St. Albans Psalter
[1] It is widely considered to be one of the most important examples of English Romanesque book production; it is of almost unprecedented lavishness of decoration, with over forty full-page miniatures, and contains a number of iconographic innovations that would endure throughout the Middle Ages.
[3] The manuscript is composed of five physically separable parts: Scholarly opinion differs on many of the details, but there is general agreement that the psalter was created at St Albans Abbey.
The first editor Adolph Goldschmidt considered Roger († ante 1118), hermit and monk of St Albans, to be the scribe of the psalms.
[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] If she did indeed own it, it is not clear whether the manuscript was intended for her from the beginning, whether it was adapted for her while it was being made, or whether it became hers after its completion; recent research remains divided on this issue.
This action, in addition to refusing to comply with pagan beliefs, ultimately led to Alban’s beheading, hence becoming a martyr in the Christian community.
Duke William II of Normandy invaded England because he believed he had a claim to the English throne due to his familial relationship with the Anglo-Saxon King Edward the Confessor.
While an abbot at St. Albans, he acquired new property for the monastery, helped to construct the new Romanesque abbey church, and established a scriptorium for the creation of manuscripts for the community’s use.
Its primary modes of appearance were architectural sculpture, stained glass, manuscript illuminations, and wall paintings.
[10] Despite occasional Anglo-Saxon features in its illumination cycle, the St. Albans Psalter is considered to be the paradigm of Romanesque-style artwork.
The tightly controlled thick-bordered frames, the symmetry of some illuminations, the interdependent relationship between size and level of importance, and the curved forms of figures’ bodies are all characteristic of both the St. Albans Psalter and Romanesque-style artwork.
The relationship was also mutually beneficial, for "while [Geoffrey] busied himself in supplying the maiden’s needs, [Christina] strove to enrich the man in virtue" (68).
Christina of Markyate, on the other hand, was the daughter of a wealthy Anglo-Saxon family who attempted to force her into marriage by way of deceit, trickery and scandal.
Hence, she lived a substantial portion of her life as a recluse and was even protected by a hermit for a brief time until she entered the community of St.
[9] Kristen M. Collins, Nancy Turner, and Peter Kidd, The St. Albans Psalter Painting and Prayer in Medieval England (J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2013), 9.
[10] Conrad Rudolph, A Companion to Medieval Art: Romanesque and Gothic in Northern Europe, (New Jersey, Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), 106.
[14] Ibid., The St. Albans Psalter Painting, 17.Within the accepted c.1120-c.1145 date-range, there is no firm scholarly consensus about the relative and absolute chronology of the creation of the five constituent parts.
