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Cotton MS Nero C IV

Record Id:

040-001102671

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

032-001101582

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000001246.0x00039b

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Cotton MS Nero C IV

Title:

‘Winchester Psalter’ or ‘Psalter of Henry of Blois’

Scope & Content:

Contents:

Cottonian contents-page, 17th century, in the hand of William Dugdale (1605–1686) (f. 1r);

Prefatory cycle comprising 38 full-page miniatures, with captions in Latin and Anglo-Norman French (ff. 2r–39v): Dean, Anglo-Norman Literature (1999), no. 986;

Calendar, in Latin (ff. 40r–45v);

Gallican Psalter, in Latin and Anglo-Norman French (ff. 46r–123v: imperfect): Dean, Anglo-Norman Literature (1999), no. 445;

Canticles, in Latin and Anglo-Norman French (ff. 123v–132r): Dean, Anglo-Norman Literature (1999), no. 457;

Litany in Latin (f. 132r–v): Dean, Anglo-Norman Literature (1999), no. 457;

Prayers in Latin (ff. 133r–141v) and in Latin and Anglo-Norman French (ff. 142r–v): Dean, Anglo-Norman Literature (1999), no. 457.

Decoration:

The subjects of the miniatures, as described by Kauffmann, Romanesque Manuscripts (1975), no. 78, are as follows:

f. 2r: The Expulsion from Paradise; Adam and Eve working; Cain and Abel sacrificing, Cain slaying Abel:

f. 3r: Noah commanded to build the ark; the ark at sea; Sacrifice of Isaac;

f. 4r: Moses and the burning bush, and reviewing the tablets of the law; God with two kings (representing the division of ecclesiastical and secular authority?); Annunciation to Joachim;

f. 5r: Jacob wrestling with the angel and Jacob's dream; Joseph and Potiphar's wife, Joseph accused by Potiphar's wife; Joseph sold to the Ishmaelites, and honoured by Potiphar;

f. 6r: Saul and David; David kills Goliath;

f. 7r: David takes the lamb from the lion's jaw; Samuel anoints David;

f. 8r: Annunication to Anna; Anna and Joachim at the Golden Gate; Birth of the Virgin Mary; the infant Mary presented in the Temple;

f. 9r: Tree of Jesse, illustrated in Kauffmann, Romanesque Manuscripts, ill. 220;

f. 10r: God sending out Gabriel; the Annuniciation; the Visitation; the Nativity;

f. 11r: The Annunciation to the Shepherds; the Magi before Herod;

f. 12r: The Magi follow the star; the Adoration of the Magi;

f. 13r: The Magi warned; an angel warns Joseph;

f. 14r: The Flight into Egypt; the Massacre of the Innocents;

f. 15r: The Presentation in the Temple; Christ among the doctors:

f. 16r: Christ between his parents; the Baptism;

f. 17r: The Wedding at Cana; water turned into wine;

f. 18r: The three Temptations;

f. 19r: Raising of Lazarus; Entry into Jerusalem;

f. 20r: The Last Supper; Christ washing the Disciples' feet;

f. 21r: Betrayal; Flagellation, illustrated in Kauffmann, Romanesque Manuscripts, ill. 223;

f. 22r: Crucifixion; Deposition;

f. 23r: Entombment; Marys at the Sepulchre;

f. 24r: The Harrowing of Hell; 'Noli me tangere', illustrated in Kauffmann, Romanesque Manuscripts, ill. 224;

f. 25r: Christ handing the key to St Peter; Journey to Emmaus;

f. 26r: Supper at Emmaus; Incredulity of Thomas;

f. 27r: The Ascension;

f. 28r: Pentecost; Christ in Majesty;

f. 29r: Death of the Virgin Mary, illustrated in Kauffmann, Romanesque Manuscripts, ill. 221;

f. 30r: The Virgin Mary enthroned between two angels, illustrated in Kauffmann, Romanesque Manuscripts, ill. 222;

ff. 31r-39r: The Last Judgment, in nine sections.

Historiated B(eatus) initial, with David writing, and David playing the viol (f. 46r); decorated initial D opening Psalm 26 (f. 57v); decorated initial D opening Psalm 101 (f. 98r).

The pen-flourished decoration (ff. 46r–142v) was added in the 13th century; additions were also made to the calendar in the 13th century, and marginal rubrics added to the miniatures (replacing the original lettering over gold leaf, which must have already been rubbing off).

According to Wormald, The Winchester Psalter (1973), the miniatures were originally on the rectos and versos, so that they faced one another; they have subsequently been remounted, and arranged as rectos only. To judge by the foliation, two folios, perhaps with illustrations of the Creation, have been lost. The two miniatures of the Virgin Mary (ff. 29r, 30r) are in a different style, closely copied from a Byzantine model.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Cotton Collection

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-001101582
040-001102671

Is part of:

Cotton MS : Cotton Manuscripts

Cotton MS Nero C IV : ‘Winchester Psalter’ or ‘Psalter of Henry of Blois’

Hierarchy:

032-001101582[0636]/040-001102671

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Cotton MS

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

Parchment codex

Digitised Content:

http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Cotton_MS_Nero_C_IV (digital images currently unavailable)

Thumbnail:

Languages:

Anglo-Norman
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1130

End Date:

1299

Date Range:

Mid 12th century-2nd half of the 13th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Condition: outer edges of leaves damaged by fire 1731.

Materials: paper (f. 1r); parchment (ff. 2–142).

Dimensions: Binding: approximately 330 × 270 mm; folios: 320 x 230 mm (text space: 265 x 165 mm).

Foliation: ff. 142; 1 (f. 1: early modern endleaf) + 141 (ff. 2–142).

Binding: British Museum 1958.

Custodial History:

Origin:

Doubtless made at Winchester.

Ownership history:

(?)Henry de Blois, bishop of Winchester (b. c. 1096, d. 1171), for whom this manuscript may have been made: see Ker, Medieval Libraries of Great Britain, p. 200, where the manuscript is attributed on liturgical grounds to the Old Minster, Winchester (Benedictine cathedral priory of SS Peter, Paul and Swithun);

Shaftesbury Abbey (Dorset), Benedictine nunnery of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Edward the Confessor, on liturgical grounds: Ker, Medieval Libraries of Great Britain, p. 177;

(?)Elizabeth Howard (d. 1524): Tite, The Early Records of Sir Robert Cotton's Library, p. 134 and no. 2.58, either this manuscript or Cotton MS Tiberius C VI ("An old psalter. Limned that was Eliz the Duke of Norfocks daughter old bound in Foll.");

Sir Robert Bruce Cotton (b. 1571, d. 1631), 1st baronet, antiquary and politician, as listed in the Cottonian catalogues (1) Add MS 36789, f. 121v, and (ii) Add MS 36682: Tite, The Early Records of Sir Robert Cotton's Library, p. 134.

Cotton’s collection was augmented by his son, Sir Thomas Cotton (b. 1594, d. 1662), 2nd baronet, and grandson, Sir John Cotton.

Sir John Cotton (b. 1621, d. 1702), 3rd baronet: bequeathed the entire Cotton collection of books and manuscripts to trustees ‘for Publick Use and Advantage’, 12 and 13 William III, c. 7. Formed one of the foundation collections of the British Museum in 1753.

Administrative Context:

Origin: Winchester

Publications:

Alexander, Jonathan J. G., Medieval Illuminators and their Methods of Work (New Haven, 1992), p. 95

Avril, François, Xavier Barral I Altet & Danielle Gaborit-Chopin, Le Monde Roman 1060–1200, 2 vols (Paris, 1983), I, Les Royaumes d’Occident , pp. 220–21 and pl. 187

Avril, François, & Patricia Danz Stirnemann, Manuscrits enluminés d’origine insulaire VII ^e-XX ^esiècle (Paris, 1987), p. 31

Backhouse, Janet, The Illuminated Page: Ten Centuries of Manuscript Painting in the British Library (London, 1997), no. 37

Berger, Samuel, La Bible française au moyen âge (Paris, 1884), pp. 395–96

Birch, Walter de Gray, & Henry Jenner, Early Drawings and Illuminations: An Introduction to the Study of Ilustrated Manuscripts (London, 1879), p. 4

Boase, T. S. R., English Art 1100–1216, Oxford History of English Art (Oxford, 1957), pp. 172–75, 178–79, 182, 210, 278 and pl. 64

Bovey, Alixe, Monsters and Grotesques in Medieval Manuscripts (London, 2002), pp. 4, 38 and pl. 31

Carey, Frances, The Apocalypse and the Shape of Things to Come (London, 1999), no. 6

Careri, Maria, Christine Ruby and Ian Short, Livres et écritures en français et en occitan au XIIe siècle: Catalogue illustré (Rome: Viella, 2011), no. 34

de Hamel, Christopher, The Book: A History of the Bible (London, 2001), p. 144

Dean, Ruth J., & Maureen B. M. Boulton, Anglo-Norman Literature: A Guide to Texts and Manuscripts, Anglo-Norman Text Society, Occasional Publications Series, 3 (London, 1999), nos. 445, 457, 986

Demus, Otto, The Mosaics of Norman Sicily (London, 1949), pp. 449–50

Deuchler, Florens, Der Ingeborgpsalter (Berlin, 1967), pp. 57, 59, 133, 142, 164

Engelhart, Helmut, Die Würzburger Buchmalerei im Hohen Mittelalter: Untersuchungen zu einer Gruppe Illuminierter Handschriften aus der Werkstatt der Würzburger Dominikanerbibel von 1246 , 2 vols, Quellen und Forschungen zur Geschichte des Bistums und Hochstifts Würzburg, ed. by Klaus Wittstadt, 34 (Würzburg, 1987), pp. 59, 132 and pl. 269

English Romanesque Art 1066–1200: Hayward Gallery, London 5 April–8 July 1984 (London, 1984), no. 61

Evans, Helen C., & William D. Wixom (eds.), The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843–1261 (New York, 1997), no. 312 and passim

Fischer, Bonifatius, Die Lateinischen Evangelien bis zum 10. Jahrhundert , 4 vols (Freiburg, 1988–91), I,Varianten zu Matthäus , Vetus Latina die Reste der Altlateinischen Bible: Aus der Geschichte der Lateinischen Bibel, 13, p. 15* (as 'Ny')

Grabar, André, & Carl Nordenfalk, Romanesque Painting from the Eleventh to the Thirteenth Century, trans. by Stuart Gilbert (Lausanne, 1958), pp. 114, 156–67, 192

Graham, Henry B., ‘The Munich Psalter’, in The Year 1200: A Symposium (New York, 1975), pp. 301–12 (p. 302, fig. 10)

Haney, Kristine Edmondson, ‘The immaculate imagery in the Winchester Psalter’, Gesta , 20/1 (1981), 111–18

Haney, Kristine Edmondson, ‘The Mosan elements in the Psalter of Henry of Blois’, Revue belge d’archéologie et d’histoire de l’art, 51 (1982), 3–15

Haney, Kristine Edmondson, ‘The Provenance of the Psalter of Henry of Blois’, Manuscripta, 24 (1980), 40-44

Haney, Kristine Edmondson, ‘The paint surfaces in the Psalter of Henry of Blois’, British Library Journal, 7 (1981), 149–57

Haney, Kristine Edmondson, The Winchester Psalter: An Iconographic Study (Leicester, 1986)

Herbert, J. A., British Museum: Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series 3 (London, 3rd edn., 1925), pls. VII, VIII, IX

Herbert, J. A., Illuminated Manuscripts (London, 1911), p. 137

Higgitt, John, The Murthly Hours: Devotion, Literacy and Luxury in Paris, England and the Gaelic West (London, 2000), pp. 228–29, 232, 234

Kauffmann, C. M., Biblical Imagery in Medieval England 700–1500 (London, 2003), p. 225

Kauffmann, C. M., Romanesque Manuscripts, 1066-1190, A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, 3 (London, 1975), no. 78 and ills. 220–24

Ker, N. R. (ed.), Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books (London, 2nd edn., 1964), pp. 177, 200

Kitzinger, Ernst, Early Medieval Art with Illustrations from the British Museum Collection (Bloomington, IN, 1940), pl. 46

Klein, Holger, ‘The so-called Byzantine Diptych in the Winchester Psalter, British Library, MS Cotton Nero C. IV’, Gesta, 37 (1998), 26–43

Lowden, John, ‘Byzantium perceived through illuminated manuscripts: now and then’, in Robin Cormack & Elizabeth Jeffreys (eds.), Through the Looking Glass: Byzantium Through British Eyes, Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies, 7 (Aldershot, 1995), pp. 85–106 (pp. 101–02)

McKendrick, Scot, & Kathleen Doyle, Bible Manuscripts: 1400 Years of Scribes and Scripture (London, 2007), fig. 70

Millar, Eric G., English Illuminated Manuscripts from the Xth to the XIIIth Century (Paris, 1926), pl. 44

Nilgen, Ursula, ‘Heinrich der Löwe und England’, in Jochen Luckhardt & Franz Niehoff (eds.), Heinrich der Löwe und seine Zeit: Herrschaft und Repräsentation der Welfen 1125–1235 , 3 vols (Munich, 1995), II, pp. 329–342 (p. 336 and pl. 227)

Nilgen, Ursula, ‘Psalter für Gelehrte und Ungeleherte im hohen Mittelalter’, in F. O. Büttner (ed.), The Illuminated Psalter: Studies in the content, purpose and placement of its images (Turnhout, 2004), pp. 239–247 (pp. 245–46)

Pächt, Otto, C. R. Dodwell & Francis Wormald, The St. Albans Psalter (Albani Psalter) (London, 1960), p. 52 n. 1

Papastavrou, Helen, ‘The influence of Byzantine art in the West’, in Byzantium: An Oecumenical Empire, Byzantine and Christian Museum (Athens, 2002), pp. 219–29 and pl. 66–67

Rickert, Margaret, Painting in Britain: The Middle Ages (London, 2nd edn., 1965), pp. 79–80, 84, 89, 228 n. 4 and figs 80–81

Sandler, Lucy Freeman, The Peterborough Psalter in Brussels and other Fenland Manuscripts (London, 1974)

Schools of Illumination: Reproductions from Manuscripts in the British Museum, 6 vols (London, 1914–30), II,English 12th and 13th Centuries (1915), pl. 2

Scott, Margaret, Medieval Dress & Fashion (London, 2007), pls. 20, 21

Short, Ian, ‘Introduction’, in David McKitterick (ed.), The Trinity Apocalypse (Trinity College Cambridge, MS R.16.2) (London, 2005), pp. 123–36 (pp. 124, 126)

Strickland, Debra Higgs, Saracens, Demons, and Jews: Making Monsters in Medieval Art (Princeton, 2003), p. 82 and fig. 31

Talbot Rice, D., English Art 871–1100, Oxford History of English Art (Oxford, 1952), pp. 171, 216 n. 1, 250 n. 2

Temple, Elżbieta, Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts 900–1066, A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, 2 (London, 1976), p. 95

Thompson, E. M., English Illuminated Manuscripts (London, 1895), pp. 29–33 and pl. 9

Tite, Colin G. C., The Early Records of Sir Robert Cotton's Library: Formation, Cataloguing, Use (London, 2003), p. 134

Turner, D., Illuminated Manuscripts Exhibited in the Grenville Library (London, 1967), no. 8

Turner, D. H., Romanesque Illuminated Manuscripts in the British Museum (London, 1966), p. 9 and pl. 1

Warner, G. F., Illuminated Manuscripts in the British Museum (London, 1899–1903), pl. 12

Watson, Andrew G., Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c. 700-1600 in The Department of Manuscripts The British Library , 2 vols (London, 1979), no. 539

Watson, Arthur, The Early Iconography of the Tree of Jesse (London, 1934), pp. 103–04 and pl. XVII

Witzling, Mara R., ‘The Winchester Psalter: a re-ordering of its prefatory miniatures according to scriptural sequence’, Gesta, 23/1 (1984), 17–25

Wormald, F., ‘The development of English illumination in the twelfth century’, Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 8 (1943), 41–42

Wormald, Francis, The Winchester Psalter (London, 1973)

Zeitler, Barbara, ‘The distorting mirror: reflections on the Queen Melisende Psalter (London, B. L., Egerton 1139)’, in Robin Cormack & Elizabeth Jeffreys (eds.), Through the Looking Glass: Byzantium Through British Eyes, Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies, 7 (Aldershot, 2000), pp. 69–81

Exhibitions:

Inferno, Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome, 5 October 2021 - 23 January 2022
The Middle Ages, (online), 26 March 2015-

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)