A digital facsimile of selections fromWalters Ms. W.34, Carrow 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.34
Descriptive Title
Carrow Psalter
Text title
Psalter-Hours
Abstract
This English manuscript was made in East Anglia in the midthirteenth century for a patron with special veneration for St. Olaf, whose life and martyrdom are prominently portrayed in the Beatus initial of Psalm 1. Known as the "Carrow Psalter" due to its later use by the nunnery of Carrow near Norwich, it is more accurately described as a psalter-hours, as it contains, among other texts, the Office of the Dead and the Hours of the Virgin. The manuscript is striking for its rich variety of illuminations, including full-page cycles of saints, martyrs, and biblical scenes, as well as historiated initials within the Psalter, and heraldry added in the fifteenth century to undecorated initials in the Hours of the Virgin. Especially notable is the miniature portraying the martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket, for after Henry VIII found him guilty of treason in 1538, his image was concealed by gluing a page over it rather than destroying it, and it has since been rediscovered.
Date
Mid-13th century CE
Origin
East Anglia, England
Form
Book
Genre
Devotional
Language
The primary language in this manuscript is Latin.
Support material
Parchment Medium-weight cream-colored parchment; slightly heavierweight parchment used for full-page miniatures
Extent
Foliation: iii+321+iii Three sets of numbers: pencil foliation in bottom- and occasionally top-right corners rectos that begin numbering on the folio containing Psalm 1 (a few of the upper ones are in pen); pencil foliation in upper right corners rectos through the complete manuscript, not including flyleaves (used here)
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Collation
Formula: iii, 1(8), 2(8,-8), 3(4,-4), 4(2), 5(4,-4), 6(8,-1), 7(6-6), 8(6), 9-16(12), 17(12,-5), 18(6), 19(12), 20(12,-1), 21(12), 22(6), 23(4), 25-29(12), 30(6), 31(4,-4), 32(6), 33(12), 34(6), 35(6-1), 36(12), 37(12), iii Catchwords: Lower right corners, versos (occasionally omitted) Signatures: Some visible in center of rectos Comments: Quires begin on fols 1(1), 9(2), 16(3), 19(4), 21(5), 24(6), 31(7), 36(8), 42(9), 54(10), 66(11), 78(12), 90(13), 102(14), 114(15), 126(16), 138(17), 149(18), 155(19), 167(20), 178(21), 190(22), 196(24), 200(25), 212(26), 224(27), 236(28), 248(29), 260(30), 266(31), 269(32), 275(33), 287(34), 293(35), 298(36), 310(37)
Dimensions
17.6 cm wide by 24.7 cm high
Written surface
12.0 cm wide by 17.4 cm high
Layout
Columns: 1 Ruled lines: 14 Layout does not apply to calendar (written surface 12 x 19 cm, 32-33 ruled lines)
Contents
fols. 1r - 321v: Title: Psalter-Hours Hand note: Littera prescissa, with smaller size used as cues for psalms cited in liturgical texts, antiphons, versicles Decoration note: Manuscript opens with cycle of ten full-page saints' portraits/martyrdom images interspersed with their suffrages, followed by prefatory cycle of eleven mixed full-page and two-register illuminations depicting Adam and Eve and Christ's life, death, and resurrection; second group of five fullpage Christological illuminations follow that repeat scenes already depicted, and may have been added; images typically glued back-to-back with blank side of previous folio, and have highly burnished gold grounds, rectangular frames; Psalter contains eleven historiated
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initials at openings of select psalms and one within hours (six to seven lines high); eleven heraldic arms added in fifteenth century within unadorned initials, beginning with Psalm 119 and found throughout the hours; smaller initials in gold or blue with intricate blue and red pen flourishes begin each line of text (one to four lines high); rubrics in red; text in black ink fols. 1v - 20r: Title: Suffrages Incipit: Petrus apostolus et paulus doctor Contents: Suffrages for saints: fol. 2r: Peter and Paul; fol. 4r: Barnabus and John the Evangelist; fol. 6r: Thomas and Jacobus; fol. 8r: Bartholomew and Matthew; fol. 10r: Symon and Jude; fol. 12r: Andrew and John (Baptist in text, but Evangelist pictured); fol. 14r: King Edmund; suffrage for Thomas Becket removed between fols. 15v and 16r (image remains); fol. 16r: Mary Magdalene (image missing but suffrage extant); fol. 18r: Catherine and Margaret; fol. 20r: Cecilia (suffrage is for her, but image is of Agatha) Decoration note: Full-page illuminations of saints precede each suffrage (Mary Magdalene is missing, glued to suffrage for Thomas Becket and lost when it was removed) fols. 21v - 30v: Title: Prefatory cycle, part I Decoration note: Prefatory cycle contains two groups of images; this first group, mainly scenes in two registers, begins with Old Testament images and proceeds through Christ's life, death, and resurrection, and appears to be original to the manuscript fols. 31v - 35r: Title: Prefatory cycle, part II Decoration note: Prefatory cycle contains two groups of images; this second group appears fragmentary and repeats images from life of Christ found in first cycle, but in full-page format; similar in style but probably
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added judging from difference in ruling pattern, format, and repetition fols. 36r - 41v: Title: Calendar Contents: Calendar half-full; graded in gold, blue, red, and black; East Anglian saints include Botulph of Bury, Felix of Durwich, Withburga, Edmund, Sexburga; St. Olaf, who is depicted in Beatus initial, is strangely not in the calender; Thomas Becket's name erased in calendar in sixteenth century after Henry VIII's decree of November 16, 1538 fols. 42r - 249v: Title: Psalter Incipit: Beatus vir Contents: Ten-part psalter division with minor division at Psalm 119 (Gradual Psalms) Decoration note: Historiated initials: fol. 42r (Ps. 1), fol. 74v (Ps. 26), fol. 95v (Ps. 38), fol. 113r (Ps. 51), fol. 114r (Ps. 52), fol. 131r (Ps. 68), fol. 155r (Ps. 80), fol. 178r (Ps. 97), fol. 180v (Ps. 101), fol. 200r (Ps. 109); arms of Earl of Gloucester added in initial on fol. 222v fols. 249v - 270r: Title: Canticles Incipit: Confitebor tibi domine... fols. 270v - 274r: Title: Litany, petitions, and collects Incipit: Kyrie eleyson Contents: Martyrs include Edmund and Alban; Confessors include Cuthbert, Dunstan, Guthlac, and Botulf fols. 275r - 285r: Title: Office of the Dead Incipit: Placebo domino in regione vivorum Contents: Special responses fol. 283v, followed by lauds fols. 285r - 297v: Title: Hours of the Virgin
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Incipit: Domine labia mea aperies Contents: Hours of the Virgin, use of Sarum Decoration note: Large initials at beginning of hours have been modified to depict the heraldic arms of the following: fol. 285r: Fitzalan of Bedale Yorkshire; fol. 286v: Earl of Winchester; fol. 288v: St. George; fol. 292v: Mortimer of Wigmore; fol. 294r: Mowbray of Axholme; fol. 294v: Earl of Warwick; fol. 295r: Percy of Northumberland; 295v: Earl of Oxford; fol. 296v: Baron of Stafford fols. 298r - 321r: Title: Psalter of the Virgin Incipit: Suscipe regina celi que mente benigna Cantica de Psalmis offero sumpta sacris Contents: The Psalter of the Virgin is also found in the Peterborough Psalter (Brussels, BibliothĂŠque Royale Ms. 9961) and the Psalter of Robert de Lindesey in the Society of Antiquaries Decoration note: Historiated initial fol. 298r with man in prayer before Virgin and Child; may represent original patron of manuscript Decoration
fol. 1v: Title: SS. Peter and Paul Form: Full-page miniature Text: Suffrage for SS. Peter and Paul fol. 3v: Title: SS. Barnabus and John the Evangelist Form: Full-page miniature Text: Suffrages for SS. Barnabus, John, and Paul fol. 5v: Title: SS. Thomas and James Form: Full-page miniature Text: Suffrages for SS. Thomas and James Comment: James the Apostle is dressed as a pilgrim to Compostela. fol. 7v: Title: SS. Bartholomew and Matthew, Apostles
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Form: Full-page miniature Text: Suffrages for SS. Bartholomew and Matthew fol. 9v: Title: SS. Symon and Jude Form: Full-page miniature Text: Suffrages for SS. Symon and Jude fol. 11v: Title: SS. Andrew and John (the Evangelist?) Form: Full-page miniature Text: Suffrages for SS. Andrew and John the Baptist Comment: Although the suffrage is for John the Baptist, the John who is pictured holds a book, an attribute more appropriate for John the Evangelist. fol. 13v: Title: Martyrdom of King Edmund Form: Full-page miniature Text: Suffrage for St. Edmund fol. 15v: Title: Martyrdom of Thomas Becket Form: Full-page miniature Text: Suffrage for St. Thomas Becket (now missing) fol. 17v: Title: SS. Catherine and Margaret Form: Full-page miniature Text: Suffrage for SS. Catherine and Margaret fol. 19v: Title: Martyrdom of St. Agatha (meant to be Cecilia) Form: Full-page miniature Text: Suffrage for St. Cecilia Comment: The image is labeled "Cecilia," and the suffrage is to her, but the image represents the martyrdom of St. Agatha. fol. 21v: Title: Above: Creation of Eve; Below: God's admonition to Adam and Eve Form: Full-page miniature
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fol. 22r: Title: Above: Temptation of Eve; Below: Expulsion from Paradise Form: Full-page miniature fol. 22v: Title: Angel hands spade to Adam and spindle to Eve Form: Full-page miniature fol. 23r: Title: Above: Annunciation/Visitation Below: Nativity/ Annunciation to the shepherds Form: Full-page miniature fol. 24v: Title: Above: Magi guided by star/Magi before Herod Below: Magi warned in dream/Adoration of the Magi Form: Full-page miniature fol. 25r: Title: Above: Flight into Egypt/Massacre of the Innocents Below: Presentation/Baptism Form: Full-page miniature fol. 26v: Title: Above: Devil takes Christ to top of Mountain/ Devil with stones Below: Entry into Jerusalem/ Footwashing Form: Full-page miniature fol. 27r: Title: Above: Betrayal/Flagellation Below: Carrying the Cross/Crucifixion Form: Full-page miniature fol. 28v: Title: Above: Deposition/Three Marys at the tomb Below: Limbo/Resurrection Form: Full-page miniature fol. 29r: Title: Above: Magdalene (Noli me tangere)/Doubting Thomas/Ascension; Below: Pentecost/Throne of Grace Form: Full-page miniature
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Comment: The dove has not been included in the Throne of Grace. fol. 30v: Title: Above: Last Judgment with Christ in Majesty Below: Resurrection of the dead, and Devil herding damned into Hell Form: Full-page miniature fol. 31v: Title: Annunciation Form: Full-page miniature fol. 32r: Title: Nativity Form: Full-page miniature fol. 33v: Title: Adoration of the Magi Form: Full-page miniature fol. 34r: Title: Presentation in the Temple Form: Full-page miniature fol. 35r: Title: Carrying of the cross Form: Full-page miniature fol. 42r: Title: Story of St. Olaf Form: Historiated initial "B," 10 lines Text: Psalm 1 fol. 74v: Title: King David kneeling and pointing to his eye Form: Historiated initial "D," 6 lines Text: Psalm 26 fol. 95v: Title: King David kneeling and covering his mouth before a lectern Form: Historiated initial "D," 6 lines Text: Psalm 38
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fol. 113r: Title: Fool with bladder on stick eating cusped loaf Form: Historiated initial "Q," 7 lines Text: Psalm 51 fol. 114r: Title: King stabbing self with sword Form: Historiated initial "D," 7 lines Text: Psalm 52 fol. 131r: Title: Sailors throw Jonah overboard/Jonah in mouth of whale Form: Historiated initial "S," 7 lines Text: Psalm 68 fol. 155r: Title: Jacob wrestling the angel Form: Historiated initial "E," 5 lines Text: Psalm 80 fol. 178r: Title: Mass: Priest elevating host at altar Form: Historiated initial "C," 7 lines Text: Psalm 97 fol. 180v: Title: David kneeling in prayer at altar below hand of God Form: Historiated initial "D," 6 lines Text: Psalm 101 fol. 200r: Title: Throne of Grace Form: Historiated initial "D," 6 lines Text: Psalm 109 fol. 222v: Title: Arms of Gloucester Form: Altered initial "A," 6 lines, with arms added in fifteenth century Text: Psalm 119
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fol. 285r: Title: Arms of Lord Fitzallan of Bedal York Form: Altered initial "D," 5 lines, with arms added in fifteenth century Text: Hours of the Virgin: Matins fol. 286v: Title: Arms of the Earl of Winchester Form: Altered initial "Q," 3 lines, with arms added in fifteenth century Text: Hours of the Virgin: Matins fol. 288v: Title: Arms of St. George Form: Altered initial "D," 2 lines, with arms added in fifteenth century Text: Hours of the Virgin: Lauds fol. 292v: Title: Arms of Lord Mortimore of Wigmore Form: Altered initial "D," 4 lines, with arms added in fifteenth century Text: Hours of the Virgin: Prime fol. 294r: Title: Arms of Lord Mowbray of Axholme Form: Altered initial "D," 3 lines, with arms added in fifteenth century Text: Hours of the Virgin: Terce fol. 294v: Title: Arms of the Earl of Warwick Form: Altered initial "D," 4 lines, with arms added in fifteenth century Text: Hours of the Virgin: Sext fol. 295r: Title: Arms of Lord Percy of Northumberland Form: Altered initial "D," 3 lines, with arms added in fifteenth century Text: Hours of the Virgin: None fol. 295v: Title: Arms of the Earl of Oxford
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Form: Altered initial "D," 4 lines, with arms added in fifteenth century Text: Hours of the Virgin: Vespers fol. 296v: Title: Arms of Baron of Stafford Form: Altered initial "C," 3 lines, with arms added in fifteenth century Text: Hours of the Virgin: Compline fol. 297v: Title: Arms of the Earl of Hereford and Essex Form: Altered initial "C," 3 lines, with arms added in fifteenth century Text: Collect fol. 298r: Title: Man in prayer before enthroned Virgin and Child Form: Historiated initial "S," 3 lines Text: Ave porta paradisis Binding
The binding is not original. Henry Yates Thompson had the manuscript rebound in the early twentieth century; limp vellum binding, hair side out with stiff square yapp and green ribbons at fore edge; spine inscribed in gold tooled letters "Psalter of the Monastery of Carehow near Norwich circa A.D. 1245."
Provenance
Made in East Anglia, England, mid-thirteenth century, for patron with special devotion for St. Olaf (whose miracles and martyrdom are depicted in Beatus initial); saints in calendar help localize to East Anglia Carrow Priory, Norwich, fifteenth century, recorded in a fourteenth- or fifteenth-century inscription on fol. 1r: "Istud psalterium pertinet domui de Carehowe." Added heraldry may have been the arms of the abbey's benefactors. John Baptist, 3rd Lord Caryll (1716-1780) (his bookplate recorded in 1902, but is no longer extant); had it rebound in eighteenth-century French binding
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George Galway Mills, England, before 1800; collection sold in Mills Sale, London, February 24, 1800 Reverend David T. Powell (1772-1848), England, first half of nineteenth century (penciled ownership note fol. 1r: "nunc ad D.T. Powell); sold in Powell Sale, London, July 31, 1848 4th Earl of Ashburnham (1797-1878), England, third quarter nineteenth century (Appendix no. XXXIII, his bookplate) Henry Yates Thompson (1838-1928), purchased May 1897 (his bookplate), no. 52; Thompson had book rebound in Paris Bernard Quaritch, from Yates Thompson sale, Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge, March 23, 1920, no. 34, for 4,100 pounds stirling. Henry Walters, Baltimore, by purchase from Bernard Quaritch Ltd, 1920 Acquisition
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest
Bibliography
Yates Thompson, H. A Lecture on Some Illuminated Manuscripts, London: Chiswick Press, 1902, pp. 13-15. Yates, Thompson, H. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Second Series of Fifty Manuscripts in the Collection of Henry Yates Thompson, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1902, pp. 2-11, no. 52. Herbert, J.A. Illuminated Manuscripts, London: British Museum, 1911, p. 181. Yates Thompson, H. Illustrations from 100 Manuscripts in the Collection of Henry Yates Thompson. London: Chiswick Press, 1914, vol. 4, pp. 11-13. Fett, H. "Gamel norsk malerkunst." Kunst og Kultur 5 (1914/1915): pp. 136, 139. Lindblom, A. La peinture gothique en Suède et Norvège: Étude sur les relations entre l'Europe occidentale et les pays scandinaves. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand, 1916. Fett, H. "Norges Malerkunst i Middelalderen." Kristiana 5 (1917): pp. 149-150.
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De Ricci, S. "Les manuscrits de la Collection Yates Thompson." Bulletin de la Société française de reproductions de manuscrits à peintures 10 (1926), p. 56. Fawtier, R. La Bible historiée toute figurée de la John Rylands Library. Paris, 1924, p.36. Borenius, T. "The Iconography of St. Thomas of Canterbury." Archaeologia 79 (1929): pp. 50-51. Millar, E.G. English Illuminated Manuscripts from the Xth to the XIIIth century, Paris: G. van Oest, 1926. Borenius, T. St. Thomas Becket in Art. London: Methuen & Co., 1932, pp. 92-93. Dickens, B. "The Cult of St. Olave in the British Isles." Saga Book of the Viking Society 12 (1937-1945): pp. 62-63. De Ricci, S. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1935, vol. 1, p. 771, no. 90. Haseloff, G. Die Psalterillustration im 13. Jahrhundert. Studien zur Buchmalerei in England, Frankreich und den Niederländen. Kiel, 1938, pp. 61 ff Boase, T.S.R. English Art, 1100-1216. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1953, p. 204. Van Gelder, J.G. "Een 13de eeuws Psalterium met een Utrechtse Kalender." Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 6 (1955): p. 66. Ker, N.R. Medieval Libraries of Great Britain, London: Offices of the Royal Historical Society, 1964, p. 48. Jónsdóttir, S. "Enskt saltarabrot á Íslandi." Andvara, 1967: p. 167. Jónsdóttir, S. "Heilagur Nikulás í Arnasfni." In Afmelisrita Jóns Helgasonar. Reykjavík: Almenna bókafélagið, 1969, pp. 262-265, 268-269. Jónsdóttir, S. Illumination in a Manuscript of Stjorn. Reykjavík: Almenna bókafélagið, 1971, p. 31.
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Meoli Toulmin. Örigini e data di un codice inglese della Marciana." Saggi e Memorie di Storia dell'Árte 8 (1972): pp. 52, 63. Randall, L.M.C. "Flemish Psalters in the Apostolic Tradition." In Gatherings in Honor of Dorothy Miner. Baltimore: Walters Art Gallery, 1974, p. 180 n. 21. Jónsdóttir, S. "History of the English Psalter at Skálholt." Gripla 4 (1980): pp. 325-326. Büttner, F.O., Imitatio Pietatis: Motive der christlichen Ikonographie als Modelle zur Verähnlichung. Berlin: G. Mann, 1983, pp. 191, 205. Randall, L.M.C. Illuminated Manuscripts: Masterpieces in Miniature: Highlights from the Collection of the Walters Art Gallery. Baltimore: Walters Art Gallery, 1984, pl. 13. Roberts, M.E. "The Relic of the Holy Blood in the Iconography of the Thirteenth Century North Transept Portal of Westminster Abbey." In W.M. Ormrod, ed., England in the Thirteenth Century: Proceedings of the 1984 Harlaxton Symposium. Harlaxton: Boydell Press, 1985, p. 135. Morgan, N. J. Early Gothic Manuscripts, 2: 1250-1285. A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles 4. London: Harvey Miller, 1988, no. 118. Noel, William, and Daniel Weiss. The Book of Kings: Art, War, and the Morgan Library's Medieval Picture Bible. London: Third Millennium Publishing; Baltimore: Walters Art Museum, 2002, p. 157, no. 6 (fols. 24v-25r). Linenthal, R.A. "'The Collectors Are Far More Particular than You Think': Selling Manuscripts in America." Manuscripta 51, no. 1 (2007): pp. 131-142, p. 137 Sandler, L.F. "A Scientific Textbook for a Noble Student: Sacrobosco's Treatises in the New York Public Library." In J. H. Marrow, R. Linenthal, and W. Noel, eds., The Medieval Book: Glosses from Friends and Colleagues of Christopher de Hamel, 't Goy-Houten: Hes & DeGraaf, 2010, p. 55, n.2.
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Bagnoli, M. The Medieval World, Baltimore: Walters Art Museum, 2011, pp. 96 (fol. 15v), 104 (fol. 15v), 191-192. Contributors
Principal catalogers: Herbert, Lynley; Noel, William; Smith, Kathryn Editors: Herbert, Lynley; Noel, William Copy editor: Dibble, Charles Conservators: Owen, Linda; Quandt, Abigail Contributors: Bockrath, Diane; Dutschke, Consuelo; Emery, Doug; Grollemond, Larisa; Noel, William; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.
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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
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