Royal MS 2 B II

PSALTER, in Latin, preceded by a Calendar and followed by the Canticles, Te Deum, Athanasian Creed, Litany, and a number of prayers, two of which (ff. 176 b, 179) refer to 'abbatissa nostra'. The Calendar includes :-

Jan. 3. Genovefa. " 25. Prejectus (Clermont). Mar. 1. Albinus (Angers). Apr. 22. Inv. S. Dionysii (red). May 24. Donatian and Rogatian (Nantes, red). June 30. Martial. " July 2. Processus and Martinian (red). Aug. 30. Fiacrius. Sept. 18. Ferreolus. Oct. 20. Caprasius (Agen). Dec. 7. Fara (Faremoutiers).

31. Columba v. m.

In the Litany, in, addition to the usual three Angels, Raguel is invoked (with a line, however, subsequently drawn through the name); and the Virgins include Columba, Genovefa, Disciola, Fara, and (at the end of all, after SS. Fides, Spes, &c.) Honorina. The lastnamed saint was patron of Graville near Havre, but her relics were removed to Conflans Ste. Honorine, at the junction of the Seine and Oise. A later translation to a new shrine took place in 1250 (Poree, Chronique du Bec, 1883, P. 35), about the time when this MS. was written. In a later hand (14th cent.) at the end (f. 180) are prayers for a woman's use ('ego peccatrix') to the Virgin and S. John; and a small inserted leaf (f. i82) pasted to the fly-leaf contains (14th cent.) a ' Memoire de Saincte Restieulx', &c., in Latin, referring to S. Restituta, whose remains were deposited at Arcy near Soissons.

Vellum; ff. i+182. 9 7/8 in.x6 3/4 in. Middle of XIII cent. Executed in France (N. W.), evidently for an inmate of an abbey of nuns, and beautifully illuminated. Small emblematic figures in the Calendar delicately painted on a gold ground, about it in. quare, with the zodiac signs in smaller medallions. The subjects are :-

Jan. Woman at table, drinking. Feb. Man before a fire, chafing his foot and warming a stocking. Mar. Pruning. Apr. Youth with green branches and flowers. May. Hawking. June. Mowing. July. Reaping. Aug. Threshing. Sept. Treading grapes. Oct. Sowing. Nov. Beating down acorns for pigs.

Dec. Killing a pig, a dog looking on. Eight of the Psalms have large miniature-initials with gold and diaper backgrounds, viz.

1. Ps. i (f. 7). David, as a youth, crowned, playing on a harp, and, below, slaying Goliath.

2. PS. xxvi (f. 29 b). David enthroned, with two figures, l and r., crowning

3. Ps. xxxviii (f. 44 b). David, crowned, kneeling before the Almighty, and pointing to his lips.

4. Ps. lii (f. 58 b). David, seated, crowned, before him a fool, eating a round cake and holding a club or bladder.

5. Ps. lxviii (f. 71 b). The Almighty, half-length, holding an orb, and, below, David, crowned but naked, up to his middle in water.

6. Ps. lxxx (f. 88 b). David, seated, crowned, striking with two small hammers a row of five bells.

7. Ps. xcvii (f. 105). Three priests chanting before an altar.

8. PS. CiX (.f 122 b). The Father and Son seated, each holding a book, the Dove descending between them.

For nos. 1, 2,6, in colours, see Warner, Illum. MSS. in Brit. Mus., 1903, Pl. 24; and for a collotype of f. 7 (Ps. i), Reprod. of Illum.

MSS., ser. ii, 1907, Pl. xix. Initials of the other Psalms in gold with heavy black outlines on red and blue grounds; and pen-work designs in red and blue in the lower margins and at the end of lines. From the obit of Clement Lyffyn, Oct. 8, 1450, inserted in the Calendar, the MS. seems to have come to England before that date. Monogram of John Theyer on f. i b.