Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts
MS. 65
Psalter
Contents:
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Calendar
extent:ff. 1r-6v
incipit:
Kl I anuarius Prima dies mensis ⁊ septima
explicit:
Sancti Siluestri ⁊ confratres ix lc
decoration:The letters Kl indicating the beginning of each month are two line gilt capitals with blue and red flourishes. The first letter of every feast day and every seventh day is marked with a one line gilt capital with blue and red flourishes.
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Psalter
extent:ff. 7r-129r
incipit:
BEatus uir qui non abiit in consilio impiorum
explicit:
laudate eum in cimbalis iubilacionis, omnis spiritus laudet dominum
decoration:On f. 7r six-line red initial on blue field with gold border. Within the initial, King David with crown and blue cloak seated and playing a harp on a gold field. Floral flourish in gold, red, and blue frame text on page. Lower left corner has interlocking red and blue woven pattern on a gold field. Top right corner has a creature with a dog head on a serpentine body and bird wings and talon. On f. 25r six-line red initial on blue field with gold border. Within the initial, on a green field with red and white flowers and a golden sky stands David in a blue cloak with a conical hat pointing to his eye. Floral flourish in gold, red, and blue frame text on page. Bottom left and bottom right corners depict a creature with a dog head on a serpentine body and bird wings and talon. On f. 37r six-line red initial on blue field with gold border. Within the initial, on a green field with red and white flowers and a golden sky stands David in a blue cloak and a round hat pointing to his mouth. Floral flourish in gold, red, and blue frame text on page. Top right corner contains a pelican head with serpentine body, wings, and talon. Bottom left corner contains a dog's head (body obscured by leaf) with a talon. On f. 58r six-line red and blue initial on gold field. Within the initial, Jonah in mouth of a whale in the water. From concentric blue and red circles in a golden sky the hand of God offers a blessing. Top right corner has a pelican. Bottom right corner has a creature with a dog head on a serpentine body and bird wings and talon. Floral flourish in gold, red, and blue frame text on page. On f. 72r six-line red initial on gold field. Within the initial, seated man before a grey thatched building rings bells with hammers. He wears an orange hat and dress with brown cloak. Floral flourish in gold, red, and blue frame text on page. Bottom left has a bat-winged pelican. Top right has a duck-billed, dog-headed, serpent with wings and talon. Bottom right has interlocking red and blue woven pattern on a gold field. On f. 85r six-line red and blue initial on gold field. Within the initial, four choir boys in albs with brown hair stand before a stand upon which rests a choir book with neumes. Floral flourish in gold, red, and blue frame text on page. On f. 99r six-line red initial on blue field with gold border. Within the initial, God the Father and God the Son seated together on a bench with a gold sky. Both wear brown shirts with orange cloaks offer right-handed blessings with joining left hands. Both have blue halos with orange crosses. Floral flourish in gold, red, and blue frame text on page. Two-line initials in gold, red, and blue at the beginning of each psalm. One line initials in gold, red, and blue at the beginning of each verse. Ornamental boxes in red, blue, and gold at the end of each verse to fill up the space to the end of the line.
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Canticles
extent:ff. 129r-141v
incipit:
Confitebor tibi domine quoniam iratus est michi
explicit:
minor patre secundum humanitatem
decoration:Two-line initials in gold, red, and blue at the beginning of each canticle. One line initials in gold, red, and blue at the beginning of each verse. Ornamental boxes in red, blue, and gold at the end of each verse to fill up the space to the end of the line.
Date of origin:The style of illuminations is highly suggestive of the English international gothic style which flourished around 1400.
Place of origin:England
Support:
Parchment codex.
Foliation:
Numbered in a modern hand at the top right of every leaf. The foliator skipped from 101 to 103, so every leaf after 101 is off by one.
Dimensions:339mm x 228mm (leaves), 231mm x 145mm (ruled space)
Collation:iii 16 2-68 78 (-2) 8-188 ii Catchwords are written horizontally on the lower right side of the final leaf of gatherings 2-15 The catchwords on fol. 77v are written in a later hand.
Script:The text is in a classic gothic textualis quadrata in two hands. The first hand is responsible for the text up to f. 77v, the second from f. 78r to the end. This point also marks a change in the illuminating style in the manuscript.
Binding:Bound in fifteenth or sixteenth century blind tooled calf with two bosses on the upper cover and one on the lower and two brass clasps. The manuscript has been recently rebacked.
Additions:A seventeenth century hand has numbered the psalms according to the numbering in the Book of Common Prayer. The same hand has also noted in the upper right hand corner of each leaf, the day and office at which each psalm is to be recited according to the Anglican monastic weekly psalter.
Provenance:The manuscript was once in the collection of William Morris. It was sold to Richard Bennet in the Morris auction of 1898 at Sotheby's. Bennet sold the manuscript again in 1898. The manuscript was subsequently owned by Charles Butler, Howel Wills, and John Park. It was given to the university by Park's daughter, Rosemary Park Anastos in 1978.
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