MS. Barlow 22
Summary Catalogue no.: 6461
Monastic Psalter; England, Fenlands, perhaps for Ramsey Abbey, later adapted for Peterborough Abbey; 14th century, first half
Contents
(fol. i recto–verso) See below, endleaves.
[item 3 occupies quire I]
14th-century additions, including a commemoration office with three lessons of the Common of Martyrs (fol. 2r); lessons for the votive offices of Sts Benedict (fol. 2v), Peter (fol. 3v) and the Virgin Mary (fol. 4r) with three lessons for each office and a prayer to the Virgin Mary, ‘O regina mundi stella celi tronus dei ianua paradisi . . .’ (fol. 4v). Followed by stubs from an excised quire, with traces of decoration.
[item 4 occupies quire II]
Calendar of Ramsey Abbey, adapted for Peterborough Abbey, laid out one month per page, written in brown, red and blue, approximately two-thirds full, graded to 12 lessons, ‘in cappis’ and ‘in albis’. Includes Wulstan, bishop of Worcester (19 January), Oswald of Worcester (29 February), Cuthbert (20 March), Guthlac (11 April), Alfheah (19 April), Ivo (‘Inventio sancti yuonis’, 24 April), Dunstan (19 May), Athelthryth (23 June), Neot (31 July), Oswald (5 August) with added octave, Edmund (20 November), and the feast (21 March), translation (11 July) with octave and ‘Tumulatio’ of Benedict (4 December), all in blue or red. Added feasts, with initials either plain or not filled in, include the translation of Kyneburga, Kyneswida and Tibba (6 March), Athelwold (1 August) and his translation (10 September), Florentinus (27 September), ‘(D)edicatio ecclesie burgi’ (28 September) with octave, the feast of relics (21 October), Hugh, bishop of Lincoln (16 November) and his translation (6 October), all in red; Paul the Hermit (10 January), Babylas (25 January), Werburgh (3 February), Cedd (2 March), Athanasius (2 May), Aidan (31 August), the translation of Cuthbert (4 September), Wilfrid (12 October), Mellonis (22 October) and Hilda (17 November) in brown. Added obits of the abbots of Peterborough, most (up to Geoffrey of Crowland, d. 1321) in the same hand, and several others, starting with Henry of Morcot (d. 1353), in other hands. Verses on the ‘Egyptian’ days, corresponding to Hennig’s (1955) type III and notes on the number of days and nights in a month at the top of each page; notes on the number of hours in day and night at the bottom of each page. The feasts of Thomas Becket and titles ‘pape’ are erased.
[item 5 occupies quire III]
Miniatures on fols. 12v–14v (see ‘Decoration’); fols. 11r–12r are ruled as if for miniatures but blank, except for a leadpoint note ‘Suscipe dign[eris hos psalmos ... (?)]’, fol. 11r (see Bennett, 1982).
[item 6 occupies quires IV–XXIII]
Psalms 1–150, in the biblical order, laid out with each verse starting on a new line, without titles, with numbers added in the margins in medieval Arabic numerals (now mostly cropped off and/or erased) and in a post-medieval hand over or near erasures. 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. There are textual divisions at psalms 26, 38, 51, 52, 68, 80, 97, 101 and 109. Psalm 109 starts in a new quire. Subdivisions within psalms are marked with 2-line initials at 9: 20 (fol. 21r), 17: 26 (fol. 28v), 36: 27 (fol. 61r), 138: 11 (Et dixi ...) (fol. 157a), 143: 9 (fol. 160v), 144: 10 (fol. 162r); ‘diuisio’ is added in the margin at 68: 17, (fol. 83r), 77: 36 (fol. 94v), 104: 23 (fol. 122v), 105: 32 (fol. 125r) and 106: 25 (fol. 128r). Psalm 118 is subdivided into twenty-two 8-verse units. Fols. 166v–167r are blank; fol. 167v is ruled but blank.
[items 7–8 occupy quires XXIV–XXV]
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).
Daily canticles, prayers and creeds, without titles:
- (1) Benedicite omnia opera (fol. 177v);
- (2) Benedictus dominus deus (fol. 178v);
- (3) Te deum laudamus (fol. 179v);
- (4) Magnificat (fol. 180v);
- (5) Nunc dimittis (fol. 181r);
- (6) Athanasian Creed (Quicumque uult ...) (fol. 181v), the last 4½ lines on fol. 184r in a hand responsible for Peterborough additions.
[items 9–12, additions made at Peterborough Abbey, occupy quires XXVI–XXVIII]
Peterborough litany, including Peter (doubled, first) among the apostles; Oswald (doubled, second), Florentinus, Alban, Edmund and Alfheah among the martyrs; Æduuold (Athelwold (?)) (double invocation added), Benedict (doubled), Cuthbert, Guthlac, Wilfrid, Swithin, Dunstan, Aidan, Botulph, Wulstan, Hugh and Edmund among the confessors; and Kyneburga, Kyneswida and Tibba (near the top of the list), Athelthryth and Werburgh among the virgins. Thomas Becket erased. Followed by collects (fols. 187v–189r):
- (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) Ure igni sancti spiritus renes nostros ...
- (5) Actiones nostras quesumus domine et aspirando preueni ...
- (6) Adesto domine supplicationibus nostris et uiam famulorum tuorum in salutis tue ...
- (7) A domo tua quesumus domine spirituales nequicie repellantur et aeriarum discedat malignitas tempestatum ...
- (8) Deus a quo sancta desideria recta consilia et iusta sunt ...
- (9) Ecclesie tue quesumus domine preces placatus admitte ut destructis ...
- (10) Animabus quesumus domine famulorum famularumque tuarum misericordiam concede perpetuam
- (11) Deus qui es sanctorum tuorum splendor mirabilis atque lapsorum subleuator ...
An office with a rubric ‘Commendacio anime exeuntis de corpore ...’, including suffrages for apostles Peter (not doubled), Paul, Andrew, John and James; martyrs Stephen, Clement, Oswald (doubled), Lawrence and Vincent; confessors Silvester, Martin, Nicholas, Dunstan, Athelwold and Benedict (doubled); virgins Mary Magdalene, Felicitas, Perpetua, Scholastica and Kyneburga, Kyneswida and Tibba.
Office of the Dead, use of Peterborough (Tolhurst, 1941–42).
(fol. 203v) Added prayers, 15th century.
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
Ruled in plummet and subsequently in pink ink with single horizontal and vertical bounding lines extending the full height and width of the page, and further bounding lines in the margins; 19 lines per page; written below the top line; written space: c. 170 × 110 mm.
Hand(s)
At least two main scribes (the second takes over at fol. 184r), large formal Gothic book hands, brown ink.
Decoration
The decoration is related to a group of Fenland East Anglian psalters (Sandler, 1974, 1986); illumination in the section added at Peterborough is by a different artist.
Gold KL monograms on blue and pink background in the calendar.
Prefatory miniatures (fols. 12v–14v), illustrating the life of Christ (the choice of subjects is identical to that in the Ramsey Psalter (New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS. M. 302)), set four to a page, in rectangular frames, on alternating gold, blue, pink and red backgrounds with geometric designs: Annunciation (angel holding a scroll), Nativity, Adoration of the Magi, Presentation in the Temple, Christ among the Doctors (Christ as a beardless young man preaching to a group of five men, one seated on a chair and holding a book, and two children), Betrayal, Flagellation, Christ carrying the Cross, Crucifixion (with Stephaton and Longinus pointing to his eye whilst spearing Christ’s side), Descent from the Cross (with the Virgin Mary, St John and Joseph of Arimathea), Entombment, Resurrection, Noli me tangere, Incredulity of St Thomas, Ascension, Pentecost, Coronation of the Virgin (larger panel, occupying the upper half of the page), Dormition of the Virgin (the Virgin lying on a bed, Christ standing beside, holding her soul), Assumption (two angels holding mandorla, containing a small figure of a young woman with hands joined in prayer; empty bed and apostles below).
Historiated initials (10 lines high at psalm 1, 7 lines high at psalm 109, 4 to 6 lines high at other psalms) on gold backgrounds and borders, made of blue, pink and gold bars, decorated with foliage, human heads and grotesques at liturgical divisions.
- fol. 15r Psalm 1 (initial B(eatus)) Jesse Tree (sleeping Jesse with a tree growing out of his chest, with figures and scenes among its branches, including the Virgin and Child, the Throne of Grace, prophets with scrolls and kings playing musical instruments).
- (full border) Panels with portrait heads, and French and English royal arms.
- fol. 37v Psalm 26 (initial D(ominus)) King David kneeling before an altar, pointing to his eyes; nimbed dove in clouds above.
- fol. 53r Psalm 38 (initial D(ixi)) King David kneeling before an altar, holding a book, hand raised; half-figure of God above, blessing, holding a book.
- fol. 67r Psalm 51 (initial Q(uid)) Suicide of Saul; half-naked Fool (?) with a bladder on a stick in the border below.
- fol. 68r Psalm 52 (initial D(ixit)) King David, seated, holding a sceptre, speaking to the Fool, wrapped in a cloak, holding a bladder on a stick, pointing above.
- fol. 82r Psalm 68 (initial S(aluum)) Jonah in waters, in the mouth of a whale, praying to Christ in clouds above.
- fol. 99r Psalm 80 (initial E(xultate)) King David, seated, playing three bells with hammers; standing musician holding an organ.
- (border, left and lower margin) Grotesque playing a drum and a pipe.
- fol. 114v Psalm 97 (initial C(antate)) Three tonsured clerics singing from a book open on a lectern.
- (border, left and lower margin) Hybrid playing vielle.
- fol. 132r Psalm 109 (initial D(ixit)) Trinity: two seated figures, holding books, God blessing, Christ as a youth with a raised hand; head of a white dove in clouds above.
Borders: see above.
3-line pink and blue initials, infilled with portrait heads on tooled gold backgrounds at the beginnings of psalm 101 (fol. 116v) and weekly canticles (fol. 168r); 3-line foliate/ inhabited initials at psalm 119 (fol. 146v) and the Office of the Dead (fol. 196r).
2-line pink and blue initials on tooled gold backgrounds, and borders made of pink, blue and gold bars, decorated with foliage, animal and human heads, and grotesques, at the beginnings of psalms, canticles, litany, prayers and sections of the Office of the Dead. Many initials infilled with portrait heads of men and women.
1-line alternating blue initials with red penwork and gold initials with blue penwork at the beginnings of verses and periods; penwork often extends into the upper and lower margins.
Pink, blue and gold line-endings with geometric designs and ornament in white.
rubrics in red ink; blue paragraph marks
Binding
English medieval binding: faded, originally red 15th-century (?), skin chemise over white (?) skin over 14th-century (?) bevelled oak boards. Two nail-holes in the inner face of the back board are traces of two clasps of the former binding; traces of a later single clasp attaching from the middle of the front board to the middle of the back board. Sewn on six tawed straps, pegged into horizontal channels in the inner faces of the boards. ‘22’ painted white on spine. Bodleian paper label on spine ‘Arch. F. || d. 5’. Upper pastedown, currently detached, is fol. i; parchment lower pastedown. Painted edges of the textblock, including fleurs-de-lis and leopards (cf. Beatus-initial).
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Made for the Abbey of St Mary and St Benedict, Ramsey, at an unknown centre, probably in the East Anglian Fenlands ‘workshop’ that produced illuminated manuscripts for Crowland, Ramsey and Peterborough. The original calendar was of Ramsey and the picture-cycle is nearly identical to that in the Ramsey Psalter; the original litany was apparently not of Peterborough and therefore had to be replaced (see Sandler, 1974, pp. 121–2; Bennett, 1982).
Adapted for use at the Abbey of St Peter, Peterborough (perhaps for Rouceby, see below) with a large number of additions and erasures in the calendar and the addition of litany and other texts.
Belonged to Brother Walter de Rouceby, whose obit is in the calendar, dated 4 May 1341 (fol. 7r): ‘Psalterium fratris Walteri de Rouceby cuius anime misereatur deus. Amen. Item psalterium beate uirginis cum letan’ (fol. 2r).
15th-century inscriptions on lower pastedown.
Thomas Becket erased in the calendar and litany, and titles ‘pape’ erased in the calendar, presumably at the Reformation.
John Harborne, 20 December 1604 (lower pastedown).
Thomas Barlow (1608/9–1691), see ODNB, 1661: ‘Lib: Tho: Barlow è Coll: Reg: Oxon. Anno. M.DC.LXI.’ and a note about the obit of Walter de Rouceby (?) (fol. 2r).
Bodleian Library: bequeathed by Barlow. Earlier shelfmarks: ‘(19)’ (fols. 1r, 1v) with ‘NE’ added before the former (see Summary catalogue, vol. 1, p. xii), ‘MS Linc. 22’ (fol. 1r) and the location ‘Arch F. d. 15’ (upper cover).
MS. Barlow 22, endleaf, fol. i (lifted pastedown)
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Responds with music in three parts.
Physical Description
Ars Nova type notation (see Hughes, 1951; Harrison, 1958, p. 153; Apfel, 1959, vol. I, p. 62; Reaney, 1966; The Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music).
History
MS. Barlow 22, endleaf, fol. 1
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Physical Description
History
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
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Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (25 images from 35mm slides)
Microfilm
Microfilm available in the open shelf collections in the Weston Library (R. Films 101)
Bibliography
Online resources:
Printed descriptions:
Selected bibliography to 2007:
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2024-02: Revised to incorporate full description from Solopova.