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Detailed record for Royal 1 D X
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| Title |
Psalter |
| Origin |
England, Central (Oxford) |
| Date |
1st quarter of the 13th century, before 1220 |
| Language |
Latin |
| Script |
Gothic, written above top line |
| Decoration |
16 full-page prefatory miniatures in colours and gold, with scenes from the life of Christ (ff. 1-8v). 24 miniatures in medallions of the Labours of the Months and the Signs of the Zodiac, in colours and gold, in the calendar (ff. 9-14v). 1 large inhabited initial on diapered ground with display script and medallions with scenes from the life of David, in colours and gold, at the beginning of the Psalter (f. 16), and 9 historiated initials in colours and gold, with display script and diapered grounds (f. 32, 42v, 52, 52v, 62, 74v, 86, 87v, 98), at the beginning of other major divisions. 2 smaller historiated initials (ff. 21v, 76v) and numerous initials with foliate, inhabited, or animal decoration, in colours and gold, at the beginning of other Psalms and in the calendar. Small initials in gold on rose and blue grounds with penwork decoration in white and red, at the beginning of each verse, and initials in gold, blue, brown, silver, red, and green in the calendar with major feasts in gold display script. Line-fillers in red and blue, some with animals, fish, or human heads. |
| Dimensions in mm |
350 x 240 (245 x 150), in one column |
| Official foliation |
ff. 139 (+ 4 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the beginning and at the end; blank folio after f. 8) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
BM/BL in-house, over modern boards. |
| Provenance |
Probably made for use in Oxford: the calendar and litany include three entries for Frideswide, the patron saint of Oxford (f. 9v, 13v, 138); and probably produced there: its style connected with the Imola (Imola Biblioteca Comunale, ms. 100) and Munich (Clm. 835) Psalters (see Morgan 1982, I, p. 76); written probably before 1220: the calendar does not include the Translation of Thomas of Canterbury, established in 1220.
Inscribed 'Deus misereatur nostri et benedicat nobis E. H', 16th century (f. 15v).
Presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal Library. |
| Notes |
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts.
Includes a calendar (ff. 9-14v) and litany (ff. 137-139). The calendar includes the erased name of Thomas of Canterbury in gold display script and a number of English saints: Judoc, Edburga, Oswald, Cuthbert, Guthlac, Dunstan, Andelm, Alban, Etheldreda, Swithun, Grimbald, Kenelm, Frideswide, Edmund, Birinus, etc. The translation of Thomas of Canterbury is not included. The Litany includes: (martyrs) Edmund, Alban, Oswald and Kenelm, (confessors) Swithun, Aldhelm, Dunstan, and Guthlac, (virgins) Frideswide.
Quire signatures.
Sewing holes above prefatory miniatures clearly for 'curtains', now no longer extant. |
| Select bibliography |
Walter de Gray Birch and Henry Jenner, Early Drawings and Illuminations: An Introduction to the Study of Illustrated Manuscripts (London: Bagster and Sons, 1879), p. 6.
Arthur Haseloff, 'La miniature dans les pays cisalpins depuis le commencement du XIIe jusqu'au milieu du XIV siècle', in Histoire de l'Art depuis les premiers temps chrétiens jusqu'à nos jours, ed. by André Michel (Paris: 1905-06), II, pp. 297-371 (p. 320).
J. A. Herbert, Illuminated Manuscripts (London: Methuen, 1911), p. 176, pl. 21.
J. A. Herbert, 'A Psalter in the British Museum (Royal MS I. D. X)', Walpole Society, 3 (1913-1914), 47-56, pls. xli-l.
George F. Warner and Julius P. Gilson, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Old Royal and King’s Collections, 4 vols (London: British Museum, 1921), I, p. 18.
Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series 3, 3rd edn (London: British Museum, 1925), pl. 14.
Eric. G. Millar, English Illuminated Manuscripts from the Xth to the XIIIth Century (Paris: Van Oest, 1926), I, p. 45, pls. 64, 65.
Guide to an Exhibition of English Art gathered from Various Departments and held in the Prints and Drawings Gallery (London: British Museum, 1934.), no. 106.
T. S. R. Boase, English Art 1100-1216, Oxford History of English Art, 2 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957), p. 280, pls. 91b, c.
Margaret Rickert, Painting in Britain: the Middle Ages, 2nd edn (London: Penguin Books, 1965), pp. 98-99, pl. 99B.
Florens Deuchler, Der Ingeborgpsalter (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1967), pp. 8 n. 22, 37, 39, 164 n. 284.
Meyer Schapiro, 'An Illuminated English Psalter of the Early Thirteenth Century', in Late Antique, Early Christian and Mediaeval Art: Selected Papers (New York: George Braziller, 1979, first publ. 1960), 329-54 (p. 351).
The Year 1200: A Centennial Exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 12 through May 10, 1970, ed. by Konrad Hoffmann (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1970), no. 261 [exhibition catalogue].
Henry B. Graham, ‘The Munich Psalter’, in The Year 1200: A Symposium (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975), pp. 301-12 (p. 302).
Andrew G. Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c.700-1600 in the Department of Manuscripts, The British Library, 2 vols (London: British Library, 1979), I, no. 857.
Nigel J. Morgan, 'Notes on the Post-Conquest Calendar, Litany and Martyrology of the Cathedral Priory of Winchester with a Consideration of Winchester Diocese Calendars of the Pre-Sarum Period', in The Vanishing Past: Medieval Studies Presented to Christopher Hohler, ed. by A. Borg and A. Martindale (Oxford: BAR, 1981), pp. 157, 167 nn. 65, 67, 74.
Nigel J. Morgan, Early Gothic Manuscripts (I) 1190-1250 (Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles), (Harvey Miller: London, 1982), no. 28, p. 73.
Claire Donovan, The de Brailes Hours: Shaping the Book of Hours in Thirteenth-Century Oxford (London, British Library, 1991), p. 201, no. 3.
Janet Backhouse, 'Sir Robert Cotton's Record of a Royal Bookshelf', British Library Journal, 18 (1992) 44-51 (p. 46, n. 8).
The Libraries of King Henry VIII, ed. by J. P. Carley, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 7 (London: The British Library. 2000), p. xxxvi, n. 48.
Nigel Morgan, ‘The Decorative Ornament of the Text and Page in Thirteenth Century England: Initials, Border Extensions, and Line Fillers’, in Decoration and Illustration in Medieval English Manuscripts, ed. by A. S. G. Edwards, English Manuscript Studies 1100-1700, 10 (London: British Library, 2002), pp. 1-33 (p. 13, pl. 11).
C. M. Kauffmann, Biblical Imagery in Medieval England 700-1500 (London: Harvey Miller, 2003), p. 167.
Scot McKendrick, John Lowden, and Kathleen Doyle, Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination (London: British Library, 2011), no. 83 [exhibition catalogue]. |
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f. 1
Annunciation and Visitation |
f. 1v
Nativity and Annunciation to the Shepherds |
f. 1v
Nativity |
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f. 1v
Annunciation to the Shepherds |
f. 2
The Magi |
f. 2
The Magi |
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f. 2
The Magi |
f. 2v
Dream of the Magi and the Presentation in the Temple |
f. 2v
Dream of the Magi |
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f. 2v
Presentation in the Temple |
f. 3
Flight into Egypt and the Massacre of the Innocents |
f. 3v
Baptism of Christ and Marriage at Cana |
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f. 4
The Transfiguration of Christ and the Raising of Lazarus |
f. 4v
Mary Magdalene anointing Christ's feet and the Entry into Jerusalem |
f. 5
Last Supper and Christ washing Peter's feet |
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f. 5
Last Supper and Christ washing Peter's feet |
f. 5v
Betrayal of Christ and Peter's denial |
f. 6
Scourging of Christ and Hanging of Judas |
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f. 6v
Crucifixion |
f. 7
Women at the Tomb and Descent to Hell |
f. 7
Holy Women at the Tomb |
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f. 7
Descent into Hell |
f. 7v
Supper at Emmaus and the Doubting of Thomas |
f. 8
Ascension and Pentecost |
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f. 8v
Christ in Majesty |
f. 9
January |
f. 9v
February |
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f. 10
March |
f. 10v
April |
f. 11
May |
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f. 11v
June |
f. 12
July |
f. 12v
August |
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f. 13
September |
f. 13v-14
Calendar pages: October and November |
f. 13v
October |
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f. 14
November |
f. 14v
December |
f. 16
Inhabited initial |
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f. 16
Inhabited initial |
f. 21
Text page |
ff. 21v-22
Bishop |
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f. 21v
Bishop |
f. 21v
Bishop |
f. 32
Anointing of David |
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f. 32
Samuel anointing David |
f. 42v
Judgment of Solomon |
f. 45v
Inhabited initial |
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f. 48v
Decorated initials |
f. 52
David and Goliath |
f. 52v
Third Temptation of Christ |
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f. 52v
Third Temptation of Christ |
f. 62
Christ and David |
f. 62
Christ and David |
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f. 68v
Decorated initial |
f. 74v
Jacob wrestling with the angel |
f. 74v
Jacob wrestling with the angel |
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f. 77v
Fish |
f. 86
Virgin and Child |
f. 86
Virgin and Child |
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f. 87v
Christ and Ecclesia |
f. 87v
Christ and Ecclesia |
f. 98
God the Father and God the Son |
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f. 98
God the Father and God the Son |
f. 116v
Illuminated initial |
ff. 118v-119
Decorated initials |
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f. 120v
Decorated initial |
f. 139
Decorated initials |
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