The Oxford Psalter (manuscript Douce 320 Bodleian Library,

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

) is a 12th-century Psalter written in

Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman may refer to: *Anglo-Normans, the medieval ruling class in England following the Norman conquest of 1066 * Anglo-Norman language **Anglo-Norman literature * Anglo-Norman England, or Norman England, the period in English history from 10 ...

Old French. Its content is almost identical to that of the

Winchester Psalter The Winchester Psalter is an English 12th-century illuminated manuscript psalter (British Library, Cotton MS Nero C.iv), also sometimes known as the ''Psalter of Henry of Blois'', and formerly known as the ''St Swithun's Psalter''. It was prob ...

, except the latter is written in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and Anglo-Norman Old French. In his book ''Libri Psalmorum versio antiqua Gallica e cod. ms. in Bibl. Bodleiana'',

Francisque Michel Francisque Xavier Michel (18 February 1809, Lyon – 18 May 1887, Paris) was a French historian and philologist. Life He became known for his editions of French works of the Middle Ages, and the French Government, recognizing their value, sent ...

does a full transcription of the Psalter, writing the Winchester Psalter variants in the footnotes under the header ''Cott. Cod.'' (Cotton Codex; the

shelfmark A shelfmark is a mark in a book or manuscript that denotes the cupboard or bookcase where it is kept as well as the shelf and possibly even its location on the shelf. The closely related term pressmark (from press, meaning cupboard) denotes only t ...

of the Winchester Psalter is British Library Cotton MS. Nero C.iv). Digital Bodleian estimates the manuscript to be from 1140 to 1150, while the '' Trésor de langue française informatisé'' in its etymologies uses 'first half of the 12th century'. The ''Dictionnaire Étymologique de l'Ancien Français'' gives a date of 'mid-12th century' for both the Oxford and the Winchester Psalter.Bibliography (P)
on the ''Dictionnaire Étymologique de l'Ancien Français''. The dates for the Oxford and Winchester Psalters are under PsOxfM, 'mil. 12es' (middle of the 12th century)

Modern editions

, ''Libri Psalmorum versio antiqua Gallica e cod. ms. in Bibl. Bodleiana''. 1860. Available o
Google Books
* Ian Short, ''The Oxford Psalter (Bodleian MS Douce 320)''. Oxford: Anglo-Norman Text Society, 2015. {{ISBN, 0-905474-61-9.

References

External links

first page of the psalter
on Digital Bodleian. Psalters 12th-century biblical manuscripts