Vespasian Psalter

Vespasian Psalter

The Vespasian Psalter is an early copy of a Latin revision of the Psalms associated with Saint Jerome (d. 420). The Psalter is highly decorated and includes several historiated initials depicting David and his friend Jonathan, including a David as a shepherd rescuing a lamb from a lion, as well as nearly two hundred colored initials. The manuscript also contains a richly colored full-page miniature of King David as the author of the Psalms, accompanied by a group of musicians, dancers, and scribes. Originating from southern England during the mid-8th century, the text was appended during the 9th and 11th centuries. The Psalter is likely the oldest of a group of manuscripts from Southern England known as the Tiberius group.

Evolution of the Manuscript

This manuscript was made in southern England in the second quarter or third of the 8th century, and the main scribe appears to also have served as the illuminator. Although based on models from the Mediterranean, the artist works in the Insular style. During the mid-9th century, an Old English translation was added between the lines of the Latin text of the Psalms, making it the earliest surviving biblical text in the English language. By the 11th century, the manuscript was in the archiepiscopal city of Canterbury, where a scribe known as Eadwig Basan added some more elements to the book.

Connection to Vespasian

The Psalter remained in Canterbury until 1553, when it was acquired by Sir William Cecil (1520-198) who lent it in 1556 to the famous bibliophile and Archbishop of Canterbury Matthew Parker (1504-75). The manuscript found itself in the possession of another famous bibliophile in 1599, Sir Robert Cotton (1570/1-1631), who signed his name on folio 12r. During this time in the Cotton Library, the codex was rebound and a table of contents was added. It was also during this time that the Vespasian Psalter received its name: Sir Robert Cotton organized his library by classifying the manuscript according to its case, shelf, and position. Each bookcase was crowned by a bust of a famous historical figure, and the Psalter had the privileged first position on the first shelf in the case ruled over by a bust of the Roman Emperor Vespasian (AD 9-79). In 1702, Cotton’s grandson gifted the manuscript, along with the rest of the Cotton Library, to the United Kingdom and it thus became state property. The collection was transferred to the newly created British Museum in 1753.