This 11th-century manuscript is one of the six Gallican Psalters
with a continuous Old English that are extant from England in the
period between 975 and 1075 (see Gretsch, The Intellectual
Foundations of the Benedictine Reform , 2004). Four of these
Psalters, including this manuscript, were produced in Winchester.
It was probably written at the Benedictine abbey of New Minster or
the Cathedral Priory of St Peter, St Paul, and St Swithun, also
known as the Old Minster (see Ker, Medieval Libraries (1964), pp.
103, 200). Although the Easter Tables on ff. 9v-12r are designed
for the years 1031 to 1145, scholars assume that the manuscript was
produced circa 1060, because another Easter table on f. 13v has a
cross above a column that corresponds to the years 1060-1087 and a
dot by the year 1062. Like most contemporary Psalters, this
manuscript contains prefatory matter, the Book of Psalms (including
Psalm 151), and the Canticles. The manuscript's Latin and Old
English prefatory matter includes computistical texts, charms,
medicines and recipes, prognosticative texts and secret writing.
The Book of Psalms itself also features moral interpretations of
the psalms ( argumenta ) in its margins and a continuous
interlinear gloss written in Old English. Contents:ff. 2v-7v:
Calendar, featuring verses on Egyptian Days and entries for Dog
Days.f. 8r: Verses on the limits of Easter. f. 8r: Calculation of
Advent. f. 8r: Limits of Septuagesima.f. 8v: An Easter table. f.
9r: Rules for calculating Septuagesima and the lunar cycle. f. 9r:
A list of unlucky days per month (Old English). ff. 9v-12r: Easter
tables for the years 1031-1145; the Latin names of numbers on the
lower half of f. 11v. ff. 12r-13r: A list of embolismic years, a
note on concurrents and epacts and rules for finding feasts of the
Temporal cycle. f. 13r: A prohibition on bloodletting on the
so-called ‘Dog days’ (Old English). f. 13v: A lunar table. f.
14r: An Easter table. f. 14v: The Sphere of Pythagoras . f. 15r:
Lucky days for childbirth. ff. 15r-15v: Unlucky days for
bloodletting [Egyptian Days] (Old English). f. 15v: A charm to
protect bees against theft (Old English). f. 15v: Instructions for
creating ‘Columcille’s Circle’ (A Sphere of Life and Death).
f. 15v: Medical recipes and charms for healing or protecting
cattle, sheep and crops (Old English). f. 16r: The Sphere of
Apuleius (with Old English glosses). f. 16v: A riddle (Old
English), encoded in secret writing. f. 16v: An explanation of
secret writing (Old English). ff. 18r-131r: the Book of Psalms with
interlinear and marginal glosses in Old English. ff. 131r-131v: A
Psalm (Psalm 151) that is attributed to David when he fought
Goliath, beginning: 'Pusillus eram inter fratres meos'. ff.
131v-138v: Canticles. ff. 138v-140v: Pater noster (Lord’s
Prayer); Symbolum Apostolorum (Apostles’ Creed); Gloria in
excelsis Deo (Angelic Hymn); Quicumque Vult (Athanasian Creed). ff.
140v-144r: A Litany of Saints, including St Ælfheah, St
Æthelwold, St Birnstan, St Dunstan, St Hedda, St Swithun bishop of
Winchester; the name of St Frithestan, Bishop of Winchester (r.
909-931), has been added in a 12th- or 13th-century hand. ff.
144v-146r: Lections.The manuscript contains a number of
additions:f. 9r: A prayer-charm against fever, added in a (?)
12th-century hand. f. 9r: A list of monasteries participating in a
confraternity, added in a (?) 12th-century hand.f. 17r: A prayer to
God, added in a 12th-century script. ff. 17r-17v: A litany for the
Virgin Mary, added in a 12th-century script. f. 144r: A prayer to
God, added in a 12th-century script. f. 146v: Middle English
lyrics, including ‘Hwa hi se on þe rode Ihesu mi lemman’ [an
excerpt from On Rode Ihesu My Lemman]; ‘Myn herte hytt synte /
þat love me bynto’; ‘Wel were hym þat wyste / To wam he mytte
tryste/ Bet[er] were hym þat knewe / þe false fro þe trewe’.
Decoration:Circular diagrams in red and green on ff. 14v, 15v and
16r. 1 large initial with foliate and knot-work decoration in blue,
green, red and yellow (f. 18r). Medium and small initials in blue,
green, red, and yellow. Display script (rustic capitals) in blue,
green, and red. Rubrics in red.
