London, British Library, Arundel 155 Psalter, canticles, prayers, hymns

Abstract

175. London, British Library, Arundel 155
Psalter, canticles, prayers, hymns
[Ker 135, Gneuss 306]

HISTORY: Written in the first half of the 11c at Christ Church, Can­ terbury, with alterations and additions in the 12c (see below). At the top of f. iv recto and again on f. 8r: "Si qui inuenerit hu<n>c libru<m> Restituat do<m>pno Will<el>mo yngram"; below in a different hand: "Procter uendidit A<nn>o 1592." As Ker (Cat.) notes, "Ingram was warden of the Martyrdom in the cathedral in 1508." F. 1v bears the coiophon: "Psalte­ rium Dompni Iohannis Walthan Monachii Ecclesie Chr<ist>i cant' Ex dono dompni W. Hadley Supp<r>ioris." On ff. 2r and 133r: 'William Howarde 1592." F. 12r bears the stamp: "Soc. Reg. Lond. ex dono Henr. Howard Norfolciensis." Donated by Howard to the Royal Society in 1667. Acquired by the British Museum in 1831.

CODICOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION: Leaves measure 290 x 211 mm., with a writing grid of 205 x 150 mm. Leaves are hair side out. Ff. 1-11 are ruled for thirty-five lines, although, e.g., in the tables following the calendar, the vertical rulings indicating columns are ignored, being ap­ propriate to the layout of the calendar only. The psalms are ruled for twenty-three lines; ff. 137-141r contain twenty-seven lines, the litany (ff. 14lv-143r) twenty-seven lines. Ff. 143r (following the litany) to f. 170v are in two columns of twenty-five lines. The codex underwent major alteration in the 12c with the removal of leaves after f. 136, the erasure of the original text and rewriting on ff. 135r/18-136 and, in part, on f. 134r/23-134v/5, and the addition of thirty-four leaves after f. 136. Ff. 145-146 comprise a bifolium in a hand markedly different from that responsible for the added folios. The texts on these leaves, ruled for thirty­ seven lines (with each column crossed through with a large "X''), all lack initial letters to the incipits. The psalms also show significant alterations throughout, mostly in adapting the Roman text to the Gallican version; these alterations are made in a dull brown ink, lighter than the original ink. The calendar (ff. 2r-7v), preliminary matter (ff. 8v-11r), psalms (ff.12r-132r), canticles (ff. 133v-135r/17), collects (f. 171r), and prayers and forms of confession glossed in OE (ff. 171r-191v/18) are original to the psalter. Ff. 191v/19-193v are written in a different Latin hand, although Campbell (1963) sees the OE gloss hand (ff. 191v/19-192v/6) as the same as throughout the prayers. Attached to f. 113r is a note: "N.B. Leaves 113- 120 are misplaced; they should follow f. 128." The leaves are numbered consecutively in pencil. To adjust the order of the leaves, the number 121 is written above original 113, although ff. 114-120 are not renumbered. The order of the leaves should thus be as follows: 113 > 121; 114 > 122; 115 > 123; 116 > 124; 117 > 125; 118 > 126; 119 > 127; 120 > 128; 121 > 113;
122 > 114; 123 > 115; 124 > 116; 125 > 117; 126 > 118; 127 > 119; 128 > 120. Ff. 171-193 are also numbered in ink (16c?) from 1-24, although the number 17 is omitted (thus f. 186 is numbered 16 and f. 187 is numbered 18). The same hand responsible for the numbering in ink has also placed numbers next to the prayers, beginning with f. 172v/2-14, which is numbered 5, continuing to f. 187r/17, which is numbered 30; the remaining items in the sequence are unnumbered.
Major psalm-divisions are indicated by full-page illustrations and minor divisions by display lines as follows: Pss. 1 (f. 12r), 20 (f. 25v), 26 (f. 30v), 32 (f. 35r), 38 (f. 42r), 45 (f. 48r), 51 (f. 53r; full page), 59 (f. 58v), 68 (f. 64v), 73 (f. 70r), 79 (f. 77v), 86 (f. 81v), 95 (f. 89v), 101
(92r), 105 (f. 99r), 109 (f. 105r), 119 (f. 125v); f. 133r contains a full­ page illumination preceding the canticles. Initials in the display lines are in gold, red, green, and blue ink; the Beatus vir page shows lavish use of gold, with red, green, blue, and purple; the initial verse has lines alternating in green and red; similar use of alternating colors appears at the be­ ginning of Ps. 101. Psalm titles and minor initials are in green, red, and blue. The canticles begin with a gold "C," and red, blue, and green ink are used throughout for titles. The 12c additions use colored initials in yellow, red, blue, and green, with titles in red. The OE hymns and confessional prayers use red and green initials throughout. Scattered incised designs and drawings include: three crude portraits in pencil (f. iii recto), crude drawing of courtier with bird (f. iv verso), late drawing of lion rampant (f. 2r), large bird in brown ink (f. 88v), incised scroll-work in the lobes of initial "B" (f. 94v; Ps. 102), bird (f. l11r), nine faces in various stages of completion, in the same ink as the drawing on f. 88v (f. 191r). The litany, but not the closing petitions, has been lightly crossed through with larges "X's." F. 193v is darkened. F. 1 is written in a Gothic script. The text (to f. 191r) has been identified as in the hand of Eadui Basan (11c; Bishop 1971: 22).

COLLATION: Ff. [ii-iv] + 1-193. Ff ii and 1 are half-sheets; ff. iii-iv form a bifolium; I¹⁰ (ff. 2-11), II⁶⁺¹ (ff. 12-18;f. 12 added), III⁸ (ff. 19-
26), IV⁸ (ff. 27-34), V⁸ (ff. 35-42), VI⁸ (ff. 43-50), VII⁶⁺¹ (ff. 51-57; one added after f. 55, with stub showing afterf. 52), VIII8+1 (ff. 58-66;
f. 66 added), IX⁸ (ff. 67-74), X⁸ (ff. 75-82; bifolium added after f. 79), XI⁶ (ff. 83-88); Xll8 (ff. 89-96), XIII⁸ (ff. 97-104), XIV⁸ (ff. 105-112), XV⁸ (ff. 113-120; two bifolia after f. 114), XVI⁸ (ff. 121-128), XVII⁸ (ff. 129-136), XVIII⁸⁺² (ff. 137-146; ff. 145-146 form a bifolium), XIX⁸ (ff. 147-154), XX⁸ (ff. 155-162), XXI⁸⁺² (ff. 163-170; ff. 163-164 form a bifolium), XXII¹² (ff. 171-182), XXIII⁸ (ff. 183-190), ff. 191-193 comprise three half-sheets.