St Albans Psalter

The fall (Genesis 3:1-6), p. 12

Colloquial name(s): St Albans Psalter, Albani Psalter, Psalter of Christina of Markyate

Official name(s): the majority of it has no official name as it is owned by St Godehard's Church, Hildesheim, Germany rather than a library; one leaf is kept in the Rheinisches Bildarchiv, Köln and a further leaf and cutting are now missing (source)

Date: possibly 1124-1129 (source)

Origin: St Albans Abbey, Hertfordshire, England (source)

Online facsimile available via: The St Albans Psalter Project - full facsimile (including the Köln leaf) with transcription and translation into modern English and modern German

Evidence from the text and illustrations suggest that the St Albans Psalter was created for Christina of Markyate, an anchoress, (b. c. 1096, d. after 1155) by Geoffrey de Gorham (or Gorron), Abbot of St Albans (1199-1146) (source). It was made at St Albans Abbey and probably was kept at Christina's priory at Markyate until the Reformation (source). During the English Civil War, a fugitive English Catholic brought the manuscript to the English Benedictine monastery of Lamspringe (founded 1643) in Lower Saxony (source). It probably came to St Godehard's church (its current repository) when the monastery was suppressed in 1803 (source).

The psalter is made up of five distinct sections (source):

• a liturgical calendar
• 40 full-page miniatures of the Life of Christ
• a quire (added later, possibly c. 1136 or 1139) containing:
• The Chanson of Alexis (the earliest surviving example of Old French literature)
• three pictures of Christ at Emmaus
• a discourse on Good and Evil
• the letter B (Beatus vir), marking the start of the psalms
• the psalms, prayers and canticles (p. 73-414)
• a diptych showing the martyrdom of St Alban and David the Musician

The St Albans Psalter is important as it contains over 40 full-page illustrations which are among finest examples of English Romanesque art (particularly the illustrations painted by the so-called Alexis Master).

The illustrations of the biblical narrative cycle are listed by Wikipedia.