Collection ID: 0054 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

East Anglian Psalter

Other related names

• Bernard Quaritch, Ltd., former owner (http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n84093217)
• Wilfred M. Voynich, former owner (http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n88244649)
• Henry Walters, former owner (https://lccn.loc.gov/nr94027104)

Call number

W.79
(Baltimore, Walters Art Museum)

Publisher

Walters Art Museum

Language

Latin

Origin

Place

East Anglia, England

Summary

This English Psalter was made for an East Anglian patron at the beginning of the fourteenth century. The original Psalter contains a calendar for adapted Sarum use, the Psalms, Canticles, Litany, and Office of the Dead, with additional prayers in a humanist hand added by a fifteenth-century owner. The text is incomplete; about two dozen leaves have been removed, resulting in missing historiated initials and several partial Psalms and Canticles. Three extant historiated initials, accompanied by incipits in gold, stand out among a multitude of smaller painted and flourished initials. The majority of the text is written in an accomplished textualis prescissa. This Psalter has stylistic and textual connections to the Gorleston Psalter (British Library, Add. Ms. 49622) and the Ormesby Psalter (Bodleian Library, Douce Ms. 366), placing it firmly within the tradition of East Anglian manuscript production in the first half of the fourteenth century.

Notes

• Incomplete; Lacks textual material from the Canticles and has several partial Psalms, folios from the Canticles have been moved from their original location and now appear after the Calendar; Original manuscript contained the Calendar, Psalms, Canticles, Litany, Office ofthe Dead; Musical notation present in the text of the Office of the Dead; Prayers to SS Anthony, Adrian, and Sebastian were added in the fifteenth century
   
• Fols. 1r - 5v: Calendar; Contents: Incomplete: lacking September/October; Sarum use, with the exception of Winwaloe (March 3); Half-full, graded blue, red, and gold
   
• Fols. 12r - 147v: Psalms; Incomplete; Begins Psalm 2:7, lacks 20-21:6, 24:21-26:1. 36:2-38:5, & 9:15-81:11, 85:14-87:8. 108:24-109:7, 113:9-114:1, 147:17-150
   
• Fols. 6r - 11v; 148r - 154r: Canticles; Incomplete and misbound, the canticles originally clearly followed the psalms; Fols. 6r-11v originally placed between fols. 151 and 152; Lacks Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, and parts of Canticle of Isaiah, Benedictus Quicumque vult; Contents: Confitebor tibi (partial, only Isaiah 12:3-6, fol. 148r), Ego dixi in dimidio (Isaiah 38: 10-20, fols. 148r-149r), Exultavit cor meum (I Samuel 2:1-10, fols. 149r-149v), Cantemus domino (Exodus 15: 1-19, fols. 150r-151r), Domine audivi (Habacuc 3:2-19, fols. 151r-151v, 6r-7r), Audite caeli (Deuteronomy 32:1-43, fols. 7r-10v), Tedeum (fols. 10v-11v), and Benedicite (Daniel 3:57-88, fols 11v, 152r-152v), Benedictus (partial, only Luke 1: 68-72, fol. 152v), Quicumquevult (partial only fols. 153r-154r)
   
• Fols. 154r - 158v: Litany; Incomplete; Litany of the Saints lacks the end of the petitions and collects (after fol. 158v); Litany has a slight Cluniac bias, including Pancras and Maiolus as the last two of 31 confessors; Many Norman and Breton saints including Taurinus (7), Audoen (13), Romanus (14),Paternus (15), Machutus (18), Melanius (19), Maurilius (20), Philibert(24) Wandregisil (25), Ansbert (26)
   
• Fols. 159r - 191r: Office of the Dead; Use of Sarum; Square musical notation on four red staves forantiphons, responses, and versicles, each beginning with a Lombard capital; Decoration note: Decorated by a different hand than Calendar, Canticles, Psalms, and Litany; Opens with a five-line initial filled with red penwork of grotesques (fol. 159r)
   
• Fols. 192r - 193r: Additional Prayers to SS. Anthony, Adrian, and Sebastian added by a fifteenth-century owner; Hand note: Humanistic script
   
• Parchment of medium thickness; Some water damage to tops of folios in calendar
   

Extent

13.5 cm wide by 21.5 cm high bound to 22.0 cm wide by 33.8 cm high

Foliation

Foliation: iii+194+v; Consistent modern pencil foliation inner upper right corners, rectos (used here); Foliation is misnumbered at 177: 177, 177bis, 178..., resulting in 194 folios numbered only to 193; Several sets of other numbers; Occasional pencil foliation on side margins; Occasional inconsistent foliation at upper right corners, rectos; Two of the back flyleaves are parchment, all other flyleaves are modern

Collation

Formula: iii, 1(6,-5), 2(6), 3(8,-1), 4(8), 5(8,-2,-7), 6(8), 7(8,-2, 3,4,5), 8-12(8), 13(8,-6,7), 14-16(8), 17(8,-3,6), 18-20(8), 21(8,-4,5), 22(2),23(8,-1,8), 24-27(8), 28-29(2), v; Comments: Quires begin on fols. 1(1), 6(2), 12(3), 19(4), 27(5), 33(6),41(7), 45(8), 53(9), 61(10), 69(11), 77(12), 85(13), 91(14), 99(15), 107(16),115(17), 121(18), 129(19), 137(20), 145(21), 151(22), 153(23), 159(24),167(25), 175(26), 182(27), 190(28), 192(29); The 3 bifolia of quire 2 (beginning on fol. 6) fit inside the bifolium that is now quire 22 (beginning on fol. 151); Quire 29 is a fifteenth-century added bifolium

Support

Parchment

Catchwords

Quires of eight marked with catchwords on versos in lowermiddle margins of page, horizontally within ruled lines

Binding

The binding is not original; Rebound ca. 1900 by Rivière and Son, London; Probably unshaped millboard covered in dark blue leather

Layout

Columns: 1; Ruled lines: 18; Text ruled in brown ink, some prickings visible; Layout does not apply to calendar (fols. 1r-5v, 32 lines, ruled in red ink) or Prayers to SS Anthony, Adrian, and Sebastian (fols. 192r-193r, 10-36 lines)

Decoration

Three six-line historiated initials with tooled goldgrounds, with incipits in gold, at major Psalm divisions; Two-line initialsin blue filled with foliage or grotesques on gold ground begin regular psalms and canticles; One-line red and blue capitals with contrasting pen flourishes throughout; Line endings with decorative patterns, animals, andgeneric heraldic insignia; Small amount of marginalia includes animals and hybrids; Text in black ink

Script

Textura prescissa, with smaller version used in sections meantto be sung; Calendar in textura quadrata

Colophon

Fol. 191r: Transliteration: Finito libro sit laus et gloria Christo. Amen; Translation: The book is finished. Praise and glory be to Christ. Amen; Comment: Separated from the end of the Office of the Dead text by seven lines; Letters in blue with lines outlined in red, with penwork profile head at text end

Provenance

• Made early fourteenth century in East Anglia, England, possibly for a male patron in Norwich [See Randall 2007, 224].
   
• Purchased by Bernard Quaritch, Ltd. at Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge sale in London (No. 289), March 19, 1909.
   
• Wilfred M. Voynich collection, London, from Quaritch, before 1912.
   
• Acquired by Henry Walters, Baltimore, from Voynich on January 19, 1912.
   
• Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest.
   

Related resources

• Randall, Lilian M. C. "The Art of Calligraphy." The Walters Art Gallery Bulletin 2 (1983): p. 7.
• Folsom, Rose. The Calligraphers' Dictionary. London: Thames and Hudson, 1990, pp. 110, 120 (fol. 163v). .
• Burin, Elizabeth. "Medieval Writing and Calligraphy." The Walters Monthly Bulletin 11 (1993): pp. 4-5 (fol. 86v).
• Mellinkoff, Ruth. Outcasts: Signs of Otherness in Northern European Art of the Late Middle Ages. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993, vol.2, fig. I.21 (fol. 56).
• Weiss, Susan Forscher. "Singing Along with Guido and Friends: Music in Manuscripts." The Walters Monthly Bulletin 10 (1996): p. 5 (fol.100).
• Randall, Lilian M.C. "Sense and Sensibilities in an Early Fourteenth-Century Psalter from East Anglia." In Tributes to Lucy Freeman Sandler: Studies in Illuminated Manuscripts, edited by Kathryn A. Smith and Carol H. Krinsky. Turnhout: Harvey Miller, 2007, pp. 219-33.

Keywords

• Christian
• Psalter
• Devotion
• English
• Humanistic
• Inhabited initial
• 14th century
• England
• Musical notation
• Colophon
• Historiated initial

Licenses

• Text

  These images and the content of Walters Art Museum W.79: East Anglian Psalter are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

• Text

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  URL

  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode

Table of contents

• fol. 1r — Calendar
• fol. 12r — Psalms; incipit: Dominus dixit ad me
• fol. 33v — Psalm 28
• fol. 51v — Psalm 48
• fol. 56r — Psalm 52
• fol. 61v — Psalm 59
• fol. 69r — Psalm 68
• fol. 86v — Psalm 82
• fol. 88v — Psalm 84
• fol. 96r — Psalm 92
• fol. 100r — Psalm 97
• fol. 101v — Psalm 99
• fol. 102v — Psalm 101
• fol. 118v — Psalm 113
• fol. 119r — Psalm 115
• fol. 126v — Psalm 118
• fol. 148r — Canticles; incipit: ...haurietis aquas in gaudio
• fol. 154r — Litany; incipit: Kyrie eleyson
• fol. 159r — Office of the Dead; incipit: [rubric: In vigilia mortuorum] Dilexi quoniam exaudiet Dominus
• fol. 191r — Additional Prayers; incipit: [rubric: De Sancto Anthonio] Anthoni sancte pater salutaris

Decorations

• fol. 33v — Historiated initial "A" with hybrid figure wielding sword, 2 lines
• fol. 51v — Initial "A" with hybrid figure wielding sword, 2 lines
• fol. 56r — Historiated initial "D" with miniature of the fool speaking to God, 6 lines; Marginalia with two hounds chasing a rabbit; The fool stands in a quartered tunic, holding his loaf and rattle; He looks up toward God in the upper right corner; The fool is often associated with a bicolored tunic, though here he appears in a distinctive quadripartite blue and dull pink tunic; The style of this historiated initial recalls North French and Flemish examples
• fol. 61v — Initial "D" with male supplicant, 2 lines; This initial depicts a male supplicant dressed in a dull-pink hooded robe; This image is related to two other initials in this manuscript that depict similar male supplicants (fols. 96r and 102V)
• fol. 69r — Historiated initial "S" with three men in water pray to God, 6 lines; Marginalia with archer shooting at a hybrid man; Three nude male supplicants appear in the lower half of the "S," up to their waists in water; The trio refer to the text of the Psalm: "Save me, O God, for the waters are come in even unto my soul;" The presence of three figures is irregular, as this scene normally depicts only one figure, sometimes that of David, in the water
• fol. 86v — Marginalia with man wielding a sword, upper left corner
• fol. 88v — Marginalia with hybrid man pointing, bottom left corner
• fol. 89r — Marginalia with hybrid figure wielding a sword, left margin
• fol. 96r — Initial "D" with male supplicant, 2 lines
• fol. 100r — Historiated initial "C" with three clerics chanting, 6 lines; Marginalia with shepherd trumpeting and fox; This page depicts an historiated initial containing three tonsured clerics chanting from an open, notated gradual on a lectern before them, all on a tooled gold ground; Each cleric wears a differently colored robe, the first turns the book's pages, the second raises his hand to his chin in contemplation and holds a book in his other hand, and the third holds hishands in prayer; The image of three chanting clerics relates directly to theincipit of the Psalm ("Cantate domino canticum novum..."), which appears in raised gold lettering; The trumpeter in left margin of the page above the words "Et exultaverunt" finds comparison with a shepherd blowing his horn in response to the Annunciation of Christ's birth in the Gorleston Psalter (British Library, Add. Ms. 49622, fol. 126r); The style of this image, like the one at Psalm 52 (fol. 56r), recalls North French and Flemish examples
• fol. 101v — Inhabited initial "I" with hybrid figure, 3 lines
• fol. 102v — Inhabited initial "D" with male supplicant: 2 lines; This page depicts an initial with a male supplicant dressed a dull-pink robe on a gold ground; Psalm 101 was often favored for the depiction of patrons of devotional texts
• fol. 118v — Marginalia with hybrid figure marginal, upper left margin
• fol. 119r — Marginalia with hybrid figure, lower left margin
• fol. 126v — Marginalia with hybrid figure, upper left margin
• fol. 127v — Marginalia with hybrid figure, upper left margin
• fol. 159r — Inhabited initial "D," 5 lines; Marginalia with hybrid animal; This page depicts a large initial "D," inhabited by a multitude of penwork grotesques; Hybrid animals in the same style occupy the lower and right margins; The opening of the Office of the Dead marks a distinct change in style from the rest of the manuscript; More elaborate penwork flourishes enhance both the initials and the marginalia
• fol. 161v — Inhabited initial "C," 2 lines; Marginalia with hybrid figures
• fol. 163v — Initials with elaborate penwork flourishes: decorated initial "I," 3 lines; inhabited initials "Q" and "M," 2 lines
• fol. 170r — Inhabited inital "D," 2 lines; Marginalia with hybrid figure and dog chasing a rabbit
• fol. 175r — Inhabited initial "Q," 2 lines; Marginalia with monkey
• fol. 189v — Inhabited initial "D" with partial penwork border, 2 lines