Holding institution title: W.10, Helmarshausen Psalter, Latin (1120-1200 CE, Helmarshausen, Germany)
Holding institution classification: Psalter
Holding institution location: Baltimore, MD
URL: https://thedigitalwalters.org/Data/WaltersManuscripts/html/W10/description.html
URL2: https://manuscripts.thewalters.org/viewer.php?id=W.10
Digitization status: Digitized
Date: 1150-1200
Language(s): Latin
Use: Litany contents suggest use in Helmarshausen or Trier
Country of production: Germany
City or region of production: Helmarshausen
Illumination contents: Noble Lady at Prayer, Christ on the Cross with Mary and John the Baptist, Christ in Majesty
Text contents: Calendar, Liturgical Psalter, Canticles, Hymns, Creeds, Litany, Petitions, Collects, Minor Office of the Dead
Hours intercalated?:
Personalization: Owner, a noble lady probably related to Duke Henry the Lion (1129-1195) is pictured on f. 6v. Her identity has been the subject of much debate. Scholars have conjectured that she is Gertrud, Henry’s daughter, Clementia, his first wife, or Matilda, his second wife. Because the portrait bears no inscription, and because the facing page, which may have shown the lady’s patron saint, is missing, the question must remain open.
Scribe: Herimann
Illuminator: monastery of Helmarshausen in Westphalia,
Patron: Created for the use of a noble lady, probably a relative of Duke Henry the Lion (1129-1195); the manuscript’s owner is pictured on f. 6v, and her identity has been the subject of much debate. Scholars have conjectured that she is Gertrud, Henry’s daughter, Clementia, his first wife, or Matilda, his second wife. Because the portrait bears no inscription, and because the facing page, which may have shown the lady’s patron saint, is missing, the question remains open.
Materials: Parchment, well prepared, medium weight; gold, red ink, brown ink
Binding original?: No
Binding description: Red velvet (probably added by Léon Gruel) over sixteenth- or seventeenth- century beech boards. Upper and outer margins clipped. Edges gilt and inscribed with a pattern of stars within arches.
Folio height (in centimeters): 11.5
Folio width (in centimeters): 6.5
