The Kiev Psalter of 1397, or Spiridon Psalter, is one of the most famous East Slavic

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, th ...

s, containing over three hundred miniatures. It was written in 1397 by the scribe,

Archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that of m ...

Spiridon in

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Ky ...

, "at the command of Bishop Mikhail"; however, both scribe and patron had recently arrived from

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, and the decorations were probably added there later, in a refined and lively style, closely following a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

11th century

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 we ...

Printing

Many of the miniatures illustrate—often not very closely—passages from a

psalm The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...

, with thin red lines drawn between miniature and text to indicate the passage intended (compare the Chludov Psalter). Sometimes the meaning of the illustration is explained in long notes in the same thin red draft (apparently original). Each leaf is about 30 x 24.5 cm, larger than a typical Byzantine psalter. The weighty and elegant script and large size of the page adds to the impressiveness of the book.Popova, Olga, ''Russian Illuminated Manuscripts'', Thames & Hudson, London (or Braziller NY), 1984, nos 28 & 29

History

The Psalter passed through the hands of numerous Lithuanian nobles before being sold to the Russian Count Sergey Sheremetev in the mid-19th century. Courtesy of the count, its first printed edition was prepared by Nikodim Kondakov and Fyodor Buslaev. In 1932, the

Sheremetev Library The House of Sheremetev (russian: Шереме́тевы) was one of the wealthiest and most influential noble families in Russia descending from Feodor Koshka who was of Old Prussian origin. History The family held many high commanding rank ...

merged into the Russian National Library in St Petersburg.

References

External links

Киевская Псалтирь 1397 года
— The scanned copy of Spiridon Psalter in the Presidential library Russia. 1397 books East Slavic manuscripts Illuminated psalters History of Kyiv National Library of Russia collection 1397 in art Cyrillic manuscripts 14th-century manuscripts {{manuscript-art-stub