A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a

liturgical calendar The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and which ...

and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the

Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Ren ...

, psalters were the books most widely owned by wealthy lay persons. They were commonly used for learning to read. Many Psalters were richly illuminated, and they include some of the most spectacular surviving examples of medieval book art. The English term (

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

, ) derives from Church Latin. The source term is la, psalterium, which is simply the name of the Book of Psalms (in secular Latin, it is the term for a stringed instrument, from grc, ψαλτήριον ''psalterion''). The Book of Psalms contains the bulk of the Divine Office of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. The other books associated with it were the

Lectionary A lectionary ( la, lectionarium) is a book or listing that contains a collection of scripture readings appointed for Christian or Judaic worship on a given day or occasion. There are sub-types such as a "gospel lectionary" or evangeliary, an ...

, the Antiphonary, and Responsoriale, and the Hymnary. In Late Modern English, ''psalter'' has mostly ceased to refer to the Book of Psalms (as the text of a book of the Bible) and mostly refers to the dedicated physical volumes containing this text.

Western Christianity

Dedicated psalters, as distinct from copies of the Psalms in other formats, e.g. as part of a full edition of the Old Testament, were first developed in the Latin West in the 6th century in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

and from about 700 on the

continent A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...

. The extensively illustrated Utrecht Psalter is one of the most important surviving Carolingian manuscripts and exercised a major influence on the later development of Anglo-Saxon art. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

psalters were among the most popular types of illuminated manuscripts, rivaled only by the Gospel Books, from which they gradually took over as the type of manuscript chosen for lavish illumination. From the late 11th century onwards they became particularly widespread - Psalms were recited by the clergy at various points in the

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

, so psalters were a key part of the liturgical equipment in major churches. Various different schemes existed for the arrangement of the Psalms into groups (see Latin Psalters). As well as the 150 Psalms, medieval psalters often included a calendar, a litany of saints, canticles from the

Old Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England * Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, M ...

and

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

s, and other devotional texts. The selection of saints mentioned in the calendar and litany varied greatly and can often give clues as to the original ownership of the manuscript, since monasteries and private patrons alike would choose those saints that had particular significance for them. Many psalters were lavishly illuminated with full-page miniatures as well as decorated initials. Of the initials the most important is normally the so-called " Beatus initial", based on the "B" of the words ''Beatus vir...'' ("Blessed is the man...") at the start of Psalm 1. This was usually given the most elaborate decoration in an illuminated psalter, often taking a whole page for the initial letter or first two words. Historiated initials or full-page illuminations were also used to mark the beginnings of the three major divisions of the Psalms, or the various daily readings, and may have helped users navigate to the relevant part of the text (medieval books almost never had page numbers). Many psalters, particularly from the 12th century onwards, included a richly decorated "prefatory cycle" – a series of full-page illuminations preceding the Psalms, usually illustrating the Passion story, though some also featured Old Testament narratives. Such images helped to enhance the book's status, and also served as aids to contemplation in the practice of personal devotions. The psalter is also a part of either the

Horologion The ''Horologion'' ( grc-gre, Ὡρολόγιον; Church Slavonic: Часocлoвъ, ''Chasoslov'', ro, Ceaslov) or '' Book of hours'' provides the fixed portions (Greek: , ''akolouthiai'') of the Divine Service or the daily cycle of services ...

or the breviary, used to say the

Liturgy of the Hours The Liturgy of the Hours (Latin: ''Liturgia Horarum'') or Divine Office (Latin: ''Officium Divinum'') or ''Opus Dei'' ("Work of God") are a set of Catholic prayers comprising the canonical hours, often also referred to as the breviary, of the ...

in the Eastern and Western Christian worlds respectively.

Eastern Christianity

Non-illuminated psalters written in Coptic include some of the earliest surviving

codices The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...

(bound books) altogether; the earliest Coptic psalter predates the earliest Western (Irish) one by more than a century. The Mudil Psalter, the oldest complete Coptic psalter, dates to the 5th century. It was found in the Al-Mudil Coptic cemetery in a small town near Beni Suef,

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

. The codex was in the grave of a young girl, open, with her head resting on it. Scholar

John Gee John Laurence Gee (born 1964) is an American Latter-day Saint scholar, apologist and an Egyptologist. He currently teaches at Brigham Young University (BYU) and serves in the Department of Near Eastern Languages. He is known for his writings in ...

has argued that this represents a cultural continuation of the ancient Egyptian tradition of placing the

Book of the Dead The ''Book of the Dead'' ( egy, 𓂋𓏤𓈒𓈒𓈒𓏌𓏤𓉐𓂋𓏏𓂻𓅓𓉔𓂋𓅱𓇳𓏤, ''rw n(y)w prt m hrw(w)'') is an ancient Egyptian funerary text generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom ( ...

in tombs and sarcophagi. The

Pahlavi Psalter The Pahlavi Psalter is the name given to a 12-page non-contiguous section of a Middle Persian translation of a Syriac version of the Book of Psalms. The Pahlavi Psalter was discovered in 1905 by the second German Turpan expedition under Albert v ...

is a fragment of a

Middle Persian Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle P ...

translation of a Syriac version of the Book of Psalms, dated to the 6th or 7th century. In

Eastern Christianity Eastern Christianity comprises Christian traditions and church families that originally developed during classical and late antiquity in Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Northeast Africa, the Fertile Crescent an ...

(

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...

, and in modern times also Byzantine Catholic), the Book of Psalms for liturgical purposes is divided into 20 ''

kathisma A kathisma (Greek: κάθισμα; Slavonic: каѳисма, ''kai-isma''), literally, "seat", is a division of the Psalter, used in the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Rite Catholic churches. The word may also describe a hymn sung at Matins, a ...

ta'' or "sittings", for reading at

Vespers Vespers is a service of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic (both Latin and Eastern), Lutheran, and Anglican liturgies. The word for this fixed prayer time comes from the Latin , mea ...

and

Matins Matins (also Mattins) is a canonical hour in Christian liturgy, originally sung during the darkness of early morning. The earliest use of the term was in reference to the canonical hour, also called the vigil, which was originally celebrated ...

. ''Kathisma'' means sitting, since the people normally sit during the reading of the psalms. Each kathisma is divided into three stases, from ''stasis'', to stand, because each stasis ends with Glory to the Father..., at which everyone stands. The reading of the kathismata are so arranged that the entire psalter is read through in the course of a week (during Great Lent it is read through twice in a week). During Bright Week (Easter Week) there is no reading from the Psalms. Orthodox psalters usually also contain the Biblical canticles, which are read at the canon of Matins during Great Lent. The established Orthodox tradition of

Christian burial A Christian burial is the burial of a deceased person with specifically Christian rites; typically, in consecrated ground. Until recent times Christians generally objected to cremation because it interfered with the concept of the resurrection o ...

has included reading the Psalms in the church throughout the vigil, where the deceased remains the night before the funeral (a reflection of the vigil of

Holy Friday Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday (also Holy ...

). Some Orthodox psalters also contain special prayers for the departed for this purpose. While the full tradition is showing signs of diminishing in practice, the psalter is still sometimes used during a wake.

Significant psalters

Manuscripts

Early Medieval

* Psalter of St. Germain of Paris, 6th century *

Cathach of St. Columba The Cathach of St. Columba, known as the Cathach (meaning "the Battler"),O'Neill (2014), p. 12 is a late 6th century Insular psalter. It is the oldest surviving manuscript in Ireland, and the second oldest Latin psalter in the world. Its cumdach ...

, early 7th century *

Faddan More Psalter The Faddan More Psalter ( ga, Saltair an Fheadáin Mhóir) (also Irish Bog Psalter or "Faddan Mor Psalter") is an early medieval Christian psalter or text of the book of Psalms, discovered in a peat bog in July 2006, in the townland of Faddan ...

* Vespasian Psalter, 2nd quarter of the 8th century * Montpellier Psalter *

Chludov Psalter Chludov Psalter (russian: Хлудовская псалтырь; Moscow, Hist. Mus. MS. D.129) is an illuminated marginal Psalter made in the middle of the 9th Century. It is a unique monument of Byzantine art at the time of the Iconoclasm, one o ...

, 3rd quarter of the 9th century * Southampton Psalter * Utrecht Psalter, 9th century * Salaberga Psalter * Lothair Psalter, 840–855,

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

, Add. MS 37768 *

Stuttgart Psalter The Stuttgart Psalter (Württembergische Landesbibliothek Stuttgart, Bibl. fol. 23) is a richly illuminated 9th-century psalter, considered one of the most significant of the Carolingian period. Written in Carolingian minuscule, it contains 316 ima ...

High Medieval

* Paris Psalter, 10th century * Ramsey Psalter *

Gertrude Psalter The Egbert Psalter (also known as the Gertrude Psalter or Trier Psalter) is a medieval illuminated manuscript Psalter preserved in the municipal museum of Cividale, Italy (Ms. CXXXVI). The psalter is an example of the illuminated manuscripts asso ...

, late 10th century with mid-11th century illuminations * Theodore Psalter, 1066, at the

Psalterium Sinaiticum The Psalterium Sinaiticum (scholarly abbreviations: Psa or Ps. sin.) is a 209-folio Glagolitic Old Church Slavonic canon manuscript, the earliest Slavic psalter, dated to the 11th century. The manuscript was found in Saint Catherine's Monastery ...

, 11th century *

Melisende Psalter The Melisende Psalter (London, British Library, Egerton MS 1139) is an illuminated manuscript commissioned around 1135 in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, probably by Fulk, King of Jerusalem for his wife Queen Melisende. It is a notable example o ...

, circa 1135 * Eadwine Psalter, c 1160 * Harley Psalter *

St. Albans Psalter The St Albans Psalter, also known as the Albani Psalter or the Psalter of Christina of Markyate, is an English illuminated manuscript, one of several psalters known to have been created at or for St Albans Abbey in the 12th century.Rodney M. Thoms ...

Winchester Psalter The Winchester Psalter is an English 12th-century illuminated manuscript psalter (British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contai ...

* Westminster Psalter *

Felbrigge Psalter The Felbrigge Psalter is an illuminated manuscript Psalter from mid-13th century England that has an embroidered bookbinding which probably dates to the early 14th century. It is the oldest surviving book from England to have an embroidered bi ...

* Great Canterbury Psalter (Anglo-Catalan Psalter or Paris Psalter), c.1200 and 1340s * Psalter of St. Louis * Ormesby Psalter, start 13th century,

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the sec ...

* Potocki Psalter, mid 13th century, now Warsaw with detached leaves elsewhere.

Late Medieval

* Queen Mary Psalter * Luttrell Psalter *

Gorleston Psalter The Gorleston Psalter (British Library Add MS 49622) is a 14th-century manuscript notable for containing early music instruction and for its humorous marginalia. It is named for the town of Gorleston in Norfolk. Description The Gorleston ...

Macclesfield Psalter The Macclesfield Psalter is a lavishly illuminated manuscript probably produced c. 1320–30 in East Anglia. The psalter, or book of Psalms, contains 252 beautifully illustrated pages and is named after its most recent owner, the Earl of Mac ...

* Tickhill Psalter * Sofia Psalter * Tomich Psalter
232/15 Psalter at OPenn
* Kiev Psalter of 1397 * Psalter of Jean, Duc de Berry
Burnet Psalter

Early modern / Tudor period

Psalter of Henry VIII The Psalter of Henry VIII is a 16th-century illuminated psalter that belonged to Henry VIII of England. It is now in the British Library as MS Royal 2 A xvi. The king commissioned the book in the early 1540s from the French illuminator Jean Ma ...

* Daskal Philip Psalter
1953‑128‑7 Liturgical psalter at OPenn

Printed editions

Incunabula

Psalterium Romanum The Latin Psalters are the translations of the Book of Psalms into the Latin language. They are the premier liturgical resource used in the Liturgy of the Hours of the Latin Rites of the Roman Catholic Church. These translations are typica ...

, 1457 ainz

Johann Fust Johann Fust or Faust (c. 1400 – October 30, 1466) was an early German printer. Family background Fust was born to burgher family of Mainz, traceable back to the early thirteenth century. Members of the family held many civil and religi ...

and Peter Schöffer. The first printed psalter. * Psalterium Benedictinum, 1459 ainz

and Peter Schöffer. The second printed psalter.

Early modern editions

* Coverdale's Psalter, 1535 * Genevan Psalter, 1562 *'' David's Psalter'', a translation of the Book of Psalms into Polish by Jan Kochanowski, 1579 *

Scottish Psalter Decisions concerning the conduct of public worship in the Church of Scotland are entirely at the discretion of the parish minister. As a result, a wide variety of musical resources are used. However, at various times in its history, the General A ...

, 1635 and 1650 * Bay Psalm Book, 1640, the first book printed in British North America. The Psalms in it are metrical translations into English.The Bay Psalm Book
From the Collections at the Library of Congress * New England Psalter

Modern editions

* Grail Psalms, 1963, 2008 * ICEL Psalter, 1995