut out. The subjects include: king seated before a lectern with an open book (fol. 6r); king with raised hands standing before an altar with a reliquary shrine (fol. 7r); kneeling king, holding a scroll, halffigure of Christ above (fol. 7v); kneeling king (fol. 8v); Massacre of the Innocents (fol. 10r); king raising sword about to strike a man whose hands are joined in prayer (fol. 10v); crowned Church, holding a chalice and a scroll, and Christ, holding a book and blessing (fol. 12v); bearded man presenting a scroll to a seated king (fol. 13r); Christ, pointing to a scroll, held by a woman at his feet, who touches the hem of his garment (fol. 13v); Christ, holding cross with pennant, rising from the tomb (fol. 14r); the temptation of Eve and Annunciation (fol. 15r); tonsured monk and a woman, holding a scroll, and Christ, holding a book and blessing (fol. 16v); crowned Church holding a chalice (fol. 19v); bearded man kneeling before an altar with a cross (fol. 22r); a man and a woman offering a lamb at the altar (fol. 22v); a king and a bishop in a building, pointing above to the blessing hand of God (fol. 23r); Christ (fol. 24r); bearded man kneeling before a cross on an altar (fol. 31v); crowned Church holding a chalice and Host (fol. 32v); bearded man giving loaves to a crowd of people (fol. 33v); two bearded men holding a scroll above the heads of a group of people blessed by God (fol. 35v); Christ, holding a book in each hand, and three tonsured clerics each holding a palm branch (fol. 37v); the Lord in the City of God and two young men, one with a finger raised in a gesture of instruction (fol. 38v); Moses giving the Tablets of Law to the people (fol. 39r); cat preaching to mice (fol. 40r); Christ as judge before the Cross displaying his wounds (fol. 40r); King David and Bathsheba (fol. 41r); Christ in prayer and Christ in Majesty (fol. 42r); King Saul sitting in judgement and Christ (?) speaking to a man whose hands are joined in prayer (fol. 44r); Israelites worshipping the Golden Calf (fol. 45r); a man, holding a sword, and a woman, holding a scroll, looking up at a king disputing with two men (fol. 45v); siege of a town (fol. 46v); men praying to God beside crowned Church, holding a chalice (fol. 47v); two kings, one young, one old, disputing (fol. 48r); a man holding a sword and a woman holding three loaves of bread (?) on a cloth (fol. 48v); the Betrayal (defaced) and Christ worshipped by angels (fol. 49v); king and people praying to God (fol. 52r); two tonsured clerics disputing, holding books (fol. 55v); a man, pointing to the hand of God which raises a sword above the head of a praying king (fol. 59v); three men, one holding a staff and one holding a scroll (fol. 60v); Synagogue, holding the Tablets of Law and a vessel, looking up to the head of Christ in clouds above (fol. 61r); Moses giving the Tablets of Law to the people (fol. 62r); a young man with a sword and shield (fol. 65r); a man stabbing another with a sword (defaced) (fol. 65v); archer aiming a bow at a boar (fol. 66v); half-figure of an angel (fol. 67v); Christ, holding a scroll, standing between two priests (fol. 67v); priest holding bread and wine (fol. 68r); God sending fire from heaven upon a group of figures (fol. 68r); crowned Church, holding a scroll before Christ (fol. 69r); seated angel (fol. 69v); people kneeling before a king holding a scroll, blessing hand of God above (fol. 70r); seated king (fol. 71v); physician attending a sick king, the face of God above (defaced) (fol. 72r); king standing before seated Christ, both holding scrolls (fol. 73r); praying saint (fol. 75v); king with a scroll standing before Christ, who treads on a lion and serpent (fol. 76v); crowned Church, holding a scroll, looking up at Christ (fol. 77v); Christ seated, holding a book (defaced) (fol. 78r); a man with an axe standing before a king, holding a scroll, the hand of God holding a sword appearing above (fol. 78v); two priests before an altar (fol. 79v); King David playing harp and a musician playing pipe (fol. 80v); bust of a king above a ring of flames (fol. 81r); God and angels above two praying figures (fol. 82r); a woman, holding a scroll, standing before seated Christ, holding a scroll (fol. 82v); Christ in prayer (fol. 84r); God creating the sun and the moon (fol. 85r); a young man disputing with a seated king (fol. 88r); the Harrowing of Hell (fol. 90r); half-figure of a bearded man pointing to the text (fol. 92r); Flagellation (defaced) (fol. 92v); three Hebrews in the furnace (fol. 94r); half-figure of Moses and heads of Israelites (fol. 94v); Christ, standing between two devils and praying to God (fol. 95v); Christ raising chalice above an altar, tonsured cleric with a palm, the face of God above in clouds (fol. 96r); angel and armoured knight holding a sword (fol. 98r); armoured knight (fol. 101v); musician (fol. 102r); bearded man (fol. 103v); bearded man with a raised hand (fol. 106v); King David playing harp (fol. 108v).

1-line alternating red and blue initials decorated with contrasting blue or red penwork at the beginnings of verses and periods; red and blue penwork line-endings.

3- to 6-line initials and borders on fols. 141v–181v, decorated with foliage, flowers, geometric designs, grotesques, a portrait head (fol. 164v) and animal heads and masks in the canticles for the year, hymnal and Office of the Dead. According to Morgan (1982) this 14th-century decoration resembles the early illumination of the Ormesby Psalter (Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Douce 366), and the figure style is also close to Paris, Bibliothèque nationale MS. lat. 770, made for Christ Church Cathedral Priory, Canterbury.

Rubrics in red.

Binding

Speckled light brown leather binding, 18th century. Double blind fillet line border round the outer edge of both covers; two double blind fillet lines c. 30 mm away from the spine. Rebacked in the Bodleian, inscribed ‘L. F. 15. 3. 57’ on the lower past- edown. Four raised bands edged by double blind fillet lines on spine. Gilt lettering on spine: ‘Ash. || 1525’. Fly-leaves made from 18th-century laid paper, some with watermarks. Traces of patterning in red and other (?) pigments on the edges of textblock, possibly the remains of medieval fore-edge painting.

Acquisition

Bodleian Library: transferred from the Ashmolean Museum in 1860. Notes by S. C. Cockerell (fol. iii recto); ‘A 1525’ (fol. 181v).

Provenance

The calendar suggests St Augustine’s, Canterbury (cf. Wormald), but the litany appears to be that of Christ Church Cathedral Priory, Canterbury.

Canterbury, Kent, Benedictine cathedral priory of Holy Trinity or Christ Church : the addition of the canticles for the year, hymnal and the Office of the Dead in the early 14th century; added obits in the calendar including a 16th-century obit of prior Thomas Goldstone II (1494–1517). (cf. MLGB3: evidence from locally specific contents, including obits, scribbles, etc.).

Added names on fly-leaves at the end, including William Brockman, William Paterege and Robert Bedingfeild [sic] (fol. 182v).

Elias Ashmole (1617–1692), see ODNB.

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