The Theodore Psalter is an illustrated manuscript and compilation of the Psalms and the canticles, or Odes from the Old Testament.[1] "This Psalter has been held in the British Library since 1853 as Additional 19.352," wrote Princeton Art History professor Charles Barber in his first essay that is a companion to the Theodore Psalter E-Facsimile.[2] Barber called the Psalter, "One of the richest illuminated manuscripts to survive from Byzantium."[2]
He goes on to say, "This essay will introduce a number of the various approaches that have been brought to bear upon this work. In reviewing these wide-ranging approaches it will be possible both to define the questions that have shaped the reception of this work and to formulate some possibilities for future research."[2]
Colophon of the Theodore Psalter--MS 19352, f 208
The Psalter
The Psalms are a book within the Old Testament, written in metered verse, or twelve-syllable poetic lines, and are thought to be musical. They have been compared to a harp, or other instruments of music.[1] Byzantine psalters stand out in historically because of the religious and spiritual artistic qualities the Byzantine Empire was known for. This includes images and icons painted by hand. The art within the Byzantine psalters were specifically unique because of the history surrounding the creation and use of images two centuries before during opposition to icons in the Iconoclastic controversy.[3]
A psalter is a book made specifically to contain the 150 psalms from the book of Psalms. Psalters have also included the odes or canticles, which are songs or prayers in song form from the Old Testament. Psalters were created purely for liturgical purposes, and the Psalms were the most popular books of the Old Testament in Byzantium.[1]
The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium observed, "Like a garden, the book of Psalms contains, and puts in musical form everything that is to be found in other books, and shows, in addition, its own particular qualities."[4]:1752 Additionally, psalters could be used as a form of guided prayer or meditation.[1]
Theodore the Scribe
Theodore Psalter MS 19352, ff 191v-192 Theodore Psalter MS 19352, ff 189v-191
Barber wrote in "Essay One" of the Theodore Psalter E-Facsimile, "Completed in Constantinople in February 1066, the 208 folios of this manuscript include 440 separate images, making this the most fully illuminated Psalter to come down from the Byzantine Empire."[5]
He further writes, "Before entering upon this historiographical discussion the manuscript itself should be introduced. In recent years this Psalter has come to be known as the Theodore Psalter, a name that memorializes the scribe mentioned in the manuscript's colophon, (folio 208r). In its modern binding, the manuscript is 208 folios in length and gathered into twenty-six quires. Each quire is numbered in the lower margin of its opening folio (except where cut) in carmine and black and on the final folio in black."[2]
Barber adds, "The prayer of dedication and the colophon found that the final opening of the manuscript (folios 207v-208r) provide precise information on the production of this manuscript. The colophon, written on folio 208r can be translated as follows: "This volume of the divine Psalms was completed in the month of February of the fourth indiction of the year 6574 [i.e. 1066 C.E.] on the order of the divinely inspired felker and synkellos Michael, abbot of the all-holy and all-blessed monastery."[5]
Barber added, "The name of the monastery is lost, but from other evidence within the manuscript we know that it was the Stoudios Monastery in Constantinople."[5] The second part of the colophon reads,
"Written and written in gold by the hand of Theodore the protopresbyter of this monastery and scribe from Caesarea, whose shepherd and luminary was the glorious and brilliant Basil, who was truly great and was also so named."[5]
Professor Barber continues, "First, there is Theodore from Caesaera. He describes himself as an archpriest and scribe of the monastery. Furthermore, he has defined himself within this last role in two ways: he has both written and written in gold this manuscript. Clearly, Theodore should be identified with the hands-on production of this work. The second name is the abbot of the monastery, Michael, who is described as the divinely inspired father and synkellos of the monastery and about whom we have no other firm information. The colophon shows that Michael is to be understood as the patron of this book, which was made at his order.[5]
The Stoudios Monastery was known for its rigorous academic and artistic excellence, and especially in the Byzantine style of religious icons. A protopresbyteros is an archpriest—a kind of clerk and monk.[1]
Liturgy and the Psalms
The Byzantine Empire witnessed a very prolific movement in the creation of art.[3] The legalization of Christianity by Emperor Constantine in 313 inspired works of art linked to this new religious movement, specifically icons, and they became very popular, and the quintessential art form from Byzantine.[3] Church services created and inspired by religious devotion were called liturgical services.[4]:1240Liturgy was the concept behind icons, ceremonies or rituals, and the creation of religious books. The act of reading the Psalms was not new. It was thought that icons created a mental universe for the reader imbued with images derived from texts.[6]
Art History Professor Herbert L. Kessler believes such manuscripts were created to transport the reader to a different place, a place with high spiritual aspirations. He mentions an illuminated manuscript, the Gospel of St. Luke, and writes, "This eleventh-century manuscript demonstrates a trend of the High Middle Ages in which transcendental contemplation was initiated by abstract means. Here, thin washes of celestial colors elevate the animal flesh itself, the vellum on which words and pictures are elsewhere inscribed, to guide the viewer's thoughts from the physical world toward (though not all the way to) the invisible God."[7]
Illustrations and images
Theodore Psalter--Courtesy of the British Library; London, U.K.
The Theodore Psalter features 440 miniatures, or illustrations. They are ‘marginal’ miniatures; they appear in the margins of the book. The miniatures include illustrations from the Gospels, liturgical illustrations and hagiographical miniatures, or stories about Christ.[4]:2046 The word miniature means illustration, and originates with the word minium, which had nothing to do with size or the word ‘minimum’. Instead, the word refers to the red lead of the pencils used in the 9th century for these psalters. Throughout the psalter there are both red and blue lines connecting the miniatures to text, much like the way we today link text to photos or other websites.
The Theodore Psalter miniatures convey allegorical meaning from the Psalms or the Odes, and have "an extra layer of meaning supplied by images displaying vigorous anti-Iconoclastic propaganda".[4]:1753 One example is Mathew commenting on the Psalms.
There are animals: goats and dogs: mice and birds including pelicans; a dragon and unicorn; and a Tree of Life. There are men playing music, and vegetation.
Professor Barber continues his commentary on the Psalter, "The image and prayer on folio 207v develop our understanding of Michael's possession of the book. A blessing bust of Christ can be assumed in the medallion. Below and to the right is a standing figure of David, clearly labeled, wearing royal costume and carrying a psaltery. Between them, and now almost lost, is the faint trace of a third figure. This bearded man carries a book in his left hand, looks up toward Christ, and gestures with his right hand. He is identified by the text written around him: "Our most Holy Father Michael, the abbot and synkellos, the Stoudite says...He says, "Savior, take hold of the finished book of your prophet and wise king." The image and text together indicate that the Psalter is shown in the left hand of Michael. David is identified as the author of the Psalms, but it is Michael who possesses, for the moment, the Psalter. (see Essay 3). It is his to give to Christ. The manuscript's final opening provides a writer-producer (Theodore), a patron-possessor (Michael), an ordinary author (David), and a national recipient (Christ). In addition, the texts indicate that the manuscript was completed in February 1066. Taken together, this information provides rare precise details on the location of the production and the possession of a Byzantine Illuminated manuscript. As such, the Theodore Psalter necessarily provides a fixed point in any discussion of eleventh-century Constantinopolitan illumination."[8]
This kind of scene occurs throughout the Psalter, and there are surprising examples.
Professor Robin Cormack writes in his book Byzantine Art about the Theodore Psalter. Patriarch Nikephoros, an Orthodox patriarch who supported the use of icons 250 years before, during the Iconoclastic Debate, appears in the text, and there are conversations, but there is a surprising twist. He is replaced by a monk who had lived at the monastery at the same time. That monk was Theodore the Studite who was made a saint after his death, and who had been persecuted for actively supporting the making and the using icons.[3]
Professor Cormack writes, "The prominent role of Patriarch Nikephoros, as triumphant iconophile is replaced with portraits of the monk St. Theodore the Studite. Natural though it was to celebrate a past member of the community in which the manuscript was made, it slants the opposition to iconoclasm away from patriarch to monk."[3]
Miniature from the Theodore Psalter. Courtesy of the British Library.
There is another interesting detail, and that is the image of the pelican in the manuscript. Eriko Tsuji wrote an article about the Theodore Psalter and the appearance of the image of a pelican, " Where both the Chludov (Moscow, Historical Museum, 129d) and the Barberini Psalters show a bird nesting on a column as an illustration of Psalms 103:17 ("There the sparrows will build their nests; and the house of the heron takes the lead among them," the Theodore Psalter has precisely the same composition at Psalms 101:7, "I have become like a pelican of the wilderness; I have become like an owl in the ruined house"). Theodore must have moved the miniature intentionally because he added a new motif instead of the bird on a column as an illustration of Psalms 103:17. The illustration of the bird on a column was regarded as a pelican in the Theodore Psalter because of the relationship to the word "Pelican" in the text. Though the miniature of the pelican itself is now lost, we have a photograph of the miniature of Crucifixion interpreting a fable of the pelican. It is obvious among the monks of the monastery that the pelican can be considered as an image of the Passion of Christ. The miniature cycle of the Theodore Psalter was devised for the abbot of the monastery. By examining the miniatures as a product of the highly intellectual culture of the monastery, we can speculate that the modification by Theodore is a reflection of the interests and concerns of the Stoudios monastery in the eleventh century."[9]
Experience of the Icon
Art historian and Stanford professor Bissera Pentcheva points out that the icon must be experienced with the senses:
"Focusing on the Byzantine icon, this study plunges into the realm of senses and performative objects. To us, the Greek word for icon, designates portraits of Christ, Mary, angels, saints, and prophets painted in encaustic or tempera on wooden boards. By contrast, eikon in Byzantium had a wide semantic spectrum ranging from hallowed bodies permeated by the Spirit, such as the Stylite saintes or the Eucharist, to imprinted images on the surfaces of metal, stone, and earth. Eikon designated matter imbued with divine pneuma, releasing charis, or grace. As matter, this object was meant to be physically experienced. Touch, smell, taste, and sound were part of "seeing" an eikon."[10]
Text and Script
There are two kinds of script used in the Theodore Psalter. One is called majuscule, and is a kind of calligraphy consisting of large or upper case letters. In the Theodore Psalter the majuscule lettering appears in gold. The other kind of text or script used in the manuscript is a smaller text called minuscule. It is also a kind of calligraphy established in the 8th and 9th century by Charlemagne and revived during the Italian Renaissance. Minuscule is the foundational script that forms the basis of the present day Roman upper and lower case type. These small letters appear in red and gold throughout the text, and the cover has those same colors in majuscule.
Professor Barber adds, "the predominant script is a minuscule perlschrift typical of the eleventh century. A gilded majuscule is used for emphasized passages and titles. The text is written beneath the ruled line in brown ink, although certain passages, titles, and initial letters of Psalm verses are written in gold on carmine ink. A varied system of marks in carmine or blue link text and image is in this manuscript." Barber adds that the (ruling) pattern is relatively uncommon. "The text block is ruled for a single column of text and measures approximately 10.6 cm by 15.2 cm. The number of text lines varies between twenty and twenty-four; normally these are consistent within a quire. The Psalter contains 151 Psalms (folios 1-189r), a unique twelve-syllable poem on the early life of David (folios 189v-191r), a prayer for the abbot of a monastery (folios 191v-192), ten biblical odes (folios 192v-208r), and a dedication and colophon (folios 207v and 208r). The Psalms and Odes are numbered next to their titles and the Psalm text is divided into hathismata and doxai, reflecting common monastic practice. Numerous initial letters are ornamented, although the significance of the distribution of these letters is not disclosed by their occurrence."[8]
Combinations of Art and Text in the Theodore Psalter
Theodore Psalter-Courtesy of the British Library; London, U.K.
The relationship of icons and text, especially religious text, is an ongoing topic of interest to scholars.
Professor Liz James writes: "Art and text, the interface between images and words, is one of the oldest issues in art history. Are works of art and writings different but parallel forms of expression? Are they intertwined and interdependent?
She goes on to ask, "Can art ever stand alone and apart from text or is it always enmeshed in the meanings expressed in the written and the oral that make it perpetually exposed to subjective interpretation? Byzantium was a culture in which the interactions between word and image underpinned, in many ways, the whole meaning of art. For the Byzantines, as a People of the Book, the interface between images and words, and, above all, Christ, the Word of God, was crucial. The dynamic between art and text in Byzantium is essential for understanding Byzantine society, where the correct relationship between the two was critical to the well being of the state."[11]
British Library
The Theodore Psalter is now in the British Library in London. A great deal of work has gone into preserving and digitizing this psalter, now almost a thousand years old.[12]
Related Research Articles
The Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables. It was created in a Columban monastery in either Ireland, Scotland or England, and may have had contributions from various Columban institutions from each of these areas. It is believed to have been created c. 800 AD. The text of the Gospels is largely drawn from the Vulgate, although it also includes several passages drawn from the earlier versions of the Bible known as the Vetus Latina. It is regarded as a masterwork of Western calligraphy and the pinnacle of Insular illumination. The manuscript takes its name from the Abbey of Kells, County Meath, which was its home for centuries.
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 emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters were the books most widely owned by wealthy lay persons. They were commonly used for learning to read. Many Psalters were richly illuminated, and they include some of the most spectacular surviving examples of medieval book art.
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The Vespasian Psalter is an Anglo-Saxon illuminated psalter decorated in a partly Insular style produced in the second or third quarter of the 8th century. It contains an interlinear gloss in Old English which is the oldest extant English translation of any portion of the Bible. It was produced in southern England, perhaps in St. Augustine's Abbey or Christ Church, Canterbury or Minster-in-Thanet, and is the earliest illuminated manuscript produced in "Southumbria" to survive.
The Luttrell Psalter is an illuminated psalter commissioned by Sir Geoffrey Luttrell (1276–1345), lord of the manor of Irnham in Lincolnshire, written and illustrated on parchment circa 1320–1340 in England by anonymous scribes and artists.
Chludov Psalter is an illuminated marginal Psalter made in the middle of the 9th Century. It is a unique monument of Byzantine art at the time of the Iconoclasm, one of only three illuminated Byzantine Psalters to survive from the 9th century.
The Monastery of Stoudios, more fully Monastery of Saint John the Forerunner "at Stoudios", often shortened to Stoudios, Studion or Stoudion, was a Greek Orthodox monastery in Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. The residents of the monastery were referred to as Stoudites. Although the monastery has been derelict for half a millennium, the laws and customs of the Stoudion were taken as models by the monks of Mount Athos and of many other monasteries of the Orthodox world; even today they have influence.
The Paris Psalter is a Byzantine illuminated manuscript, 38 x 26.5 cm in size, containing 449 folios and 14 full-page miniatures. The Paris Psalter is considered a key monument of the so-called Macedonian Renaissance, a 10th-century renewal of interest in classical art closely identified with the emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (909-959) and his immediate successors.
The Gospels of Tsar Ivan Alexander, Tetraevangelia of Ivan Alexander, or Four Gospels of Ivan Alexander is an illuminated manuscript Gospel Book, written and illustrated in 1355–1356 for Tsar Ivan Alexander of the Second Bulgarian Empire. The manuscript is regarded as one of the most important manuscripts of medieval Bulgarian culture, and has been described as "the most celebrated work of art produced in Bulgaria before it fell to the Turks in 1393".
The Utrecht Psalter is a ninth-century illuminated psalter which is a key masterpiece of Carolingian art; it is probably the most valuable manuscript in the Netherlands. It is famous for its 166 lively pen illustrations, with one accompanying each psalm and the other texts in the manuscript. The precise purpose of these illustrations, and the extent of their dependence on earlier models, have been matters of art-historical controversy. The psalter spent the period between about 1000 to 1640 in England, where it had a profound influence on Anglo-Saxon art, giving rise to what is known as the "Utrecht style". It was copied at least three times in the Middle Ages. A complete facsimile edition of the psalter was made in 1875, and another in 1984 (Graz).
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The St Albans Psalter, also known as the Albani Psalter or the Psalter of Christina of Markyate, is an English illuminated manuscript, one of several psalters known to have been created at or for St Albans Abbey in the 12th century. It is widely considered to be one of the most important examples of English Romanesque book production; it is of almost unprecedented lavishness of decoration, with over forty full-page miniatures, and contains a number of iconographic innovations that would endure throughout the Middle Ages. It also contains the earliest surviving example of French literature, the Chanson de St Alexis or Vie de St Alexis, and it was probably commissioned by an identifiable man and owned by an identifiable woman. Since the early 19th century it has been owned by the church of St. Godehard in Hildesheim, Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, but is now stored and administered at the nearby Dombibliothek in Hildesheim Cathedral. A single leaf from the manuscript is at the Schnütgen Museum, Cologne; one further leaf, and one further cutting, are missing from the volume, their whereabouts unknown.
The Hunterian Psalter is an illuminated manuscript of the 12th century. It was produced in England some time around 1170, and is considered a striking example of Romanesque book art. The work is part of the collection of the Glasgow University Library, cataloged as Sp Coll MS Hunter U.3.2 (229), which acquired the book in 1807. It derives its colloquial name, the "Hunterian Psalter", from having been part of the collection of 18th century Scottish anatomist and book collector William Hunter, who willed his collection to the University. It has also at times been known as the "York Psalter", owing to its supposed northern English origin in the city of York.
The Eadwine Psalter or Eadwin Psalter is a heavily illuminated 12th-century psalter named after the scribe Eadwine, a monk of Christ Church, Canterbury, who was perhaps the "project manager" for the large and exceptional book. The manuscript belongs to Trinity College, Cambridge and is kept in the Wren Library. It contains the Book of Psalms in three languages: three versions in Latin, with Old English and Anglo-Norman translations, and has been called the most ambitious manuscript produced in England in the twelfth century. As far as the images are concerned, most of the book is an adapted copy, using a more contemporary style, of the Carolingian Utrecht Psalter, which was at Canterbury for a period in the Middle Ages. There is also a very famous full-page miniature showing Eadwine at work, which is highly unusual and possibly a self-portrait.
The Great Canterbury Psalter is an early 13th- and mid 14th-century illuminated manuscript with the shelfmark MS lat. 8846 in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. It was made in two different locations and moments in time: at Canterbury around 1200 and in Catalonia around 1340. It is the last of a series of copies of the Utrecht Psalter made in Canterbury, following the Harley Psalter and the Eadwine Psalter.
The Munich Serbian Psalter is a 14th-century illuminated psalter written in Church Slavonic of the Serbian recension. With its 229 leaves illustrated with 148 miniatures, it is regarded as the most extensively illuminated Serbian manuscript book. It was written after 1370 in Moravian Serbia, either for its ruler Prince Lazar, or more likely, for his successor Stefan Lazarević. The book was rebound in 1630 by Serbian Patriarch Pajsije. It was taken to Bavaria in the late 17th century, and has been kept in the Bavarian State Library in Munich since the beginning of the 19th century.
The Stuttgart Psalter is a richly illuminated 9th-century psalter, considered one of the most significant of the Carolingian period. Written in Carolingian minuscule, it contains 316 images illustrating the Book of Psalms according to the Gallican Rite. It has been archived since the late 18th century at the Württembergische Landesbibliothek in Stuttgart.
The Hamilton Psalter is an illustrated manuscript that consists of Psalms 1-150 and twelve canonical Odes. It is most notable among Byzantine manuscripts due to being one of the few surviving bilingual manuscripts from the Byzantine era, written primarily in Greek and Latin. There’s no sole author of the manuscript but it’s in fact a compilation of multiple scribes' writing. Its name is derived from being a part of the Hamilton Collection, arranged to be purchased from Alexander Hamilton in 1882 by Wilhelm von Bode and Karl Friedrich Lippmann for the Royal Library in Berlin. It is currently housed within the Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Kupferstichkabinett Berlin.
The Gundohinus Gospels is an illuminated Gospel Book of 754–755 named after its scribe Gundohinus. It contains one of the earliest figures in a Frankish manuscript and is now in the town library in Autun. It is often held as an example of the new Frankish-papal alliance's opposition to Byzantine iconoclasm.
Byzantine illuminated manuscripts were produced across the Byzantine Empire, some in monasteries but others in imperial or commercial workshops. Religious images or icons were made in Byzantine art in many different media: mosaics, paintings, small statues and illuminated manuscripts. Monasteries produced many of the illuminated manuscripts devoted to religious works using the illustrations to highlight specific parts of text, a saints' martyrdom for example, while others were used for devotional purposes similar to icons. These religious manuscripts were most commissioned by patrons and were used for private worship but also gifted to churches to be used in services.
References
1 2 3 4 5 A. P.Kazhdan - Alice-Mary MaffryTalbot - Anthony Cutler - Timothy E.Gregory - Nancy PattersonŠevčenko (1991). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantine. Oxford University, U.K.: Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0195046526.
1 2 3 4 Barber, Charles (February 5, 2000). Theodore Psalter E-Facsimile. University of Illinois Press.
1 2 3 4 5 Cormack, Robin (November 26, 2000). Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, U.K. ISBN978-0195046526.
1 2 3 4 Alexander P. Kazhdan, ed. (1991). The Oxford dictionary of Byzantium (1. print.ed.). New York [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN978-0195046526.
1 2 3 4 5 Barber, Charles (February 5, 2001). Theodore Psalter E-Facsimile. Illinois: University of Illinois Press. pp.Essay. ISBN978-0252025853.
↑ Hawkes-Teeples, Steven; Groen, Bert; Alexopoulos, Stefanos (2013). Studies on the liturgies of the Christian east: selected papers of the Third International Congress of the Society of Oriental Liturgy, Volos, May 26-30, 2010. Leuven: Peeters. p.228. ISBN9789042927490.
↑ Kessler, Herbert L. (2001). Seeing Medieval Art. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press. p.175. ISBN978-1551115351.
1 2 Barber, Charles (February 5, 2001). Theodore Psalter E-Facsimile. Illinois: University of Illinois Press. pp.Essay One. ISBN978-0252025853.
↑ Tsuji, Eriko (2011). "The Iconography of the Pelican in the Scriptorium of the Stoudios Monastery". University of Tennessee, Knoxville. 61 (1).
↑ Pentcheva, Bissera (2013). Sensual icon: space, ritual, and the senses in byzantium. University Park: Penn State Univ Press. p.1. ISBN9780271035833.
↑ James, Liz, ed. (2007). Art and text in Byzantine culture (1. publ.ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p.1. ISBN9780521834094.
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