A digital facsimile of selections fromWalters Ms. W.25, Premonstratensian Psalter
Published by: The Walters Art Museum 600 N. Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21201 http://www.thewalters.org/
Released under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode Published 2013
This document is a digital facsimile of selections from a manuscript belonging to the Walters Art Museum, in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States. It is one of a number of manuscripts that have been digitized as part of a project generously funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and by an anonymous donor to the Walters Art Museum. More details about the manuscripts at the Walters can be found by visiting The Walters Art Museum's website www.thewalters.org. For further information about this book, and online resources for Walters manuscripts, please contact us through the Walters Website by email, and ask for your message to be directed to the Department of Manuscripts.
Shelf mark
Walters Art Museum Ms. W.25
Descriptive Title
Premonstratensian Psalter
Text title
Psalter
Abstract
This late twelfth- or early thirteenth-century Psalter was made for a female supplicant, and is of Premonstratensian use. Created and used in Rhineland, Germany, it remained there until the French Revolution, after which it was eventually acquired by the English book collector Sir Thomas Phillipps. The Psalter is liturgical, and therefore has eight divisions for the liturgical week, as well as the usual tripartite divisions. Each of these major psalms is marked by large lively inhabited or foliate initials. Early added prayers on the first and last blank pages, as well as occasional marginal prayers and notes in a variety of hands, attest to the manuscript's use through time.
Date
Late 12th or early 13th century CE
Origin
Rhineland, Germany
Form
Book
Genre
Devotional
Language
The primary language in this manuscript is Latin.
Support material
Parchment Somewhat yellowed parchment; uneven weight, ranging from thin to thick
Extent
Foliation: i+202+i Modern pencil foliation, upper right corners rectos
Collation
Formula: i, 1-14(8), 15(10), 16(6), 17(10), 18(6), 19(10), 20(6), 21(10), 22(6), 23(10), 24(6), 25(10?), i Catchwords: None Signatures: None Comments: Quires begin on fols. 1, 9, 17, 25, 33, 49, 57, 65, 73, 81, 89, 97, 105, 113, 123, 129, 139, 145, 155, 161, 171, 177, 187, 193
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Dimensions
13.8 cm wide by 21.3 cm high
Written surface
9.6 cm wide by 16.8 cm high
Layout
Columns: 1 Ruled lines: 20 Lead ruled
Contents
fols. 1r - 202v: Title: Psalter Contents: Psalter and prayers for a female supplicant Hand note: Pre-Gothic formal bookhand; two sizes of script in Office of the Dead (fols. 184r-192r) Decoration note: Seven inhabited and two historiated initials with beasts and human figures (7-15 lines); two foliate initials (9-10 lines); initials drawn in black and red pen, often with gold or yellow wash backgrounds and red and green accents; Psalms begin with red pendrawn decorative initials with blue or green flourishes (3-8 lines); Psalm verses begin with red initials (1 line high); rubrics in red, text in black ink fols. 1r - 1r: Title: Prayer to the Virgin Rubric: Oratio bona et utilis de beata virgine. Incipit: Ave dei genitrix summi virgo Text note: Text is later addition, written in late thirteenth-century hand Hand note: Gothic bookhand fols. 1v - 164v: Title: Liturgical Psalter Incipit: Beatus vir Contents: Divisions at eight psalms for the liturgical week (Psalms 1, 26, 38, 52, 68, 80, 97, and 109), with additional divisions at Psalms 51 and 101 (these comprise the usual tripartite division that includes Psalm 1); each psalm ends with a verse of a Psalterium Beatae Mariae; charm added fol. 20r under Psalm 21: "Grabbatim zephap pantazer primellus/Adiutor meus esto domino fac quod peto ne/moreris"; Psalms 148 and 149 conflated
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Decoration note: Large initials mark psalm divisions: inhabited initials fols. 1v, 25v, 41r, 55v, 56v, 72r, and 110v; historiated initial fol. 126r; foliate initials fols. 90v and 108r fols. 164v - 179r: Title: Canticles, hymns, and creeds Incipit: Confitebor tibi Domine quoniam Decoration note: Historiated initial fol. 164v fols. 179r - 184r: Title: Litany, petitions, and collects Incipit: Domine ihesu christe filii dei vivi Contents: Litany contains twenty-four martyrs, seventeen confessors, twelve virgins (including Genovefa); texts are as follows: fol. 179r: Collect; fols. 179v-180v: Litany; fols. 181r-182r: petitions; fols. 182r-184r: Preces and collects fols. 184r - 189v: Title: Office of the Dead Rubric: Vigilie defunctorum. Incipit: Placebo domino in regione vivorum Text note: Responsories indicate Premonstratensian use fols. 189v - 202v: Title: Collects, prayers, hymns, creeds, Gospel sequence Rubric: Pro congregatione. Incipit: Deus venie largitor Contents: The last four pages, fols. 199-202, have had their outer, and in one case also lower, margins cut off, but the textblocks are intact; texts are as follows: fol. 189v: Three collects; fols. 190r-193r: Seven prayers to the Trinity; fol. 193r: Hymn; fols. 193r-194r: Creeds; fols. 194r-198r: Ten prayers to the Trinity, with antiphons; fol. 198r: Antiphon for St. Martin; fol. 198r: Responsory and versicle for St. John; fol. 198r-v: Two prayers; fols. 198v-199v: Hymn to the Trinity; fols. 199v-200r: Gospel sequence, St. John; fols. 200v-201r: Two prayers with an antiphon; fol. 201r: Collect; fols. 201v-202r: De sancta anima domini;
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fol. 202r: Added prayer, nearly contemporary with manuscript, probably late twelfth or early thirteenth century fols. 202v - 202v: Title: Added prayer Incipit: Pater de caelis deus qui nusisti filium tuum Text note: Prayer added to blank page, possibly second quarter of the thirteenth century Decoration
fol. 1v: Title: Initial "B" (Beatus vir) Form: Inhabited initial "B," 15 lines Text: Psalm 1 fol. 25v: Title: Initial "D" (Dominus illuminatio mea) Form: Inhabited initial "D," 10 lines Text: Psalm 27 fol. 41r: Title: Initial "D" (Dixi custodiam) Form: Inhabited initial "D," 9 lines Text: Psalm 39 fol. 55v: Title: Initial "Q" with man battling dragon (Quid gloriaris) Form: Inhabited initial "Q," 8 lines Text: Psalm 51 fol. 56v: Title: Initial "D" (Dixit insipiens) Form: Inhabited initial "D," 8 lines Text: Psalm 52 fol. 72r: Title: Initial "S" with man battling dragon (Salvum me) Form: Inhabited initial "S," 9 lines Text: Psalm 69 fol. 90v: Title: Initial "E" (Exultate deo) Form: Decorated initial "E," 10 lines
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Text: Psalm 81 fol. 108r: Title: Initial "C" (Cantate domino) Form: Decorated initial "C," 9 lines Text: Psalm 97 fol. 110v: Title: Initial "D" (Domine exaudi) Form: Inhabited initial "D," 10 lines Text: Psalm 102 fol. 126r: Title: Initial "D" with God the Father and God the Son (?) (Dixit dominus) Form: Historiated initial "D," 8 lines Text: Psalm 109 fol. 164v: Title: Initial "C" with bust of Isaiah (?) (Confitebor tibi) Form: Historiated initial "C," 7 lines Text: Canticles Binding
The binding is not original. Sixteenth-century German beech boards, originally covered in brown leather; re-covered in green velvet in the nineteenth century by LĂŠon Gruel, Paris; clasp and catch plates are sixteenth century, poorly refitted
Provenance
Made for Premonstratensian use (Office of the Dead is of this use), or possibly also Augustinian use (two mentions of Augustine in litany and multiple prayers to the Trinity), probably in Rhineland (litany includes Mosan saints), late twelfth or early thirteenth century Owned by Rhenish abbeys before French Revolution Leander van Ess of Darmstadt, acquired from Rhenish abbeys after French Revolution Sir Thomas Phillipps, 1824, by purchase, no. 441; Ex-libris fol. 1r: rampant lion stamp and inscription "Sir T.P./Middle Hill 441"
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Phillipps's sale, London (either 1911, no. 868, or 1913, no. 1021) LĂŠon Gruel collection, no. 924 (front pastedown) Henry Walters, Baltimore, acquired from Gruel before 1931 Acquisition
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest
Bibliography
De Ricci, Seymour. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1935, p. 769, cat. no. 76. Phillipps, Sir Thomas. The Phillipps Manuscripts: Catalogus librorum manuscriptorum in bibliotheca D. Thomae Phillipps, bt. London: Holland Press, 1968, p. 5, cat. no. 441. Oliver, Judith. Gothic Manuscript Illumination in the Diocese of Liege (ca. 1250-ca. 1330). 2 vols. Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters, 1988, p. 137.
Contributors
Catalogers: Herbert, Lynley; Walters Art Museum curatorial staff and researchers since 1934 Editors: Herbert, Lynley; Noel, William Copy editor: Dibble, Charles Conservators: Owen, Linda; Quandt, Abigail Contributors: Bockrath, Diane; Davis, Lisa Fagin; Dutschke, Consuelo; Emery, Doug; Hamburger, Jeffrey; Klemm, Elizabeth; Noel, William; Sciacca, Christine; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.; Valle, Chiara
Generated: 2013-09-24 14:38 -04:00
This document is a digital facsimile of selections from a manuscript belonging to the Walters Art Museum, in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States. It is one of a number of manuscripts that have been digitized as part of a project generously funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and by an anonymous donor to the Walters Art Museum. More details about the manuscripts at the Walters can be found by visiting The Walters Art Museum's website www.thewalters.org. For further information about this book, and online resources for Walters manuscripts, please contact us through the Walters Website by email, and ask for your message to be directed to the Department of Manuscripts.
The Walters Art Museum 600 N. Charles Street Baltimore, Maryland 21201 http://www.thewalters.org/
Released under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode Published 2013