MS. Liturg. 198

Summary Catalogue no.: 30613

Former shelfmark: MS. Canon. Liturg. 198

Psalter, Augustinian Use; England, North-East (?), 14th century, third quarter and 15th century, end

Fols. i–iv are paper fly-leaves, mostly blank.

[items 1–4 occupy quires I–XVII]

1. (fols. 1r–138v)

Psalms 1–150, in the biblical order, without titles, written with each verse beginning on a new line. Psalm numbers added in margins in a 17th-century (?) hand. Subdivisions within psalms are not indicated, apart from 9: 22 (fol. 6v), marked in the margin by the original scribe with an x-like sign, and psalm 118, subdivided into twenty-two 8-verse units. There are textual divisions at psalms 26, 38, 51, 52, 68, 80, 97, 101, 109, 114, 118: 129, 119, 126, 131, 137, 143.

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.

2. (fols. 138v–147r)

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).

3. (fols. 147r–152r)

Daily canticles, prayers and creeds, without titles:

(1) Te deum laudamus (fol. 147r);
(2) Benedicite omnia opera (fol. 148r);
(3) Benedictus dominus deus (fol. 149r);
(4) Magnificat (fol. 149v);
(5) Nunc dimittis (fol. 150r);
(6) Athanasian Creed (Quicumque uult ...) (fol. 150r).

4. (fols. 152r–157v)

Litany, containing Peter (double invocation), first among the apostles; Edmund and Oswald (last) among the martyrs; Ebba of Coldingham among the virgins. The confessors contain the following series: Augustine (of Hippo (?), double invocation), Nicholas, Augustine (of Canterbury (?)), Cuthbert, Dunstan and Swithin. John (of Beverley (?)) and Anne are added in the first half of the 15th century (?), and Ebba crossed through (for emphasis (?)) with a red line. The preces after the petitions end imperfectly owing to the loss of one or more leaves.

[items 5–7, added in the 15th century, occupy quires XVIII–XXIII]

5. (fols. 156r–157v)

The preces are continued and followed by collects (fols. 156r– 157v); collect 10 has feminine grammatical forms (fol. 157v):

(1) Deus qui corda fidelium sancti spiritus illustracione docuisti ...
(2) Deus cui proprium est misereri semper et parcere suscipe ...
(3) Deus qui nos a seculi uanitate conuersos ad superne uocacionis amorem accendis ...
(4) Omnipotens sempiterne deus qui facis mirabilia magna solus ...
(5) Deus in cuius manu corda sunt regum qui es humilium consolator ...
(6) Pretende domine famulis et famulabus tuis dexteram celestis auxilii ut de toto corde ...
(7) Deus a quo sancta desideria recta consilia et iusta sunt ...
(8) A domo tua quesumus domine spirituales nequicie repellantur et aerearum discedat malignitas tempestatum ...
(9) Ecclesie tue domine preces placatus admitte ut destructis aduersitatibus et erroribus uniuersis ...
(10) Quesumus domine pro tua pietate miserere anime famule tue N ...
(11) Animabus quesumus domine famulorum famularumque tuarum oracio proficiat supplicancium ut eas ...
(12) Deus qui es sanctorum tuorum splendor mirabilis atque lapsorum subleuator ...

6. (fols. 158r–165r)

Office of the Dead, similar to the office in London, British Library, Lansdowne MS. 431, probably from an Augustinian house in East Anglia; responsories correspond to nos. 14, 72, 24, 32, 57, 36, 68, 40, 38 in Ottosen (1993).

7. (fols. 165r–200v)

Hymnal, containing hymns for the year from Advent to Pentecost, and for saints days, including St Anne and the Common of Saints. The hymnal is similar to the one in MS. Laud Lat. 5, but does not have the hymns to St Augustine which occur in Laud Lat. 5 on fols. 198r–199r. 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), A patre unigenitus (Chevalier, no. 14), Deus creator omnium polique (Chevalier, no. 4426), Saluator mundi domine (Chevalier, no. 17808), Primo dierum omnium quo mundus (Chevalier, no. 15450), Eterne rerum conditor (Chevalier, no. 647), Lucis creator optime (Chevalier, no. 1068), Somno 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 tenebre 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), Audi benigne conditor (Chevalier, no. 1449), Christe qui lux es et dies (Chevalier, no. 2934), Ex more docti mistico (Chevalier, no. 5610), Dicamus omnes cernui (Chevalier, no. 4574), Iam ter quaternis (Chevalier, no. 9408), Summe largitor premij spes (Chevalier, no. 19716), Clarum decus ieiunii (Chevalier, no. 3362), Uexilla regis (Chevalier, no. 21481), Pange lingua gloriosi prelium (Chevalier, no. 14481), Lustra sex qui iam peracta (Chevalier, no. 10763), Chorus noue ierusalem nouam (Chevalier, no. 2824), Iesu redemptor seculi uerbum (Chevalier, no. 9649), Aurora lucis rutilat (Chevalier, no. 1644), Sermone blando angelus (Chevalier, no. 18831), Ad cenam agni prouidi (Chevalier, no. 110), Ympnum canamus glorie (Chevalier, no. 8235), Iesu nostra redempcio (Chevalier, no. 9582), Eterne rex altissime (Chevalier, no. 654), Tv christe nostrum gaudium (Chevalier, no. 20530), Beata nobis gaudia (Chevalier, no. 2339), Iam Christus astra (Chevalier, no. 9215), Impleta gaudent uiscera (Chevalier, no. 8506), Ueni creator spiritus (Chevalier, no. 21204), O lux beata trinitas (Chevalier, no. 13150), Adesto sancta trinitas (Chevalier, no. 487), O pater sancte mitis (Chevalier, no. 13376), Pange lingua gloriosi corporis (Chevalier, no. 14467), Sacris solemnijs (Chevalier, no. 17713), Uerbum supernum prodiens nec patris (Chevalier, no. 21398), Te lucis ante terminum (Chevalier, no. 20138), Nocte surgentes uigilemus (Chevalier, no. 12035), Ecce iam noctis tenuatur (Chevalier, no. 5129), Quod chorus uatum (Chevalier, no. 16881), Quem terra pontus ethera (Chevalier, no. 16347), O gloriosa domina excelsa (Chevalier, no. 13042), Ave maris stella (Chevalier, no. 1889), Ut queant laxis resonare (Chevalier, no. 21039), Antra deserti teneris (Chevalier, no. 1214), O nimis felix meritique celsi (Chevalier, no. 13311), Aurea luce et decore (Chevalier, no. 1596), Pie colamus annua (Chevalier, no. 14916), O quam beata femina (Chevalier, no. 13484), Aue mater anna plena (Chevalier, no. 1928), Gaudet chorus fideium cetus canat (Chevalier, no. 7126), Preciosa splendet anna (Chevalier, no. 15423), O quam glorifica luce choruscas (Chevalier, no. 13516), Tibi christe splendor (Chevalier, no. 20455), Christe sanctorum decus (Chevalier, no. 3000), Christe redemptor omnium conserua tuos famulos (Chevalier, no. 2959), Iesu saluator seculi redemptis (Chevalier, no. 9677), Doctor egregie paule mores (Chevalier, no. 4791), Mathia iuste duodeno (Chevalier, no. 11388), Proni rogamus philippe (Chevalier, no. 15631), Bina celestis aule (Chevalier, no. 2483), Bartholomee celi sydus (Chevalier, no. 2318), Mathee sancte bino pollens (Chevalier, no. 11385), Beate symon et thaddee (Chevalier, no. 2377), Andrea pie sanctorum mitissime (Chevalier, no. 1035), O thoma christi perlustrator (Chevalier, no. 13820), Annue christe seculorum domine nobis per huius tibi (Chevalier, no. 1149), Eterna christi munera apostolorum gloria (Chevalier, no. 590), Exultet celi laudibus (Chevalier, no. 5832), Deus tuorum militum (Chevalier, no. 4533), Martir 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), Iesu corona uirginum (Chevalier, no. 9507), Urbs beata ierusalem dicta pacis (Chevalier, no. 20918), Angularis fundamentum (Chevalier, no. 1081), 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). Fols. 201–202 are ruled but blank; fols. 203–206 are blank paper fly-leaves.

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: iudicatis terram (psalter, fol. 2r)

Form: codex

Support: parchment; paper fly-leaves

Extent: 210 leaves

Dimensions (leaf): c. 255 × 180 mm.

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

Foliation: modern, in pencil; i–iv + 1–206.

Collation

Layout

Ruled in ink with single vertical bounding lines extending the full height of page (14th-century part); ruled in ink with single vertical and double horizontal bounding lines extending the full height and width of page (15th-century part); written below the top line; 20 lines per page throughout; written space: c. 190 × 118 mm. (14th-century part) and c. 185 × 115 mm. (15th-century part); prickings occasionally survive.

Hand(s)

Formal Gothic book hands; brown (14th-century part) and black (15th-century part) ink

Decoration

A 14th-century illuminator of this psalter was identified as the main artist of the Fitzwarin Psalter (Wormald, 1943; Sandler, 1986) and the artist who illuminated fol. 215r of the Luttrell Psalter (Camille, 1998, pp. 326–7; Brown, 2006, p. 20) and several other manuscripts.

Historiated initials on gold background and full borders made of blue, pink and gold bars, decorated with foliage, flowers, masks and human figures at liturgical divisions (half-page Beatus-initial, other initials eight lines high):

fol. 1r, Psalm 1 (initial B(eatus)), Jesse Tree (Jesse awake, the Virgin and Child, Christ showing his wounds, King David playing harp, kings, prophets and pelican feeding its young with its blood).
(full border) Symbols of the evangelists in four corners, holding scrolls inscribed with their names.
fol. 20v, Psalm 26 (initial D(ominus)), King David, pointing to his eyes, kneeling before Christ, seated, holding an orb and blessing.
(full border) Man in a red tunic and hood, aiming a crossbow.
fol. 34r, Psalm 38 (initial D(ixi)), King David pointing to his mouth, kneeling under an architectural arch; Christ, holding an orb and blessing.
(full border) Head of a king in a medallion; figure in a red and blue parti-coloured tunic and hood, holding a sword and a shield.
fol. 46r, Psalm 51 (initial Q(uid)), Young David, with loaded sling and dagger, looking at Goliath in armour, gold frog on his surcoat, carrying a sword and a shield, wounded in forehead; buildings in the background.
(full border) Figure in a red and blue parti-coloured tunic and hood, wearing pouch and sword; figure in a short tunic and hood, wearing a pouch, clasping a decorative stem with both hands.
fol. 47r, Psalm 52 (initial D(ixit)), Crowned Saul stabbing himself with a sword; naked Fool standing before him, holding a bladder on a stick and a stone (?); buildings and a bust of Christ above.
(full border) Figure in a red and blue parti-coloured tunic and hood.
fol. 60r, Psalm 68 (initial S(aluum)), Jonah, emerging from the whale’s mouth, blessed by Christ, who leans down from the wall of Nineveh.
fol. 76v,Psalm 80 (initial E(xultate)), King David, seated, playing four bells, surrounded by buildings with heads and half-figures of inhabitants.
(full border) Figure in tunic and hood.
fol. 91v, Psalm 97 (initial C(antate)), Three clerics singing from a book open on a lectern; buildings in the background.
A hooded man leaning out of a tower, holding on to decorative stems in the border.
(full border) Figure in a red and blue parti-coloured tunic and hood, playing viol.
fol. 93v, Psalm 101 (initial D(omine)), Woman in a blue robe and white transparent veil, hands joined in prayer, kneeling before an altar under an architectural arch; Christ, holding an orb and blessing above.
fol. 107v, Psalm 109 (initial D(ixit)), God-the-Father and Son seated, holding books, under an architectural arch; buildings in the background.
(full border) Figure in a red tunic and pink hood, with a sword and shield.

Borders: see above.

3-line initials on gold background, decorated with foliage and interlace at psalms 114 (fol. 110v), 18: 129 (fol. 119r), 119 (fol. 121v), 126 (fol. 124r), 131 (fol. 125v) and 137 (fol. 129r).

2-line initials on gold backgrounds, decorated with foliage and interlace, and occasionally with animals or portrait heads, and borders (left margin) decorated with foliage, flowers, grotesques and gold discs at the beginnings of psalms, canticles, litany and prayers.

1-line alternating blue initials, decorated with red penwork, and red initials, decorated with purple penwork, at the beginnings of verses.

Line-endings in pink and blue, decorated with fish, grotesques, floral and geometric patterns.

The 15th-century part has 5-line initials on gold background and borders (threequarter or full), decorated with floral designs and gold discs, at the beginnings of the Office of the Dead (fol. 158r) and the hymnal (fol. 165r).

3-line gold initials and half-borders, decorated with floral designs and gold discs, are at the beginnings of the sections of the hymnal.

2-line blue initials with red penwork are at the beginnings of prayers, hymns and sections of the Office of the Dead.

Rubrics in red ink (15th-century part).

Binding

Dark blue-green leather over pasteboard, early 18th century. Double gilt fillet line border round the outer edge of both covers. Gilt rectangular decoration with floral centre, corner-pieces and panels. Six raised bands on spine. Gilt floral designs on spine. Number ‘198’ painted white on spine (faded). Turn-ins with gilt dentelles on both covers. Marbled paper pastedowns and end-leaves.

History

Origin: Fos. 1–155: 14th century, third quarter. Fos. 156–200: 15th century, end ; English, North East (?)

Provenance and Acquisition

Made for use in the north-east (?) of England for a lay female patron with Augustinian connections (?), possibly for presentation to an Augustinian house: evidence of the litany and miniature on fol. 93v.

Adapted for use by Augustinian nuns in East Anglia (?) in the 15th century (collect on fol. 157v).

Bodleian Library: ‘Misc. Liturg.’ collection was formed in 1860, but went on growing until 1887. The source of this manuscript and of some other ‘Misc. Liturg.’ (now MSS. Liturg.) manuscripts is unknown, but ‘no doubt many ... are unidentifiable Rawlinson MSS.’ (Summary catalogue, vol. 5, p. 844). Earlier shelfmark: ‘Misc. Liturg. 198’ (fol. i verso).

Record Sources

Elizabeth Solopova, Latin Liturgical Psalters in the Bodleian Library: A Select Catalogue (Oxford, 2013), pp. 195–202. Previously described in the Summary Catalogue.

Summary Catalogue, Vol. 5, p. 851

Summary Catalogue, Vol. 5, p. 852

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (12 images from 35mm slides)
Digital Bodleian (15 images from 35mm slides) [part 1]

Bibliography

Select bibliography to 2006:

Frere, no. 168.

Eeles, F. C. (ed.), The Holyrood ordinale: a Scottish version of a directory of English Augustinian canons, with manual and other liturgical forms, book of the Old Edinburgh Club (Edinburgh: T. and A. Constable, 1914), p. xxx.

Summary catalogue, vol 6, no. 30613.

Wormald, F., ‘The Fitzwarin Psalter and its allies’, JWCI VI (1943), pp. 71–9, passim; reprinted in J. J. G. Alexander, T. J. Brown and J. Gibbs (eds.), Francis Wormald: collected writings (London; New York: H. Miller in conjunction with OUP, 1984), vol. 2, Studies in English and Continental art of the later Middle Ages, pp. 88–102.

Evans, J., English art, 1307–1461 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1949), p. 96.

S. J. P. van Dijk, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. 2: Office Books (typescript, 1957), p. 35

Pächt and Alexander (1966–73), vol. 3, no. 651, pl. LXV and no. 1133, pl. CVI.

Dennison, L.,‘The Fitzwarin Psalter and its allies: a reappraisal’ in W. M. Ormrod (ed.), England in the fourteenth century: proceedings of the 1985 Harlaxton Symposium (Woodbridge, Suffolk; Dover, NH: Boydell, 1986), pp. 42–66, at pp. 43–6.

Sandler (1986), vol. 1, p. 20; vol. 2, pp. 134, 146, 166 and no. 121.

Alexander and Binski (1987), p. 501.

Avril and Stirnemann (1987), p. 162.

Dennison, L., ‘Some unlocated leaves from an English fourteenth-century Book of Hours now in Paris’ in N. Rogers (ed.), England in the fourteenth century: proceedings of the 1991 Harlaxton Symposium (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1993), pp. 15–33, at p. 32 n. 59.

de Hamel, C., A history of illuminated manuscripts, 2nd edn. (London: Phaidon, 1994), p. 220, pl. 200.

Friedman, J. B., Northern English books, owners and makers in the late Middle Ages (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1995), pp. 111–12.

Camille, M., Mirror in parchment: the Luttrell Psalter and the making of medieval England (London: Reaktion Books, 1998).

Dennison, L., ‘Monastic or secular? The artist of the Ramsey Psalter, now in 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. 231 and nn. 32–3, 233, 236, 237 n. 56, 239, 240 n. 65.

——, ‘The suggested origin and initial destination of London, British Library, Additional MS 44949, the M. R. James Memorial Psalter’ in L. Dennison (ed.), The legacy of M. R. James: papers from the 1995 Cambridge Symposium (Donington, Lincs.: Shaun Tyas, 2001), pp. 87, 88.

Hilmo, M., ‘The image controversies in late medieval England and the visual prefaces and epilogues in the Pearl manuscript: creating a meta-narrative of the journey to the New Jerusalem’ in K. Kerby-Fulton and M. Hilmo (eds.), The medieval reader: reception and cultural history in the late medieval manuscript, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History, Third Series 1 (New York: AMS Press, 2001), pp. 1–40, at p. 39 n. 62.

Joslin, M. C. and Watson Joslin, C. C., The Egerton Genesis (London: British Library; Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2001), pp. 228, 230.

Hilmo, M., Medieval images, icons, and illustrated English literary texts: from the Ruthwell Cross to the Ellesmere Chaucer (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004), p. 152 n. 58.

Brown (2006), pp. 20, 24.

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2024-08: Convert full description from Solopova catalogue.

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