Psalter of Saint Louis

They are now in Paris and Leiden, and are respectively good examples of French Gothic and English Romanesque illumination.

[1] Done in the elaborate Rayonnant style and richly gilded, the manuscript contains 78 miniatures of Old Testament scenes starting at the story of Cain and Abel and ending with the coronation of Saul, a calendar of feast days, prayers and the 150 psalms.

The psalter is in excellent condition and considered a relic of Louis IX, who was canonized in 1297.

This manuscript passed into the hands of Blanche of Castile after Geoffrey's death, and, as religious manuscripts often were, was used to teach the future saint King Louis IX how to read as a child, as a 14th-century inscription below the Beatus initial (illustrated right) records.

After the king's death it passed through a number of royal owners, including the Valois Dukes of Burgundy, being regarded as a relic of the saint, before reaching the Leiden University Library in 1741.