MS. e Mus. 185

Summary Catalogue no.: 3526

Portable Psalter; England, Beverley (?), 13th century, beginning (c. 1208 (?)), with 15th-century continuations

1. (fol. i verso)

Note in a 15th-century hand containing the opening words of psalms 1 to 4, and listing psalms 1 and 2 as occurring ‘folio primo’, psalm 3 as ‘folio secundo’ and psalm 4 as ‘tercio’. Recipe in English ‘for the pestilence’ in a 16th-century hand. Fol. ii is blank apart from an early modern note (see ‘Provenance’).

[item 2 occupies quire I]

2. (fols. 1r–6v)

Calendar, laid out one month per page, written in black, red, blue and green, not graded, approximately two-thirds full. Only red and black are used on fols. 5v–6v (October–December). ‘Caput draconis anno domini M . cc . viijo ciclo xixii . xiiio’ (13 January). Includes Bercthum (14 May), the first abbot of Beverley Minster (‘Sancti Bricthuni abbatis’) in red, Cuthbert (20 March) and his translation (4 September), Benedict (21 March) and his translation (11 July), John of Beverley (7 May) with octave, Dunstan (19 May), the nativity of John the Baptist (24 June), his conception (26 September) and martyrdom (29 August), Oswald (5 August) and his translation (14 April), the translation of Hilda (25 August), and Martin (11 November and 4 July), all in red, blue or green. Many notes and obits added in late 13th-century hands, including ‘Atheline de shep(eie)’ (29 April), ‘Galfridi de shepeie’ (29 June) and ‘helyanore de grey’ (17 August). Dates of battles of 1455–1485 added in 15th-century hands. The months are headed by verses on the ‘Egyptian’ days which correspond to Hennig’s (1955) sets III and I (June) and notes on the lengths of the solar and lunar months. The months are followed by notes on the number of hours in day and night.

[items 3–6 occupy quire II]

3. (fols. 7r–14v)

Hours of the Virgin; prayers to Lawrence, Oswald (fol. 10r), Michael, John the Baptist (fol. 13r) and Martin (fol. 14v).

4. (fol. 15r)

Added table for the Sunday Letter, from 1045 to 1576.

5. (fol. 15v)

Added prayers in two different 14th- and 15th-century hands:

(1) Deprecor te sancta maria per illud gaudium et per illam leticiam ...
(2) Domine iesu christe fili dei uiui auerte iram tuam a me ...

6. (fols. 16r–17v)

Added prayers and a hymn in two different 13th-century hands:

(1) Suscipere digneris domine iesu christe fili dei uiui hos psalmos consecratos quos ego indignus peccator ...
(2) Actiones nostras quesumus domine aspirando preueni ...
(3) Alpha et omega magne deus . heli . heli deus meus’ (Chevalier, no. 925), imperfect at the end, because of the loss of a leaf after fol. 17.

[items 7–10 occupy quires III–XVIII]

7. (fols. 18r–156v)

Psalms, in the biblical order, laid out with each verse starting on a new line, without titles or numbers, imperfect at the beginning, starting at 2: 3. Punctuated throughout, with punctus used to mark the ends of verses and minor pauses, and punctus elevatus used to mark metrum. The following text is missing, because leaves, or parts of leaves, containing decorated initials at liturgical divisions were removed:

– one leaf missing after fol. 39 (missing text 26: 1–6);
– one leaf missing, with only a fragment preserved, numbered 53b, after fol. 53 (missing text 37: 17–38: 4);
– three leaves missing after fol. 54 (missing text 39: 4–44: 15);
– three leaves missing, with only fragments preserved, after fol. 57 (missing text 48: 17–52: 4);
– two leaves missing after fol. 71 (missing text 68: 1–11);
– one leaf missing after fol. 88 (missing text 80: 1–13);
– fol. 105 is a fragment preserving only the four lowest lines of text (missing text 97: 3–9);
– one leaf missing after fol. 106 (missing text 100: 2–101: 3);
– one leaf missing after fol. 121 (missing text 109: 1–110: 3).

There were originally textual divisions at psalms 26, 38, 51 (?), 52, 68, 80, 97, 101 and 109. Subdivisions within psalms are marked with 2-line initials at 17: 26 (fol. 30v) and 77: 40 (‘Quociens exacerbauerunt ...’, fol. 84v); psalm 118 is subdivided into twentytwo 8-verse units.

8. (fols. 157r–165v)

Weekly canticles, with titles:

(1) Confitebor tibi domine (Isaiah 12) (‘Canticum ysaie prophete’);
(2) Ego dixi (Isaiah 38: 10–21) (‘Canticum ezechie regis’);
(3) Exultauit cor meum (1 Samuel 2: 1–11) (‘Canticum Anne’);
(4) Cantemus domino (Exodus 15: 1–20) (‘Canticum moysi’);
(5) Domine audiui (Habakkuk 3) (‘Canticum abacuc prophete’);
(6) Audite celi (Deuteronomy 32: 1–44) (‘Canticum deuteronomii’).

9. (fols. 165v–171r)

Daily canticles, prayers and creeds, most with titles:

(1) Te deum laudamus (fol. 165v);
(2) Benedicite omnia opera (‘Canticum trium puerorum’ and, in the margin, ‘Hymnus trium puerorum’) (fol. 166v);
(3) Benedictus dominus deus (‘Canticum zacharie’) (fol. 167v);
(4) Magnificat (‘Canticum sancte marie’) (fol. 168r);
(5) Nunc dimittis (‘Canticum symeonis’) (fol. 168v);
(6) Athanasian Creed (Quicumque uult ...) (‘Canticum athanasii episcopi et ... episcoporum’) (fol. 169r).

10. (fols. 171r–172v)

Litany, including Alban, Edward, Edmund and George (last) among the martyrs; Martial (of Limoges (?), second), Martin, Benedict and Dunstan (last) among the confessors; Felicitas, first among the virgins, but with a mark showing that she should be second, and Agnes invoked twice (second crossed out). Ends imperfectly in the ‘Ut’ petitions.

[items 11–12, 15th-century additions, occupy quires XIX–XX]

11. (fols. 173r–175r)

Petitions and collects, some with rubrics ‘oracio’:

(1) Deus cui corda fidelium sancti spiritus illustratione docuisti ...
(2) Omnipotens sempiterne deus qui facis mirabilia magna solus ...
(3) Deus cui proprium est misereri semper et parcere suscipe ...
(4) Pretende domine famulis et famulabus tuis dexteram celestis auxilii ut de toto corde ...
(5) Deus a quo sancta desideria recta consilia et iusta sunt ...
(6) Absolue quesumus domine animas famulorum famularum que tuarum ab omni uinculo delictorum ...
(7) Deus qui es sanctorum tuorum splendor mirabilis atque lapsorum subleuator ...

12. (fols. 175v–182r)

Office of the Dead; responsories correspond to nos. 14, 72, 24, 32, 57, 28, 68, 82, 38 in Ottosen (1993).

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: quentate nobis (fol. 8r)

Form: codex

Support: parchment

Extent: 186 leaves

Dimensions (leaf): c. 178 × 130 mm.

Foliation: modern, in pencil; i–ii + 1–53a + 53b + 54–183.

Collation

Layout

Ruled in plummet with double vertical and horizontal bounding lines extending the full height and width of page; prickings survive; written above the top line; 20 lines per page; written space: c. 110 × 58 mm.

Hand(s)

Formal Gothic book hand; black ink.

Decoration

Red and blue KL ‘puzzle’ initial monograms with penwork decoration in the calendar.

10-line red and blue arabesque ‘puzzle’ initial at the beginning of the Office of the Virgin (fol. 7r).

2- to 3-line alternating red and blue initials, with contrasting blue or red penwork, at the beginnings of psalms, canticles, litany and sections of the offices.

1-line alternating red and blue initials at the beginnings of periods and verses, some with penwork designs.

Red and blue line-endings. Green initials and line-endings (added (?)) on fol. 99r.

15th-century additions feature 1-line plain alternating red and blue initials in the litany and 2-line blue initials with red penwork elsewhere.

Late marginal drawings of a standing woman and a woman’s head (fol. 172v).

Rubrics in red ink.

Binding

English binding, 15th century. Sewn on four cords. Faded red tawed leather with suede finish, over wood boards. Holes left by the fittings of a clasp, with a corresponding hole for a pin in the middle of the back board. Rebacked in the Bodleian. Lettering on spine: ‘MS . || E . Museo || 185’. Fragment of a leather (?) label on spine with lettering ‘185’.

History

Origin: 13th century, beginning (c. 1208 (?)); additions, 15th century. ; English, Beverley (?)

Provenance and Acquisition

Made for a layman in Beverley (?), c. 1208 (?) (see ‘Text’ (‘Calendar’)). As noted by van Dijk (1958), a number of features suggest Beverley Minster: the feasts of St Benedict are among the principal feasts in the calendar, and he is prominent in the litany. The division of psalm 118 is monastic. The calendar, however, is not graded, the Benedictine subdivisions are marked only in two psalms, the feast of the dedication of the Abbey is not included in the calendar, and the calendar contains obits of laymen and -women.

Present binding made, litany completed and Office of the Dead added in the 15th century. Blank bifolium at the front, contemporary with the binding (?), has a note in a 15th-century hand indicating that the leaf containing the first psalm was still in place (see ‘Text’).

Brome Whorwood of Holton, Oxfordshire (d. 1684) (Foster, 1891–92, p. 1625).

Bodleian Library: donated by Brome Whorwood in 1653; ‘Liber Bibliothecae Bodlianae ex dono venerabilis viri Broomi Whorwood de Holton in agro Oxoniensi, Armigeri. Aug. xvi. M. Dc. LIII.’ (fol. ii recto).

Record Sources

Elizabeth Solopova, Latin Liturgical Psalters in the Bodleian Library: A Select Catalogue (Oxford, 2013), pp. 78–82. Previously described in the Summary Catalogue.

Summary Catalogue, Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 671

Summary Catalogue, Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 672

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (1 image from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

Select bibliography to 2004:

Frere, no. 451.

Summary catalogue, vol. 2, part 2, no. 3526.

S. J. P. van Dijk, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. 2: Office Books (typescript, 1957), p. 44

Pächt and Alexander (1966–73), vol. 3, p. 322.

A. Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts in Oxford Libraries (1984), no. 658

Morgan, N., ‘Texts and images of Marian devotion in thirteenth-century England’ in W. M. Ormrod (ed.), England in the thirteenth century: proceedings of the 1989 Harlaxton Symposium (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1991), pp. 69–103, at p. 72 n. 9.

——, ‘Patrons and their devotions in the historiated initials and full-page miniatures of 13thcentury English psalters’ in Büttner (2004), pp. 309–22, at p. 309 n. 3, p. 321.

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2024-06: Encode full description from Solopova catalogue.

A catalogue of Western manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries and selected Oxford colleges