Psalterium

F-o5k7

Toronto, ON, The Robertson Davies Library at Massey College, Gurney FF 0001

Remarks by the Editor

Note from Otto Ege: The line ending of a fish, elongated or shortened as the space required, and the grinning expression of the fish emblem have in some book circles given these German Psalters the nickname "Laughing Carp" Psalters. The fish, as is well known, was one of the earliest and most common symbols for Christ. An early acrostic, IESOUS CHRISTOS THEOU HUIOS SOTER ("Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior"), is based on the letters in the Greek word for fish, ICHTHUS. The lozenge heads on top of many of the vertical pen strokes are characteristic of German manuscripts.

General Information

Title German Psalter in Latin
Material Parchment
Place of Origin Germany
Date of Origin Middle 13th Century
Script, Hands

Angular Gothic Script

Original Condition

Page Height 195 – 197 mm
Page Width 139 mm
Height of Written Area 136 mm
Width of Written Area 32 – 97 mm
Number of Columns 1
Width of Columns 32 – 97 mm
Number of Lines 20
Line Height 6 mm
Ruling Yes
More about the Condition

Blue, red, coral, orange, and white are used in the decoration, and scribal corrections are included above each line where necessary. 

Current Condition

Dimensions 195 x 139 mm

Book Decoration and Musical Notation

Description

The fish on the recto appearing in the middle of the column is approximately 50 mm long. The carps and decorative bars are used to complete lines of text that do not reach to the right margin of the page, a common tool to maintain aesthetic of a full page within the borders of the leaf. The decorations appear in rectangular forms alternating every other line and they are either blue or red. 

The ornamental initial is approximately 20 x 20 mm but its long tail is about 70 mm. There are 9 other initials on the recto in addition to the bigger A and they are either gold or blue. The smallest decoration is made up of five blue swirls measuring at 28 mm, the noted fish at 50 mm and the longest is the red waved box just above the illuminated initial measuring at 65 mm. 

On the verso there are 9 initials in blue and gold with ornaments around them in blue or red. There is one big decorated initial using coral, red, blue, and gold with traces of white. It's about 20 mm and its maximum height with decor included is 35 mm. One blue pilcrow visible on the verso. Decorations are minimal compared to the recto and they appear in blue and red. The fish on the second-last line is 38 mm long. The shortest is a faded blue 15 mm line.