The Lothar Psalter (

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London,

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

, Add. MS 37768) is an

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 ...

of the Psalms in Latin. The Lothar Psalter is a

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared Tanning (leather), untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves and goats. It has been used as a writing medium in West Asia and Europe for more than two millennia. By AD 400 ...

codex The codex (: codices ) was the historical ancestor format of the modern book. Technically, the vast majority of modern books use the codex format of a stack of pages bound at one edge, along the side of the text. But the term ''codex'' is now r ...

that measures . It contains 179 leaves, 172 of them numbered. It was produced between 842 and 855 for the Emperor

Lothar I Lothair I (9th. C. Frankish language, Frankish: ''Ludher'' and Medieval Latin: ''Lodharius''; Dutch language, Dutch and Medieval Latin: ''Lotharius''; German language, German: ''Lothar''; French language, French: ''Lothaire''; Italian language, ...

. It belongs to the Lothar palace school () group of manuscripts or . It is in fact the only one of the group that is indisputably connected to Lothar. The group is traditionally believes to have been produced at the

Palace of Aachen The Palace of Aachen was a group of buildings with residential, political, and religious purposes chosen by Charlemagne to be the center of power of the Carolingian Empire. The palace was located in the heart of the current city of Aachen, today ...

, although the psalter was possibly made at the Abbey of Saint Martin's in Tours. Its binding is ninth-century. The front cover contains a silver-gilt medallion depicting Lothar. The first text is a prayer composed by one of Lothar's sisters or daughters. It is written in red and gold inks. It has the heading ''Confessio optima peccatoris'' ('best confession for a sinner'). Another prayer follows under the heading 'a prayer before the beginning of the psalter'.. The Latin text of both prayers with English translation can be found in . This is followed by dedicatory poem to Lothar written in gold rustic capitals, opposite a full-page illustration of Lothar. It refers to a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

embassy received by Lothar in August 842, which represents the ''

terminus post quem A ''terminus post quem'' ('limit after which', sometimes abbreviated TPQ) and ''terminus ante quem'' ('limit before which', abbreviated TAQ) specify the known limits of dating for events or items.. A ''terminus post quem'' is the earliest date t ...

'' or earliest possible date of composition. Lothar's portrait and poem are followed by full-page illustrations of

King David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Damas ...

and

Saint Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian priest, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known for his translation of the Bible ...

. They are also accompanied by poems. The poem to David, the primary composer of the Psalms, compares him to Lothar as one raised above his brothers. The poem to Jerome praises his translation and correction of the Psalms. It is followed by Jerome's prologue to the Psalms. The text of the psalter is entirely in gold. The main text is

Caroline minuscule Carolingian minuscule or Caroline minuscule is a script which developed as a calligraphic standard in the medieval European period so that the Latin alphabet of Jerome's Vulgate Bible could be easily recognized by the literate class from one ...

, but

uncial Uncial is a majuscule script (written entirely in capital letters) commonly used from the 4th to 8th centuries AD by Latin and Greek scribes. Uncial letters were used to write Greek and Latin, as well as Gothic, and are the current style for ...

and rustic capitals are used for headings.

Initial In a written or published work, an initial is a letter at the beginning of a word, a chapter (books), chapter, or a paragraph that is larger than the rest of the text. The word is ultimately derived from the Latin ''initiālis'', which means '' ...

s are decorated in red, green and gold. Decorated full-page initials in the appear every ten psalms. The Lothar Psalter was originally owned by the family of Lothar, but it had passed to the Abbey of Saint-Hubert by the eleventh century. It is unclear how it came to England. It was bequeathed to the British Library by Sir Thomas Brooke in 1908.

Gallery

File:Gallican Psalter with canticles (the 'Lothar Psalter' or 'Lothaire Psalter') - Upper Cover (Add ms 37768).jpg, Front cover File:King David, Lothar Psalter.jpg, King David File:Initial, Psalm 41, Lothar Psalter.jpg, Start of Psalm 41 (42)

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * * * {{refend Carolingian psalters 9th-century illuminated manuscripts