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Detailed record for Royal 2 B II
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| Title |
Psalter |
| Origin |
France, Central (Paris) |
| Date |
c. 1250 |
| Language |
Latin |
| Script |
Gothic, written below top line |
| Artists |
The Corpus Atelier |
| Decoration |
12 miniatures of the Labours of the Months and medallions of the Signs of the Zodiac in colours and gold, in the calendar (ff. 1-6v). 8 large historiated initials (ff. 7, 29v, 44v, 58v, 71v, 88v, 105, 122v) and 1 foliate initial (f. 107) in colours and gold, at the beginning of major Psalm divisions. Smaller initials in gold on rose and blue grounds with penwork decoration in white or red, at the beginning of other Psalms. Initials in red with blue pen-flourishing, or in blue with red pen-flourishing. Line-fillers and marginal penwork decoration, sometimes with dragons (e.g., ff.1v, 173, 176v) in red and blue, with 1 dragon in gold (f. 7). |
| Dimensions in mm |
250 x 130 (160 x 110) |
| Official foliation |
ff. i + 182 (+ 1 unfoliated modern paper flyleaf at the beginning and at the end; 3 unfoliated medieval parchment flyleaves at the beginning and 5 at the end; f. i is a medieval parchment flyleaf and f. 182 is a medieval leaf pasted down on the 3rd unfoliated parchment flyleaf at the end) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
BM/BL in-house. |
| Provenance |
Written for a nun: two prayers mention 'abbatissam nostram' (f. 176v, 179), perhaps in the diocese of Meaux or at Nantes: the calendar includes Donatian and Rogatian in red (24th May; venerated in Nantes and in the diocese of Meaux), and Fara (7th December, venerated in Faremoutier in Brie), but it includes as well both John and Genevieve (3rd January, f. 1), and the litany includes Fara, Honorine (f. 175; translated to Conflans Ste. Honorine, near Pontoise, in 1250), and a special listing of widows (f. 175).
Added prayer to the Virgin and John for a woman's use: feminine forms used 'michi peccatrici', 'ego peccatrix', 14th century (ff. 180-181).
Added 'Memoire de saincte Restieuse tres glo/rieuse vierge et martire' in Latin (relics of Restituta deposited at Arcy near Soissons), 14th century (f. 182).
Obit of Clement Lyffyn (or Lyffen) and of Margaret Alle (Hale?), with a date '1450' (8th October): inscribed, 'Obit Clement Lyffyn et 1450 Margaret Alle / Lady alle margaret'; and names of other members of Lyffyn family, Alison?, Clement (11th October), John (f. 5v).
All references to pope deleted in the calendar.
John Theyer (bap. 1598, d. 1673), antiquary: his monogram (f. i verso), and notes in his hand (f. i verso and unfoliated flyleaf at the end); passed to Robert Scott.
Robert Scott (b. c. 1632, d. 1709/10), London bookseller.
Charles II (b. 1630, d.1685), king of England, Scotland, and Ireland: probably purchased from Scott together with other 311 manuscripts from Theyer's library.
Presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal Library. |
| Notes |
Associated by Branner 1977 with the 'Corpus' Atelier (Corpus Iuris Civilis, Copenhagen Gl. Kgl. S ms. 393).
Includes a calendar (ff. 1-6v) and litany with prayers (ff. 172v-179v).
Guide letters, catchwords, and bifolium signatures (letters); curtains (ff. 58v, 71v). |
| Select bibliography |
George F. Warner, Illuminated Manuscripts in The British Museum (London: British Museum, 1899-1903), pl. 24.
[George Warner], Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series I, (London: British Museum, 1907), pl. 19.
Bertold Georg Vitzthum, Die Pariser Miniaturmalerei von der Zeit des hl. Ludwig bis zu Philipp von Valois und ihr Verhältnis zur Malerei in Nordwesteuropa (Leipzig, 1907), p. 101.
J. A. Herbert, Illuminated Manuscripts (London: Methuen, 1911), p. 197.
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, pp. 38-39.
[J. A. Herbert], British Museum: Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series 2, 3rd edn (London: British Museum, 1923), pl. 19.
Schools of Illumination: Reproductions from Manuscripts in the British Museum, 6 vols (London: British Museum, 1914-1930), V: Carolingian and French to Early 14th century (1926), p. 8 pl. 7a.
Eric G. Millar, Souvenir de l'exposition de manuscrits français à peintures organisée à la Grenville Library (Paris, 1933), no. 22, pl. 22.
Robert Branner, 'The Copenhagen Corpus', Konsthistorisk Tidskrift, 7 (1969), 97-119 (p. 116, fig. 25).
Robert Branner, Manuscript Painting in Paris During the Reign of Saint Louis: A Study of Styles (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977), pp. 116, 117, 235, fig. 342.
Janet Backhouse, The Illuminated Page: Ten Centuries of Manuscript Painting in the British Library (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997), no. 57.
Michaela Braesel, ‘The Influence of Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts on the Pre-Raphaelites and the Early Poetry of William Morris’, Journal of William Morris Studies 15.4 (2004), 41-54 (p. 52 n. 19).
Margaret Scott, Medieval Dress and Fashion (London: British Library, 2007), pl. 33.
Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination (London: British Library, 2011), no. 13 [exhibition catalogue]. |
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f. 1
January |
f. 1v
February |
f. 1v
February |
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f. 2
March |
f. 2
March |
f. 2v
April |
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f. 2v
April |
f. 3
May |
f. 3
May |
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f. 3v
June |
f. 3v
June |
f. 4
July |
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f. 4
July |
f. 4v
August |
f. 5
September |
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f. 5
September |
f. 5v
October |
f. 5v
October |
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f. 6
November |
f. 6
November |
f. 6v
December |
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f. 6v
December |
f. 7
Grotesque |
f. 7
Beatus page |
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f. 7
Beatus |
f. 29v
David |
f. 29v
David |
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f. 30
Text page |
f. 44v
David before the Lord |
f. 58v
David and a fool |
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f. 71v
David drowning |
f. 88v
David playing the bells |
f. 105
Monks singing |
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f. 105
Monks singing |
f. 122v
The Trinity |
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