The Ormesby Psalter
Patrons and Artists in Medieval East Anglia
Distributed for the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford
224 pages
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71 color plates
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7 1/2 x 10 3/4
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© 2005
- Contents
- Review Quotes
Table of Contents

Contents
Acknowledgements
Map
Family Trees
Introduction
Modern history
Medieval owners
The book as a book
The puzzle
Making the Ormesby Psalter
The late-thirteenth-century campaign
The 1310s campaign
The Jesse Master
The Ormesby Master
The 1330s campaign
The Earl of Ufford and the final campaign
Conclusion
Descriptive Commentary
Psalm I, Beatus vir
Psalm I, Beatus vir
Psalm 26, Dominus illuminatio mea
Psalm 38, Dixi custodiam vias meas
Psalm 51, Quid gloriaris in militia
Psalm 52, Dixit insipiens
Psalm 68, Salvum me fac deus
Psalm 80, Exultate deo
Psalm 97, Cantante domino
Psalm 101, Domine exaudi orationem meam
Psalm 109, Dixit dominus domino meo
Map
Family Trees
Introduction
Modern history
Medieval owners
The book as a book
The puzzle
Making the Ormesby Psalter
The late-thirteenth-century campaign
The 1310s campaign
The Jesse Master
The Ormesby Master
The 1330s campaign
The Earl of Ufford and the final campaign
Conclusion
Descriptive Commentary
Psalm I, Beatus vir
Psalm I, Beatus vir
Psalm 26, Dominus illuminatio mea
Psalm 38, Dixi custodiam vias meas
Psalm 51, Quid gloriaris in militia
Psalm 52, Dixit insipiens
Psalm 68, Salvum me fac deus
Psalm 80, Exultate deo
Psalm 97, Cantante domino
Psalm 101, Domine exaudi orationem meam
Psalm 109, Dixit dominus domino meo
Review Quotes
Roger S. Wieck, The Morgan Library & Museum
"The majestic Ormesby Psalter is a triumph of medieval English manuscript illumination. Frederica Law-Turner clearly and elegantly explains the book’s often enigmatic imagery. The fascinating history of the tome, which took some three quarters of a century to make, reads like one of Ellis Peters’ Chronicles of Brother Cadfael. The saga involves an engagement, a stolen wardship, an ambitious ecclesiastic, and a falling steeple—a story well told."
Alison Stones, University of Pittsburgh
“This is a fascinating study of the puzzling luxury psalter made for notable East Anglian families in the early years of the 14th century. Law-Turner's meticulous analysis of the heraldry reveals how the complex relationships of the Foliots and the Bardolfs, families in the circle of John de Warenne, and their continental links to the Dukes of Bar, impacted upon the various phases in the production of this remarkable book. She isolates four distinct campaigns of execution and convincingly attributes one of them to a painter from the distinguished entourage of Renaud de Bar, Bishop of Metz and uncle of Jeanne de Bar, wife of John VII de Warenne. She further sheds important light on the life of Robert of Ormesby and his revisions to the book made before he donated it to Norwich Cathedral Priory, where it underwent still more changes of rebinding and repair by an artist dubbed by Sydney Cockerell as ‘the Cheap Finisher.’”
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