Aberdeen Psalter and Hours.

Item

Identifier: Adv.MS.18.8.14

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The contents of the manuscript are as follows:

(i) Calendar in red and black (page 1). Entries in red include Saints Wulfstan (19 January), Agnes (21 January, with octave), Augustine (26 May) and Thomas Becket (7 July and 29 December). There are no entries for Scottish saints. The feasts of Saints Patrick (17 March), Cuthbert (20 March) and the 10,000 martyrs (22 June) have been added. An inscription under 7 July has also been added: `Huius altare hos[pitalis] visitationis beate M[arie] infra canonicam Ab[erdonensem] per Willelmum Aberdon[ensem episcopum] Anno gratie millesimo quingentesimo quadragesimo Nono’, and is signed by Alexander Galloway, prebendary of Kinkell.

(ii) Psalter in the Gallican version (page 25).

(iii) Canticles and Athanasian Creed (page 356).

(iv) Hours of the Blessed Virgin Mary, use of Sarum (page 389). Memoriae to the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, the Cross, and various saints occur between the offices of Lauds and Prime (page 399).

(v) Litany and prayers (page 425). The Litany includes Saints Chad, Swithin and Burin among the confessors, and St Edith among the virgins.

There are illuminated capitals in gold, red and blue with decorative penwork throughout. The Beatus page (page 25) has a full border of foliage and flowers, with a shield containing the arms of Scotland at the bottom. The ferial divisions are marked by six-line initials on gold grounds with partial borders, and the beginning of the Hours (page 389) has a full border.

Dates

Creation: 15th century.

Extent

1 Volumes (iii folios + 440 pages.)

Language of Materials

Latin

Additional Description

Arrangement

Collation: Single leaf, originally a paste-down, 1-2⁶, 3-7⁸, 8¹⁰ (-1, 3, 10), 9-20⁸, 21⁸ (-2), 22-25⁸, 26⁸ (-1 before 1), 27⁸, 28⁴ (-1), 29⁸ (-8), 30². Catchword on page 72. 19 11.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Vellum. Binding of stamped leather over wooden boards, circa 1500, probably not English. The panel stamp on the back depicts the Annunciation; metal clasps, studs and corners; there are holes through the lower part of both boards, probably to hang the book from a girdle.

Custodial History

There are some 16th-century pen-trials (folio ii verso), and an ex-libris (possibly of John Ives, Suffolk Herald Extraordinary) `Bibliothecae Ivesianae 1770` (page 1). The manuscript was given to the antiquary, Samuel Pegge, by Gustavus Brander in 1777 (inscription and notes by Pegge on folio 1 verso). Inscriptions on folio ii have been erased. The manuscript was acquired by the Advocates’ Library before 1819.