The Douai Psalter is an

East Anglia East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared manuscript, document where the text is decorated with flourishes such as marginalia, borders and Miniature (illuminated manuscript), miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Churc ...

, severely damaged during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The

psalter A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters were ...

, or Book of Psalms, was produced in the 1330s. The artwork was produced by the same scribe who illuminated the

Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...

and

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 P ...

s. Like the Gorleston Psalter, the Douai Psalter was associated with the church of St Andrew at Gorleston, near Yarmouth.Fitzwilliam Museum
/ref> The psalter was considered "the finest complete example of the mature Italianate style in English illumination". In 1914, with German troops approaching, the psalter was buried inside a zinc box by the librarian of the Bibliothèque municipale de Douai. Upon being unearthed it was found to have been largely destroyed by acidity and water; only a few fragments and some black and white photographs survive.

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