The Psalter of Henry VIII is a 16th-century illuminated

psalter A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters we ...

that belonged to Henry VIII of England. It is now in the British Library as MS Royal 2 A xvi. The king commissioned the book in the early 1540s from the French illuminator

Jean Mallard Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jean ...

, who had at one time worked for Francis I. The psalter contains eight miniatures, amongst them scenes of Henry playing the harp with his jester Will Somers in attendance, and of the king reading in his bedroom. Two scenes show Henry as

King David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

: in one killing

Goliath Goliath ( ) ''Goləyāṯ''; ar, جُليات ''Ǧulyāt'' (Christian term) or (Quranic term). is a character in the Book of Samuel, described as a Philistine giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''gigas'', cognate giga-) a ...

, in the other in the role of a

penitent Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of repentance for sins committed, as well as an alternate name for the Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession. It also plays a part i ...

. The book has marginal annotations made by the king. Henry's Psalter can be viewed - the full 1540 book, complete with Henry's own handwritten notes in the margins at the British Library's Virtual Books websit
here
or on the British Library's Digitised Manuscripts website
here

References

* Illuminated psalters 1540s books Henry VIII British Library Royal manuscripts {{manuscript-art-stub