Durham University Library Archives & Special Collections Catalogue
Commentary on Psalms 101-150 in French, volume III of III, companion to DCL MS A.II.11 and 12, the only complete copy of this work, a French Psalter commentary compiled for Laurette d’Alsace (died 1170). The two sets of signatures, and the enlargement of quire XII to a 10 to contain the end of Psalm 108, indicate that f.1-98 with Psalms 1-108 and f.99-275 with Psalms 109-150 were made as separate phases of work (this distinction is reinforced by differences in the presentation of lemmata and slight differences in the decoration between the two parts).
Parchment: stout, even-toned, numerous minor flaws. Arranged HF, FH. A tab was formerly attached to f.155*.
Modern pencil foliation (155 numbered twice).
I-XI8, XII10, XI-XXXIII8, XXXIV10
Text-block: 290 x 205 mm. Two columns (width, 95 mm).
Lines: 40 (space, 7-8 mm; height of minims, 4 mm for commentary, 7-8 mm for scriptural lemmata).
Pricking: awl. Prickings survive in all three outer margins (the cropping of flourishing attests to the fact that the margins have still been reduced).
Ruling: lead. Single verticals flank both columns (two in total in the intercolumnar space); first two and last two (occasionally the last three or the last and antepenultimate) horizontals extended; all horizontals run across the intercolumnar space. From f.100r-274v, wherever psalm lemmata were to be written, a pair of extra verticals was supplied to divide the relevant lines of the column vertically into two sub-columns (the left-hand portion for the lemmata, the right-hand one for commentary); on the first two occasions, these lines were guided by a ruler, thereafter, with a few exceptions, they were done freehand.
Written in Textualis semi-quadrata. The scriptural lemmata are written in Textualis precissa, twice the size of the commentary (strokes 2 mm thick). The number of hands involved is uncertain. The striking differences in aspect between f.98v and f.99r appear to suggest that two hands were at work, the latter more regular, less spiky, and more laterally compressed than the former; however, as the stint of the latter goes on, it evolves towards the manner of the former.
f.1r. A 6-line-high once-golden initial “D”, flourished in red and green, heads Psalm 101; almost all the gold has been lost, exposing a red-brown underlay.f.99r, a 5+-line-high initial “D” for Psalm 109, the letter-form in red and blue, filled with foliate forms in green and yellow, all set against a brown panel. f.182v, a 6+-line-high initial “A” for Psalm 119, the letter-shape in red and blue, adorned with foliate curls in yellow and green, set against a brown ground. The incipits of other Latin Psalm texts are marked by 4+-line-high initials, alternately red then blue, flourished in the other colour or in both colours. The start of each Latin verse is headed by a 2+-line-high initial, alternately red then blue, flourished in the other colour.
Tuckett re-binding, mid 19th century full brown calf over thick wooden boards (Charles Tuckett, binder to the British Museum, rebound many Durham manuscripts in the 19th century), rebacking with 16th century leather covers (both decorated with rolled panel design). Stains on f.1r and 275v from the turn-ins of an earlier binding.
Written in England or France, early 13th century.
The claim that the set as a whole “was made and held at Durham Cathedral during the episcopacy of Hugh de Puiset” and “was in all likelihood made for De Puiset himself” (Rector 2010, p.20) ignores the fact volumes I and II almost certainly, and volume III indubitably, postdate du Puiset (d. 1195), and that no such work appears on the list of his books that came to Durham Cathedral Priory.
Inscriptions: “.R. liber Sancti Cuthberti”, mid 14th century, f.1r, top left.
“R”, later 14th century, f.1r, top right.
“Tercia pars psalterij in gallico”, later 14th century, f.1r, top right.
Pressmark: 1a.5i.T., 15th century, f.1r, top right.
1392 and 1416 Spendement catalogues “Tercia pars Psalterii glo, in Gallico. iio fo, nostre bone poeure”. Listed in Misc. Charter 2475.
f.1r-99r, the scriptural lemmata occupy complete column lines, with the commentary starting immediately thereafter; from f.100r onwards, they occupy half of the width of the column (on 197v, two-thirds of the width), with the commentary starting beside them. The exception (f.182v) is Psalm 119, for which whole lines were again used, doubtless for visual emphasis. The first three verses of Psalm 102 were rewritten in rasura by the original scribe. There is virtually no annotation.
Catalogi veteres librorum Ecclesiae cathedralis
dunelm. Catalogues of the library of Durham cathedral, at
various periods, from the conquest to the dissolution, including
catalogues of the library of the abbey of Hulne, and of the mss.
,
Surtees Society 7, (London: J.B. Nichols and Son, [1838]).
Dean, Ruth J., Anglo-Norman Literature: a guide to texts and manuscripts (London: Anglo-Norman Text Society, 1999)
Liebman, C. J., The Old French psalter commentary: contribution to a critical study of the text attributed to Simon of Tournai ([USA]: W. F. Humphreys, 1982).
Rector, G., "The Romanz Psalter in England and Northern France in the Twelfth century: production, mise-en-page and circulation", Journal of the Early Book Society 13 (2010), 1-38