ABOUT THIS BOOK

Liturgical psalters are among the most important—and beautifully illustrated— of medieval Christian books. In their simplest form, psalters included 150 psalms, preceded by a calendar and followed by canticles, or biblical texts, meant to be sung at church services. Though this core content remained relatively unchanged throughout the Middle Ages and across countries, psalters show considerable variation in size, style of presentation, and choice of supplementary texts.

Latin Liturgical Psalters in the Bodleian Library describes more than one hundred psalters from Britain, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Spain, ranging from the ninth to the sixteenth century and reflecting a wide range of requirements and interests. Each entry includes a description of the psalter’s contents, physical makeup, and provenance, alongside full-color images of pages, a bibliography, and tables to assist in the study of illumination and the liturgical use of psalms.

Bringing together important information on a stunning selection of little-known manuscripts held by the Bodleian Library, this volume will prove a valuable resource.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Elizabeth Solopova is a research fellow in the Faculty of English at the University of Oxford and the William Golding Research Fellow at Brasenose College, University of Oxford. She is the author of several books, including Key Concepts in Medieval Literature.

REVIEWS

"This is a publication to be celebrated for its inspired vision and rigorous scholarship. . . . The introduction is succinct and lucid, and it provides a useful starting point for anyone new to the study of medieval psalters. . . . [But] the greatest achievement of this catalogue is the detailed yet manageable descriptions of the manuscripts. Many of the articles amount to scholarly articles, with the depth and breadth of research rarely matched."

— Times Literary Supplement

“This is a splendid catalog. . . . Solopova is particularly to be congratulated for the precise and careful details she gives enumerating the many textual differences among the psalters and their range of purpose and usage. Important, excellent, and extremely helpful, . . . the impeccable entries demonstrate just how carefully and intelligently this catalog was developed and produced.”

— Speculum

“After 738 pages, 111 catalog entries, fourteen appendices, and three indices, I left this book with a taste for more. Solopova’s erudite research sheds new light on familiar manuscripts and adds information on less well-known psalters. It is an impressive feat, and will remain the authoritative point of reference for years to come. It also has the potential to transform the way we think about medieval psalters.”

— Journal of Ecclesiastical History

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

The Form of Entries

Abbreviations

List of Psalters

List of Illustrations (between pages 348 and 349)

The Catalogue

1 Britain

2 France

3 The Netherlands

4 Germany

5 Austria

6 Italy

7 Spain

Appendix

1 Music in Psalters

2 Psalm 151

3 Psalm Titles and Numbers

4 Textual Divisions

5 Monastic Subdivisions of Individual Psalms

6 Punctuation

7 Canticles

8 Iconography of the Litany

9 Iconography of the Penitential Psalms

10 Iconography of the Canticles

11 Iconography of the Office of the Dead

12 Iconography of the Office of the Virgin

13 Calendar Miniatures

14 Iconography of Miniatures, Historiated Initials and Borders at

Liturgical Divisions

Indexes

Index of Cited Manuscripts and Early Printed Books

Concordance of Shelfmarks

General Index