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MS. Ashmole 1525

Summary Catalogue no.: 8229

Monastic Choir Psalter with Collects; England, Canterbury; 13th century, first quarter (before 1220) with additions, 14th century, beginning

Contents

Psalter (monastic choir psalter, with collects)

[item 1 occupies quire I]

1. (fols. 1r–5v)

Calendar, laid out one month per page (ed. by Wormald, 1939), major feasts in blue, green or red. May and June are missing; the other months, except for March–April and September–October, are damaged because miniatures at the tops of the leaves were excised. On fol. 5r an entry for the ordination of Augustine (16 November) is partially erased, leaving ‘Ordinatio s(an)ct(i) a ...’ readable (see Gibson, Heslop and Pfaff, 1992). The months are preceded by notes on the length of the solar and lunar month, and followed by notes on the number of hours in day and night. Obits of Thomas Goldstone, Prior of Christ Church, Canterbury (16 September, d. 1517), and ‘Dominus Geruasius Crambrok’ (12 October, d. 1511, see Bateson, 1891) are added in a 16th-century hand. Titles ‘pape’ and the feasts of Thomas Becket are erased (the 7 July feast is added (?) and then erased).

[items 2–9 occupy quires II–XXIV]

2. (fols. 6r–127r)

Psalms 1–150 in the biblical order, laid out with verses starting on a new line. The opening words of psalm 1 are missing because of the loss of a leaf containing the Beatus-initial (fol. 6r starting with ‘& in uia peccatorum ...’). Many leaves are damaged because the initials at textual divisions were cut out. The following text is missing:

  • – one leaf missing after fol. 12 (missing text 11: 6–13: 7);
  • – one leaf missing after fol. 14 (missing text 16: 15–17: 17);
  • – two leaves missing after fol. 17 (missing text 20: 1–21: 24);
  • – one leaf missing after fol. 20 (missing text 25: 1–end);
  • – one leaf missing after fol. 29 (missing text 34: 27–36: 5);
  • – one leaf missing after fol. 31 (missing text 37: 12–38: 1–4);
  • – two leaves missing after fol. 41 (missing text 51: 1–53: 7);
  • – one leaf missing after fol. 53 (missing text 67: 31–68: 4);
  • – one leaf missing after fol. 60 (missing text 74: 4–75: 12);
  • – one leaf missing after fol. 66 (missing text 79: 10–20);
  • – one leaf missing after fol. 81 (missing text 97);
  • – one leaf missing after fol. 82 (missing text 100: 2–101: 4);
  • – two leaves missing after fol. 93 (missing text 108: 26–111: 5).
Punctuated throughout, with punctus used to mark the ends of verses, punctus elevatus used to mark metrum, and punctus or punctus elevatus used to mark minor pauses. Each psalm is followed by a collect (Roman series, Brou (1949)), sometimes preceded by rubric ‘oratio’ (the same set of collects occurs in the Ormesby Psalter (Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Douce 366) and in the Tickhill Psalter (New York Public Library, Spencer MS. 26). Psalms are preceded by titles and sometimes numbers in Roman numerals, in the hand of the original scribe. The source of most titles up to psalm 70 is Cassiodorus’ Expositio psalmorum, whereas afterwards the standard biblical tituli combined with extra-biblical titles of different origin are used (Panayotova, 2005). The titles of five psalms are quoted below:
  • 15 Per totum istum psalmum introducitur persona domini saluatoris . (fol. 13v)
  • 30 Per uniuersum psalmum istum uerba sunt domini saluatoris (fol. 24r)
  • 63 In hoc psalmo christus orat ut a populi iudaici timore liberetur . (fol. 49v)
  • 115 In hoc psalmo inuicti martires gloriosum calicem offerunt christo martirii . qui tamen christi dono prestatur . (fol. 96r)
  • 140 ipsi dauid . (fol. 119v).

There are textual divisions at psalms 26, 32 and 80 (see ‘Decoration’) and probably originally at other psalms, where the initials are now lost. On fol. 67r two opening words of psalm 80 are omitted by the scribe (the end of psalm 79 is also missing owing to the loss of a leaf; see above).

Subdivisions within the psalms are marked with 2-line initials and occasionally rubrics, such as ‘diuisio beati benedicti’ (fol. 15r), at 9: 20 (fol. 11r), 17: 26 (fol. 15r), 36: 27 (fol. 30v), 67: 20 (fol. 53r), 68: 17 (fol. 54v) and 88: 20 (fol. 74r). The divisions were added in the 14th century at 103: 25 (fol. 86r), 104: 23 (fol. 87r), 105: 32 (fol. 89v), 106: 25 (fol. 91r) by the erasure of the original penwork initials and the addition of larger decorated ones. Psalm 118 is subdivided into twenty-two 8-verse units.

3. (fol. 127r–v)

Psalm 151, Pusillus eram, without a title or a collect.

4. (fols. 127v–132v)

Weekly canticles, without titles:

  • (1) Confitebor tibi domine (Isaiah 12);
  • (2) Ego dixi (Isaiah 38: 10–21);
  • (3) Exultauit cor meum (1 Samuel 2: 1–11);
  • (4) Cantemus domino (Exodus 15: 1–20);
  • (5) Domine audiui (Habakkuk 3);
  • (6) Audite celi (Deuteronomy 32: 1–44) with subdivision marked with a larger initial at verse 22, ‘Ignis succensus ...’ (fol. 132v).

5. (fols. 133v–137v)

Daily canticles, prayers and creeds:

  • (1) Benedicite omnia opera (fol. 133v);
  • (2) Te deum laudamus (fol. 134v);
  • (3) Benedictus dominus deus (fol. 135r);
  • (4) Magnificat (fol. 135v);
  • (5) Nunc dimittis (fol. 136r);
  • (6) Athanasian Creed (Quicumque uult ...) (fol. 136r).

6. (fols. 137v–141v)

Litany, containing Elphege with double invocation, Salvius, Pancras, Alban, Oswald and Edmund among the martyrs; Augustine, Odo, Dunstan, Cuthbert, Swithin, Wilfrid, Paulinus, Wulstan (added), Guthlac and Edward among the confessors; and Etheldreda (added) among the virgins. Thomas Becket (second among the martyrs) is erased. Followed by petitions, including ‘Ut archipresulem nostrum ...’ and collects (fols. 140r–141v):

  • (1) Deus cui corda fidelium sancti spiritus illustratione docuisti ...
  • (2) Deus cui proprium est misereri semper et parcere suscipe ...
  • (3) Omnipotens sempiterne deus qui facis mirabilia magna solus ...; the last lines erased and rewritten, with a note to insert here the prayer that is added on fol. 141v
  • (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) A domo tua quesumus domine spirituales nequitie repellantur et aeriarum discedat malignitas potestatum ...
  • (7) Animabus quesumus domine famulorum famularumque tuarum oracio proficiat supplicantium ut eas ...
  • (8) Deus qui es sanctorum tuorum splendor mirabilis atque lapsorum subleuator ...
  • (9) Deus in cuius manu corda sunt regum qui es humilium consolator ...
The last collect, for the king, queen and their children, is added in a late 14th-century hand.

[The rest of the manuscript is early 14th century]

7. (fols. 141v–150r)

Canticles for the year, some with titles:

  • (1) Domine miserere nostri te enim expectauimus esto brachium ... (Isaiah 33: 2–10) (‘Dominica prima post octauam epiphanie canticum’);
  • (2) Audite qui longe estis que fecerim dicit ... (Isaiah 33: 13–16);
  • (3) Miserere domine plebi tue super quam inuocatum est nomen tuum ... (Sirach 36: 14–19);
  • (4) Confortate manus dissolutas et genua debilia ... (Isaiah 35: 3–10) (‘In aduentu domini canticum’);
  • (5) Consolamini consolamini popule meus dicit deus ... (Isaiah 40: 1–5);
  • (6) Iurauit Dominus in dextera sua et in brachio ... (Isaiah 62: 8–12);
  • (7) Populus qui ambulabat in tenebris uidit lucem magnam ... (Isaiah 9: 2–7) (‘In natiuitate domini. canticum’);
  • (8) Letare ierusalem et diem festum agite ... (Isaiah 66: 10–16, non-Vulgate text);
  • (9) Urbs fortitudinis nostre syon saluator ponetur in ea ... (Isaiah 26: 1–12);D
  • (10) Deducant oculi mei lacrimas per diem et noctem ... (Jeremiah 14: 17–21) (‘per totam quadragesima. canticum’);
  • (11) Recordare domine quid acciderit nobis intuere et respice obprobrium nostrum ... (Lamentations 5: 1–21);
  • (12) Tollam uos de gentibus et congregabo uos de uniuersis terris ... (Ezekiel 36: 24–28) (‘Aliud canticum in xl’);
  • (13) Quis est iste qui uenit de edom tinctis uestibus de bosra ... (Isaiah 63: 1–5) (‘In tempore paschali . cantica’);
  • (14) Uenite et reuertamur ad dominum quia ipse cepit et sanabit ... (Hosea 6: 1–6) (‘Aliud canticum’);
  • (15) Expecta me dicit dominus in die resurrectionis mee in futurum ... (Zephaniah 3: 8–13) (‘Aliud canticum’);
  • (16) Uos sancti domini uocabimini ministri dei nostri ... (Isaiah 61: 6–9) (‘Plurimorum sanctorum canticum’);
  • (17) Fulgebunt iusti et tanquam sintille in harundineto discurrent ... (Wisdom 3: 7–9) (‘Aliud canticum’);
  • (18) Reddet deus mercedem laborum sanctorum suorum ... (Wisdom 10: 17–20) (‘Alia cantica’);
  • (19) Beatus uir qui in sapientia morabitur ... (Sirach 14: 22 and 15: 3–6) (‘vnius sancti. canticum.’);
  • (20) Benedictus uir qui confidit in domino ... (Jeremiah 17: 7–8);
  • (21) Beatus uir qui inuentus est sine macula ... (Sirach 31: 8–11) (‘Alia cantica’);
  • (22) Avdite me diuini fructus ... (Sirach 39: 17–21) (‘De uirginibus. canticum’);
  • (23) Gaudens gaudebo in domino et exultabit anima mea ... (Isaiah 61: 10–62: 3) (‘Aliud canticum’);
  • (24) Non uocaberis ultra derelicta ... (Isaiah 62: 4–7) (‘Aliud canticum’). Rubric at the end: ‘Explicit cantica monalia. Amen’.

8. (fols. 150r–177r)

Hymnal, containing hymns for the week with variations during the year, and hymns for feasts and saints days including Philip, James, Dunstan, John the Baptist, Peter and Paul, Benedict, Mary Magdalene, Bartholomew, Matthew, Archangel Michael, Simon and Jude, Andrew, Thomas and for the Common of Saints.

  • O lux beata trinitas (Chevalier, no. 13150),
  • Primo dierum omnium quo mundus (Chevalier, no. 15450),
  • Eterne rerum conditor (Chevalier, no. 647),
  • Nocte surgentes uigilemus (Chevalier, no. 12035),
  • Ecce iam noctis tenuatur (Chevalier, no. 5129),
  • Iam lucis orto sydere (Chevalier, no. 9272),
  • Nunc sancte nobis spiritus (Chevalier, no. 12586),
  • Rector potens uerax deus (Chevalier, no. 17061),
  • Rerum deus tenax uigor (Chevalier, no. 17328),
  • Lvcis creator optime (Chevalier, no. 1068),
  • Te lucis ante terminum (Chevalier, no. 20138),
  • Christe qui lux es et dies (Chevalier, no. 2934),
  • Sompno refectis artubus spreto (Chevalier, no. 19210),
  • Splendor paterne (Chevalier, no. 19349),
  • Inmense celi conditor (Chevalier, no. 8453),
  • Consors paterni luminis (Chevalier, no. 3830),
  • Ales diei nuncius (Chevalier, no. 795),
  • Telluris ingens conditor (Chevalier, no. 20268),
  • Rerum creator optime (Chevalier, no. 17322),
  • Nox et teneble [sic] et nubila (Chevalier, no. 12402),
  • Celi deus sanctissime (Chevalier, no. 3483),
  • Nox atra rerum (Chevalier, no. 12396),
  • Lux ecce surgit (Chevalier, no. 10811),
  • Magne deus potencie (Chevalier, no. 10935),
  • Tv trinitatis unitas (Chevalier, no. 20713),
  • Eterna celi gloria (Chevalier, no. 609),
  • Plasmator hominis deus (Chevalier, no. 14968),
  • Summe deus clemencie (Chevalier, no. 19636),
  • Aurora iam spargit (Chevalier, no. 1633),
  • Conditor alme (Chevalier, no. 3733),
  • Uerbum supernum prodiens a patre (Chevalier, no. 29391),
  • Uox clara ecce intonat (Chevalier, no. 22199),
  • Ueni redemptor gencium (Chevalier, no. 21243),
  • Christe redemptor omnium ex patre (Chevalier, no. 2960),
  • A solis ortu cardine (Chevalier, no. 26),
  • Hostis herodes impie (Chevalier, no. 8073),
  • Qvod chorus uatum (Chevalier, no. 16881),
  • Quem terra pontus ethera (Chevalier, no. 16347),
  • O gloriosa domina excelsa (Chevalier, no. 13042),
  • Audi benigne conditor (Chevalier, no. 1449),
  • Ex more docti mistico (Chevalier, no. 5610),
  • Dicamus omnes cernui (Chevalier, no. 4574),
  • Summi largitor premij spes (Chevalier, no. 19716),
  • Clarum deus ieiunii (Chevalier, no. 3362),
  • Dei fide qua uiuimus (Chevalier, no. 3000),
  • Qua christus hora siciit (Chevalier, no. 15840),
  • Ternis ter horis numerus (Chevalier, no. 20356),
  • Iam ter quaternis (Chevalier, no. 9408),
  • Uexilla regis (Chevalier, no. 21481),
  • Pange lingua gloriosi prelium (Chevalier, no. 14481),
  • Lustra sex qui iam peracti (Chevalier, no. 10763),
  • Ad cenam agni prouidi (Chevalier, no. 110),
  • Rex eterne domine rerum creator (Chevalier, no. 17393),
  • Aurora lucis rutilat (Chevalier, no. 1644),
  • Sermone blando angelus (Chevalier, no. 18831),
  • Proni rogamus philippe (Chevalier, no. 15631),
  • Iacobe iuste iesu frater (Chevalier, no. 9188),
  • Aue dunstane presulum (Chevalier, no. 1784),
  • Per te nitescat rex deus (Chevalier, no. 14820),
  • Dunstanus en celestia (Chevalier, no. 25830),
  • Eterne rex altissime (Chevalier, no. 654),
  • (Y)mpnum canamus glorie (Chevalier, no. 8235),
  • Iesu nostra redemptio (Chevalier, no. 9582),
  • Beata nobis gaudia (Chevalier, no. 2339),
  • Iam Christus astra (Chevalier, no. 9215),
  • Impleta gaudent uiscera (Chevalier, no. 8506),
  • Ueni creator spiritus (Chevalier, no. 21204),
  • Adesto sancta trinitas (Chevalier, no. 487),
  • O pater sancte mitis (Chevalier, no. 13376),
  • Ut queant laxis resonare (Chevalier, no. 21039),
  • Antra deserti (Chevalier, no. 1214),
  • O nimis felix meritique (Chevalier, no. 13311),
  • Aurea luce et decore (Chevalier, no. 1596),
  • Festa presentis celebret (Chevalier, no. 1596),
  • Panditur mundus simul (Chevalier, no. 14363),
  • Magno canentes annua (Chevalier, no. 11010),
  • Lauda mater ecclesia (Chevalier, no. 10210),
  • Eterni patris unice (Chevalier, no. 1596),
  • Bina celestis aule (Chevalier, no. 2483),
  • O quam glorifica luce choruscas (Chevalier, no. 13516),
  • Bartholomee celi sydus (Chevalier, no. 2318),
  • Ave maris stella (Chevalier, no. 1889),
  • Mathee sancte bino pollens (Chevalier, no. 11385),
  • Tibi christe splendor (Chevalier, no. 20455),
  • Christe sanctorum decus (Chevalier, no. 3000),
  • Beate symon et taddee (Chevalier, no. 2377),
  • Christe redemptor omnium conserua tuos famulos (Chevalier, no. 2959),
  • Iesu saluator seculi redemptis (Chevalier, no. 9677),
  • Andrea pie sanctorum mitissime (Chevalier, no. 1035),
  • Thoma christi perlustrator (Chevalier, no. 13820),
  • Mathia iuste duodeno (Chevalier, no. 11388),
  • Annue christe seculorum domine nobis per huius tibi (Chevalier, no. 1149),
  • Exultet celum laudibus (Chevalier, no. 5832),
  • Eterna christi munera apostolorum gloria (Chevalier, no. 590),
  • Deus tuorum militum (Chevalier, no. 4533),
  • Martyr dei qui unicum patris (Chevalier, no. 11228),
  • Sanctorum meritis inclita gaudia (Chevalier, no. 18607),
  • Rex gloriose martirum (Chevalier, no. 17453),
  • Iste confessor domini (Chevalier, no. 9136),
  • Iesu redemptor omnium perpes (Chevalier, no. 9628),
  • Uirginis proles opifexque matris (Chevalier, no. 21703),
  • Ihesu corona uirginum (Chevalier, no. 9507).
Ends with ‘Explicit ympnarum’ on fol. 175v where half of the second column is left blank. Additional hymns to Corpus Christi are on fols. 176r–177r. The first two of these are written by the same scribe with initials illuminated by the same artist as the rest of the hymnal; the last one is added in a different, later 14th-century hand.
  • Uerbum supernum prodiens a patre (Chevalier, no. 29391),
  • Pange lingua gloriosi corporis (Chevalier, no. 14467),
  • Sacris solemnijs (Chevalier, no. 17713).

9. (fols. 178r–181v)

Office of the Dead, imperfect at the beginning and after lesson vii because of the loss of leaves after fols. 177 and 180. Surviving responsories correspond to nos. 14, 72, 24, 32, 57, 28, 68 in Ottosen (1993). Fols. 182r–184v were originally blank, but now with scribbles and drawings by different hands.

10. (fols. 185r–186v)

See below, endleaves

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: Multi dicunt anime (fol. 7r)
Form: codex
Support: parchment; fols. i–ii, iv–v and 187–191 are 18th-century laid paper fly-leaves
Extent: 196 leaves
Dimensions (leaf): c. 304 × 210 mm.
Foliation: modern, in pencil; i–v + 1–191.

Collation

(fols. i–v) fols. i–ii and iv–v are fly-leaves; fol. iii is a modern paper leaf glued to fol. ii | (fols. 1–5) I (6−1) originally six leaves, but 3 cut out after fol. 2 and its stub later reversed with fol. 3 at the centre of the quire | (fols. 6–13) II (10−2) missing 1 and 9; ruled for 23 lines | (fols. 14–18) III (8−3) missing 2, 6 and 7; ruled for 22 lines | (fols. 19–23) IV (6−1) 4 missing; ruled for 22 lines | (fols. 24–29) V (6) ruled for 22 lines | (fols. 30–35) VI (8−2) missing 1 and 4; ruled for 23 lines; catchword on fol. 35v | (fols. 36–41) VII (8−2) missing 7 and 8; ruled for 23 lines | (fols. 42–49) VIII (8) ruled for 22 lines | (fols. 50–56) IX (8−1) missing 5 | (fols. 57–63) X (8−1) missing 5 | (fols. 64–70) XI (8−1) missing 4 | (fols. 71–78) XII (8) | (fols. 79–84) XIII (8−2) missing 4 and 6 | (fols. 85–92) XIV (8) | (fols. 93–98) XV (8−2) missing 2 and 3 | (fols. 99–138) XVI–XX (8) | (fols. 139–144) XXI (6) | (fols. 145–154) XXII (10) | (fols. 155–166) XXIII (12) | (fols. 167–177) XXIV (12−1) 12 cancelled | (fols. 178–184) XXV (12−4) missing 1, 5, 8, 12; fol. 184 is glued to the following leaf | (fols. 185–186) fly-leaves made from a 14th-century manuscript | (fols. 187–191) paper fly-leaves; fol. 191 conjoint with lower pastedown. Leaf signatures frequently survive; catchwords survive occasionally in the 14thcentury section

Layout

The psalter is ruled in plummet for two columns with double vertical and single or double horizontal bounding lines extending the full height and width of page; written above the top line; prickings survive; 22 or 23 lines per page; written space: c. 190 × 142 mm.

Canticles for the year, hymnal and Office of the Dead are ruled in plummet and red ink for two columns with double vertical and single horizontal bounding lines extending the full height and width of the page; written below the top brown line and above the top red line; prickings survive; 22 lines per page; written space: c. 185 × 130 mm.

Hand(s)

Large formal Gothic book hands, the work of several scribes; black and brown ink.

Decoration

Medallions with the Signs of the Zodiac in the margins, mid-page, in the calendar.

Gold KL monograms in the calendar, decorated with acanthus-leaf and floral designs and miniatures of the Labours of the Months: March: breaking ground with a hoe; April: seated figure in long tunic and cloak holding plants in both hands; September: threshing corn; October: sowing winter wheat.

6- and 9-line initials decorated with coiled stems and animal heads on gold background at the beginnings of psalms 32 (fol. 26v) and 80 (fol. 67r). Space of 10 lines is left where the pasted-in initial of psalm 26 has been removed (fol. 21r).

Historiated and decorated 3- to 5-line initials, gold or on gold backgrounds, decorated with human figures and heads, animals, birds and grotesques at the beginnings of psalms, canticles, collects and litany. Preparatory sketches occasionally survive in the margins (fols. 33v, 37v, 39r). Many initials are cut out. The subjects include:

  • king seated before a lectern with an open book (fol. 6r);
  • king with raised hands standing before an altar with a reliquary shrine (fol. 7r);
  • kneeling king, holding a scroll, halffigure of Christ above (fol. 7v);
  • kneeling king (fol. 8v);
  • Massacre of the Innocents (fol. 10r);
  • king raising sword about to strike a man whose hands are joined in prayer (fol. 10v);
  • crowned Church, holding a chalice and a scroll, and Christ, holding a book and blessing (fol. 12v);
  • bearded man presenting a scroll to a seated king (fol. 13r);
  • Christ, pointing to a scroll, held by a woman at his feet, who touches the hem of his garment (fol. 13v);
  • Christ, holding cross with pennant, rising from the tomb (fol. 14r);
  • the temptation of Eve and Annunciation (fol. 15r);
  • tonsured monk and a woman, holding a scroll, and Christ, holding a book and blessing (fol. 16v);
  • crowned Church holding a chalice (fol. 19v);
  • bearded man kneeling before an altar with a cross (fol. 22r);
  • a man and a woman offering a lamb at the altar (fol. 22v);
  • a king and a bishop in a building, pointing above to the blessing hand of God (fol. 23r);
  • Christ (fol. 24r);
  • bearded man kneeling before a cross on an altar (fol. 31v);
  • crowned Church holding a chalice and Host (fol. 32v);
  • bearded man giving loaves to a crowd of people (fol. 33v);
  • two bearded men holding a scroll above the heads of a group of people blessed by God (fol. 35v); Christ, holding a book in each hand, and three tonsured clerics each holding a palm branch (fol. 37v);
  • the Lord in the City of God and two young men, one with a finger raised in a gesture of instruction (fol. 38v);
  • Moses giving the Tablets of Law to the people (fol. 39r);
  • cat preaching to mice (fol. 40r);
  • Christ as judge before the Cross displaying his wounds (fol. 40r); King David and Bathsheba (fol. 41r);
  • Christ in prayer and Christ in Majesty (fol. 42r);
  • King Saul sitting in judgement and Christ (?) speaking to a man whose hands are joined in prayer (fol. 44r);
  • Israelites worshipping the Golden Calf (fol. 45r);
  • a man, holding a sword, and a woman, holding a scroll, looking up at a king disputing with two men (fol. 45v);
  • siege of a town (fol. 46v);
  • men praying to God beside crowned Church, holding a chalice (fol. 47v);
  • two kings, one young, one old, disputing (fol. 48r);
  • a man holding a sword and a woman holding three loaves of bread (?) on a cloth (fol. 48v);
  • the Betrayal (defaced) and Christ worshipped by angels (fol. 49v);
  • king and people praying to God (fol. 52r);
  • two tonsured clerics disputing, holding books (fol. 55v);
  • a man, pointing to the hand of God which raises a sword above the head of a praying king (fol. 59v);
  • three men, one holding a staff and one holding a scroll (fol. 60v);
  • Synagogue, holding the Tablets of Law and a vessel, looking up to the head of Christ in clouds above (fol. 61r);
  • Moses giving the Tablets of Law to the people (fol. 62r); a young man with a sword and shield (fol. 65r);
  • a man stabbing another with a sword (defaced) (fol. 65v);
  • archer aiming a bow at a boar (fol. 66v); half-figure of an angel (fol. 67v);
  • Christ, holding a scroll, standing between two priests (fol. 67v);
  • priest holding bread and wine (fol. 68r); God sending fire from heaven upon a group of figures (fol. 68r);
  • crowned Church, holding a scroll before Christ (fol. 69r);
  • seated angel (fol. 69v); people kneeling before a king holding a scroll, blessing hand of God above (fol. 70r);
  • seated king (fol. 71v);
  • physician attending a sick king, the face of God above (defaced) (fol. 72r);
  • king standing before seated Christ, both holding scrolls (fol. 73r);
  • praying saint (fol. 75v);
  • king with a scroll standing before Christ, who treads on a lion and serpent (fol. 76v); crowned Church, holding a scroll, looking up at Christ (fol. 77v);
  • Christ seated, holding a book (defaced) (fol. 78r);
  • a man with an axe standing before a king, holding a scroll, the hand of God holding a sword appearing above (fol. 78v);
  • two priests before an altar (fol. 79v);
  • King David playing harp and a musician playing pipe (fol. 80v);
  • bust of a king above a ring of flames (fol. 81r);
  • God and angels above two praying figures (fol. 82r);
  • a woman, holding a scroll, standing before seated Christ, holding a scroll (fol. 82v);
  • Christ in prayer (fol. 84r);
  • God creating the sun and the moon (fol. 85r);
  • a young man disputing with a seated king (fol. 88r);
  • the Harrowing of Hell (fol. 90r);
  • half-figure of a bearded man pointing to the text (fol. 92r);
  • Flagellation (defaced) (fol. 92v);
  • three Hebrews in the furnace (fol. 94r);
  • half-figure of Moses and heads of Israelites (fol. 94v);
  • Christ, standing between two devils and praying to God (fol. 95v);
  • Christ raising chalice above an altar, tonsured cleric with a palm, the face of God above in clouds (fol. 96r);
  • angel and armoured knight holding a sword (fol. 98r);
  • armoured knight (fol. 101v);
  • musician (fol. 102r);
  • bearded man (fol. 103v);
  • bearded man with a raised hand (fol. 106v);
  • King David playing harp (fol. 108v).

1-line alternating red and blue initials decorated with contrasting blue or red penwork at the beginnings of verses and periods; red and blue penwork line-endings.

3- to 6-line initials and borders on fols. 141v–181v, decorated with foliage, flowers, geometric designs, grotesques, a portrait head (fol. 164v) and animal heads and masks in the canticles for the year, hymnal and Office of the Dead. According to Morgan (1982) this 14th-century decoration resembles the early illumination of the Ormesby Psalter (Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Douce 366), and the figure style is also close to Paris, Bibliothèque nationale MS. lat. 770, made for Christ Church Cathedral Priory, Canterbury.

Rubrics in red.

Binding

Speckled light brown leather binding, 18th century. Double blind fillet line border round the outer edge of both covers; two double blind fillet lines c. 30 mm away from the spine. Rebacked in the Bodleian, inscribed ‘L. F. 15. 3. 57’ on the lower past- edown. Four raised bands edged by double blind fillet lines on spine. Gilt lettering on spine: ‘Ash. || 1525’. Fly-leaves made from 18th-century laid paper, some with watermarks. Traces of patterning in red and other (?) pigments on the edges of textblock, possibly the remains of medieval fore-edge painting.

History

Origin: 13th century, first quarter (before 1220); additions, 14th century, beginning ; English, Canterbury; additions, English

Provenance and Acquisition

The calendar suggests St Augustine’s, Canterbury (cf. Wormald), but the litany appears to be that of Christ Church Cathedral Priory, Canterbury.

Canterbury, Kent, Benedictine cathedral priory of Holy Trinity or Christ Church: the addition of the canticles for the year, hymnal and the Office of the Dead in the early 14th century; added obits in the calendar including a 16th-century obit of prior Thomas Goldstone II (1494–1517). (cf. MLGB3: evidence from locally specific contents, including obits, scribbles, etc.).

Added names on fly-leaves at the end, including William Brockman, William Paterege and Robert Bedingfeild [sic] (fol. 182v).

Elias Ashmole (1617–1692), see ODNB.

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford: donated by Ashmole to Oxford University in 1677.

Bodleian Library: transferred from the Ashmolean Museum in 1860. Notes by S. C. Cockerell (fol. iii recto); ‘A 1525’ (fol. 181v).

MS. Ashmole 1525 - endleaves (fols. 185-6)

Contents

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: two leaves

History

Origin: 14th century ; English

Additional Information

Record Sources

Adapted (March 2024) from Elizabeth Solopova, Latin Liturgical Psalters in the Bodleian Library: A Select Catalogue (Oxford, 2013), pp. 83–92. Previously described in the Quarto Catalogue (W. H. Black, A descriptive, analytical, and critical catalogue of the manuscripts bequeathed unto the University of Oxford by Elias Ashmole Esq...., Quarto Catalogues X, 1845) and supplementary sources.
Quarto Catalogue, col. 1436
Quarto Catalogue, col. 1437
Summary Catalogue, vol. 2, part 2, p. 1155

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (68 images from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

    Online resources:

    MLGB3: Medieval Libraries of Great Britain

    Selected bibliography to 2008:

    Black, W. H., A descriptive, analytical, and critical catalogue of the manuscripts bequeathed unto the University of Oxford by Elias Ashmole, Esq., M.D., F.R.S., Windsor Herald, also of some additional MSS. contributed by Kingsley, Lhuyd, Borlase, and others (Oxford, 1845), no. 1525.
    Bateson, M., ‘Archbishop Warham’s visitation of monasteries, 1511’, English Historical Review, vol. 6, no. 21 (Jan., 1891), pp. 18–35, at p. 20 n. 6.
    Frere, no. 172.
    Cockerell, S. C., The Gorleston Psalter, described in relation to other East Anglian books of the period (London: Chiswick Press, 1907), p. 5 n. 2.
    Summary catalogue, vol. 2, part 2, no. 8229.
    Wormald, F., English Benedictine kalendars after A. D. 1100, Henry Bradshaw Society 77, 81, 2 vols. (London: Henry Bradshaw Society, 1939–46), vol. 1, pp. 47–62.
    Latin liturgical manuscripts (1952), no. 45.
    Gneuss, H., ‘Zur Geschichte des MS. Vespasian A. I’, Anglia 75 (1957), p. 131.
    S. J. P. van Dijk, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. 2: Office Books (typescript, 1957), p. 15
    S. J. P. van Dijk, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. 5: Fragments - Mass Books (typescript, 1957), p. 183
    Gneuss, H., Hymnar und Hymnen im englischen Mittelalter: Studien zur Überlieferung, Glossierung und Übersetzung lateinischer Hymnen in England (Tübingen: M. Niemeyer, 1968), pp. 241, 250.
    Pächt and Alexander (1966–73), vol. 3, no. 355, pl. XXX.
    Caviness, M., ‘Conflicts between Regnum and Sacerdotium as reflected in a Canterbury Psalter of ca. 1215’, Art Bulletin 61 (1979), pp 38–58.
    Michael, M. A., ‘Some early fourteenth-century English drawings at Christ’s College, Cambridge’, Burlington Magazine 124 (1982), pp. 230–32, at pp. 231–2.
    Morgan (1982–88), vol. 1, no. 33.
    Donovan, C., The de Brailes Hours: shaping the Book of Hours in thirteenth-century Oxford (London: British Library, 1991), pp. 160 n. 20, 165 n. 107.
    Gibson, Heslop and Pfaff (1992), pp. 81 n. 77, 103.
    Peterson, E. A., ‘The textual basis for visual errors in French Gothic psalter illustration’ in R. Gameson (ed.), The early medieval Bible: its production, decoration and use (Cambridge: CUP, 1994), pp. 177–204, at pp. 181 n. 16, 184.
    Wittekind, S., Kommentar mit Bildern: Zur Ausstattung mittelalterlicher Psalmenkommentare und Verwendung der Davidgeschichte in Texten und Bildern am Beispiel des Psalmenkommentars des Petrus Lombardus (Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek, Msc. Bibl. 59), Europäische Hochschulschriften, Reihe XXVIII, Kunstgeschichte, Band 212 (Frankfurt am Main, etc.: Peter Lang, 1994), pp. 34, 305–6.
    Gneuss, H., Books and libraries in early England (Aldershot: Variorum, 1996), p. 131.
    Dennison, L., ‘Monastic or secular? The artist of the Ramsey Psalter, now at Holkham Hall, Norfolk’ in B. Thompson (ed.), Monasteries and society in medieval Britain: proceedings of the 1994 Harlaxton Symposium (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1999), pp. 223–61, at pp. 252–4.
    Panayotova, S., ‘Cuttings from an unknown copy of the Magna Glossatura in a Wycliffite Bible (British Library, Arundel MS. 104)’, British Library Journal 25 (1999), pp. 85–100.
    ——, ‘Art and politics in a royal prayerbook’, BLR 18 (2005), pp. 440–59.
    Barker-Benfield, B. C., St Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbur.y, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues 13, 3 vols (London: British Library in association with the British Academy, 2008), pp. lxv, 583, 1740, 1742, 1800.

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2024-03: Adapt full description from Solopova.