Secular psalter with antiphons

Title

Secular psalter with antiphons

Shelfmark

MS. Lat. liturg. d. 38

Place of origin

German, from a monastery near Würzburg

German, made for a collegiate church in or near Würzburg. The calendar and the dedication date of the church are different from Würzburg Cathedral and Stift Haug, Würzburg (26 June); see Bünz (1998), pp. 275–95.

Date

12th century, late

12th century, middle

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment

Physical extent

i (original? parchment) + 132 + i (original? parchment)

Hands

Formal protogothic book hands, black and brown ink; smaller script used for antiphons, etc.; the work of several scribes.

Decoration

Fine historiated and other initials (damaged). (Pächt and Alexander i. 77, pl. VI) A large initial at the beginning of the psalter, and smaller ones to begin each day, some with human figures, in gold, red, brown, green and blue. (fol. 1r) Ps. 1, initial B(eatus): Pink initial, occupying two thirds of the page, on gold and brown background, with King David (?), seated, holding psaltery (?) (badly rubbed). The opening lines of the psalm are written in alternating red and green capitals. (fol. 8r) Romans 1, initial P(aulus): 3-line gold initial with a bust of St Paul holding a book. (fol. 19v) Ps. 26, initial D(ominus): 4-line initial with a half-figure of a Benedictine nun (?) looking up at Christ, blessing.

4- to 7-line gold initials, decorated with coiled tendrils and zoomorphic designs, on green and blue background at the beginnings of psalms 38 (fol. 29r), 51 (fol. 37v), 52 (fol. 39r), 68 (fol. 49r), 80 (fol. 61v), 97 (fol. 74r), 101 (fol. 75v), 109 (fol. 86r), 114 (fol. 88v), 121 (98r), 126 (fol. 99v), 131 (fol. 100v), 137 (fol. 103v), 143 (fol. 107r) and of the Office of the Dead (fol. 120r). The opening words of psalms 101 and 109 are written in alternating red and green capitals.

Red KL monographs with simple penwork in the calendar.

2- to 3-line red initials, plain, or decorated with simple penwork, at the beginnings of psalms, canticles, prayers, etc.

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

rubrics in red ink, partly in rustic capitals.

Musical notation

Neums are added in a contemporary hand at fols. 49r, 55v, 61r, etc. Cues of the antiphons with music (Gothic notation on staves of four or five black lines) are added in the margins in a late 14th-century hand (fols. 1r, 8v, 12v, 15r, 20r, 27v, over erasure, etc.); further antiphons are added in a 15th-century hand (fols. 3v, 4r, 18v, 20r, 27v, etc.).

Binding

German, 12th century (?). Sewn on three split alum-tawed bands, laced into oak boards with rounded edges covered with off-white leather, as visible on turn-ins, later stained brown. Indentations left by the fittings of five bosses in the corners and at the centre on both covers, and perhaps also a chain-staple. Fragments of the fittings of two clasps; evidence of an earlier double strip and pin fastening. Three sewing stations on each of the boards are currently filled with double strings (later replacement). The front board has tunnels containing strips of tawed leather for attaching endbands on the fore-edge, indicating reversal and reuse. A pattern of three squares cut into the upper board is for a game such as Mühle (‘Nine Men’s Morris’). Rebacked in the Bodleian with the original spine relaid. Three raised bands on spine. Parchment pastedowns (lifted) made from a 12th-century manuscript.

Acquisition

Given to the Bodleian by F. E. Norris, 1952.

Provenance

Prayer for the soul of Cunradus, a priest (fol. 124r)

21 Sept. 'Dedicatio huius ecclesie' (fol. v verso), 11 Oct. 'Recordatio fratrum' (fol. vi, as at St. Kilian, Wurzburg); pastedowns from an obituary of Stift Haug, Würzburg, 12th century

Fragment of a paper label at the head of the spine, documented as formerly reading ‘72’ (18th/19th century).

Sold by James Tregaskis and Son: Caxton Head Catalogue 846 (November 1921), no. 169 (p. 37).