The Production and Use of English Manuscripts 1060 to 1220

Orietta Da Rold

Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Lat. 8846

The Paris Psalter; The Anglo-Catalan Psalter

Date: s. xii2

Summary:

A Psalter, datable perhaps to 1180-1190, with Latin marginal and interlinear glosses to the Gallicanum from the Latin Glossa Ordinaria; a continuous Anglo-Norman gloss to the Hebraicum, and a few Old English glosses to the Romanum. The opening words of Psalms 59, 64, 77 and 87 are glossed in English on fols 103v, 109v, 135r and 154v (See for a complete transcription, Hargreaves and Clark 1965, p. 444 and Pulsiano and Hussey 2008, pp. 115-116).

The manuscript seems, in its conception, to be a direct copy of the Eadwine Psalter (CTC R. 17. 1), with influences from the Utrecht Psalter (Utrecht, Universiteitsbibliotheek 32). The work on the psalter seems to have been abandoned (see for a fuller discussion Pulsiano and Hussey 2008, p. 111) in the later twelfth century, and completed by Catalan artists when the manuscript reached Spain, perhaps in the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries.

Manuscript Items:

1. Item: fols 6r-174v

   Title (C.50.2): Gloss to Triple Psalter

   Incipit: (fol. 69v) ma ic ne beo

   Explicit: (fol. 154v) god | helo minre

   Bibliography:

   Hargreaves and Clark 1965

   Ker 1957, p. 577

   Lucas and Wilcox 2008, pp. 111-18

Physical Description:

Object Description:

Form: codex

Support: parchment

Extent:

482 mm x 332 mm (dimensions of most of leaves, but some leaves have been trimmed - size of leaves)

305 mm x 238 mm (dimensions of all - size of written space)

Foliation and/or Pagination: i + 177 + iii leaves, foliated A, B, 1-175. Foliated in ink and pencil. The foliation in pencil is not always visible.

Collation:

Quires: i (flyleaf), 16 (fols A B, 1-4; A-B originally blank flyleaves), 2-228 (fols 5-172), 232+1 (fols 173-175), iii (flyleaves).

Signatures: Signature on the right margin of the lower margin by two hands: 1. fols 53r-56r, 61r- 64r, 69r-72r, 77r-80r, 85r-88r; 2. fols 141r-144r (with two asterisks in yellow in another hand on fol 144r), [149r]-152r, 157r-160r, 165r-168r; a dash is used to mark the beginning of the second part of a quire at fols 57r, 65r, 73r, 89r, 153r, 161r, 169r. The numerals on fols 28r (.'iii'.), 36r (.'iii'.) and 44r (.'v'.) mark the end of quires, and suggest that this numeration did not take into account the illustrations of Quire 1, or was written before the quire was added. Modern signatures (in Arabic numerals) appear on fols 13r-16r ('a1'-'a4'), 29r-32r ('D1'-'D5'), 37r-40r ('e1'-'e4', with a dash on fol. 41). A small cross is written at the top right of fols 17r and 25r, and 'eo' at the top right of fol. 24r. Two pencil doodles in the bottom margin of fol. 162r, others on fols 101v and 149v, and an outline drawing of a head in the bottom margin of fol. 23r.

Layout description:

The layout is based on that of the CTC R. 17. 1. The leaves are ruled for five columns, triple bounding lines between the second and third column. Double pricking in the outside margin, are ruling for main text, interlinear and marginal glosses. The writing area for the each leaf is single bounded. Ruling in plummet. No frame is ruled from fol. 93r. Lower margins measure c. 103/120 mm. An illustration at the top of fol. 101v has been cropped (Pulsiano and Hussey 2008, pp. 112-14).

Hand description:

Number of hands: 1 in Old English

Summary: The manuscript may have been copied by several scribes, and the appearance of the scripts draws from those of the Eadwine Psalter yet displays the more fractured look of Gothic textura (Pulsiano and Hussey 2008, p. 114). Treharne's examination suggests it is possible there is only one scribe at work here, writing an accomplished textualis. Most critics seem to believe the English glosses are a mistake, or an inadvertent addition. But Treharne notes that the four sets all occur at the foot of the folios, which may be significant, since they are hardly the most visible element on the page. Close analysis of the glosses shows that, at Psalm 77, the scribe actually corrects a gloss that is wrong in the Eadwine Psalter (CTC R. 17. 1). This does not, therefore, seem like the action of someone accidentally and mistakenly entering glosses.

Hand: Old English Glosses
• Scope: minor
• Script: English Vernacular Minuscle
• Ker reference: Ker supplement 419
• Description: fols 103v, 109v, 135, 154v. An English Vernacular minuscule of s. xii2, probably the same hand as the Anglo-Norman glosses. 'A very fine hand' according to Hargreaves and Clark (1965, p. 444).
• Summary of the characteristics of the hand:
• Round-backed d
• Insular f-shaped g with the downstroke beginning from the left of the headstroke
• Insular r
• high s
• ð with a descender curving to the left, and with a rounded bowl
• The ˥ curves to the left below the rule line or is z-shaped and sits on the line

Additions:

A paper flyleaf at the front bears the shelfmark 'Suppl. Lat. 1194' and the note 'Volume de 174 Feuillets | plus les Feuillets A. B. préliminaires | Le Feuillet B est blanc | 16 October 1873'

Decoration Description:

Rubrics to the Psalm in red, and the titles to the psalms also in red 'Gall.', 'Rom.' or 'Ebr.'. Historiated initials on fols 93r, 94r, 97r, 98v, 100r, 103v, 106r, 107v, 108v, 111r, 113r, 117r, 120v, 121v, 126r, 131r, 145r, 146r, 149r, 150v, 152r, 154r, 156v, 161r, 169v, 170v, 173v. Use of gold and animal imagery are present on fols 124r (a dragon), 5r and 6r (Pulsiano and Hussey 2008, p. 113-4). The programme of illustration is not completed on fols 51r (erased), 72v (a dry point drawing). Illustrations have been started by an English artist s. xii2 for Psalms 1-39 on fols 10r-70r, psalms 42-44 on fols 75r, 76r, 78v, psalm 48 on fol. 86v, psalms 50-51 on fols 90v, 92r, using mainly blues, browns, pinks, sometimes green and gold. A second artist, probably a certain Master of San Marcos (named as Ferrer Bassa and his team of painters (Moleiro 2004, p. 11), completed the decorations to Psalms 40-41, fols 72v, 73v, Psalms 45-47, fols 80v, 81v), Psalm 49, fol. 88v, Psalms 52-92, fols 93r-174r (Delisle 1863-74; Meiss 1941, pp. 73-77; Sclafer et al. 1997, p. 39; Leroquais 1940-41, 2, 78-91).

Binding Description:

Napoleonic binding made in 1809 by P. LeFebvre (Sclafer and Laffitte et al. 1997).

History:

Origin:

Pulsiano and Hussey (2008, p. 111) suggest that the Psalter was written and partly illustrated in Canterbury. However, no known scribes or artists working in Christ Church during s. xii2 have been identified. Suggestions have been made that the Psalter may have been a bespoke manuscript written or decorated by professionals to be sent abroad (Dodwell 1954, pp. 98-100 and pp. 22-23; Gibson et al. 1992, p. 190).

Provenance:

The manuscript was in Catalonia by the fourteenth century (Meiss 1941) where the Master of San Marcos completed the illustrations between 1350 and 1370 (Sclafer et al. 1997, p. 39).

Acquisition:

The book seems to have been included in an inventory of the library of Jean Duc de Berry (1340-1416) from the Archives du Cher, Comte de Bastard (1792-1883), but the inventory is now lost due to a fire of the Archives du Cher. The recent history of the manuscript is quite well documented. The book was then present in the library of Margaret of Austria (1480-1530, regent of the Netherlands), and it appears in inventories of Margaret's library from 1516 and 1523. In an inventory of 1565, the book went to her niece, Marie of Hungary (1505-1559), whose ex libris plate was found in the previous binding. At Marie's death (1559), the manuscript was inventoried in 1615-1617 for Archdukes Albert (1559-1621) and Isabella (1566-1633) in the Library of Burgundy in Brussels. In 1794, the manuscript was transferred from Brussels to Paris, entering into the Bibliothèque Nationale from the library of Napoleon I (1769-1821) (Gibson et al. 1992, p. 190; Sclafer et al. 1997; Pulsiano and Hussey 2008, p. 114)

Additional Information:

Administration Information:

Manuscript described by Orietta Da Rold, with further notes by Elaine Treharne, and with the assistance of Hollie Morgan (July 2010) and Owen Roberson (2012) with reference to facsimiles and published scholarship. Manuscript not consulted directly, but 'exact replica' by Moleiro (2004) examined by Treharne.

Surrogates:

Hargreaves, Henry, and Cecily Clark, 'An Unpublished Old English Psalter-Gloss Fragment', Notes and Queries, 210 (1965), 443-46, fols 103v, 109v, 135r, 154v.

Moleiro, M., ed., Psalterium glosatum (Salterio Anglo-Catalán) (Facsimile) (Barcelona, 2004).

Pulsiano, Phillip, and Matthew Hussey, 'Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, lat. 8846 Illustrated Triple Psalter (“The Paris Psalter”) ', in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in Microfiche Facsimile, 343 (Temple, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2008), vol. 16: Manuscripts Relating to Dunstan, Ælfric, and Wulfstan: The 'Eadwine Psalter' Group, pp. 111-18.

Bibliography:

Brou, Louis, ed., The Psalter Collects from V-VIth Century Sources (Three Series), Henry Bradshaw Society, 83 (London: Harrison for HBS, 1949)

Delisle, Léopold, Inventaire des manuscrits latins conservés à la Bibliothèque Nationale sous les numéros 8823-18613 (Paris: Auguste Durand and Pedone-Laurel, 1863-74)

Dodwell, C. R., The Canterbury school of illumination, 1066-1200 (Cambridge: University Press, 1954)

Dodwell, C. R., 'The Final Copy of the Utrecht Psalter and its Relationship with the Utrecht and Eadwine Psalters', Scriptorium, 44 (1990), 21- 53

Froehlich, K., and M. T. Gibson, Biblia latina cum Glossa Ordinaria (Turnhout: Brepols, 1991)

Gibson, Margaret T., T. A. Heslop, and R. W. Pfaff, eds, The Eadwine Psalter: Text, Image, and Monastic Culture in Twelfth-Century Canterbury, Publications of the Modern Humanities Research Association, 14 (London, University Park: Modern Humanities Research Association, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1992)

Hargreaves, Henry, and Cecily Clark, 'An Unpublished Old English Psalter-Gloss Fragment', Notes and Queries, 210 (1965), 443-46

Heimann, Adelheid, 'The Last Copy of the Utrecht Psalter', in The Year 1200: A Symposium, ed. by Konrad Hoffman and Florens Deuchler (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975), pp. 313-38

Ker, N. R., 'A Supplementary Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon', Anglo-Saxon England, 5 (1976), 121-31, item 419

Leroquais, V., Les Psautiers manuscrits latins des bibliothèques de France, 3 vols (Macon: Protat Frères, 1940-41)

Pulsiano, Phillip, and Matthew Hussey, 'Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, lat. 8846 Illustrated Triple Psalter (“The Paris Psalter”) ', in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in Microfiche Facsimile, 343 (Temple, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2008), vol. 16: Manuscripts Relating to Dunstan, Ælfric, and Wulfstan: The 'Eadwine Psalter' Group, pp. 111-18

Meiss, Millard, 'Italian Style in Catalonia and a Fourteenth Century Catalan Workshop', Journal of the Walters Art Gallery, 4 (1941), 45-87

Moleiro, M., ed., Psalterium glosatum (Salterio Anglo- Catalán) (Facsimile) (Barcelona, 2004)

Omont, H., Psautier illustré (XIIIe siècle): Reproduction des 107 miniatures du manuscrit latin 8846 de la Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris: Berthaud Frères, 1906)

Sclafer, Jacqueline, and others, Catalogue générale des manuscrits latins nos. 8823-8921 (Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, 1997)

Toswell, M. J., 'A Further Old English Gloss in Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale MS lat. 8846', Notes and Queries, 239 (1994), 10-11

Verfaillie-Markey, Dominique, 'Le Psautier d'Eadwine: Édition Critique de la Version Hébräique et sa Tradition Interlinaire Anglo-Normande (MSS Cambridge, Trinity College R. 17. 1, et Paris, B.N. latin 8846)' (unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Ghent, 1989)