MS. Douce 24

Summary Catalogue no.: 21598

Portable Psalter; French Flanders, Diocese of Thérouanne (?), late 13th or early 14th century

Language(s): Latin

Fols. i–ii are fly-leaves with added notes (see ‘Provenance’).

[item 1 occupies quire I]

1. (fols. 1r–6v)

Calendar, laid out one month per page, major feasts in red, approximately one-third full, not graded, badly faded (the text in red is often unreadable). Includes Martin (11 November, in red) with octave and his translation (4 July), Nicholas (6 December, in red) and his translation (9 May), Eligius, bishop of Tournai (1 December) and his translation (25 June), Basil, patron of the chapel of St Basil and the Holy Blood in Bruges (14 June), Egidius (1 September), Bertin, abbot of St-Omer (5 September), Audomar bishop of Thérouanne (9 September), Lambert, bishop of Liège (17 September), Clare (11 August) and Francis (4 October). Thomas Becket is added in a 14th-century hand (29 December), probably over the same feast in red. Each page is headed with a note on the length of the solar and lunar month. Titles ‘pape’ apparently smudged.

[items 2–5 occupy quires II–XXIII]

2. (fols. 7r–210v)

Psalms 1–150, written with each verse starting on a new line, without titles or numbers. Fol. 7v contains a full-page Beatus-initial; fol. 7r is blank. The psalms are in the biblical order; subdivisions within psalms are not indicated, apart from psalm 118, subdivided into twenty-two 8-verse units. A wrong initial (L instead of C) appears at the beginning of psalm 149 (fol. 209v), presumably because the artist misread ‘[ ]antate’ as ‘[ ]audate’. Punctuated throughout with punctus elevatus used to mark metrum, and punctus used to mark the ends of verses and minor pauses. There are textual divisions at psalms 26, 38, 51, 52, 68, 80, 97, 101 and 109. A note in Netherlandish, ‘Dit siemen ouer de ziele’ (‘One should see this for the benefit of the soul’ or possibly ‘This one may see/read about the soul’), is added in a 14th-century hand in the lower margins of fol. 41v and fol. 185v (erased), next to the beginnings of psalms 30 and 122. ‘Beatus vir’ is added in the upper margin on fol. 8r in a 16th-century English (?) hand. The text erased in the upper margin on fols. 8v–35v was ‘psalmus’ followed by a number in Roman numerals. Spillage of dark liquid, possibly ink, on fols. 97v–98r, 140v–141r. Discoloration suggesting exposure to damp and resulting mould, especially at both ends.

3. (fols. 210v–223r)

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).

4. (fols. 223r–231r)

Daily canticles, prayers and creeds, without titles:

(1) Benedicite omnia opera (fol. 223r);
(2) Te deum laudamus (fol. 224v);
(3) Benedictus dominus deus (fol. 226r);
(4) Magnificat (fol. 227r);
(5) Nunc dimittis (fol. 227v);
(6) Athanasian Creed (Quicumque uult ...) (fol. 228r).

5. (fols. 231r–236r)

Litany, including the series Remigius, Bertin, Benedict, Lambert, Amand, Egidius and Eligius among the confessors. Followed by collects (fols. 235r–236r):

(1) Omnipotens sempiterne deus dirige actus nostros in beneplacito tuo ...
(2) Concede nos famulos tuos quesumus domine deus perpetua mentis et corporis ...
(3) Deus qui corda fidelium sancti spiritus illustratione docuisti ...
(4) Ecclesie tue quesumus domine preces placatus admitte ...
(5) Ure igne sancti spiritus renes nostros ...
(6) Fidelium deus omnium conditor et redemptor animabus famulorum famularumque tuarum et omnium fidelium defunctorum remissionem ...

Fol. 236v is blank; fols. 237–238 are paper fly-leaves, blank apart from notes by Douce (see ‘Provenance’).

14th-century notes in Netherlandish, drawing attention to psalms 30 and 122 (fols. 41v and 185v).

Language(s): Middle Dutch

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: Qui non abiit (psalter, fol. 8r)

Form: codex

Support: parchment; paper fly-leaves

Extent: 241 leaves

Dimensions (leaf): c. 121 × 85 mm.

Leaves were trimmed in rebinding, occasionally causing the loss of decoration.

Foliation: modern, in pencil; i–ii + 1–161 + 161a + 162–238.

Collation

(fols. i–ii) fol. i is a paper fly-leaf conjoint with the upper pastedown; fol. ii is a paper fly-leaf | (fols. 1–6) I (6) | (fol. 7) I (1) single leaf containing Beatus-initial | (fols. 8–236) II–XXIII (10) | (fols. 237–238) fol. 237 is a paper fly-leaf; fol. 238 is a paper fly-leaf conjoint with the lower pastedown. Strips of parchment are used to strengthen several quires

Layout

Ruled in plummet with single vertical and horizontal bounding lines, extending the full height and width of page; 17 lines per page; written below the top line; written space: variable, c. 71 × 50 mm.

Hand(s)

Formal Gothic book hand, black ink.

Decoration

Gold KL monograms on blue and pink backgrounds decorated with white floral designs in the calendar.

Miniatures of the Labours of the Months in frames with pointed tops: January: Janus feasting February: woman holding two twisted candles March: man, standing on a ladder, pruning a tree with a bill-hook April: man carrying flowering branches May: man on horseback with a hawk June: man carrying wood on his back July: man mowing hay with a scythe August: man reaping grain September: man threshing grain October: man sowing November: man slaughtering a pig December: man baking bread in an oven (defaced).

Historiated initials at liturgical divisions, each depicting the torture or martyrdom of a saint (only the first is nimbed), on gold backgrounds (flaking) in rectangular frames, accompanied by full borders of coiled tendrils with gold discs, incorporating grotesques, hunting scenes, birds, animals, etc. Most initials are 8 lines high (apart from the full-page Beatus-initial and the 5-line initial at the beginning of the canticles).

fol. 7v Psalm 1 (initial B(eatus)) King David playing harp in the upper part, David slaying Goliath in the lower part.
fol. 37r Psalm 26 (initial D(ominus)) St Lawrence on a grid, one man with bellows, another with winged headgear, watched by a king.
fol. 56r Psalm 38 (initial D(ixi)) St Bartholomew flayed by two men.
fol. 73v Psalm 51 (initial Q(vid)) A female saint, possibly St Catherine, naked to the waist, her arms tied above her head to a cross, being scourged by two men.
fol. 74v Psalm 52 (initial D(ixit)) St Leodegar of Autun being blinded, directed by a king.
fol. 93v Psalm 68 (initial S(aluum)) St Sebastian shot by archers.
fol. 117r Psalm 80 (initial E(xultate)) Martyrdom of St Nicasius: a soldier attacks a woman with a sword, while a bishop carries his own head in his hands.
fol. 138v Psalm 97 (initial C(antate)) St Stephen stoned by two men.
fol. 141v Psalm 101 (initial D(omine)) Martyrdom of St Lambert (?): two soldiers with swords attack a bearded man as he kneels at an altar; the crucifer behind.
fol. 162r Psalm 109 (initial D(ixit)) St Agatha’s breasts cut off by two men; her hands tied above her head.
fol. 210v Weekly canticles (initial C(onfitebor)) Female saint, possibly St Catherine, kneeling in prayer, her hair held by a soldier with a raised sword (compare MS. Auct. D. 4. 2 and see Oliver, 1985).

Borders: see above.

3-line gold initials on blue and pink backgrounds, and borders made of gold, blue and pink bars, with white floral and zoomorphic decoration at the beginnings of psalms, canticles, litany and prayers.

1-line gold initials on blue and pink backgrounds at the beginnings of verses and periods.

Line-endings with gold and white floral and geometric designs on blue and pink backgrounds.

Binding

Red leather over pasteboard, 18th century. Gilt border round the outer edge of both covers with gilt floral corner-pieces. Gilt floral decoration at the centre of both covers. Rebacked in the Bodleian with the original spine (faded to brown) relaid. Four raised bands on spine. The panels between the bands are framed with gilt fillet lines and decorated with floral designs. Black leather label on one of the panels with gilt lettering ‘PSALTERIUM || MANUSC no. RIPTUM’. Discoloration at the bottom of the spine, left by another, now missing (probably Bodleian), label. Gilt geometric designs on the edges of covers; gilt edges of textblock. Pastedowns and fly-leaves made of marbled paper. Endbands of blue and gold thread.

History

Origin: 13th century, late, or 14th century, early ; Flemish (French Flanders), diocese of Thérouanne (?)

Provenance and Acquisition

Made in French Flanders, for the use of the diocese of Thérouanne (?): evidence of the calendar, litany and decoration.

14th-century notes in Netherlandish, drawing attention to psalms 30 and 122 (fols. 41v and 185v).

Possibly in England during the Reformation, when some of the titles ‘pape’ were smudged in the calendar.

Michael Ignatius Dugan (d. 1768), auctioneer, collector of manuscripts and books (see Pollard, 2000): armorial bookplate, 1758, on the upper pastedown. His library was sold at auction by James Vallance, Dublin, 19 January 1769.

Francis Douce, 1757–1834, see ODNB: bookplate on fol. i recto, with his notes on the calendar and saints depicted in historiated initials (fol. ii recto); on the litany (fol. 237r); and a list of texts following the psalms in the manuscript (fol. 238r). His (?) shelfmark (?) ‘B s’ in pink ink on the Dugan bookplate (cf. MS. Douce 23, MS. Douce 38, MS. Douce 49).

Bodleian Library: received in 1834 with bequest of Douce.

Record Sources

Elizabeth Solopova, Latin Liturgical Psalters in the Bodleian Library: A Select Catalogue (Oxford, 2013), pp. 360–5. Previously described in the Summary Catalogue.

Summary Catalogue, vol. 4, p. 496

Summary Catalogue, vol. 4, p. 497

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (6 images from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

Select bibliography to 2009::

Weale, W., ‘Liturgical manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford’, The Ecclesiologist 3 (1 September 1888), p. 34.

Summary catalogue, vol. 4, no. 21598.

Frere, no. 439.

Vitzthum von Eckstaedt, B. G., Die Pariser Miniaturmalerei von der Zeit des hl. Ludwig bis zu Philipp von Valois und ihr Verhältnis zur Malerei in Nordwesteuropa (Leipzig: Verlag von Quelle & Meyer, 1907), p. 108.

Willard, J. F., ‘Occupations of the months in medieval calendars’, BQR 7 (1932), pp. 33–9, at pp. 34, 38.

Haseloff (1938), p. 68.

S. J. P. van Dijk, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. 2: Office Books (typescript, 1957), p. 95b

Randall, L. M. C., Images in the margins of Gothic manuscripts (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966), p. 40.

Pächt and Alexander (1966–73), vol. 1, no. 291, pls. XX–XXI.

Carlvant (1978), pp. 443–4, 457–60.

Oliver, J. H., ‘Medieval alphabet soup: reconstruction of a Mosan psalter-hours in Philadelphia and Oxford and the cult of St Catherine’, Gesta 24/2 (1985), pp. 129–40, at p. 139, n. 30.

Pollard, M., A dictionary of members of the Dublin book trade 1550–1800 (Oxford: OUP, 2000).

Hunt, E. M., Illuminating the borders of northern French and Flemish manuscripts, 1270–1310 (New York; London: Routledge, 2007), p. 78.

Morgan (2009), p. 69.

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2024-05-07: Encode full description from Solopova catalogue.

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