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The Hunterian Psalter (or York Psalter) is an
illuminated manuscript of the 12th century. It was produced in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
some time around 1170, and is considered a striking example of
Romanesque book art. The work is part of the collection of the
Glasgow University Library, cataloged as Sp Coll MS Hunter U.3.2 (229), which acquired the book in 1807. It derives its colloquial name, the "Hunterian Psalter", from having been part of the collection of 18th century Scottish anatomist and book collector
William Hunter, who willed his collection to the University. It has also at times been known as the "York Psalter", owing to its supposed northern English origin in the city of
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
.
[Glasgow University Library, special exhibition](_blank)
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Text
The original text of the Hunterian Psalter, all written in the same hand, consists of the 150 psalm
The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...
s from Jerome
Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is co ...
's Versio Gallicana revision of the Vulgate
The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible.
The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...
Bible, Biblical canticle
A canticle (from the Latin ''canticulum'', a diminutive of ''canticum'', "song") is a hymn, psalm or other Christian song of praise with lyrics usually taken from biblical or holy texts. Canticles are used in Christian liturgy.
Catholic Church ...
s and liturgical texts, and numerous illustrations, over more than two hundred pages of heavy vellum
Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. Parchment is another term for this material, from which vellum is sometimes distinguished, when it is made from calfskin, as opposed to that made from other anima ...
. One leaf is missing, probably removed for its illuminated initial.
The final thirteen folios contain later additions to the text, prayers likely from the late 13th century. These prayers were written for a female reader, but the singular feminine Latin endings were first overwritten with singular masculine endings, and then still later, plural masculine ones. There is also a formula for an amulet intended to cure epilepsy dating from the same century.
Illustrations
The book opens with an illustrated calendar, each month beginning with the historiated letters "KL", an abbreviation for ''kalenda'', i.e. the first day of the month. Then follow thirteen pages of prefatory full-page miniatures, two scenes to a page, with three pages of Old Testament scenes, six of scenes from the '' Life of Christ'' (further pages are perhaps missing), and, unusually for this date, three from the ''Life of the Virgin
The Life of the Virgin, showing narrative scenes from the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a common subject for pictorial cycles in Christian art, often complementing, or forming part of, a cycle on the Life of Christ. In both cases the ...
'', including a ''Death of the Virgin
The Death of the Virgin Mary is a common subject in Western Christian art, the equivalent of the Dormition of the Theotokos in Eastern Orthodox art. This depiction became less common as the doctrine of the Assumption gained support in the Roma ...
'', with a funeral procession, and an ''Assumption
Assumption, in Christianity, refers to the Assumption of Mary, a belief in the taking up of the Virgin Mary into heaven.
Assumption may also refer to:
Places
* Assumption, Alberta, Canada
* Assumption, Illinois, United States
** Assumption Tow ...
''. These are the earliest English miniatures to have gold leaf backgrounds incised with patterns of lines and dots. After these pages there is an opening with full-page miniatures of David playing his harp and a Beatus initial for the start of Psalm 1 ("Beatus vir"). All the psalms have a large illuminated initial, often historiated, and each verse starts with an enlarged gold initial. The start of the ten traditional divisions of the text have especially large initials, as is usually the case.
Many of the illustrations and historiated initials seem to have been truncated at the top, perhaps the result of the book having been poorly re-bound at some time. Another theory is that the tops of the pages simply bear holes from where cloth curtains were once stitched. The book was re-bound again in 1983.
The manuscript's illustrations are notable for their several departures from scripture, for example in the panel depicting the sacrifice of Isaac
Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was th ...
by Abraham
Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Je ...
, Isaac's hands are depicted as unbound. In Genesis 22:9, it is written, "...He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood."
Provenance
It is uncertain where or when, exactly, the manuscript was produced, or for whom. It has been suggested that it was produced for Roger de Mowbray (d. 1188), a prominent 12th century crusader and religious benefactor known to have founded a number of Augustinian Augustinian may refer to:
*Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine
*Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs
*Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo
* Canons Regular of Sain ...
and Cistercian monasteries and nunneries. The book also contains three commemorations to Augustine of Hippo, which has led some scholars to conclude that the manuscript might have been created for a house of Augustinian Canons
Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule ( and canon in greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by ...
, or by someone with a connection to the Augustinian order
Augustinians are members of Christian religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written in about 400 AD by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13 ...
.
The fact that there is no mention of the 29 December feast of Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...
on the page for December is thought to indicate that the book was produced before Becket's canonization in 1173. For most of its history, it was thought to have been the product of a scriptorium
Scriptorium (), literally "a place for writing", is commonly used to refer to a room in medieval European monasteries devoted to the writing, copying and illuminating of manuscripts commonly handled by monastic scribes.
However, lay scribes an ...
in the north of England, owing to its inclusion of a number of northern saints such as Oswald of Northumbria and John of Beverley
John of Beverley (died 7 May 721) was an English bishop active in the kingdom of Northumbria. He was the bishop of Hexham and then the bishop of York, which was the most important religious designation in the area. He went on to found the town ...
(who very seldom occur outside northern manuscripts), although modern scholarly consensus puts its likely origin in the southwest of England.
There is no definite consensus about the number of artists who worked on the book. It has been suggested that a single master oversaw the work of several assistants, and it has also been put forth that it is the work of an artist working alone, copying and adapting templates from other illuminated manuscripts. It is thought to have been the work of skilled tradesmen, not monks.
References
External links
The Hunterian Psalter
at the Glasgow University Library
{{Authority control
12th-century illuminated psalters
University of Glasgow Library collection