Dear All,
    Two weeks ago I sent out an urgent plea for a chunk of the Glossa
Ordinaria that I desperately wanted to see (and that Grover Zinn
promptly sent).  In return,  I promised to send some of my emerging
thoughts on Psalm 8 as studied in the Eadwine Psalter.  This is in
preparation for my Leeds paper, so I would appreciate any comments.
    It is a bit hard to understand what I am going on about without
seeing the illustrations--I do have computer scans of the Utrecht and
Eadwine illustrations in black-and-white, but I do not have copyright to
distribute them on the web.  I could load them on the server but not
link them anywhere, and then take them off in a week (?) if y'all
promise not to copy and distribute them (then YOU will be in violation
of copyright...but will I be indicted as the smuggler?).  I have not yet
figured out how to do passwords.
    My argument will be that the Eadwine illustration, despite its
straightforward literal interpretation of the psalm text, does reflect
the interpretations found in the commentaries.  In this installment:
the text and prologue.

Psalm 8 (Gallican):
Titulus:  In finem psalmus dauid pro torcularibus; de exaltatione
christi secundum duas naturas
 DOMINE dominus noster: quam admirabile est nomen tuum in uniuersa
terra.
Quoniam eleuata est magnificentia tua sup[er] caelos.
Ex ore infantium et lactentium perfecisti laudem, propter inimicos tuos,
ut destruas inimicum et ultorem. [Rom:  et defensorem]
Quoniam uidebo caelos tuos opera digitorum tuorum, lunam et stellas quae
tu fundasti.
Quid est homo quod memores eius, aut filius hominis quoniam uisitas eum.

Minuisti eum paulo minus ab angelis. gloria et honore coronasti eum; et
constituisti eum super opera manuum tuarum.
Omnia subiecisti sub pedibus eius oues et boues uniuersas. insuper et
pecora campi.
Volucres caeli et pisces maris qui per ambulant semitas maris.  Domine
dominus noster, quam admirabile est nomen tuum in uniuersa terra.

English (from Parallel Vulgate online):
 1 Unto the end, for the presses: a psalm of David.
 2 O Lord our Lord, how admirable is thy name in the whole earth! For
thy magnificence is elevated above the heavens.
 3 Out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings thou hast perfected
praise, because of thy enemies, that thou mayst destroy the enemy and
the avenger.
 4 For I will behold thy heavens, the works of thy fingers: the  moon
and the stars which thou hast founded.
 5 What is man that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man  that
thou visitest him?
  6 Thou hast made him a little less than the angels, thou hast crowned
him with glory and honour:
 7 and hast set him over the works of thy hands.
 8 Thou hast subjected all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen:
moreover the beasts also of the fields.
 9 The birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea, that pass through
the paths of the sea.
 10 O Lord our Lord, how admirable is thy name in all the  earth!

collect:   Quid est homo domine quod memores eiius aut filius hominis
nisi ut eum ne in perpetuum peruice per filium tuum  redimeres; da ergo
nobis auxilii necessarium. qui dedisti pro nobis sanguinem pretiosum.
pr[]a ut quos mors tua red/mit. eorum te uita glorificet. per.  {Note:
the pr[]a indicates an abbreviation--there is a line over the a, and for
the life of me and cannot remember what this word is supposed to be,
although I know I have run across it before; and it's not in Capelli).

Prologue (English from Margaret Gibson,  The Eadwine Psalter, p. 111; I
can send the Latin if anyone wants it):
 A psalm of the prophet David, directing us to our end.  He is speaking
on behalf of the wine-presses, i.e. about the wine presses, i.e. about
the churches.
 The SUBJECT-MATTER--'materia'--is Christ's exalted status as man and
God.  The MANNER--'modus'--is twofold:  to exalt Christ as God and to
exalt him as man, whereby his wine-presses, that is his churches, are
spread abroad and established throughout the whole world.  The
INTENTION--'intentio'--is to refute the error of the Jews and the heresy
of many others.  The Jews pretended that only 'in Judaea is God known'
(Psalm 76:1); others, whether in Africa like Donatus or elsewhere,
maintained that only with them was God worshipped.  So may they marvel
that God is exalted over the whole earth and churches are established
everywhere.
{here follows verse divisions and explanations}
  O Lord our God:  In the first verse he refutes Jews and heretics.
Out of the mouths of babes:  Highest of all though he is by grace, he
does not despise the lowly.
What is man:  he introduces man's redemption.
or the son of man:  mankind!
Thou has made all things subject to him:  The whole [of mankind].  In
this verse the Psalmist's intention is also noted.
sheep and cattle:  the part [of mankind] consisting of the chosen.
and also the beasts of the field:  the outcast part [of mankind].

    Note in the Prologue the Christological view of the psalmist; its
identification of the enemies as Jews and heretics; the emphasis on
"mankind" (or humanity); in particular, note the interesting beast
catalogue as descriptions of humanity.  Both the prologue and the
collect emphasize redemption as a main theme, while the titulus
identifies the church as the subject (the winepresses, for which
Augustine and Cassiodorus have delightful explanations).
    Next installment:  correlation of the prologue and text with the
illustrations!

--
Dr. Karen Jolly
Associate Professor, History
University of Hawai`i at Manoa
[log in to unmask]
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~kjolly




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