Thank you for joining us in praying the Psalms. May God bless our efforts! The Psalter (the Book of Psalms) is traditionally divided into 20 kathismata. ('Kathismata' is plural for 'kathisma', which means 'sitting'. With these divisions, you can read through the Book of Psalms in twenty sittings.) The goal of the Psalter Group is to read through the entire Psalter every day as a group. That means that a Psalter Group should really have at least 20 people, so that all 20 kathismata are read each day. Individually, we are each praying only one kathisma each day. You may pray your kathisma anytime during the day or night and anywhere you are able. On the first day of the fast, each member of the group will pray one kathisma (so that together, we've read the entire Psalter.) Each day, we will all move on to the next kathisma, and so on. Once you have prayed Kathisma 20, you will loop over to Kathisma 1 the next day. Please note, the Psalm/Kathisma numbering in the document is according to the Septuagint. If you do not have a Psalter, you may use a Bible. If you are using a Bible with Masoretic numbering, please see the chart below. Here is a link to an online Psalter which uses the Septuagint numbering : http://orthodox.seasidehosting.st/seaside/home You'll find a page on this blog with the Start Date for each person in the Group, as well as the list of names on a blog post. *********************** Septaguint --> Masoretic Psalm Numbering Conversion (Septaguint numbering is for Greek or Orthodox Bibles, Masoretic is for Western Bibles (KJV, etc.) Septuagint (Greek) Masoretic (Hebrew) 1-8 1-8 9 9-10 10-112 Add 1 to the number of each psalm 113 114-115 114 116:1-9 115 116:10-19 116-145 Add 1 to the number of each psalm 146 147:1-11 147 147:12-20 148-150 148-150 The divisions of the psalms into kathismata (each kathisma is further divided into 3 stases) is as follows (using the Septuagint numbering): Kathisma Stasis 1 Psalm numbers Stasis 2 Psalm numbers Stasis 3 Psalm numbers I 1-3 4-6 7-8 II 9-10 11-13 14-16 III 17 18-20 21-23 IV 24-26 27-29 30-31 V 32-33 34-35 36 VI 37-39 40-42 43-45 VII 46-48 49-50 51-54 VIII 55-57 58-60 61-63 IX 64-66 67 68-69 X 70-71 72-73 74-76 XI 77 78-80 81-84 XII 85-87 88 89-90 XIII 91-93 94-96 97-100 XIV 101-102 103 104 XV 105 106 107-108 XVI 109-111 112-114 115-117 XVII 118:1-72 118:73-131 118:132-176 XVIII 119-123 124-128 129-133 XIX 134-136 137-139 140-142 XX 143-144 145-147 148-150
One manuscript, created in two countries by two different workshops, over a hundred years apart.
This is the second of a two-part series about the marginalia of the Gorleston Psalter; for more information, please see the post
[f. 168r] The Luttrell Psalter is a book that was commissioned by Sir Geoffrey Luttrell in the 14th century. It is best known for its outstanding marginalia, which combines religious events and iconography with scenes of everyday life in medieval times. Apparently they had squirrels as pets back then, which is a bit awesome. [f. 33r] [f. 201r] [f. 164v] There is only one copy of this text in existence, however the British Library recently digitised the manuscript, and you can check it out here. So you can look at this priceless artifact without leaving your couch. Pretty cool. The online viewer reveals that the ancient pages have retained much of their original colour, as the imagery is bright and clear throughout. As the British Library explains, Psalters are religious texts: The Psalms are 150 ancient songs, grouped together to form one of the Old Testament books of the Bible. In the Middle Ages (and down to the present day) they formed a fundamental part of Christian and Jewish worship, for ecclesiastics and lay-people alike; many people learnt to read by being taught the Psalms. The Psalms were often written out separately from the rest of the Bible, preceded by a calendar of the Church’s feast-days, and followed by various types of prayers. Such a volume is known as a Psalter. Accordingly, the Luttrell Psalter contains many biblical scenes depicting the adventures of saints and angels, and includes the story of Jesus himself (click to enlarge all pictures). [f. 86v] [f. 90v] [f. 93r] Due to my limited religious knowledge, I can't identify precisely what is going on in many places, although some events are rather disturbing. E.g. is this a zombie execution? [f. 108r] This naked man appears to be stuck on a cactus. Not that he is getting any sympathy. [f. 106v] [f. 60v] Who or what is this sinister hooded figure? [f. 60v detail] Why is this two-faced werewolf being told off? [f. 54v] I don't remember any of this happening in the Bible. [f. 47r] [f. 38r] [f. 34r] Excuse me what. [f. 155v] At this point it's probably obvious that the Luttrell Psalter is much more than 'just' a book of Psalms. As well as many scenes of rural life in the 1300s, it is packed with rude and beautiful medieval grotesques. [f. 154r] A number of anonymous artists participated in illustrating this text, but it seems one very imaginative person in particular may have been responsible for the creatures. The British Library again: The finest decoration is in the central section of the manuscript, painted by the most gifted of the artists. His pictures display acute observation and attention to detail - he even tidied up some of the other painters' work. His clear talent for inventiveness and gentle humour is expressed in the so-called 'grotesques': hybrid monstrosities that may combine a human head, an animal/fish/bird body, and a plant tail. The animals have attracted the interest of scholars and public alike. Many of these must have been products of the artist's imagination, and seem unrelated to the text they accompany. And there are so many. Big ones. Small ones. Ones with bird hats. [f. 30r] [f. 212r] [f. 201v] [f. 58r] Or birds with hats on... [f. 185r] [f. 186v] That guy above seems to be wearing the medieval version of a fedora. I can't emphasise enough: if you are a fan of grotesquerie, surreal art, animals, or weirdly wonderful things in general, you need to check out the Luttrell Psalter. [f. 168r] It's really difficult to try and pick my favourites, but here are a few more amazing ones (there are many others): [f. 48r] [f. 27r] [f. 50r] [f. 203v] [f. 56v] [f. 81r] [f. 82v] [f. 50r] [f.58r] [f. 182v] [f. 72v] [f. 61r] [f. 74r] [f. 200v] [f. 191r] [f. 188v] [f. 194v] For first-time users of the BL digital archive, please note - to access the Luttrell Psalter, first go here, then scroll down and click 'View: bindings': Then you can use the buttons on the upper right to turn the pages and explore the book. To find specific pages, use the drop down menu on the furthest right. You can see the reference number for each page - e.g. f. 56r - and you can chase up all the grotesques I've posted here that way as well. (Adding these instructions because it took me a little while to work it out the first time. Not the sharpest tool in the shed.) [f. 77r] Right, I think that's enough gushing from me. If you're interested in these kinds of texts and images, I would encourage you to follow the British Library's medieval manuscripts people on Twitter. Click the 'traditional grotesque' keyword tag below if you want to read other posts about these kinds of beasties. [f. 52v]
ID: 021595 Title: Luttrell Psalter Provenance: England [East Anglia]; circa 1325-1335 Caption: Psalm 24; Thomas Becket Notes: [Whole folio] Text; Psalm 24 beginning with initial 'D', a nimbed man resembling Christ stands pointing to his mouth. Marginal decoration, including a robin, a green parrot, and a jay. In lower margin, the Martyrdom of St.Thomas Becket. Thomas kneels in front of an altar, with four knights behind him; the nearest knight, Reginald Fitzurse, is cleaving the saint's head with a golden sword. Image taken from Luttrell Psalter. Originally published/produced in England [East Anglia]; circa 1325-1335. Language: Latin Source identifier: Add. 42130, f.51 British Library Shelfmark: Add. 42130 If you wish to purchase a high quality copy of this image, please place an order at Images Online imagesonline.bl.uk. The details from the above list should help you locate the images.
This psalter was copied in England (probably London) in the first quarter of the fifteenth century. It contains eight large decorated initials each one marking a liturgical division of the psalter. The Beatus initial shown here (Psalm 1) is illuminated with gold. The border contains interlinked stems of trumpet-shaped flowers, stamens and acanthus leaves, with two prancing dragons at the lower edge. Psalters contained the 150 psalms from the Old Testament. They could also include some other standard texts such as a liturgical calendar, a litany, and the canticles (Old Testament songs). The psalter was the most popular type of illuminated book from the eleventh to the fourteenth century. Thereafter the Book of Hours became the most important channel for illuminations. Because psalms played a central role in the performance of the medieval liturgy, psalters were kept at altars and were owned by individual monks and clergy. Psalms were also read extensively for private devotion by both monks and secular clerics. This practice spread to the laity so that, from at least the twelfth century, richly decorated psalters became a form of personal prayer book.
We are happy to welcome to the blog Dr. Katrin Kania who joins us with a guest post about medieval spinning. She is a freelance textile archaeologist and teacher as well as a published academic who…
Leaf Excised from a Psalter: The Annunciation, c. 1260. Flanders, Liège(?), 13th century. Tempera and burnished gold on vellum; sheet: 12 x 8.5 cm (4 3/4 x 3...
