Portable Psalter; French Flanders, Diocese of Thérouanne (?), late 13th or early 14th century

Title

Portable Psalter; French Flanders, Diocese of Thérouanne (?), late 13th or early 14th century

Shelfmark

MS. Douce 24

Date

13th century, late, or 14th century, early

Language

Middle Dutch (ca. 1050-1350)

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment; paper fly-leaves

Physical extent

241 leaves Leaves were trimmed in rebinding, occasionally causing the loss of decoration.

Hands

Formal Gothic book hand, black ink.

Decoration

Gold KL monograms on blue and pink backgrounds decorated with white floral designs in the calendar.

Miniatures of the Labours of the Months in frames with pointed tops: January: Janus feasting February: woman holding two twisted candles March: man, standing on a ladder, pruning a tree with a bill-hook April: man carrying flowering branches May: man on horseback with a hawk June: man carrying wood on his back July: man mowing hay with a scythe August: man reaping grain September: man threshing grain October: man sowing November: man slaughtering a pig December: man baking bread in an oven (defaced).

Historiated initials at liturgical divisions, each depicting the torture or martyrdom of a saint (only the first is nimbed), on gold backgrounds (flaking) in rectangular frames, accompanied by full borders of coiled tendrils with gold discs, incorporating grotesques, hunting scenes, birds, animals, etc. Most initials are 8 lines high (apart from the full-page Beatus-initial and the 5-line initial at the beginning of the canticles). fol. 7v Psalm 1 (initial B(eatus)) King David playing harp in the upper part, David slaying Goliath in the lower part. fol. 37r Psalm 26 (initial D(ominus)) St Lawrence on a grid, one man with bellows, another with winged headgear, watched by a king. fol. 56r Psalm 38 (initial D(ixi)) St Bartholomew flayed by two men. fol. 73v Psalm 51 (initial Q(vid)) A female saint, possibly St Catherine, naked to the waist, her arms tied above her head to a cross, being scourged by two men. fol. 74v Psalm 52 (initial D(ixit)) St Leodegar of Autun being blinded, directed by a king. fol. 93v Psalm 68 (initial S(aluum)) St Sebastian shot by archers. fol. 117r Psalm 80 (initial E(xultate)) Martyrdom of St Nicasius: a soldier attacks a woman with a sword, while a bishop carries his own head in his hands. fol. 138v Psalm 97 (initial C(antate)) St Stephen stoned by two men. fol. 141v Psalm 101 (initial D(omine)) Martyrdom of St Lambert (?): two soldiers with swords attack a bearded man as he kneels at an altar; the crucifer behind. fol. 162r Psalm 109 (initial D(ixit)) St Agatha’s breasts cut off by two men; her hands tied above her head. fol. 210v Weekly canticles (initial C(onfitebor)) Female saint, possibly St Catherine, kneeling in prayer, her hair held by a soldier with a raised sword (compare MS. Auct. D. 4. 2 and see Oliver, 1985).

Borders: see above.

3-line gold initials on blue and pink backgrounds, and borders made of gold, blue and pink bars, with white floral and zoomorphic decoration at the beginnings of psalms, canticles, litany and prayers.

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

Line-endings with gold and white floral and geometric designs on blue and pink backgrounds.

Binding

Red leather over pasteboard, 18th century. Gilt border round the outer edge of both covers with gilt floral corner-pieces. Gilt floral decoration at the centre of both covers. Rebacked in the Bodleian with the original spine (faded to brown) relaid. Four raised bands on spine. The panels between the bands are framed with gilt fillet lines and decorated with floral designs. Black leather label on one of the panels with gilt lettering ‘PSALTERIUM || MANUSC no. RIPTUM’. Discoloration at the bottom of the spine, left by another, now missing (probably Bodleian), label. Gilt geometric designs on the edges of covers; gilt edges of textblock. Pastedowns and fly-leaves made of marbled paper. Endbands of blue and gold thread.

Acquisition

Bodleian Library: received in 1834 with bequest of Douce.

Provenance

Made in French Flanders, for the use of the diocese of Thérouanne (?): evidence of the calendar, litany and decoration.

14th-century notes in Netherlandish, drawing attention to psalms 30 and 122 (fols. 41v and 185v).

Possibly in England during the Reformation, when some of the titles ‘pape’ were smudged in the calendar.

Michael Ignatius Dugan (d. 1768), auctioneer, collector of manuscripts and books (see Pollard, 2000): armorial bookplate, 1758, on the upper pastedown. His library was sold at auction by James Vallance, Dublin, 19 January 1769.

Francis Douce, 1757–1834, see ODNB: bookplate on fol. i recto, with his notes on the calendar and saints depicted in historiated initials (fol. ii recto); on the litany (fol. 237r); and a list of texts following the psalms in the manuscript (fol. 238r). His (?) shelfmark (?) ‘B s’ in pink ink on the Dugan bookplate (cf. MS. Douce 23, MS. Douce 38, MS. Douce 49).

Title

A Psalter, with canticles (fol. 210v), etc.

Shelfmark

MS. Douce 24

Summary

Preceded by a calendar (fol. 1), and followed by a litany (fol. 231).

There are small miniatures (representing the occupations of the months, and tortures of saints), and borders, etc., and one full-page miniature at fol. 7v.

Fols. 1, 96v, 97r, are injured. The calendar seems to point to North France, and there is an admixture of Flemish saints.

Date

written at the close of the 13th cent. in N. France (?)

Language

Latin

Physical facet

On parchment, illuminated, miniatures and borders

Physical extent

239 Leaves

Custodial history

'Ex bibliotheca Michaelis Ignatii Dugan. 1758' is on an armorial bookplate.