Gorleston Psalter

The Gorleston Psalter (British Library Manuscript Additional 49622) is a 14th-century manuscript notable for containing early music instruction and for its humorous marginalia. It is named for the town of Gorleston in Norfolk.

The Gorleston Psalter is richly illustrated, with frequent illuminations, as well as many bas-de-page (bottom-of-the-page) illustrations or drolleries as marginalia.

The bulk of the manuscript is taken up by the psalms (foll. 8r-190v), which is preceded by a calendar (1r-6v, with twelve roundels) and a prayer (7v), and followed by a canticles (190v-206r), an Athanasian creed (206r-208v), a litany (208v-214r), collects (214r-214v), an Office of the Dead (223v-225v), prayers (223v-225v), a hymn (225v-226r), and a litany (226r-228r).

The prayer on fol. 7v, Suscipere dignare domine dues omnipotens hos psalmos quos ego indignus peccator, was added after the manuscript passed to Norwich Cathedral Priory, along with a miniature of the crucifixion on vol. 7r, as was the litany on foll. 226r-228r, similar to the litany in the Ormesby Psalter. There are thirteen large historiated initials, marking the beginning of Psalms 1, 26, 38, 51, 52, 68, 80, 97, 101, 109, 119, the beginning of Canticles, and the Office of the Dead (showing the funeral of a bishop), besides 145 historiated minor initials. The Beatus initial to Psalm 1 (a B for beatus), shows the Tree of Jesse surrounded by a border showing the arms of England and France (fol. 8r).

One famous image from the Psalter shows a fox carries a goose away in its mouth, while the goose says queck. The scene is probably an allusion to the tale of Reynard the Fox. Armorial illustrations showing in the manuscript have been identified as those of Roger Bigod, (f. 70b), Gilbert Peche, (f. 86), and Aymer de Valence, (f. 107v).

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