A 14th-Century Illuminated Psalter

Here is something I stumbled across recently from the website of the Bibliothèque national de France (Fr. 13091), a psalter made at the end of the 14th century (ca. 1386-1400) for Jean, the Duke of Berry (1340-1416), the third son of the French King Jean II. He is better know as the patron who commissioned one of the most richly and beautifully illuminated manuscripts of all time, the famous Très Riches Heures (very rich Hours).

The most notable thing about this manuscript is the amount of space it gives to a legend which was widely known in the Middle Ages and beyond, concerning the Apostles’ Creed. This legend has it that the Creed was composed by the Apostles as a common rule of Faith before they decided to scatter throughout the world to preach the Gospel, each of the twelve contributing one section. Here, each individual Apostle is preceded by a Prophet of the Old Testament, with a prophecy relevant to the section of the Creed which he composed. Some of these prophecies, such as the first one, are broad paraphrases of the Biblical text; where this is the case, I give no exactly citation. The texts are given below each seated figure in Latin and French. These images are placed in one group at the beginning of the book; the borders of the pages are all pretty much the same, so I have given the first two as an example, and then cropped and joined the rest.

St Peter: “I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.”

King David: “The Lord said to me, Thou art my son.” (Psalm 2, 7) - St Andrew: “And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord.”

Isaiah: “Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son.” (7, 14) - St James the Greater: “Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.”

Zachariah: “They shall look upon me their God whom they have pierced.” (12, 10; the words in italics are not in the Bible) - St John: “Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.”

Hosea: “O death, I shall be thy death; I shall be thy sting, o hell, I shall be thy bite.” (13, 10) - St Thomas: “Descended into hell; on the third day He rose from the dead.”

From whatever vicissitude of the manuscript’s history, several of the remaining prophets are paired with the wrong apostle. Micha’s prophecy “All shall call upon the name of the Lord, and serve Him”, belongs with St Matthew, but is paired with St James the Lesser, “He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father almighty.”

Joel’s prophecy (2, 28) “I will pour out from my spirit upon all flesh”, belongs with St Bartholomew, but is paired with St Philip, “When he shall come to judge the living and the dead.”

Malachi’s prophecy (3, 5) “I will come forth against you in judgment, and I will be a swift witness”, belongs with St Philip, but is paired with St Bartholomew, “I believe in the Holy Spirit.”

Amos’s prophecy (9, 6) “He is the one who buildeth his ascent into heaven”, belongs with St James the Lesser, but is paired with St Matthew, “The holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints.”

Daniel’s prophecy (12, 2) “They shall all waken, some unto life, others unto reproof”, belongs with St Matthias, but is paired with St Simon, “The forgiveness of sins.”

Ezekiel’s prophecy (37, 12) “I shall lead you out of your sepulchers, my people”, is correctly paired with St Simon, “The resurrection of the flesh.”

Micah’s prophecy (7, 19) “The Lord will put aside all our iniquites”, belongs with St Simon, but is paired with St Matthias, “life everlasting. Amen.”

The rest of the book is taken up with the Psalter, also in Latin and French, with an illustration before the first Psalm of Matins for each day of the week. There follow the Biblical canticles, the Litany of the Saints, and some other prayers, all without imagery.

Before Psalm 1, at Sunday Matins, King David, the principal author of the Psalter, is shown as an old man playing his harp in his chamber.

The pages without illustration all look like this.

Psalm 26, the first of Monday Matins, opens with the words “The Lord is my enlightenment; ”King David is therefore shown pointing to his eyes as he beholds the Lord in heaven surrounded by angels.

Psalm 38, the first of Tuesday Matins, opens with the words “I said, I will keep my ways, that I may not sin by my tongue”; King David is therefore shown much as before, but now pointing to his mouth.

Psalm 52, the first of Wednesday Matins, opens with the words “The fool said in his heart, There is no God.” This is accompanied by a rather obscure image of a madman holding a club and biting a fruit.

Psalm 68, the first of Thursday Matins, opens with the words “Save me, o God, for the waters have entered in unto my soul.”King David is swimming in a river, wearing only his crown (as one does), and looking at the boat behind him.

Psalm 80, the first of Friday Matins, opens with the words “Rejoice to God our helper: sing aloud to the God of Jacob. Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel: the pleasant psaltery with the harp.”Psaltery is here apparently understood to mean the carillon which King David is playing.

Psalm 97, the first of Saturday Matins, opens with the words “Sing to the Lord a new song”; this seems to be taken in reference to the Church, as we see a group of clerics standing together and singing at a lectern before an altar.

Illustrated Psalters generally have an image of the Holy Trinity before Psalm 109, the first of Sunday Vespers, without illustrations to accompany the psalms of the other days.