Melisende Psalter
Date:
ca. 1131–43
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
Israel
Dimensions:
21.5 × 14.5 cm
Description:
The Melisende Psalter is named for its association with a Christian queen of the Kingdom of Jerusalem (r. 1131–53), which she ruled together with her husband, Fulk V of Anjou. The book has carved ivory covers, twenty-four full-page illuminations based on Byzantine models, calendar pages with zodiac symbols, and the Psalms. The front ivory cover has scenes from the life of the biblical King David, to whom the Psalms are attributed. One of the full-page illuminations is a Deesis, a Byzantine iconographic type with Christ between John the Baptist and the Virgin. This page has a faint inscription on Christ's footstool that may identify the artist responsible for this and other pages: “Basili[us] me fecit” (Basilius made me).
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
7
Repository and Online Resources:
• Flip through the Melisende Psalter on the the British Library's website.
• Read more about Melisende and "Twelfth-Century Girl Power" on the British Library's medieval manuscripts blog.
