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.

7v, Suscipere dignare domine dues omnipotens hos psalmos quos ego indignus peccator, was added after the manuscript passed to Norwich Cathedral Priory, along with a miniature of the crucifixion on vol.

[1] Armorial illustrations showing in the manuscript have been identified as those of Roger Bigod, (f. 70b), Gilbert Peche, (f. 86), and Aymer de Valence, (f.

[2] Written in Latin in at least three separate hands, the Psalter consists of the original text from its creation in around 1310, with a few later additions.

[2][4] It is believed to have been made in the first quarter of the 14th century for someone associated with the parish church of St Andrew at Gorleston.

Cockerell[5] proposed a date of c.1306 for the manuscript based on an association of the repeated image of an elderly bearded layman with Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk (died 1306), whose armorial shield appears on f. 70b close to one of the images of the layman.

[6] The manuscript was originally owned by the church of St. Andrew, Gorleston, but passed to Norwich Cathedral Priory around 1320–25, where it is believed to have remained until dissolution in the Reformation.

To record this event an inscription was added to the first flyleaf, signed by Jane, Louisa, Jemima, Mary and Elizabeth Cornwallis, reading "This Missal originally the property of Sir Thomas Cornwalleys from whom it descended to the Daughters and Coheiresses of Charles 2nd Marquis Cornwallis was by them presented to the Honble Richard Neville as a token of their regard & affection 1823".