Illuminated Manuscripts

Queen Ingeborg, wife of Philip Augustus of France, owned a devotional book known generally as a "psalter." At the time (before 1210) and later, psalters were filled with beautiful illustrations (this picture on parchment represents Pentecost) and were very expensive. Today this book is known as the Ingeborg Psalter.  It is located at the Musée Condé, Chantilly.

Other richly illustrated psalters from the 13th century still exist. The following are a few examples:

• In about 1200, it is believed that London's Westminster Abbey commissioned a psalter for use at the church. Today it is unknown who painted "Christ in Glory" in the Westminster Psalter. It is located at the British Museum, London)
  
  
• According to tradition, Blanche of Castile (the mother of Louis IX) owned a psalter filled with illustrations resembling stained glass windows. Psalter of Blanche of Castile, dated 1235, is maintained at the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal in Paris.
  
  
• Louis IX of France (also known as St. Louis) commissioned a magnificent psalter (the Psalter of St. Louis) which illustrates many Old Testament stories. One of the most popular, during the Middle Ages, was about Balaam and his donkey.   Located at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris.

There was a time when Kings gave each other Bibles. St. Louis, of France, gave a three-volume illustrated set (created between 1252-1270) to Ferdinand III, of Spain. Located at the Cathedral Museum, Toledo.

The frontispiece of King Charles V’s Bible portrays the monarch receiving his Bible from Jean de Vaudetar. (Museum Meermanno, The Hague)

Sophie, Princess of Bavaria, originally owned the Book of Prayers of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Elizabeth gave the book to the Cividale Church in 1220. One of its illustrations combines New Testament (the announcement and birth of Jesus) with Old Testament (the prophets Amos and Isaiah) subjects. (Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Cividale)