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Sloane MS 2400
- Record Id:
- 040-002114765
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002112337
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000653.0x00004f
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100165172431.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Sloane MS 2400
- Title:
- Psalter ('The Felbrigge Psalter')
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
f. [ii] recto: Added notes relating to Anne Felbrigge, the Felbrigge family, and their arms, written by Sir Frederic Madden (b. 1801, d. 1873), Keeper of Manuscripts at the British Museum.
f. 1r: A number of former shelfmarks lined through, and an added paper label, featuring an 18th- or 19th-century description of the manuscript, with later corrections in pencil made by Sir Frederic Madden.
f. 1v: Added pen-trials, including the inscribed name, 'Felbrigg'.
f. 1*r: An added prayer in Latin, beginning, 'Jhesu bone, te deprecor pro pena nimis aspera'.
f. 2v: An added ownership inscription in Latin relating to Anne Felbrigge, nun of the Franciscan abbey of the Annunciation of St Mary, Bruisyard, Suffolk.
ff. 3r-7v: Calendar, imperfect, lacking the pages for July and August, with a number of French saints removed, including St Emerentiana (f. 3r), St Eutropius (f. 4v) and St Donatian and St Rogatian (f. 5r), and English saints added, including St Wulfstan (f. 3r), St Edward and St Cuthbert (f. 4r), St Dunstan (f.. 5r), and St Etheldreda (f. 5v). The calendar also features the added obits of Anne Felbrigge's mother and father, Margaret Felbrigge (ff. 3r, 5v) and Simon Felbrigge (f. 7v).
ff. 8r-147r: Psalter.
ff. 147r-161r: Canticles with the 'Athanasian Creed' (ff. 158v-160v).
ff. 161v-165r: Litany of saints.
ff. 165r-166v: Prayers in Latin, some added in a later hand.
ff. 1*v-2r are blank.
Decoration:
Calendar roundels, in colours on gold grounds, featuring signs of the Zodiac and Labours of the Month, many excised (ff. 3r-7v).
10 large 'KL' initials in colours and gold (ff. 3r-7v).
8 large historiated initials in colours and gold at the Psalm divisions (ff. 8r, 29r, 43r, 55v, 68r, 84r, 99r, 115r).
Large initials in colours and gold with foliage decoration and sometimes inhabited with animals, dragons, animal heads, hybrids, or men (e.g., ff. 24r, 28v, 48v, 65v, 66r).
Large initials in blue with red penwork decoration, or in gold with blue penwork decoration.
Line-fillers in red and blue or blue and gold, including some in the form of fish (e.g., ff. 8r, 8v, 14r). Small initials in red, blue, or brown.
The subjects of the historiated initials are as follows:
f. 8r: Historiated initial 'B'(eatus) with King David harping, at the beginning of Psalm 1.
f. 29r: Historiated initial 'D'(ominus) with King David pointing to his eye, at the beginning of Psalm 26.
f. 43r: Historiated initial 'D'(ominus) with King David pointing to his eye, at the beginning of Psalm 38.
f. 55v: Historiated initial 'D'( ixit) with King David and a fool, at the beginning of Psalm 52.
f. 68r: Historiated initial 'S'(alvum) with Christ in Majesty above and King David submerged up to his waist in the water below, at the beginning of Psalm 68.
f. 84r: Historiated initial 'E'(xultate) with King David playing bells, at the beginning of Psalm 80.
f. 99r: Historiated initial 'C'(antate) with three clerics singing from an open choir book on a lectern, at the beginning of Psalm 97.
f. 115r: Historiated initial 'D'(ixit) with Christ blessing holding an open book, at the beginning of Psalm 109.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Medieval and Renaissance Women
Sloane Collection - Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002112337
040-002114765 - Is part of:
- Sloane MS 1-4100 : Sloane Manuscripts
Sloane MS 2400 : Psalter ('The Felbrigge Psalter') - Hierarchy:
- 032-002112337[2388]/040-002114765
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Sloane MS 1-4100
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- 1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100165172431.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1225
- End Date:
- 1274
- Date Range:
- 2nd quarter of the 13th century-3rd quarter of the 13th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
- Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Material: Parchment.
Dimensions: 230 x 155 mm (written space: 155 x 110 mm).
Foliation: ff. 1* + 166 (+ 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and at the end); f. 1* is a parchment leaf.
Script: Gothic, written below the top line.
Binding: Pre-1600. Historiated embroidered panels worked in coloured silks and silver gilt thread on a twofold linen ground, showing much wear, incorporated into an 18th-century brown leather binding, gold-tooled, with the Sloane arms gold-stamped on the inside upper and lower covers; the fore-edges bearing the painted Felbrigge arms (Or a lion rampant gules).
The panel on the upper cover features the Annunciation: the Angel Gabriel approaching the Virgin Mary from the left, his right hand raised in a gesture of greeting, his left holding a scroll, once probably inscribed (see Wallis, 'Embroidered Binding' (1987), p. 755). The Virgin Mary is shown standing with her head bowed and veiled, holding a book in her right hand. Above, the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, flies down towards her. All three figures are nimbed. Between the figures stands a vase with a lily with three flowers, coloured red.
The panel on the lower cover features the Crucifixion: Christ on the Cross, with the nimbed figures of the Virgin Mary and St John the Evangelist on either side, their heads bowed. Below, a small figure (perhaps the manuscript's donor or patron) shown kneeling, looking up at the Cross and apparently holding a book.
The embroidered panels date to c. 1300-1330 and represent an example of Opus Anglicanum (English work) and one of the earliest embroidered bindings known to survive (see Foot, Pictorial Bookbindings (London: British Library, 1986), p. 53; Wallis, 'The Embroidered Binding of the Felbrigge Psalter' (1987), 71-78).
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
Northern France.
Provenance:
The manuscript was written and illuminated in Northern France between the second and third quarters of the 13th century, but subsequently came to England, where its calendar was altered, removing a number of the French saints, and adding English saints, some of which have links with East Anglia. Another apparent East Anglian link is the addition of the date of the dedication of Norwich Cathedral, on 24 September (f. 6r).
Anne Felbrigge, daughter of Sir Simon Felbrigge (b. before 1366, d. 1442), standard-bearer to Richard II (r. 1377-1399), and nun of the Franciscan (Poor Clares) abbey of the Annunciation of St Mary, Bruisyard, Suffolk: the Felbrigge arms (Or a lion rampant gules) painted on the fore-edge; inscribed, 'ffelbrigg' (f. 1v) and 'Iste liber est sororis anne ffelbrygge ad terminum vite post cuius decessum pertinebit conventui minorissarum de Brusyerde' (2v); obit of Anne's mother, Margaret Felbrigge, in the calendar, 'In die Sancti Johannis obitus Margarete ffelbrygge' (f. 3r) and 'in vigilia Sancti Petri Apostoli obitus domine Margarete ffelbrygge' (f. 5v); obit of her father, Simon Felbrigge, in the calendar, 'Obitus venerabilis domini Simonis ffelbrygge militis' and 'obitus Symonis ffelbrygge' (f. 7v).
The Abbey of St Mary, Bruisyard, Suffolk: passed into its possession following the death of Anne Felbrigge (see inscribed note above); the probable addition of prayers (ff. 165r-166v) during its ownership in the late 15th or early 16th century, before the suppression of the house in 1539, as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Former shelfmarks (?): 'Min 107', Min 168 232 [93]' all lined through (f. 1r).
Sir Hans Sloane (b. 1660, d. 1753), baronet, physician and collector: inscribed, 'Bibliotheca Sloanianae' (f. 1r), originally Sloane MS 2468 (see note, f. 1r).
Purchased as part of the Sloane collection from Sloane's executors and incorporated into the newly founded British Museum in 1753.
- Information About Copies:
- Select digital coverage available for this manuscript; see the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts, https://bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts.
- Publications:
-
Catalogue of Additional Manuscripts: Sloane 2268-2496 (London: British Museum unpublished manuscript of unedited descriptions, no date), no. 2400.
A Guide to the Manuscripts, Autographs, Charters, Seals, Illuminations and Bindings Exhibited in the Department of Manuscripts and in the Grenville Library (London: British Museum, 1895), p. 136.
J. A. Herbert, Illuminated Manuscripts and Bindings of Manuscripts Exhibited in The Grenville Library, Guide to the Exhibited Manuscripts, 3 (Oxford: British Museum, 1923), p. 41 no. 9.
Christopher Woodforde, 'Franciscan Saints in English Mediaeval Glass and Embroidery', in Franciscan History and Legend in English Mediaeval Art, ed. by Andrew George Little (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1937), pp. 23-34 (p. 33).
A. G. I. Christie, English Medieval Embroidery (London: Clarendon Press, 1938), p. 123.
Donald King, Opus Anglicanum: Catalogue of the Arts Council Exhibition (London: London Arts Council, 1963), p. 30.
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, ed. by N. R. Ker, 2nd edn, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 3 (London: Royal Historical Society, 1964), p. 14.
Miriam Foot, Pictorial Bookbindings (London: British Library, 1986), p. 53, pls. 50, 51.
Penelope Wallis, 'The Embroidered Binding of the Felbrigge Psalter', British Library Journal, 13 (1987), 71-78.
Marilyn Oliva, The Convent and the Community in Late Medieval England: Female Monasteries in the Diocese of Norwich, 1350-1540 (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell, 1998), pp. 67-68.
Treasures of the British Library, ed. by Nicolas Barker and others (London: British Library, 2005), p. 20.
Anne Bagnall Yardley, Performing Piety: Musical Culture in Medieval English Nunneries (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), p. 96.
Mary C, Flannery, 'Privy Reading', in Spaces for Reading in Later Medieval England, ed. by Mary C. Flannery and Carrie Griffin(Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), pp. 149-64 (pp. 154-56).
Beatrice Kitzinger, 'Working with Images in Manuscripts', in The Cambridge Companion to Medieval British Manuscripts, ed. by Elaine Treharne and Orietta da Rold (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020), pp. 76-105 (pp. 100-03).
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)