Tuesday 14 December 2010

Exeter Psalters

I.
Bodleian, MS. Lyell empt. 4 is an early 14th-century English Psalter owned in the 16th century by Richard Bardney, abbot of Crowland.

See here for three images of pages with historiated initials (click the images to enlarge them).

de la Mare (Catalogue pp. 284-5) says nothing about the calendar except that it has the pre-1319 date (15 Sept.) for the Sarum Feast of Relics and the obit of Abbot Bardney.

The calendar is not pure Sarum, however: it contains Kieran (5 March) and Petroc (4 June), both of whom were venerated at Exeter. (I am grateful to Oliver Padel for steering me in the right direction).


II.
A 13th century English Psalter sold in the Dunn sale (lot 1522) and then by A.J.V. Radford, FSA (Sotheby's, 25-27 July 1927, lot 183) has Petroc and Sativola in the litany, and this may also have been written for use in Exeter or its neighbourhood.

III.
The famous Amesbury Psalter (Oxford, All Souls College, MS. 6) may also have been owned in Exeter or that area before being acquired by Bishop Grandisson, as will be explained in a future post.

No comments:

Post a Comment

** PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR NAME IN YOUR COMMENT **

I may ignore and delete anonymous comments