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Melisende Psalter.
Richly decorated Latin Psalter (London, BL, Egerton MS. 1139), probably commissioned for but not by Queen Melisende, wife of Fulk V of Anjou, King of Jerusalem (reg 113143), in the scriptorium of the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem (c. 1135). When it was bought by the British Museum in 1845, it was said to have come from the Grande Chartreuse, the mother house of the Carthusian Order, in Grenoble. There are 24 prefatory New Testament illustrations (fols 1r12v) by an artist who signed one of the folios, 12v, in Latin Basilius me fecit. Although Basilius was apparently of Western origin, he had a Greek name and was thoroughly steeped in the Byzantine painting tradition (for illustration of fol. 9v, see JERUSALEM, LATIN KINGDOM OF, fig. 2). The 12 roundels with Signs of the Zodiac in the calendar (fols 13v19r) are, however, painted in a fluent Romanesque style by a different illuminator. Yet another technique and style can be seen in the eight exquisite historiated and illuminated initials at the Psalter divisions (fols 23v177r). These are reminiscent of earlier work from Montecassino Abbey and combine English, Italian and Islamic motifs. A fourth illuminator, who imitated the Byzantine style of Basilius but in a Romanesque idiom, painted the portraits of the saints accompanying the prayers composed for a lay woman at the end of the codex (fols 177v218r). The remarkable ivory covers, with scenes from the Life of King David and from the Psychomachia carved on one side and a King Performing Acts of Mercy on the other, reflect the royal patronage of the manuscript. Byzantine royal iconography is combined with the Western imagery of the Virtues and Vices and the theme of the acts of mercy in a ByzantineIslamic style. A purely Byzantine silk embroidered with a polystavrion design of equal-armed crosses in red, green and blue completes the binding on the spine of the book. This rich mélange of East and West is characteristic of Crusader art, of which this manuscript is the finest 12th-century example.
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- Psalters
- Bas-de-page
- Bible, §I: Christian
- Breviary
- Manuscript, §II, 1(iii): Production and trade: Gothic
- Manuscript, §III, 2(ii)(a): Types of illustrated text: Liturgical and devotional
- Psalter
- Service book
- historical and regional traditions
- Anglo-Saxon
- Bulgaria
- Byzantine
- Carolingian
- England
- Gothic
- Romanesque
- Scotland
- individual manuscripts
- Achadaeus Psalter (Cambridge, Corpus Christi Coll., MS. 271)
- Alphonso Psalter (London, BL, MS. Add. 24686)
- Athelstan Psalter (London, BL, Cotton MS. Galba A. XVIII; Oxford, Bodleian Lib., MS. Rawlinson B. 484)
- Bedford Psalter (London, BL, Add. MS. 42131)
- Besançon Psalter (Besançon, Bib. Mun., MS. 54)
- Boswell Psalter see Kinloss Psalter
- Bosworth Psalter (London, BL, Add. MS. 37517)
- Bury St Edmunds Psalter (Rome, Vatican, Bib. Apostolica, MS. Reg. lat. 12)
- Cathach of St Columba (Dublin, Royal Irish Acad., s. n.)
- Chludov Psalter (Moscow, Hist. Mus., MS. D.29)
- Copenhagen Psalter (Copenhagen, Kon. Bib. MS. Thott, 143.2)
- Corbie Psalter (Amiens, Bib. Mun., MS. 18)
- Dagulf Psalter (Vienna, Österreich. NBib., Cad. 1861)
- Eadui Psalter (London, BL, Arundel MS. 155)
- Eadwine Psalter (Cambridge, Trinity Coll., MS. R.17.1)
- Felbrigge Psalter
- Fitzwarin Psalter (Paris, Bib. N., MS. lat. 765)
- Folchart Psalter (St Gall, Stift.-Bib., 23)
- Gewijde van Dampierre Psalter (Brussels, Bib. Royale Albert 1er, MS 10607)
- Gorleston Psalter (London, BL, Add. MS. 49622)
- Harley Psalter (London, BL, Harley MS. 603)
- Huntingfield Psalter (New York, Pierpont Morgan Lib., MS. M. 43)
- Ingeborg Psalter (Chantilly, Mus. Condé, MS. 1695)
- Calendar, §2: Manuscript illustrations
- France, §III, 1(iii): Painting and graphic arts: Gothic
- Gothic, §VIII, 2: Stained glass: France
- Muldenfaltenstil
- Orléans, House of: (10) Henri-Eugène-Philippe-Louis dOrléans, Duc dAumale
- Romanesque, §IV, 2(vi)(g): Manuscript painting: Late Romanesque and Transitional
- Transitional style, §2: Figural arts
- Valois, House of: (2) Charles V, King of France
- Isabella Psalter (Cambridge, Fitzwilliam, MS.300)
- King's Psalter (Paris, Bib. N., MS.lat. 1152)
- Luttrell Psalter (London, BL, Add. MS. 42130)
- Melisende Psalter (London, BL, MS. Egerton 1139)
- Paris Psalter (Paris, Bib. N., MS. grec 139)
- Peterborough Psalter (Brussels, Bib. Royale Albert 1er, MSS 9961-2)
- Psalterium Aureum (St Gall., Stift.-Bib., 22)
- Psalter of Bonmont (Besançon, Bib. Mun., MS. 54)
- Psalter of Bonne of Luxembourg (New York, Cloisters, MS. 69. 88)
- Psalter of Charles the Bald (Paris, Bib. N., MS. lat. 1152)
- Psalter of Duchess Mathilda (Baltimore, MD, Walters A.G., MS. W10)
- Psalter of Henry of Blois see Winchester Psalter
- Psalter of Jean, Duc de Berry (Paris, Bib. N., MS. fr. 13091)
- Psalter of Jeanne de Laval (Poitiers, Bib. Mun., MS. 41)
- Psalter of Mary Tudor see Queen Mary Psalter
- Psalter of Robert de Lisle (London, BL, Arundel MS. 83)
- Psalter of S Egigio
- Psalter of Yolande of Soissons (New York, Pierpont Morgan Lib., MS. M. 729)
- Queen Mary Psalter (London, BL, Royal MS. 2.B.VII)
- Ramsey Psalter (London, BL, Harley MS. 2904)
- Ramsey Psalter (St Paul im Lavanttal, Stiftsbib., MS. 58/1)
- Rhygyfarch Psalter (Dublin, Trinity Coll. Lib)
- Riccardiana Psalter (Florence, Bib. Riccardiana, MS. 323)
- Ruodprecht Psalter (Cividale del Friuli, Mus. Archeol. N., Cod. 136)
- St Albans Psalter (Hildesheim, St Godehardkirche)
- St Bertin Psalter (Boulogne, Bib. Mun., MS. 20)
- St Louis Psalter (Paris, Bib. N., MS. lat. 10525)
- St Omer Psalter (London, BL, Yates Thompson MS. 14)
- Stockholm Psalter (Stockholm, Nmus., B. 2010)
- Stuttgart Psalter (Stuttgart, Württemberg. Landesbib., MS. bibl. fol. 23)
- Tomich Psalter (Moscow, Hist. Mus., MS. 2752)
- Utrecht Psalter (Utrecht, Bib. Rijksuniv., MS. 32)
- Vespasian Psalter (London, BL, Cotton MS. Vesp. A. I)
- Winchester Psalter (London, BL, Cotton MS. Nero C. IV)
- Winchester Psalter (London, BL, Cotton MS. Tib. C. VI) see Tiberius Psalter
- types
- Mainz Psalter
- Psalmorum Codex
- see also BIBLES; OLD TESTAMENTS
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