De Lisle Psalter

De Lisle Psalter: miniatures of the wheel of life, around the head of Christ in the middle, which is surrounded by round windows, there are images of youth, old age, childhood and old age in the corners.

The De Lisle Psalter (signature Arundel 83 II) is a courtly book for which the client spared no expense and which is typical of the “Decorated Style” in Gothic art cultivated under King Edward II in Westminster. It is unknown whether Robert de Lisle was the commissioner or only the first owner of the illuminated manuscript. The Psalter is kept in the British Library in London .

38 fully illustrated pages have survived today, with 33 individual miniatures, some of which are full-page, on the biblical events and an interspersed Speculum theologicae with 12 illustrated, full-page theological display panels, another schematic representation without figurative decorations and a beautifully illuminated calendar that introduces the book. The language of the texts is Latin with French and English.

Robert de Lisle was peer in the English parliament under the kings Edward II and Edward III. In 1341, however, he entered a London Franciscan monastery, of which he was the most important benefactor. As early as 1339, he bequeathed the De Lisle Psalter to his two daughters Audere and Alborou, who had retired to the monastery of Chequesaundes (Chicksands), and in further succession to the monastery itself (Gilbertine convent of Chequesaundes).

Emergence

Around 1310, the so-called Madonna Master carried out the more extensive first part of the artistic work on the De Lisle Psalter (ff. 124, 124v, 125, 125v, 126, 126v, 127, 127v, 128, 128v, 129, 129v, 131v, 132, 132v, 133, 135). Around 1330 to 1340 a second artist, the so-called Maiestas-Meister (English Majesty Master) added five miniatures (ff. 130, 130v, 133v, 134, 134v).

literature

• Catalog of Manuscripts in The British Museum, New Series, 1 vol. in 2 parts (London: British Museum, 1834-1840), I, part 1: The Arundel Manuscripts, pp. 22-23.
• Treasures of the British Library, ed. By Nicolas Barker and others (London: British Library, 2005), p. 125.
• Susanne Rischpler, Biblia Sacra figuris expressa: Mnemotechnical picture bibles of the 15th century, Wissensliteratur im Mittelalter, 36, ed. By Horst Brunner and others (Wiesbaden: Reichert, 2001), p. 43.
• Full bibliography British Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ British Library: Catalog of Illuminated Manuscripts
2. ↑ C. Weinert: "The Presence of the Middle Ages", 2009, p. 17 ( Memento of the original from January 27, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 4.1 MB)