Psalter
Texts and Images
Medieval Psalters, comprising 150 Psalms, were often divided into ten sections for daily recitation, with historiated initials marking the main divisions at Psalms 1, 26, 38, 51, 52, 68, 80, 97, 101 and 109. Originally, the Macclesfield Psalter would have contained a complete set of initials — one for each 'division' Psalm — but due to a loss of folios, the historiated initials for Psalms 68, 80, and 101 are missing.
Various subjects were used to illustrate the opening initials of the Psalms marking these main divisions, although many illuminators throughout Western Europe adopted the standard imagery conceived c. 1200 in Paris, the leading centre of manuscript production. The vast majority of 14th-century English Psalters show the images familiar from the Parisian programme. By contrast, with one exception (the initial for Psalm 52, fol. 77r), the Macclesfield Psalter follows an English programme of Psalm illustration that is first found in early 13th-century Psalters associated with Winchester and Oxford. The pictorial cycle includes events from the life of King David (the purported author of the Psalms), Jonah’s encounter with a great fish, images relating to Christ’s Incarnation, and other aspects of biblical history and doctrine. Only three other extant 14th-century Psalters follow the English pictorial programme as consistently: the Gorleston Psalter (London, BL, Add MS 49622), the Ormsby Psalter (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Douce 366), and the Douai Psalter (Douai, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 313). All three manuscripts are closely related to the Macclesfield Psalter. Lesser text divisions are signalled by smaller ornamental initials with foliate motifs, ‘portrait’ busts, and, occasionally, geometric patterns, and small initials in burnished gold on coloured grounds.
.jpg)
Historiated initial C: Annunciation to the Shepherds, with a bas-de-page scene (Psalm 97)
The angel announces Christ’s birth to the shepherds in the historiated initial for Psalm 97, whose opening verses were interpreted as a prophecy of the Incarnation and sung at the feast of the Nativity. The Annunciation to the Shepherds was the standard subject-matter for Psalm 97 in the traditional English pictorial cycle, to which the Macclesfield Psalter conforms. The initial extends into a full bar border incorporating bearded hybrids, the head of a woman within a medallion, and an angel. A courting couple is depicted in the bas-de-page.
This page showcases the use of gold and yellow pigments in this manuscript. The historiated initial as well as the borders have gilded backgrounds, where gold leaf was applied over a chalk ground and then burnished and decorated with punched dots (hotspot 1). Yellow, used sparingly across the manuscript, was obtained here in two different ways: the light hair of the figures contains a yellow dye (hotspot 2), while mosaic gold was used in the wings of the angel playing a musical instrument (hotspot 3).