Psalter; England, East Anglia; c. 1340–1348 (?)

Title

Psalter; England, East Anglia; c. 1340–1348 (?)

Shelfmark

MS. Douce 131

Place of origin

English, East Anglia

Date

c. 1340–8 (?)

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Parchment; 16th-century (?) parchment fly-leaves (fols. iii–iv). Separately stored 17th-century laid paper fly-leaves (fols. i–ii) and the upper pastedown, and 19th-century paper fly-leaf (fol. 139) and the lower pastedown. Strips of parchment used to strengthen the quires during the 16th-century rebinding are also stored separately.

Physical extent

148 leavesLeaves were trimmed in the 16th-century rebinding, frequently causing the loss of decoration.

Hands

The work of more than one scribe (change of scribe at fol. 131), formal Gothic book hands, black and brown ink

Decoration

The decoration includes two miniatures on patterned gold backgrounds (one fullpage, psalm 109, and one 9 lines high, psalm 1) and twelve usually 10-line-high historiated initials on patterned gold backgrounds with full or partial borders at liturgical divisions.

Most initials are illuminated with traditional iconography, while those that did not have established subjects (psalm 119, the first of the Gradual Psalms, and the beginning of weekly canticles) have perhaps the images of patrons.

The borders are made of pink and blue bars decorated with coiled tendrils and foliage, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic designs, and miniatures in the bas-de-page. All borders are cropped and rubbed. (fol. 1r) Psalm 1 (miniature) David and Goliath in front of a walled city. (initial B(eatus)) 7-line initial with King David playing harp. (full border) Jesse Tree, with the Virgin and Child at the top, on patterned gold background. fol. 20r Psalm 26 (initial D(ominus)) Anointing of David by two bearded figures. (full border) Goat playing vielle, dog blowing horn, two men fighting, cat catching a rat. fol. 32r Psalm 38 (initial D(ixi)) King David witnessing the execution of the Amalekite (?). (full border) Ape astride goat jousts with a dog astride a stag. fol. 42v Psalm 51 (initial Q(vid)) Suicide of Saul. (border, left, right and lower margins) Hybrid musicians, two roosters scratching at a worm (?) watched by a crowned hen in a tower. fol. 43r Psalm 52 (initial D(ixit)) Seated King David speaking to the Fool dressed as a jester. (border, left, right and lower margins) Hybrid musicians, ladies travelling in a coach. fol. 54r Psalm 68 (initial S(aluum)) Jonah emerging from the whale’s mouth by a shore with a walled city in the lower part of the initial; enthroned Christ with cruciform halo, holding a book and blessing, in the upper part. (border, left, right and lower margins) A battle between two mounted knights, witnessed by a lady in a circular tower; a dragon. fol. 68v Psalm 80 (initial E(xultate)) Two kings playing bells in the upper half of the initial; two kings, one playing psaltery, another harp in the lower part of the initial. (full, left, right and lower margins) A giant armed with a club and attended by a dwarf, sets out from a circular tent to battle a mounted knight, accompanied by a mounted lady. fol. 81v Psalm 97 (initial C(antate)) Elevation of the Host at Mass, watched by four clerics with an open book on a lectern. (border, lower margin) A giant is speared by a mounted knight watched by a queen weaving in a tent and a man tied to a tree. fol. 83v Psalm 101 (initial D(omine)) King David praying at an altar; half-figure of Christ above, with cruciform halo, blessing. (border, left and lower margins) Blue, gold and pink bars, foliage. Space, left empty for a miniature (?) in the lower margin. fols. 96v–97r Psalm 109 (miniature) The Judgement of Solomon in an elaborate architectural setting, with a queen and other male and female figures among the battlements, with an outer frame including small dragons and human figures. (initial D(ixit)) Trinity (two nimbed seated figures with raised hands, nimbed dove descending from above). (full border) Foliated border, incorporating grotesques. fol. 110r Psalm 119 (initial A(d)) A young man wearing partially effaced arms of England and France (?) kneeling before the enthroned Virgin and Child in an elaborate architectural setting; background panel with quartered arms of England and France. (full border) Foliate border incorporating grotesques. fol. 126r Weekly canticles (initial C(onfitebor)) A Franciscan friar in a grey habit with a knotted cord, hooded, bare feet, hearing a confession of a Benedictine (?) nun, in black, kneeling. Background panel decorated with the arms of France. (full border) Foliated border, incorporating grotesques.

2- to 3-line gold initials on blue and pink backgrounds in gold frames at the beginnings of psalms and canticles.

1-line gold initials on blue and pink backgrounds at the beginnings of verses and periods.

Line-endings with gold and white designs on blue and pink background.

Binding

Modern binding: Bodleian binding, 1986–87, bare boards of English oak, white alumtawed goat leather spine, sewn on five double cords, Japanese paper strips wrapped around the spine bolt of each quire, four modern parchment fly-leaves at the beginning and at the end.

Earlier binding (stored separately as MS. Douce 131*): London binding, c. 1500–1520, brown leather over oak boards, worn on both covers. A border of two sets of blind fillet lines round the outer edges of the upper and lower covers. Both covers are blind-stamped with two impressions of a panel (74 × 108 mm) with quartered arms of France and England ensigned with the royal crown, supported by a dragon and a greyhound. In the upper part of the panel are the sun and the moon and two escutcheons charged, one with the cross of St George, the other with the arms of the city of London. At the foot are the initials ‘H’ and ‘I’ (reproduced by Weale, 1894–98) of Henry Jacobi, a London printer. Between the panels is a row of four stamps with gryphons. 19th-century (?) spine with five raised bands, the panels between the bands decorated with gilt borders, gilt floral centre- and corner-pieces and a design made of circles and crosses. The second panel has gilt lettering ‘PSALTERIUM || MS. SÆC. 14’. Bodleian paper label on spine printed ‘66’. Holes left by the fittings of two clasps and ties. 16th-century parchment fly-leaves, fols. iii–iv.

Stored separately are: (1) 17th-century laid paper unfoliated former upper pastedown; (2) 19th-century laid paper bifolium and a small rectangular paper leaf, both with notes by Francis Douce, probably added when the manuscript was repaired for Douce (see ‘Provenance’); (3) 19th-century paper bifolium (a former pastedown and a fly-leaf, fol. 139), probably added when the manuscript was repaired in the Bodleian, with a fragmentary watermark ‘SHAR ... || 1816’; and (4) a parchment strengthener, a strip of a 13th-century glossed manuscript.

Acquisition

Bequeathed to the Bodleian in 1834

Provenance

Made in East Anglia in the early 1340s (?). The surround of a historiated initial (fol. 110r) has the quartering of the arms of England and France, with France in the dexter, which was adopted by Edward III for his arms after 1340 (Pinches and Pinches, 1974, pp. 50–1 and Michael, 1994). A decorative use of the arms of England and France for border surrounds, however, is found already in the first half of the 14th century (Michael, 1994). Dennison (1986) suggests Cambridge as the most likely centre of activity of the artists who worked on the psalter and dates it on stylistic and other grounds to c. 1340–43. A male patron (?) kneeling before the Virgin and Child in the initial of psalm 119 (fol. 110r) bears damaged arms on his surcoat, which have been identified as the arms of Montreuil (Pächt and Alexander, 1966–73), of England and France (Alexander, 1983) and of England impaling Bohun (Michael, 1994). The psalter may have been commissioned for presentation to a nunnery (initial on fol. 126r).

In use in a religious community in the 15th century: corrections, addition of antiphons, versicles and responses for the Office of the Dead and a prayer for the founder.

Partially cropped 15th-century inscription giving the numbers of years, weeks and days of indulgences: ‘Item alius [...] dixit cotidie (?) [. . .] dixit iesus (?) habebit cotidie xxiiij annos et xxxiij septimanas et iij dies indulgencie Hoc est in septimana c. lxx duorum annorum et xxv septimanarum et duorum dierum’ (fol. 136v).

Initials of Henry Jacobi, London printer, d. 1514, on a stamped panel on the former binding. The panel occurs on four books, 1503–20 (Oldham, 1958).

John Adams: ex libris, early 16th century (‘Sum Johannis Adams liber’, fol. iv verso); Latin verse (fol. iv recto).

William Bendlowes (d. 1613): notes and verses on fly-leaves, pious notes on miniatures, notes in the margins of the psalter, the numbering of psalms, crosses and brackets against many psalm verses, an account of his father, William Bendlowes (1516–1584), sergeant-at-law and law reporter (see ODNB) (fol. 96r). Most notes in the margins have been erased, but are visible under ultra-violet light. Inscribed ‘No (6)’ (fol. iv recto), possibly by Bendlowes.

John Jackson (d. 1794), see ODNB (brief biography within the entry Jackson, John, d. 1807, traveller): sale by Leigh and Sotheby, London, 28 April 1794.

Francis Douce, 1757–1834, see ODNB: bookplate on the upper pastedown, notes on fols. i–ii. Bought at Jackson sale; probably lot 352, for £4. 5s. 0d. Described as ‘Psalterium Davidis with curious miniatures and initials, finely coloured, on vellum, 4to in old binding’ in Douce’s annotated catalogue of the sale, Douce CC 393(3), p. 12. Douce sent the manuscript to the binder, probably for repairs, costing 3s., in June 1826 (MS. Douce e. 72, fol. 25r).

Title

A Psalter, followed (fol. 126) by canticles and creed

Shelfmark

MS. Douce 131

Summary

The binding is stamped leather by 'H. I.' i.e. Henry Jacobi of London, 1505-12, with a design described in J. Weale's Bookbindings at South Kensington, ii. (1894), p. 119: the back is modern.

Date

written in about A.D. 1300 in England or France

Language

Latin

Physical facet

On parchment, with many miniatures (one full-page, on fol. 96v) and illuminated borders and capitals, binding: stamped leather

Physical extent

139 Leaves

Custodial history

Owned by William Bendlowes (d. 1613) who has scribbled notes and verses on blank pages and even on the illuminations (see foll, iii, 1, 96, 138v, etc.): on fol. 96 he gives some account of his father.