Premonstratensian Psalter, Walters Art Museum MS. W.25

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A digital facsimile of selections fromWaltersMs. W.25, Premonstratensian Psalter

Published by: The Walters Art Museum600 N. Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21201

http://www.thewalters.org/

This document is a digital facsimile of selections from a manuscript belonging to the Walters ArtMuseum, in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States. It is one of a number of manuscriptsthat have been digitized as part of a project generously funded by the National Endowment forthe Humanities, and by an anonymous donor to the Walters Art Museum. More details aboutthe manuscripts at the Walters can be found by visiting The Walters Art Museum's websitewww.thewalters.org. For further information about this book, and online resources for Waltersmanuscripts, please contact us through the Walters Website by email, and ask for your message tobe directed to the Department of Manuscripts.

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Shelf mark Walters Art Museum Ms. W.25

Descriptive Title Premonstratensian Psalter

Text title Psalter

Abstract This late twelfth- or early thirteenth-century Psalter wasmade for a female supplicant, and is of Premonstratensianuse. Created and used in Rhineland, Germany, it remainedthere until the French Revolution, after which it waseventually acquired by the English book collector SirThomas Phillipps. The Psalter is liturgical, and therefore haseight divisions for the liturgical week, as well as the usualtripartite divisions. Each of these major psalms is marked bylarge lively inhabited or foliate initials. Early added prayerson the first and last blank pages, as well as occasionalmarginal prayers and notes in a variety of hands, attest to themanuscript'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, rangingfrom thin to thick

Extent Foliation: i+202+iModern 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: 1Ruled lines: 20Lead ruled

Contents fols. 1r - 202v:Title: PsalterContents: Psalter and prayers for a female supplicantHand note: Pre-Gothic formal bookhand; two sizes ofscript in Office of the Dead (fols. 184r-192r)Decoration note: Seven inhabited and two historiatedinitials with beasts and human figures (7-15 lines); twofoliate initials (9-10 lines); initials drawn in black andred pen, often with gold or yellow wash backgroundsand red and green accents; Psalms begin with red pen-drawn decorative initials with blue or green flourishes(3-8 lines); Psalm verses begin with red initials (1 linehigh); rubrics in red, text in black ink

fols. 1r - 1r:Title: Prayer to the VirginRubric: Oratio bona et utilis de beata virgine.Incipit: Ave dei genitrix summi virgoText note: Text is later addition, written in latethirteenth-century handHand note: Gothic bookhand

fols. 1v - 164v:Title: Liturgical PsalterIncipit: Beatus virContents: Divisions at eight psalms for the liturgicalweek (Psalms 1, 26, 38, 52, 68, 80, 97, and 109),with additional divisions at Psalms 51 and 101 (thesecomprise the usual tripartite division that includesPsalm 1); each psalm ends with a verse of a PsalteriumBeatae Mariae; charm added fol. 20r under Psalm 21:"Grabbatim zephap pantazer primellus/Adiutor meusesto domino fac quod peto ne/moreris"; Psalms 148 and149 conflated

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Decoration note: Large initials mark psalm divisions:inhabited initials fols. 1v, 25v, 41r, 55v, 56v, 72r, and110v; historiated initial fol. 126r; foliate initials fols.90v and 108r

fols. 164v - 179r:Title: Canticles, hymns, and creedsIncipit: Confitebor tibi Domine quoniamDecoration note: Historiated initial fol. 164v

fols. 179r - 184r:Title: Litany, petitions, and collectsIncipit: Domine ihesu christe filii dei viviContents: Litany contains twenty-four martyrs,seventeen confessors, twelve virgins (includingGenovefa); 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 DeadRubric: Vigilie defunctorum.Incipit: Placebo domino in regione vivorumText note: Responsories indicate Premonstratensian use

fols. 189v - 202v:Title: Collects, prayers, hymns, creeds, GospelsequenceRubric: Pro congregatione.Incipit: Deus venie largitorContents: The last four pages, fols. 199-202, havehad their outer, and in one case also lower, marginscut off, but the textblocks are intact; texts are asfollows: 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 theTrinity, 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 tothe 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 withmanuscript, probably late twelfth or early thirteenthcentury

fols. 202v - 202v:Title: Added prayerIncipit: Pater de caelis deus qui nusisti filium tuumText note: Prayer added to blank page, possibly secondquarter of the thirteenth century

Decoration fol. 1v:Title: Initial "B" (Beatus vir)Form: Inhabited initial "B," 15 linesText: Psalm 1

fol. 25v:Title: Initial "D" (Dominus illuminatio mea)Form: Inhabited initial "D," 10 linesText: Psalm 27

fol. 41r:Title: Initial "D" (Dixi custodiam)Form: Inhabited initial "D," 9 linesText: Psalm 39

fol. 55v:Title: Initial "Q" with man battling dragon (Quidgloriaris)Form: Inhabited initial "Q," 8 linesText: Psalm 51

fol. 56v:Title: Initial "D" (Dixit insipiens)Form: Inhabited initial "D," 8 linesText: Psalm 52

fol. 72r:Title: Initial "S" with man battling dragon (Salvum me)Form: Inhabited initial "S," 9 linesText: 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 linesText: Psalm 97

fol. 110v:Title: Initial "D" (Domine exaudi)Form: Inhabited initial "D," 10 linesText: Psalm 102

fol. 126r:Title: Initial "D" with God the Father and God the Son(?) (Dixit dominus)Form: Historiated initial "D," 8 linesText: Psalm 109

fol. 164v:Title: Initial "C" with bust of Isaiah (?) (Confitebor tibi)Form: Historiated initial "C," 7 linesText: Canticles

Binding The binding is not original.

Sixteenth-century German beech boards, originally coveredin brown leather; re-covered in green velvet in the nineteenthcentury by Léon Gruel, Paris; clasp and catch plates aresixteenth century, poorly refitted

Provenance Made for Premonstratensian use (Office of the Dead is ofthis use), or possibly also Augustinian use (two mentionsof Augustine in litany and multiple prayers to the Trinity),probably in Rhineland (litany includes Mosan saints), latetwelfth or early thirteenth century

Owned by Rhenish abbeys before French Revolution

Leander van Ess of Darmstadt, acquired from Rhenishabbeys after French Revolution

Sir Thomas Phillipps, 1824, by purchase, no. 441; Ex-librisfol. 1r: rampant lion stamp and inscription "Sir T.P./MiddleHill 441"

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Phillipps's sale, London (either 1911, no. 868, or 1913, no.1021)

Léon 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 RenaissanceManuscripts in the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. NewYork: H. W. Wilson Company, 1935, p. 769, cat. no. 76.

Phillipps, Sir Thomas. The Phillipps Manuscripts: Cataloguslibrorum manuscriptorum in bibliotheca D. ThomaePhillipps, bt. London: Holland Press, 1968, p. 5, cat. no. 441.

Oliver, Judith. Gothic Manuscript Illumination in theDiocese of Liege (ca. 1250-ca. 1330). 2 vols. Leuven:Uitgeverij Peeters, 1988, p. 137.

Contributors Catalogers: Herbert, Lynley; Walters Art Museum curatorialstaff and researchers since 1934Editors: Herbert, Lynley; Noel, WilliamCopy editor: Dibble, CharlesConservators: Owen, Linda; Quandt, AbigailContributors: Bockrath, Diane; Davis, Lisa Fagin; Dutschke,Consuelo; Emery, Doug; Hamburger, Jeffrey; Klemm,Elizabeth; Noel, William; Sciacca, Christine; Tabritha, Ariel;Toth, Michael B.; Valle, Chiara

This document is a digital facsimile of selections from a manuscript belonging to the Walters ArtMuseum, in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States. It is one of a number of manuscriptsthat have been digitized as part of a project generously funded by the National Endowment forthe Humanities, and by an anonymous donor to the Walters Art Museum. More details aboutthe manuscripts at the Walters can be found by visiting The Walters Art Museum's websitewww.thewalters.org. For further information about this book, and online resources for Waltersmanuscripts, please contact us through the Walters Website by email, and ask for your message tobe directed to the Department of Manuscripts.

Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcodePublished 2013

The Walters Art Museum600 N. Charles StreetBaltimore, Maryland

21201http://www.thewalters.org/