Luttrell Psalter
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Luttrell Psalter (British Library, Add. MS 42130) is an illuminated manuscript written and illustrated circa 1325 - 1335 by anonymous scribes and artists. It was commissioned by Sir Geoffrey Luttrell (died 1345), a wealthy English landowner who lived at Irnham, Lincolnshire. Along with the psalms, the book contains luxuriously illuminated pictures of saints and bible stories, and of rural life; farming, cooking, doctoring, spouses squabbling, musicians playing, etc. It is considered to be the richest source for everyday rural life in England of the Middle Ages.
In medieval times, the creation of magnificent illuminated manuscripts was both a demonstration of piety and a symbol of the great wealth and power of the kings or lords who commissioned them. Sir Geoffrey Luttrell (1276-1345) was a knight and baron whose wealth, dynastic alliances and military record placed him firmly among the English elite. His family Psalter, begun in the year 1332 and the work of over ten years, became a priceless legacy.
'Let them that detract me be clothed with shame,' reads the opening line of the 108th Psalm, ' I will give thanks to the Lord with my mouth: and in the midst of many I will thank him.'
Sir Geoffrey Luttrell had much to thank God for. Part of the new nobility, his family had prospered under King John, played their cards cleverly during the troubled reign of Edward II and cemented lands and alliances under Edward III. By the time of his death, Sir Geoffrey owned estates in Yorkshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, and the emphasis of the manuscript on rural scenes reflects this great land-holding. Indeed, the illustrations may even commemorate actual events, like Sir Geoffrey's building of a watermill at Bridgeford.
In 2006 the Folio Society, in association with the British Library, published an accurate, limited edition facsimile of the Luttrell Psalter featuring over 600 pages of illuminations.
