Ramsey Psalter facts for kids
_Initium.jpg)
The Psalter of Oswald, also known as the Ramsey Psalter, is a very old and beautiful book. It's kept in the British Library as part of the Harleian Collection (Harley MS 2904). This book was made by Anglo-Saxon artists in the late 900s. It is an illuminated psalter, which means it's a handwritten book of psalms with amazing pictures and decorations.
Experts believe it was made in Winchester, a city in England, because of its writing style and decorations. However, some clues in the book suggest it was made for the Benedictine monastery at Ramsey Abbey in Huntingdonshire (now Cambridgeshire). It might also have been for St Oswald himself, who founded the Ramsey monastery.
The book includes a special prayer list, called a litany, which mentions St Benedict of Nursia three times in gold letters. Around the time the book was made, before St Oswald died in 992, Ramsey was the only monastery in England dedicated to St Benedict. A list from the 1300s at Ramsey Abbey also mentions a "Psalter of St Oswald." This book is different from another Ramsey Psalter found in the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, which was made much later, between 1286 and 1316.
The text in the Psalter of Oswald is written in Latin. It uses a common version of the psalms called the Gallican version. The elegant writing style, known as "English Caroline minuscule," even inspired a famous calligrapher named Edward Johnston in the 20th century. He used it to create his own "foundational hand" writing style.
The most famous decorated pages are at the very beginning of the book. You can see pictures of them here. Besides these, there's another very large decorated letter at the start of Psalm 101. All the other psalms begin with smaller, colorful decorated letters, and each verse starts with a gold letter.
What Makes the Psalter of Oswald Special?
The Winchester Style of Art
It's no surprise that this book, connected to St Oswald, shows the "Winchester style" of art. St Oswald was a key leader in the English Benedictine Reform, a movement to improve monasteries in England. The Winchester style was popular during this time and included ideas from art in other parts of Europe.
The famous tinted drawing of the Crucifixion in the book uses a special English way of drawing with colored outlines. This style was influenced by the Utrecht Psalter, another famous old book. The painted pictures in the Psalter of Oswald feature sprawling acanthus leaves. These are leafy designs that were a common part of the Winchester style, inspired by art from the Carolingian and Ottonian periods in Europe.
However, the book also uses designs from Insular art, which was common in Ireland and Britain. You can see interlace patterns, which are like woven knots, at the ends of the tall letter "B" at the start of Psalm 1 and the letter "D" at Psalm 101.
Artists and Their Connections
The artist who created the Crucifixion drawing in the Psalter of Oswald seems to have worked in other places too. This includes Fleury Abbey in France, where both St Oswald and his uncle, Archbishop Oda of Canterbury, received their training. The artist also worked at the Abbey of Saint Bertin in Saint-Omer, France.
At St Bertin, the artist helped create the Boulogne Gospels (which are now in the municipal library there, MS 11). At Fleury, the artist worked on the Harley Aratea (another book in the British Library, Harley MS 2506).
The image of Christ in the Psalter of Oswald is very similar to a figure on an Anglo-Saxon reliquary cross. This cross is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum and was part of a small reliquary made in Germany around the year 1000. The special "Beatus initial" at the beginning of Psalm 1 is thought to be the first to use a "lion-mask" design in its middle part. This lion-mask design became very popular and was copied in many other books both in England and other countries.
