Monastic Psalter; England, Fenlands, perhaps for Ramsey Abbey, later adapted for Peterborough Abbey; 14th century, first half

Title

Monastic Psalter; England, Fenlands, perhaps for Ramsey Abbey, later adapted for Peterborough Abbey; 14th century, first half

Shelfmark

MS. Barlow 22

Place of origin

English, Fenlands, Ramsey Abbey(?), later adapted for Peterborough Abbey

Date

13th century

c. 1321–41

14th century

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment

Physical extent

204 leaves (leaves trimmed in rebinding)

Hands

At least two main scribes (the second takes over at fol. 184r), large formal Gothic book hands, brown ink.

Decoration

Gold KL monograms on blue and pink background in the calendar.

Prefatory miniatures (fols. 12v–14v), illustrating the life of Christ (the choice of subjects is identical to that in the Ramsey Psalter (New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS. M. 302)), set four to a page, in rectangular frames, on alternating gold, blue, pink and red backgrounds with geometric designs: Annunciation (angel holding a scroll), Nativity, Adoration of the Magi, Presentation in the Temple, Christ among the Doctors (Christ as a beardless young man preaching to a group of five men, one seated on a chair and holding a book, and two children), Betrayal, Flagellation, Christ carrying the Cross, Crucifixion (with Stephaton and Longinus pointing to his eye whilst spearing Christ’s side), Descent from the Cross (with the Virgin Mary, St John and Joseph of Arimathea), Entombment, Resurrection, Noli me tangere, Incredulity of St Thomas, Ascension, Pentecost, Coronation of the Virgin (larger panel, occupying the upper half of the page), Dormition of the Virgin (the Virgin lying on a bed, Christ standing beside, holding her soul), Assumption (two angels holding mandorla, containing a small figure of a young woman with hands joined in prayer; empty bed and apostles below).

Historiated initials (10 lines high at psalm 1, 7 lines high at psalm 109, 4 to 6 lines high at other psalms) on gold backgrounds and borders, made of blue, pink and gold bars, decorated with foliage, human heads and grotesques at liturgical divisions. fol. 15r Psalm 1 (initial B(eatus)) Jesse Tree (sleeping Jesse with a tree growing out of his chest, with figures and scenes among its branches, including the Virgin and Child, the Throne of Grace, prophets with scrolls and kings playing musical instruments). (full border) Panels with portrait heads, and French and English royal arms. fol. 37v Psalm 26 (initial D(ominus)) King David kneeling before an altar, pointing to his eyes; nimbed dove in clouds above. fol. 53r Psalm 38 (initial D(ixi)) King David kneeling before an altar, holding a book, hand raised; half-figure of God above, blessing, holding a book. fol. 67r Psalm 51 (initial Q(uid)) Suicide of Saul; half-naked Fool (?) with a bladder on a stick in the border below. fol. 68r Psalm 52 (initial D(ixit)) King David, seated, holding a sceptre, speaking to the Fool, wrapped in a cloak, holding a bladder on a stick, pointing above. fol. 82r Psalm 68 (initial S(aluum)) Jonah in waters, in the mouth of a whale, praying to Christ in clouds above. fol. 99r Psalm 80 (initial E(xultate)) King David, seated, playing three bells with hammers; standing musician holding an organ. (border, left and lower margin) Grotesque playing a drum and a pipe. fol. 114v Psalm 97 (initial C(antate)) Three tonsured clerics singing from a book open on a lectern. (border, left and lower margin) Hybrid playing vielle. fol. 132r Psalm 109 (initial D(ixit)) Trinity: two seated figures, holding books, God blessing, Christ as a youth with a raised hand; head of a white dove in clouds above.

Borders: see above.

3-line pink and blue initials, infilled with portrait heads on tooled gold backgrounds at the beginnings of psalm 101 (fol. 116v) and weekly canticles (fol. 168r); 3-line foliate/ inhabited initials at psalm 119 (fol. 146v) and the Office of the Dead (fol. 196r).

2-line pink and blue initials on tooled gold backgrounds, and borders made of pink, blue and gold bars, decorated with foliage, animal and human heads, and grotesques, at the beginnings of psalms, canticles, litany, prayers and sections of the Office of the Dead. Many initials infilled with portrait heads of men and women.

1-line alternating blue initials with red penwork and gold initials with blue penwork at the beginnings of verses and periods; penwork often extends into the upper and lower margins.

Pink, blue and gold line-endings with geometric designs and ornament in white.

rubrics in red ink; blue paragraph marks

Binding

English medieval binding: faded, originally red 15th-century (?), skin chemise over white (?) skin over 14th-century (?) bevelled oak boards. Two nail-holes in the inner face of the back board are traces of two clasps of the former binding; traces of a later single clasp attaching from the middle of the front board to the middle of the back board. Sewn on six tawed straps, pegged into horizontal channels in the inner faces of the boards. ‘22’ painted white on spine. Bodleian paper label on spine ‘Arch. F. || d. 5’. Upper pastedown, currently detached, is fol. i; parchment lower pastedown. Painted edges of the textblock, including fleurs-de-lis and leopards (cf. Beatus-initial).

Acquisition

Bodleian Library: bequeathed by Barlow. Earlier shelfmarks: ‘(19)’ (fols. 1r, 1v) with ‘NE’ added before the former (see Summary catalogue, vol. 1, p. xii), ‘MS Linc. 22’ (fol. 1r) and the location ‘Arch F. d. 15’ (upper cover).

Provenance

Made for the Abbey of St Mary and St Benedict, Ramsey, at an unknown centre, probably in the East Anglian Fenlands ‘workshop’ that produced illuminated manuscripts for Crowland, Ramsey and Peterborough. The original calendar was of Ramsey and the picture-cycle is nearly identical to that in the Ramsey Psalter; the original litany was apparently not of Peterborough and therefore had to be replaced (see Sandler, 1974, pp. 121–2; Bennett, 1982).

Adapted for use at the Abbey of St Peter, Peterborough(perhaps for Rouceby, see below) with a large number of additions and erasures in the calendar and the addition of litany and other texts.

Belonged to Brother Walter de Rouceby, whose obit is in the calendar, dated 4 May 1341 (fol. 7r): ‘Psalterium fratris Walteri de Rouceby cuius anime misereatur deus. Amen. Item psalterium beate uirginis cum letan’ (fol. 2r).

15th-century inscriptions on lower pastedown.

Thomas Becket erased in the calendar and litany, and titles ‘pape’ erased in the calendar, presumably at the Reformation.

John Harborne, 20 December 1604 (lower pastedown).

Thomas Barlow (1608/9–1691), see ODNB, 1661: ‘Lib: Tho: Barlow è Coll: Reg: Oxon. Anno. M.DC.LXI.’ and a note about the obit of Walter de Rouceby (?) (fol. 2r).

Title

A Benedictine psalter from Peterborough abbey

Shelfmark

MS. Barlow 22

Summary

A Benedictine psalter from Peterborough abbey, where it belonged to brother Walter de Rouceby whose obit in the calendar is dated May 4, 1341 (fol. 7). The psalter is followed by:

Canticles, litany (fol. 168)

Office for the dead (fol. 189)

Preceded by a Respond in three parts and a leaf from a 13th-cent. breviary (inner front cover, fol. 1)

Lessons, etc., for martyrs, stt. Benet, Peter, Mary, added in a 14th-cent. hand (fol. 2)

A calendar with marginal obits of the abbots, etc., of the house (fol. 5)

A series of nineteen miniatures illustrating the life of Christ and the Virgin Mary (fols. 12v-14v)

The painted fore edge and the Beatus page, which is executed in the best style of east Anglian illumination, both bear the royal banner (fleur-de-lys and leopards), for Peterborough was a royal foundation (of king Penda).

One leaf has been cut out between fols. 1-2, eight leaves between fols. 4-5. fols. 11, 12, 167 are blank.

Date

Written in the early 14th century in England

Language

Latin

Physical facet

On parchment, with nineteen fine miniatures, illuminated capitals, etc.; binding, brown leather, much worn, over bevelled boards, 15th-cent. English work

Physical extent

203 Leaves

Custodial history

The volume belonged to 'John Harborne' on Dec. 20, 1604 (inner back cover). Fol. 2 has, in Barlow's hand, 'Liber Tho: Barlow è Coll. Reg. Oxon., anno MDC.LXI'.