The Isabella Psalter also called the Psalter of Queen Isabella or Psalter of Isabella of England, is a fourteenth-century psalter

Psalter

A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the later medieval emergence of the book of hours, psalters were the books most widely owned by wealthy lay persons and were...

 named for Isabella of France

Isabella of France

Isabella of France , sometimes described as the She-wolf of France, was Queen consort of England as the wife of Edward II of England. She was the youngest surviving child and only surviving daughter of Philip IV of France and Joan I of Navarre...

, who is herself depicted in it; it was likely a gift upon her betrothal or marriage. The illuminated manuscript is also notable for its bestiary

Bestiary

A bestiary, or Bestiarum vocabulum is a compendium of beasts. Bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals, birds and even rocks. The natural history and illustration of each beast was usually accompanied by a moral lesson...

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Origin and history of the manuscript

The psalter was produced ca. 1303-1308. Like its "closest relation," the Tickhill Psalter

Tickhill Psalter

The Tickhill Psalter is an 14th century illuminated manuscript. It is beautifully illuminated with scenes from the life of King David. Created in the early 14th century, the manuscript was originally part of the library of the Worksop Priory in north Nottinghamshire. It is now kept in the New York...

, it shows a French influence and is similar in content and style to the Queen Mary Psalter

Queen Mary Psalter

The Queen Mary Psalter is a fourteenth-century psalter named for Mary I of England, who received it in 1553. Besides devotional texts, the illuminated manuscript contains a bestiary. The psalter is an important devotional text and is noted for its beauty, and is called "one ofthe choicest...

 and the Ormesby Psalter. Like the Queen Mary and Tickhill psalters, and like the Egerton Gospel

Egerton Gospel

The Egerton Gospel refers to a group of papyrus fragments of a codex of a previously unknown gospel, found in Egypt and sold to the British Museum in 1934; the physical fragments are now dated to the very end of the 2nd century AD, although the date of composition is less clear – perhaps 50-100 AD...

 and the Holkham Picture Bible, some of its captions and illustrations can be traced to the twelfth-century Historia scholastica

Historia scholastica

The Historia Scholastica is a twelfth-century Biblical paraphrase written in Medieval Latin by Petrus Comestor. Sometimes called the "Medieval Popular Bible", it draws on the Bible and other sources, including the works of classical scholars and the Fathers of the Church, to present a universal...

; all these fourteenth-century manuscripts may have "a thirteenth-century Parisian antecedent, reflected in the Tours Genesis window" (in reference to a window in the clerestory

Clerestory

Clerestory is an architectural term that historically denoted an upper level of a Roman basilica or of the nave of a Romanesque or Gothic church, the walls of which rise above the rooflines of the lower aisles and are pierced with windows. In modern usage, clerestory refers to any high windows...

 of the Tours Cathedral). It is currently held in the Bavarian State Library

Bavarian State Library

The Bavarian State Library in Munich is the central "Landesbibliothek", i. e. the state library of the Free State of Bavaria and one of Europe's most important universal libraries. With its collections currently comprising around 9.39 million books, it ranks among the best research libraries...

, Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

.

According to Donald Drew Egbert, the illuminators belong to the same group that illuminated the Tickhill Psalter. Art historian Ellen Beer, however, states that while there are similarties, Egbert is too quick to identify the illuminators (whom he connects to four other manuscripts as well). According to Beer, two of the illuminators responsible for the Psalter of St. Louis

Psalter of St. Louis

The Psalter of Saint Louis is an illuminated psalter created for the saint King Louis IX of France sometime between the death of his mother Blanche of Castile in 1253 and his death in 1270...

 can be recognized in the Isabella Psalter.

Description

The psalter measures 28,7 x 20,2 cm and consists of 131 parchment pages. The first section is a calendar, with two illuminations per page, followed by a section with illuminations of scenes from the Old Testament and a complete bestiary, which (as in the Queen Mary Psalter) are executed as marginalia

Marginalia

Marginalia are scribbles, comments, and illuminations in the margins of a book.- Biblical manuscripts :Biblical manuscripts have liturgical notes at the margin, for liturgical use. Numbers of texts' divisions are given at the margin...

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External links

• Isabella Psalter at the Bavarian State Library
  Bavarian State Library
  The Bavarian State Library in Munich is the central "Landesbibliothek", i. e. the state library of the Free State of Bavaria and one of Europe's most important universal libraries. With its collections currently comprising around 9.39 million books, it ranks among the best research libraries...