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Mary Magdalene announces the Risen Christ

The St Albans Psalter, also known as the Albani Psalter or the Psalter of Christina of Markyate, is an English illuminated manuscript, one of several psalters known to have been created at or for St Albans Abbey in the 12th century.^[1] It is widely considered to be one of the most important examples of English Romanesque book production; it is of almost unprecedented lavishness of decoration, with over forty full-page miniatures, and contains a number of iconographic innovations that would endure throughout the Middle Ages. It also contains the earliest surviving example of French literature, the Chanson de St Alexis or Vie de St Alexis, and it was probably commissioned by an identifiable man and owned by an identifiable woman. Since the early 19th century it has been owned by the church of St. Godehard, but is now stored and administered at the nearby Dombibliothek (Cathedral Library). A single leaf from the manuscript is at the Schnütgen Museum, Cologne;^[2] one further leaf, and one further cutting, are missing from the volume, their whereabouts unknown.

Contents

Psalm 136 Initial S

The manuscript as it survives in Hildesheim has 209 folios (i.e. 418 pages) of vellum, which are numbered by a modern hand in Arabic numerals in the top right corner of the rectos, and there's an additional numbering of the miniatures at the bottom of their pages. A full page measures 27.6 x 18.4 cm. There are many signs that the pages have been trimmed down from their original size. The binding is of leather, and medieval, although it was restored in modern times, perhaps the 1930s.^[3]

The manuscript is composed of five physically separable parts:

• I. (Quire 1; pp. 1–16) Calendar and computistical material
  


• II. (Quires 2-4; pp. 17–56) Series of full-page miniatures
  


• III. (Quire 5; pp. 57–72) A quire containing:
  
  • a miniature and text of the Chanson de St Alexis,
  
  
  • Gregory the Great's defence of the use of images, in Latin and French translation,
  
  
  • 
    three miniatures depicting the Gospel Emmaus story,
  
  
  • a drawing of two battling knights, with accompanying text, and
  
  
  • a Beatus initial,^[4] with accompanying text
  
  


• IV. (Quires 6-23; pp. 73–414) Psalms, Canticles, Litany, and Collects
  


• V. (part of Quire 23; pp. 415–418) A bifolium with two full-page miniatures (pp. 416–417) depicting the Martyrdom of St Alban, and King David with musicians
  

Date and origin

Initial at the start of the "Our Father"

Massacre of the Innocents

Jesus's Agony in the Garden

Scholarly opinion differs on many of the details, but there is general agreement that the psalter was created at St Albans Abbey between circa 1120 and circa 1145, during the abbacy (1119-1146) of Geoffrey de Gorham or Gorron, and that it was possibly owned by Christina of Markyate (c. 1098-c. 1155-1166), anchoress and later prioress of Markyate, or at least associated with her at some point after her death.^{[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]} If she did indeed own it, it is not clear whether the manuscript was intended for her from the beginning, whether it was adapted for her while it was being made, or whether it became hers after its completion; recent research remains divided on this issue.^[13][14] Additions were made to the manuscript at various times until after her death, which is recorded in the calendar.

Details of production

Within the accepted c.1120-c.1145 date-range, there is no firm scholarly consensus about the relative and absolute chronology of the creation of the five constituent parts. There are generally thought to be the work of at least six scribes and four artists in the volume, but there is disagreement about their identity, and who was responsible for what.

Published opinions until the 1960s were mostly that the manuscript was made before c.1125, or even before c.1123;^[5][7] this was modified in the 1980s to the decade c.1120-1130;^[1] while in the 1990s and 2000s several scholars have proposed dates in the 1130s.^[9][10] Attributions dating the manuscript to after 1145, or after 1155, have not gained general acceptance.

The main units of text are:

• The main part of the calendar and computistical material (pp. 2–15)


• Two further feasts, added to the calendar


• A large number of feasts and obits, added to the calendar


• The outer bifolium of the first quire of the Psalms (pp. 73–74, 91-92)


• The rest of the Psalms, Litany, etc.


• The verse written on the pasted-in initial to Psalm 105 (p. 285)


• The rubrics added in or next to most historiated initials
  


• The obit of Roger the Hermit, added to the calendar


• The texts of the quire containing the Chanson de St Alexis (pp. 57–72)

The last three listed are often said to have been written by the same scribe, identified by some as Abbot Geoffrey himself, giving a total of seven scribes. In addition, another 12th-century scribe corrected the text of the Psalms.^[15]

The main units of decoration are:

• The calendar, with Labours of the Months in roundels, and the signs of the zodiac


• The full-page fully painted prefatory miniatures containing the Life of Christ in thirty-seven miniatures, and one of St Martin, preceded by two of Adam and Eve, and followed by one of King David
  


• A 'diptych' of two full-page miniatures depicting the Martyrdom of St Alban, and King David with musicians


• The Alexis quire, including the Psalm 1 initial


• The pasted-in Psalm 105 initial


• All the other historiated initials
  

The prefatory miniatures are usually said to be by the artist of the Alexis quire, the so-called Alexis Master
The majority of the historiated initials are usually said to have been painted by two artists, one of whom was the artist of the calendar and the final 'diptych'.

Narrative cycle

Christ in the house of Simon the Pharisee, with Mary Magdalen washing his feet, Luke 7:36-50

The scenes shown are:^[16]

• P17, Fall, Genesis 3:1-6


• P18, Expulsion, Genesis 4:21-24


• P19, Annunciation to Mary, Luke 1:28-35


• P20, Visitation, Luke 1:39-56


• P21, Nativity of Jesus in art, Luke 2:7


• P22, Annunciation to Shepherds, Luke 2:8-14


• P23, Magi before Herod, Matthew 2: 1-6


• P24, Journey of Magi, Matthew 2:9


• P25, Adoration of the Magi, Matthew 2:11


• P26, Dream of Magi Matthew 2:12


• P27, Return of Magi Matthew 2:12


• P28 Presentation of Jesus at Temple, Luke 2:22-28


• P29, Flight to Egypt, Matthew 2:14


• P30 Massacre of the Innocents, Matthew 2: 16-18


• P31, Return from Egypt, Matthew 2:20-21


• P32, Baptism of Christ, Luke 3:22; Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11


• P33, Temptation of Christ: 1st Temptation, Luke 4:3-4; Matthew 4:3-4


• P34, 2nd Temptation, Luke 4:5-8; Matthew 4:5-7


• P35, 3rd Temptation, Luke 4:9-12; Matthew 4:8-12


• P36, Christ in the house of Simon the Pharisee, (Mary Magdalen washing feet), Luke 7:36-50


• P37, Entry to Jerusalem, John 12:13; Luke 19:35-36


• P38, Washing of feet, John 13:8-9


• P39, Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ with angel and chalice, Luke 22:39-45; Mark 14:32-34


• P40, Gethsemane, Christ and sleeping apostles, Mark 14:37-42


• P41, Last Supper, warning of Peter’s betrayal, sop to Judas, John 13:21-27


• P42, Betrayal of Christ, Matthew 26:47-52; Mark 14:43-48


• P43, Mocking, Mark 14:65; Luke 22:64; Mark 15:17-20; Matthew 27:28-29


• P44, Flagellation of Christ, John 19:1; Luke 23:16


• P45, Pontius Pilate washes hands, Matthew 27:24-25


• P46, Christ carrying the Cross, Matthew 27:31; John 19:17


• P47, Descent from the Cross, Matthew 27:57-59; Mark 15:43-46; Luke 23:50-53


• P48, Entombment of Christ, Matthew 27:30; Mark 15:46; Luke 23:53; John 19:38-40


• P49, Harrowing of Hell, Gospel of Nicodemus


• P50, Three Women at sepulchre, Matthew 28: 1-7; Mark 16: 1-7; Luke 24:1-10


• P51, Mary Magdalen announces resurrection to apostles, John 20:18; Mark 16:9-10


• P52, Christ appears to the Apostles, and Incredulity of Thomas, John 20:24-28. Luke 24:33-43; Mark 16:14


• P53, St Martin of Tours: dividing cloak and vision. Matthew 25:35 implied


• P54, Ascension, Acts 1:9-11


• P55, Pentecost, Acts 2:1-3


• P56, King David as Musician


• PP 69–71 Three scenes of the Supper at Emmaus, placed out of sequence.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to St. Albans Psalter.

• The entire manuscript (except flyleaves and binding) is available online with transcription, translation, commentary, interpretative essays, bibliography, etc., at Aberdeen University, but this website has not been updated to reflect numerous significant advances in scholarship since 2003.


• More recent bibliography, and various related resources including a map showing the places mentioned in the Life of Christina of Markyate, are on an independent website.

Further reading

• Collins, Kristen. (2013) The St. Albans Psalter: Painting and Prayer in Medieval England, Los Angeles: Getty Publications, ISBN 978-1-60606-145-9
  


• Gallistl, Bernhard. (2015) Codex and Room. The St Albans Psalter, in: European Research Centre for Book and Paper Conservation Restoration. Newsletter 2/2015 Nov. 2015, p. 4-17, online: [2]