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

MS. Gough Liturg. 2

Summary Catalogue no.: 18343

Portable Monastic Psalter; England, North, late 12th or early 13th century

Contents

Portable Monastic Psalter

The calendar, formerly fols. 1–9, is missing (see ‘Physical description’ (‘Foliation’)); offsets of an illuminated Zodiac (?) roundel and red text on fol. ‘1–10’r. Fol. i is a blank paper fly-leaf; fol. 25a is blank (see ‘Physical description’ (‘Collation’)).

[item 1 occupies quires I–IV]

1. (fols. ‘1–10’v–32v)

A collection of private prayers and hymns, many with short titles, facing miniatures illustrating the life of Christ, with rubrics in Latin (see ‘Decoration’). One or two prayers occupy the verso of each leaf and miniatures the recto. The collation shows that the miniature cycle may be incomplete (see ‘Physical description’ (‘Collation’)). Includes prayers to Christ, the Virgin Mary, Elizabeth, John the Baptist, Peter, Nicholas, Catherine, Mary Magdalene and the Holy Ghost:

Rubric: Oratio ad proprium angelorum
Incipit: Angele dei omnes egregie alme dux et custos
Rubric: De pastoribus
Incipit: O beati angeli diuini secreti consilii
Rubric: Oratio ad sanctam mariam matrem domini
Incipit: Imperatrix reginarum et saluatrix animarum
(Chevalier, no. 8491)
Rubric: Oratio pretiosa sancte marie uirginis
Incipit: Sancta maria misericordissima et excellentissima celi regina
Rubric: De tribui magis
Incipit: Domine deus omnipotens creator humani generis et conseruator
Rubric: De purificatione
Incipit: Domine iesu christe fili dei uiui qui concipi et nasci
Rubric: De Natiuitate christi
Incipit: Domine iesu christe redemptor omnium et reparator
Rubric: Oratio at sanctam mariam et elizabet
Incipit: Beata maria uirginum et elizabet sanctarum
Rubric: Oratio de saluatione sancte marie
Incipit: O tu dulcis et benignissima dei genetrix uirgo maria
Incipit: Domine sancte pater omnipotens eterne deus qui coequalem et consubstantialem tibi
Incipit: Domine iesu christe fili dei uiui qui es uerus et omnipotens deus splendor
Rubric: De pascha florido
Incipit: Domine iesu christe rex regum altissime fortissime inuictissime
Incipit: Sancte iohannes baptista qui meruisti saluatorem mundi baptizare
Incipit: Sancte petre princeps apostolorum et omnium sanctorum
Incipit: Juste iudex iesu christe regum rex et domine qui cum patre
Incipit: Domine deus omnipotens eterne et ineffabilis sine fine
Incipit: Domine deus pater inchoactio et perfectio omnium honorum
Rubric: Quicumque hanc orationem cotidie post uesperas cantauerit omnia que in die peccauerit dimittuntur ei. Et qui post matutinas cantauerit omnia que in nocte peccauerit dimittuntur ei
Incipit: Domine mi rogo te in nomine iesu christi filii tui domini mei diligam te exaudi me
Rubric: Oratio ad sanctum nicholaum confessorem
Incipit: Sancte nicholae confessor piissime ora pro me peccatore
Incipit: Gemma domini pretiosa katerina fulgida sponsa Christi
Rubric: Oratio ad sanctam mariam magdalenam
Incipit: Piissima peccatrix pedum domini lauatrix
(Chevalier, no. 14925)
Rubric: Oratio de morte domini
Incipit: Domine iesu christe qui in deitate eternus et impassibilis
Rubric: De flagellis et blasphemiis
Incipit: Piissime et benignissime iesu qui de celis ad terram decendere dignatus
Incipit: Deus qui uoluisti pro redemptione mundi a iudeis reprobari
Rubric: Oratio ad spiritum sanctum
Incipit: (S)ancte spiritus paraclite qui a patre et filio procedens
Rubric: Oratio ad sanctam trinitatem
Incipit: Auxiliatrix esto mihi trinitas sancta exaudi me deus
Incipit: Domine sancte spiritus eterne deus qui coequalis et consubstancialis
Incipit: O dulcissime spiritus a patre et filioque procedens

[items 2–5 occupy quires V–XX]

2. (fols. 33r–146r)

Psalms 1–150, in the biblical order, without titles or numbers, laid out with each verse starting on a new line, punctuated throughout, with punctus marking the ends of verses, punctus elevatus marking metrum and punctus flexus marking minor pauses. Fol. 33v is occupied by an almost full-page Beatus-initial and the opening verses of psalm 1; fol. 33r is blank. There are larger initials at psalms 20, 26, 32, 38, 45, 51, 52, 59, 68, 73, 80, 85, 97, 101 and 109 (see ‘Decoration’), marking psalms recited first at Matins from Sunday to Saturday in the monastic use (20, 32, 45, 59, 73, 85, 101); psalms recited first at Matins from Sunday to Saturday in the secular use (1, 26, 38, 52, 68, 80, 97); psalm 109 recited first at Sunday Vespers in both uses; and the division into ‘three fifties’ (1, 51, 101) (cf. MS. Canon. Liturg. 378). Subdivisions within the psalms are marked by 2-line initials at 9: 20 (fol. 38v), 17: 26 (fol. 43v), 36: 27 (fol. 59v), 67: 20 (fol. 81v), 68: 17 (fol. 83r), 77: 36 (fol. 91v), 88: 20 (fol. 100v), 103: 25 (fol. 112r), 104: 23 (fol. 113v; this and the next initials are simpler than other initials at subdivisions (see ‘Decoration’); the first is blue with red penwork; the second is blue without decoration), 106: 25 (fol. 117r), 143: 9 (fol. 142v) and 144: 10 (fol. 143r). Psalm 118 is subdivided into twenty-two 8-verse units. Prayer ‘Domine iesu christe fili dei uiui qui es uia ueritas et uita ...’ precedes psalm 101 (fol. 108v). Rubric ‘oratio’ is added in the margin on fol. 108v by an early 16th-century owner, who also added antiphons (see below). Contains many possibly contemporary corrections (e.g. fols. 67r, 73v, 79v, 89r, etc.). Omitted verses 2–3 of psalm 113 were added in the left margin on fol. 40v in a medieval hand, but then erased and rewritten in the lower margin in a later, 16thor 17th-century hand. This happened presumably after the leaves were trimmed in rebinding and the text in the left margin was partially lost. Antiphons for the use of Sarum are added in the margins in an early 16th-century hand (see ‘Provenance’).

3. (fols. 146r–152v)

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. 152v–156v)

Daily canticles, prayers and creeds, without titles:

  • (1) Benedicite omnia opera (fol. 152v);
  • (2) Te deum laudamus (fol. 153r);
  • (3) Benedictus dominus deus (fol. 154r);
  • (4) Magnificat (fol. 154v);
  • (5) Nunc dimittis (fol. 154v);
  • (6) Athanasian Creed (Quicumque uult ...) (fol. 154v).

5. (fols. 156v–160v)

Litany, including Marcellinus, Peter, Edmund, Alban, Oswald, Thomas (Becket (?), doubled) among the martyrs; Augustine, Benedict, Cuthbert, Dunstan, Wilfrid among the confessors; and Anne, Hilda, Brigid (of Kildare (?)) among the virgins. Followed by collects (fols. 159r–160v):

  • (1) Deus cui proprium est misereri semper et parcere suscipe ...
  • (2) Omnipotens sempiterne deus qui facis mirabilia magna solus ...
  • (3) Pretende domine famulis et famulabus tuis dexteram celestis auxilii ut de toto corde ...
  • (4) Deus a quo sancta desideria recta consilia et iusta sunt opera ...
  • (5) Ecclesie tue domine preces placatus admitte ut destructis ...
  • (6) A domo tua quesumus domine spirituales nequitie repellantur et aeriarum discedat malignitas tempestatum ...
  • (7) Ad te nos domine clamantes exaudi et aeris serenitatem nobis tribue ...
  • (8) Deus in quo uiuimus mouemur et sumus pluuiam nobis tribue congruentem ut presentibus ...
  • (9) Da nobis domine quesumus pie supplicationis effectum et pestilentiam ...
  • (10) Ineffabilem misericordiam tuam domine nobis quesumus clementer ostende ut simul nos ...
  • (11) Adesto domine supplicationibus nostris et uiam famulorum tuorum in salutis tue ...
  • (12) Omnipotens sempiterne deus exaudi nos pro famulo tuo pro quo misericordie tue imploramus auxilium ...
  • (13) Deus qui es sanctorum tuorum splendor mirabilis atque lapsorum subleuator ...
The last collect ends with ‘AMEN’.

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: O beati angeli (prayers, fol. 11v)
Secundo Folio: Et erit tanquam (psalter, fol. 34r)
Form: codex
Support: parchment; laid paper fly-leaves
Extent: 154 leaves
Dimensions (leaf): c. 261 × 192 mm.
Leaves were trimmed in rebinding, occasionally causing the loss of decoration.
Foliation: Modern, in pencil and early modern, in ink; i + ‘1–10’–25a + 25b + 26–161. The early modern foliation starts with 10, suggesting that a quire, probably containing a calendar, is missing at the beginning; since the manuscript was rebacked it is uncertain whether the quire was removed before or after the present binding was made.

Collation

(fol. i) paper fly-leaf | (fols. ‘1–10’–18) I (10−1?) missing 10 (?) | (fols. 19–25b) II (8−1?) missing 7; blank fol. 25a is an added parchment leaf conjoint with fol. 20 | (fols. 26–28) III (4) | (fols. 30–32) IV (4−1) missing 3 (?) | (fols. 33–160) V–XX (8) | (fol. 161) paper fly-leaf

Layout

Ruled in plummet with double vertical and horizontal bounding lines, extending the full height and width of page; written above the top line; 21 lines per page; written space: c. 186 × 115 mm.

Hand(s)

Formal proto-Gothic book hand; black ink

Decoration

Prefatory miniatures illustrating the life of Christ on gold backgrounds, in rectangular frames with rubrics written in red ink in the upper margins. The miniature cycle is iconographically related to that of the Copenhagen Psalter (Copenhagen, Kongelige Bibliotek MS. Thott 143 2o), but is longer; the style is close to the Vita Christi, now Los Angeles, CA, J. Paul Getty Museum MS. 101.

  • fol. 11r Annunciation: the Virgin Mary, holding a book, and Angel, holding a scroll, stand under architectural arches; buildings in the background.
  • fol. 12r Visitation: the Virgin Mary and Elizabeth embrace, standing under an architectural arch; buildings in the background.
  • fol. 13r Nativity: the Virgin Mary lying on a bed, Joseph seated next to the Child in a manger; ox and ass; star and arches with curtains in the background.
  • fol. 14r Annunciation to the Shepherds: angel, holding a scroll, speaks to the three shepherds, standing next to their animals (dog, goats, sheep and pig).
  • fol. 15r Adoration of the Magi: the Virgin Mary, seated under an architectural arch, and the Child, with cruciform halo, seated on her knee, blessing; three crowned Magi offer gifts, one kneeling; buildings in the background.
  • fol. 16r Presentation in the Temple: the Virgin Mary hands the Child over to Simeon; Joseph stands behind, holding a basket with three doves; arches and buildings in the background.
  • fol. 17r Flight into Egypt: the Virgin Mary, holding the Child, seated on a donkey; Joseph leads the way; a young man with an axe over his shoulder walks behind, and urges the donkey with a whip.
  • fol. 18r Herod and the Magi: three crowned Magi speak to seated crowned Herod; arches and buildings in the background.
  • fol. 19r The Massacre of the Innocents: Herod, seated, holding a sword, watches three soldiers killing the Innocents. One of the soldiers pierces with his sword a baby, held by a woman in the foreground. Arches and buildings in the background.
  • fol. 20r Wedding Feast at Cana: Christ, with cruciform halo, blessing; the Virgin Mary, two men and a woman standing behind a table set up with food. In the foreground, jugs of wine and two servants, one carrying a jug, another pouring wine from a jug into a cup; arches and buildings in the background.
  • fol. 21r Baptism of Christ: Christ, standing in water with fish and other swimming animals; John the Baptist, holding a vessel and touching Christ’s blessing hand, stands to the left; an angel, holding a white gown, stands to the right.
  • fol. 22r The First Temptation: Christ, seated on top of a mountain, holding a book, speaks to the Devil, with horns and wings, holding stones (rubbed).
  • fol. 23r The Second Temptation: Christ, seated on the pinnacle of the Temple, holding a book, speaks to the Devil with horns and long ears (badly rubbed).
  • fol. 24r The Third Temptation: Christ, seated, holding a book, watches the Devil falling head first down the mountain (rubbed).
  • fol. 25br The Last Supper: Christ and apostles seated at the table; Christ embraces St John and puts bread into the mouth of Judas.
  • fol. 26r Betrayal: Judas hands Christ over to the soldiers; St Peter cuts off a soldier’s ear with a sword (rubbed).
  • fol. 27r Flagellation: Christ, standing with hands bound to a pole; two servants beat him with a whip and a cane.
  • fol. 28r Crucifixion: Christ on the Cross; the Virgin Mary and St John, holding books, stand on either side; the sun and the moon with faces are above the beams of the Cross.
  • fol. 29r Marys at the Sepulchre: three Marys, holding vessels, speak to an angel, seated on an empty tomb; soldiers asleep in the foreground (badly rubbed).
  • fol. 30r Ascension: apostles and the Virgin Mary look at the feet and robe of Christ, disappearing in the clouds above.
  • fol. 31r Pentecost: Christ, seated, holding a book, surrounded by apostles; the Holy Spirit descending from the clouds as a nimbed white dove.
  • fol. 32r King David (face rubbed off), seated on the throne, playing harp; on either side are smaller figures in rectangular frames, playing various musical instruments and juggling.

fol. 33v Psalm 1 (initial B(eatus)) An almost full-page initial, on gold and blue background, decorated with interlace, coiled stems, flowers and leaves; animal mask joins together the two loops of B. Rectangular frame with four medallions in the corners, with busts of two young and two bearded prophets, holding scrolls.

4- to 9-line historiated initials, gold or on gold backgrounds, in rectangular frames at the beginnings of the following psalms:

  • fol. 50r Psalm 26 (initial D(ominus)) King David seated, holding a sceptre and a book.
  • fol. 71v Psalm 51 (initial Q(vid)) Devil enticing Saul to suicide; profile faces of four men in the background; winged grotesque forming the tail of Q.
  • fol. 72r Psalm 52 (initial D(ixit)) Armoured knight with a spear and a shield on horseback; half-figure of a man clutching a stem forms the outline of the initial.
  • fol. 76v Psalm 59 (initial D(evs)) Seated bearded man pointing to the text.
  • fol. 82r Psalm 68 (initial S(alvvm)) Boat with two sailors.
  • fol. 87r Psalm 73 (initial U(t)) Winged grotesque.
  • fol. 98r Psalm 85 (initial I(nclina)) Woman in a long dress, arranging her hair.
  • fol. 120r Psalm 109 (initial D(ixit)) King David seated, holding a sword.

5- to 9-line initials on gold backgrounds, in rectangular frames, decorated with coiled tendrils, foliage and flowers, at liturgical divisions at the beginning of psalms 20 (fol. 46r), 32 (fol. 54v), 38 (fol. 61v), 45 (fol. 67r), 80 (fol. 95r), 97 (fol. 107r), 101 (fol. 109r) and at the beginning of the first canticle (fol. 146r).

Borders: see above.

2- to 3-line initials, gold or on gold backgrounds, at the beginnings of psalms, canticles, litany and some prayers. The initials are in rectangular frames, decorated with coiled tendrils, foliage and flowers, birds, beasts, grotesques, heads, busts and figures of men. Many historiated initials are defaced.

2-line initials, most gold or on gold backgrounds, decorated with floral designs, and 2-line penwork initials at subdivisions within the psalms.

2-line red, green and blue initials, decorated with penwork, at the beginnings of prefatory prayers (fols. ‘1–10’v–32v), a prayer on fol. 108v and some of the collects following the litany.

1-line plain red, blue and green initials at the beginnings of verses and periods.

Rubrics in red ink.

Binding

Speckled brown leather over pasteboard, 18th century. Rebacked in 1973 at the Bodleian with the original spine relaid: binder’s note ‘C. P. 9/8/73’ on the lower pastedown. Double blind fillet lines round the outer edge of both covers. Five raised bands and gilt floral designs on spine. Gilt lettering on a red leather title-piece on spine: ‘LAT || ROM || MISSAL’. Former shelfmark ‘194’ painted white on spine. Edges of textblock speckled red. 18th-century laid paper end-leaves with one visible watermark (posthorn in a shield). Strips of parchment from a 16th-century legal document in English used to strengthen leaves (e.g. between fols. 40 and 41; 48 and 49, mentioning Robert Fetherstone and the City of London).

History

Origin: late 12th or early 13th century ; English, North

Provenance and Acquisition

Produced in the north of England: saints in the litany, and stylistic and iconographic detail (see Kauffmann, 1975). Prayers have masculine grammatical forms; one of them (fol. 24v) is recommended for reading after Matins and Vespers.

The psalter may have belonged to a woman: ‘peccatore’ is corrected to ‘peccatrice’ in a prayer to St Catherine on fol. 25bv in a late 12th- or 13th-century hand.

The name ‘John Blythe’ is written in an early 16th-century hand at the top of the Beatus-initial on fol. 33v. A partially erased word ‘Diabolus’ above the figure of the Devil on fol. 22r, and possibly an erased text above the figure of Christ appear to be in the same hand. The same hand, writing more informally, seems to have been responsible for the addition of the Sarum antiphons throughout the psalter, as well as for the word ‘Christus’, written on the figure of Christ on fol. 22r, for pen trials and erased text on fol. 160v. The antiphons are likely to have been added before the Reformation, perhaps in the first third of the 16th century.

Half-torn armorial bookplate of the Harrison family (18th century) on the upper pastedown.

Richard Gough (1735–1809), see ODNB. A note by Gough concerning ‘John Belith’, over an erased bookplate on the upper pastedown (an attempt to identify John Blythe (?)).

Bodleian Library: bequeathed by Gough; received in 1809. Former shelfmarks: ‘no 23’ (upper pastedown); ‘Gough Missal 194’ (fol. ‘1–10’), see Bliss and Bandinel (1814).

Record Sources

Elizabeth Solopova, Latin Liturgical Psalters in the Bodleian Library: A Select Catalogue (Oxford, 2013), pp. 63–71. Previously described in the Summary Catalogue.

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (43 images from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

    Select bibliography to 2004:

    Bliss, P. and Bandinel, B., A catalogue of the books relating to British topography, and Saxon and northern literature, bequeathed to the Bodleian Library, in the year MDCCXCIX. by Richard Gough, Esq. F. S. A. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1814), p. 429.
    Summary catalogue, vol. 4, no. 18343.
    Boase, T. S. R., English art, 1100–1216 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1953), p. 244.
    S. J. P. van Dijk, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. 2: Office Books (typescript, 1957), p. 45
    Pächt and Alexander (1966–73), vol. 3, no. 290, pl. XXVI.
    Ragusa, I., ‘An illustrated psalter from Lyre Abbey’, Speculum 46 (1971), pp. 267–81, at p. 280 n. 49.
    Kauffmann, C. M., Romanesque manuscripts, 1066–1190, Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles 3 (London: H. Miller, 1975), no. 97, pp. 117, 119.
    Marks, R. and Morgan, N., The golden age of English manuscript painting, 1200–1500 (London: Chatto & Windus, 1981), p. 40.
    Morgan (1982–88), vol. 1, pp. 26, 35 n. 23, 50, 61, 63.
    De Winter, P. M., La bibliothèque de Philippe le Hardi, duc de Bourgogne (1364–1404). Étude sur les manuscrits à peinture d’une collection princière à l’époque du ‘style gothique international’ (Paris: CNRS, 1985), p. 261.
    Muratova, X., ‘Bestiaries: an aspect of medieval patronage’ in S. Macready and F. H. Thompson (eds.), Art and patronage in the English romanesque (London: Society of Antiquaries of London, 1986), pp. 118–44, at p. 135.
    Avril and Stirnemann (1987), p. 53.
    Lewis, S., The art of Matthew Paris in the Chronica majora (Berkeley: University of California Press in collaboration with Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 1987), p. 485 n. 114.
    Gibson, Heslop and Pfaff (1992), p. 28.
    Marks, R., Stained glass in England during the Middle Ages (London: Routledge, 1993), pp. 115, 117.
    Cahn, W., Romanesque manuscripts: the twelfth century, 2 vols. (London: H. Miller, 1996), vol. 2, p. 161.
    Schreckenberg, H., The Jews in Christian art: an illustrated history (London: SCM, 1996).
    O’Connor, D., ‘Twelfth-century stained glass in Easby parish church, North Yorkshire’ in G. R. Owen-Crocker and T. Graham (eds.), Medieval art: recent perspectives. A memorial tribute to C. R. Dodwell (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998), pp. 104–27, at pp. 110–11, 115.
    Brandhorst, H., ‘Ululas Athenas: owls to Athens’ in C. Hourihane (ed.), Image and belief: studies in celebration of the eightieth anniversary of the Index of Christian Art (Princeton, NJ: Index of Christian Art, 1999), pp. 271–90, at p. 272.
    Kauffmann, C. M., Biblical imagery in medieval England, 700–1550 (London: H. Miller, 2003), p. 115.
    Bennett, A., ‘The transformation of the Gothic psalter in thirteenth-century France’ in Büttner (2004), pp. 211–21, at p. 211 n. 3.
    Cohen-Mushlin, A., Scriptoria in medieval Saxony: St. Pancras in Hamersleben (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2004), p. 123.

Last Substantive Revision

2024-06: Encode full description from Solopova catalogue.