The Utrecht Psalter

The Utrecht Psalter is named for its place of current residence at Utrecht University in the Netherlands rather than the place it was made. It is believed to have started its journey in Reims (France) or nearby at Hautvilliers abbey, around 820-830 possibly for Charlemagne's wife or one of his sons. It then went on a long journey to end up in Utrecht and was given over to the university in 1716 and is today the “pride” of Utrecht University's Library and is the most famous in any Dutch collection. Its Carolingian origins are noticeable in the organization of the text. While it does not use the hierarchy of text that Carolingian writing became known for and the except for several pages at the end it is written solely in rustic capitols, it does use the red ink to signify the start of sentences and different Psalms. The organization of the writing is extremely clear and the letters themselves are clean and beautiful throughout the entire book, even in the part that changes the script to uncial, and must have been done by an experienced scribe.

The book begins with a full page drawing or sketch done in brown walnut ink and the text itself starts off with a beautifully illuminated letter. And we can see the gold leafing has rubbed against the other page and left an imprint of it on the drawing. This is the only letter illuminated in such detail, although there are other letters that have gold leaf. The sparing use of gold leaf or color in the manuscript is intriguing as it was supposedly commissioned for royalty, and in comparison to other books made for Charlemagne's family (like The Godescalc Evangelistary) it may seem rather plain in comparison. The thing that really makes the Utrecht Psalter so unique and intriguing is not only its long journey but also its unusual style. Throughout the book there are more drawings/sketches that illustrate the psalms. This manuscript is essentially a Medieval picture book. The drawings differ from the standard of the time as they are uncolored and resemble sketches. It is these drawings that makes the Utrecht Psalter a masterpiece.

While the Utrecht Psatler is done in the Reims style with Carolingian influence it is also very innovative for its time with the combined elements of text and drawing. These sketches differ not only in style but also composition than other images in manuscripts of the time. There is a lack of formal quality to them not only because of their lack of paint but also in the composition themselves. The style of the images resembles Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights, a painting done centuries later in the Netherlands, rather than anything else we have seen that is contemporary to it, such as The Godescalc Evangelistary, which was also commissioned for Charlemagne's family (more specifically, his wife). The images in the Utrecht Psalter lack the Roman and Byzantine formality (although they do use Roman iconography) and in comparison are more of brown wisps dancing across the pages that bring to life the story in the psalms. These drawings depict a great array of subjects in a way that resembles paintings rather than manuscript illustrations, and is extremely innovative for its time. This psalter would influence many psalters for centuries—an amazing feat for a manuscript. And it is possible that its drawings influenced more than just manuscripts, like the painting by Bosch I mentioned earlier, which many others have also seen the similarity between the two.

Psalms are not by nature very narrative and so to bring them to life in such a way as has been done here must have taken great amounts of imagination as well as an immense intellectual program. Some believe that there are also political messages in some of the illustrations, although it is hard to prove motive behind the illustrations without knowing who drew them and/or who designed them in the first place. In many Medieval and Renaissance paintings it was not the artist who decided what would go into the painting but someone else who would come up with the program, and since we do not even know who made this manuscript it is hard to say whether the artists and designer are one and the same or not. It is relatively certain that it was not one single artist but at least eight different artists who illustrated the book, which makes sense given the sheer amount of drawings. Between the large amount of drawings and the length of the book itself it must have taken a long time to create.

 It is also interesting how the visual and the textual were chosen to be combined in this way where usually the visual was used more for decoration or for illiterate people, but the fact that it is in a book makes it very exclusive for someone who was educated and fully literate. If we run with the theory that the book was commissioned for Charlemagne's newborn son it could in some way be a Medieval picture book that young Charles would read as a child. While this manuscript was commissioned for royalty it would also have fascinated even illiterate commoners with its drawings. This gives it a unique versatility that is part of what makes it so original and also what makes it so interesting to study. What were the real intentions behind the program of this book?

The Moutier-Grandval Bible

The Moutier-Grandval Bible finds its place in History as the product of Charlemagne’s desire to represent himself as an heir to the great Scholarly heritage of the Roman Empire, and to lift it out of what we would call today: The dark ages. In order to do so, he brought people from around the world in order to re-vitalize this aspect of his empire. One of the people he brought was Alcuin of York, who made books from the Vulgate translations of the Bible in Charlemagne’s scriptorium. The Moutier-Grandval Bible was not made in Alcuin’s time however, it was made under the Abbot Adalhard (834-843 C.E.) it nonetheless gives one the idea and impression one could receive from a Vulgate Translation completed under Alcuin. The codex has 449 folios, has dimensions of 495 x 380 mm and has capital text consisting of square capitals and uncial script. The main text is a form of Caroline Minuscule.

The name of the manuscript comes from the monastery of Moutier-Grandval, which is in Switzerland. The Manuscript resided here from the 16th to 18th Century’s before finding itself in the hands of Private collectors. One of whom donated it to the British Library who digitized it. Digitizing the manuscript was especially difficult due to the large size of the Manuscript and its fragility. As a result a special cradle had to be constructed in order to safely digitize it.

This is a picture of the cradle that was constructed in order to digitize the manuscript. The manuscript is lying inside of the cradle. I have always wondered what the actual digitization of a manuscript might look like, and that is it. I wonder if the specialized cradle would have to be significantly modified in order to digitize other manuscripts of different sizes, or is that cradle now an excellent resource of the archivists, useful for many more projects. This provides a window into the politics and economics of digitization and archival studies.

As you look at these pages from the manuscript, try to ask yourself a few questions. What would a manuscript writer (scribe) be trying to accomplish with the design of the manuscript? How does the manuscript compare to the mass printed bibles of today? Can the art in the manuscript be appreciated outside of the context of what the manuscript is actually portraying?

What immediately strikes me is the rich purple of the text. Known since ancient times as the color of royalty purple is employed here to enhance the majesty of the text. This seems to go along more with the idea of Books as objects of Veneration than as books as actual reading material. The size of the Manuscript itself also seems to belie that. This particular page is from the section of the bible devoted to Jerome’s commentary, in the very beginning. Jerome (who is often depicted with a lion in his study) was the translator of the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible.

This page is from the section of the bible concerning the seven seals. This is from the Book of Revelation. The Seven seals are depicted on this page. This would have been a very important chapter of the Vulgate for the scribes and illuminators as Christianity is what is considered an apocalyptic religion in that it concerns itself with the end of the world. Notice the dress of the humanoid figures in the picture. It appears to be roman style dress. This would also be very important for the creators of the manuscript as they felt that by creating masterful copies of manuscripts they were adding their mark to the long roman heritage of scholasticism that they felt that they inherited from the Roman Empire.

This is an illustration from the first chapter of the Bible, Genesis. What you can see (going from top left to bottom right) is the creation of Eve from the dust of the ground, the creation of Adam, the meeting of Adam and eve, the admonishment from God not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, God confronting them concerning their decision, the expulsion from Eden and the settlement of the land outside. It is very interesting to me that in this picture it shows Eve being created first despite the mainline Biblical narrative suggesting that Adam was created first. A feminist interpretation would be very interesting here. I also wonder if perhaps this was done as a certain tilt of the head towards the old roman Goddess veneration. As I am no scholar in these matters I only have my conjecture to offer regarding that.

In conclusion, the Moutier Bible is a very important work because of all that it symbolizes in regards to the time period that it was made. Desperate for the power and prestige that came from the old Roman Empire these manuscripts are literally relics of an attempt to legitimize themselves as proper heirs worthy to claim the title of Romans. All of these, from the royal purple to the ornate illustrations serves that exact same purpose, to increase prestige. There is no way the average person would be able to properly read and study these and that was the point. They were not made for mass production or digestion. They were made to recapture a feeling of Nostalgia the Romans would never experience again.

All information for this post as well as any pictures were taken from http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_10546, http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=add_ms_10546_f001r and http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2013/07/a-carolingian-masterpiece-the-moutier-grandval-bible.html.

—Mason Smith

The Utrecht Psalter

   The Utrecht Psalter is a widely praised manuscript but not a very well known one. It is valued for its illuminations, which are completely different, stylistically, then any manuscript that had come before it. The Psalter was made in 820-830 in Reims or the abbey of Hautivilliers, possibly commissioned by the archbishop Ebbo. It might have been a gift for Charlemagne’s son Louis the Pious, his wife, or his newborn son (who would grow up to be Charles the Bald).  The psalter itself is a songbook from the Old Testament and was used in prayer; psalters at this time were popular among the wealthy.   The manuscript contains Roman iconography and the use of the late Roman capitalis rustica as script, and to specialists, it appears to show that the illustrations are (partly) based on one or more models from the 5th century. The illustrations have Carolingian elements, interests and interpretations alongside of this. Some even suspect political messages in certain illustrations. The manuscript ended up in Canterbury around the year 1000, where it inspired the production of the Harley Psalter (11th century), the Eadwine Psalter (12th century) and the Paris (Anglo-Catalan) psalter (12th century).
   After the Reformation a famous collector Robert Cotton (d. 1631) ended up with the manuscript. He had it rebound, and added twelve leaves of a Gospel from Northumbria made in the early 8th century. It was then stolen from Cotton and ended up in the Netherlands. After this it ended up with Willem de Ridder, a Utrecht citizen, who gave it to the University Library in the Janskerk in 1716. This is the reason that the manuscript ended up being called the Utrecht Psalter. The Psalter is famous today for being one of the first manuscripts to be reproduced fully in photographic facsimile. It was done in 1873 at request of the British government and led to the founding of the London Paleography Society. Since, it has been published four times as a facsimile, the only manuscript to do this.
   Within the manuscript there are 166 pen drawings that accompany the text of each of the 150 psalms and sixteen added biblical hymn texts called canticles. The drawings are not in the style popular at the period the manuscript was created. In fact the drawings are most similar to modern art. It wasn’t one artist who created the illustrations but probably around eight.  The drawings have been compared to the work of the artist Jeroen Bosch, but researchers who have studied the manuscript do not know who, if anyone, inspired the artists. Illustrations in the manuscript show buildings, landscapes and heavens, full of kings, soldiers, angels, saints, sinners, craftsmen, musicians, children or a selection from the animal kingdom. Christ, the psalmist or David often plays central parts. But also Atlas, the mouth of Hell or demons with tridents appears in some scenes.
   Below I have included three illuminations from the manuscript that are interesting and exemplify the artistic style used in the manuscript.

Folio 1v

    The illumination on Folio 1v is across from Folio 2r, which holds the related text. The illustration is meant to visualize the first psalm in the manuscript. The image shows a seated figure reading a book, contemplating Gods law, in the top left. The moon, sun and stars above him are meant to represent that he works day and night. In the top right, opposite the devout man, are sinners holding weapons, there is also a snake, which is usually the animal associated with evil and the devil. In between the ‘good’ and ‘evil’ are the beatus vir (blessed man) standing on running water. Lower in the image there is a tree with more lawless men who are being buffeted by a wind that is personified by a human face. This is showing they cannot stand where God’s law exists. The road coming to a dead end past the lawless men is showing their path leads to hells which is a literally a hole in the ground with flying demons helping them to their doom.
 

Folio 15b

    Folio 15b illustrates Psalm 27. It shows winged figures with spears that seem to be stabbing at “workers of iniquity”. To the left is a king stands in front of a temple and above this are Christ and his angels. At the bottom of the image there is a great hole in the ground leading to hell and the figures appear to be pushed in by winged figures.
 

Folio 58r

Detail 1

Detail 2

     One of the more interesting illuminations is Psalm 101 (now 102) Folio 58r. Christ is at the top center and he is surrounded on both sides by begging angels. The psalmist, those who meditate on the text of the psalm, is in the middle. Below this are kings and nobleman paying their respects along with orphans and the poor seeking help. On the left there are angels with hammers and chisels who are God’s servants working with the stones of Zion. Part of the background stands out because it is a classical in nature. It shows a naked reclining woman surrounded by small children. The woman is meant to represent the earth (terra) and the horn (of plenty) she holds in her arms is meant to symbolize fertility. They are the next generation that is mentioned in verse 19. But more interesting then that is in the bottom left towards the center. Right next to a king, to the right of the king specifically, there is a floating face. It doesn’t belong to the scene and is looking in the wrong direction; it is also drawn in the wrong style. It is flaw that either occurred while the manuscript was being made or it happened later.