Gorleston Psalter
Type:
Psalters,
Illuminated manuscripts
Date:
ca. 1310
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
United Kingdom
Dimensions:
32.5 × 23.5 cm
Description:
This East Anglian Psalter has lively and humorous marginal scenes, including hybrid knights in combat with snails, human heads attached to various parts of animals' bodies, and several individuals defecating or exposing their anuses. This Psalter also features an early example of "sound effects," with a duck in a fox's mouth calling out "queck." Scholars continue to debate the reasons why medieval scribes and artists sometimes combined sacred texts with silly, irreverent, and often vulgar imagery.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
9
Repository and Online Resources:
• This manuscript is now in the collection of the British Library.
• Read Sarah J. Biggs's post on the marginalia in this manuscript for the British Library's Medieval Manuscripts Blog.
• Watch the TED-Ed lesson by Michelle P. Brown, "What is a butt tuba and why is it in medieval art?"
Tags:
Animals,
Latin,
Marginalia,
Christian,
Western European,
Northern European
