Dear Freddi:
I'm sorry to have been out of the loop on this discussion--our Thanksgiving
weekend. A few observations: (1) The Huntingfield Psalter (Pierpont
Morgan M43) is early, rather than late, thirteenth century--maybe 1220?
(2) At this time I think it's fair to say that the Tree of Jesse and the
Coronation of the Virgin--though distinct motifs--often are invoked in a
single "language game," as it were. And that that "speech" has to do not
only with religious power but also with emerging civil and personal issues
of power. The Virgin of the Jesse Tree is royal from the outset, and the
motif itself appears most prominently in settings where royal succesesion is
just being consolidated or is troubled or contested (Angevin capital,
Suger's window, maybe Henry of Blois' Psalter, etc.). The Jesse Tree of the
Ingeborg Psalter (Chantilly MS 1695,f.14v) is the most prominent example.
(3) Three other roughly-contemporary English manuscripts experiment with
the Tree of Jesse as an initial subject at the time: the Lothian Bible
(Morgan M791, f.318, the opening of Matthew's gospel), the Imola Psalter
(Biblioteca Communale MS 100, paginated, XXI), where it appears in a
prefatory suite and faces the genealogical scheme of Mary's "family tree";
and--very important--the "Little Canterbury Psalter", Paris, BN MS lat. 770,
again in a Beatus initial. In the last example, Jesse himself is missing,
but linked ancestral roundels make the point. Illustrated in Nigal Morgan
I, Ill. 121, where you'll see that she's veiled but not crowned. (In
general, at this moment, there seems a lag between monastic and other
patrons in crowning the Virgin.)
(4) Madeline Caviness' long-ago piece on this last Psalter (ART BULLETIN
61, 1979: 38-58) is a useful bridge to historicizing (I've been waiting to
say that word for awhile!) the conjunction of Tree and Coronation. Other
features of the Huntingfield Psalter also suggest that
legitimacy/legitimation--both religious and civil--are at issue. It is most
interesting, of course, that Mary becomes the bridge figure between these
two orders of authority, just as she is the bridge figure between two orders
of Being, as it were.
(5) As for collects in devotional Psalters, they are in this time and in
these particular manuscripts interesting and possibly indexical. To test
that possibility, I made a concordance of collects following the Litany in
the Albanipsalter, Munich Psalter, Arundel 157, Winchester Psalter, Royal
I.D.X., and Ingeborg Psalter. You'll find it at p.184 ff in my
dissertation, which I think is in the Courtauld Library. Also in the diss
(pp. 166 ff) are three catalogues of early English books of prayer (c.
750-1100), sorted by illusration, etc. The diss is titled "Reading the
Huntingfield Psalter (Pierpont Morgan Library Manuscript M.43): Devotional
Literacy and an English Psalter Preface".
Of what might collects be indexical, in this period, for these audiences, in
private devotion? That's the million dollar question. I would be very
interested in your thoughts and those of others on the list.
I continue to struggle with the mechanics of getting the Huntingfield
Psalter pictures "up" on their website (http://www.cyberpsalter.org);
finally received copyright clearance, but not all of them are there yet.
Spurred by your wonderful thread, I'll get the Beatus page up before the day
is over (It will be Monday morning your time), and send a note to the list
with the specific URL. You may find the Huntingfield Psalter section of my
cyberpsalter site interesting even in its emerging state. My dream for the
site is that one day it may grow into a place where this kind of information
can be brought together and made available.
Have you looked at Richard Pfaff's chapter on tituli, collects, etc. in the
EADWINE PSALTER volume that he and Margaret Gibson and others put together
in 1992? Helpful in itself, and the notes are a great review of key
literature on psalter collects.
I'm so eager to see your work on the Ormesby Psalter--a great project.
Nell
Nell Gifford Martin
http://www.cyberpsalter.org
Simon Holmes & Freddi Law-Turner wrote:
> Dear Duncan and all fellow medievalists,
>
> Many thanks for all the suggestions on Jesse Trees and Coronations of
> the Virgin..
> Duncan, I am quite happy with a negative on finding Trees with
> Coronations in English typmana, as I argue that in the Ormesby Psalter
> is it an unusual feature, possibly borrowed from French art, and
> connected with the specifics of the patrons devotion to the Virgin. The
> closest English example which I have come up with is in the late 13th
> century Huntingfield PSalter in the Pierpoint Morgan, which has a
> Coronation in the frame surrounding the B initial of the first psalm.
> This seems to forma part of a Last Judgement cycle around the frame,
> rather than the Tree itself. Where are Trees found in Romanesque glass?
>
> As a new (and enthusiastic) member of the list, I should perhaps briefly
> explain my interests. I am just finishing a Ph.D. at the Courtauld
> Institute of Art, London, on a large and luxurious illuminated Psalter
> in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, produced intermittently between c. 1280
> and c. 1340 in a centre in East Anglia, probably Norwich. It has lots of
> interesting marginalia: grotesques, animals and people in a variety of
> probable and improbable situations. The decoration is odd, in that it
> seems to have been executed in a series of campaigns by at least seven
> teams of artists working for different patrons. The manuscript finally
> ended up in Norwich Cathedral Priory, to which it was presented by a
> monk of Norwich, Brother Robert of Ormesby, perhaps in around 1336/7.
> Most unusually, it still retains a medieval chemise binding.
>
> As a more general question, I would be interested if anyone is aware of
> any texts dealing with the precise nature of the connection between the
> Virgin's powers of intercession with Christ on behalf of souls, her
> virginity and her royalty. Is the power bestowed by the Coronation, or
> does she have it independent of that? Sorry if this is not very clear,
> but the images which I deal with seem to suggest an association of these
> ideas, but obviously can't express it directly.
>
> Question to Bill East: my psalter includes a series of collects inserted
> in the text, one after each psalm, which as far as I can tell is a
> fairly uncommon feature in psalters of this period. I would be
> interested to know exactly when collects ceased to be used as part of
> the liturgy and what role they played after this.
>
> BEst wishes,
>
> Freddi Law-Turner
>
> Best wishes,
>
> MR D B C GIVANS wrote:
>
> > Hi Freddi, and everyone reading,
> >
> > Sorry for not responding sooner. I'm not in everyday. The two
> > Romanesque tympana in England with a Coronation of the Virgin are
> > both too small to fit a Jesse Tree as well. The example in the north
> > portal
> > at Quenington (Glos) is set with figures associated with the
> > Revelation textual root, but more importantly for your interests is
> > that the tympanum in south portal of the church is a Harrowing of
> > Hell. No wall paintings survive and the fragments of sculpture are
> > not indiciative of any other iconographic types.
> > The question of locating both images together and in a portal, rather
> > than elsewhere is an interesting one.
> > Jesse Trees are not common in English Romanesque architectural,
> > contexts but this may be survival; those that I am aware of are
> > glass.
> > I'm not as well informed about wall paintings, but it would be easy
> > to find out (especially for you at the Courtauld!).
> > I was interested to read of the association of the images in the
> > cloister at Silos because I dont think its the type of combination
> > you would be likly to find surviving in the kinds of churches where
> > English tympana are preserved. In addition English Romanesque
> > cloisters are not well preserved. However, this general lack of
> > examples may be because presentations in other mediums/media,
> > from other parts of churches have not survived in tact?
> > All a bit imponderable I'm afraid, but I must stress that I am not
> > very conversant with post-Romanesque evidence such that I can
> > comment. For example crowns stand out in my mind as a feature
> > of the Jesse reredos at Christchurch Hants, but not a coronation.
> > Again, much is missing from that work and I have no picture to hand.
> >
> > I'm soory if this is a bit rablesome, but do let me know what you
> > turn up in terms of associations in the period up to your MS.
> >
> > best wishes
> >
> > Duncan Givans
> >
> > PS For information the other examples of a Coronation of the Virgin
> > on an English Romanesque tympanum is at Worth Maltravers (Dorset).
> > None sport a Tree of Jesse.
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