St. Albans and the Markyate Psalter

Seeing and Reading in Twelfth-Century England

Edited by Kristen Collins Edited by Matthew Fisher

Book cover: St. Albans and the Markyate Psalter

Hardback (Published)

(November 2017)

ISBN: 9781580442589

8.27 x 10.24 inches

Price: $99.00

In stock

This collection offers bold new readings of the images, composition, reception, and contexts of the beautiful, twelfth-century Markyate Psalter.


One of the most compelling and provocative books of twelfth-century England, the Markyate Psalter was probably produced at St. Albans Abbey between 1120 and 1140. Heralded as a high point of English Romanesque illumination, the manuscript contains the Chanson de St. Alexis. Leading scholars of twelfth-century manuscript studies explore the Psalter, understanding it through new methodologies, pursuing innovative lines of inquiry. The collection shines fresh light on a well-known manuscript, and broadens the discourse about the book and its readers.

Abbreviations Illustrations Introduction by Kristen Collins and Matthew Fisher Saint Anselm's "Grand Tour" and the Full-Page Picture Cycle in the Markyate Psalter by T. A. Heslop The Patronage and Ownership of the Markyate Psalter by Nigel Morgan Handling the Letter by Aden Kumler The Repainting of Psalm 101 and Meaningful Change in the Markyate Psalter by Kristen Collins and Nancy Turner Voicing the Psalms in the Markyate Psalter: Devotional Experience and Experiments with Images and Words by Kerry Boeye Intercessory Prayer and the Initials of the Markyate Psalter by Rachel Koopmans La Vie de Saint Alexis and the Alexis Quire in the Crusading Context by Zrinka Stahuljak The Psalmist and the Saint: David, Alexis, and the Construction of Meaning in a Twelfth-Century Composite Manuscript by Kathryn Gerry Blindness and Insight, Seeing and Believing: Reading Two Emmaus Sequences from St. Albans by Morgan Powell Praying with Pictures in the Gough Psalter by Martin Kauffmann Madness and Innocence: Reading the Infancy Cycle of a Romanesque Vita Christi by Kristen Collins The St. Alban's Psalter Monograph of 1960: Fifty Years Later by J. J. G. Alexander, Abbreviations
Illustrations
Introduction by Kristen Collins and Matthew Fisher
Saint Anselm's "Grand Tour" and the Full-Page Picture Cycle in the Markyate Psalter by T. A. Heslop
The Patronage and Ownership of the Markyate Psalter by Nigel Morgan
Handling the Letter by Aden Kumler
The Repainting of Psalm 101 and Meaningful Change in the Markyate Psalter by Kristen Collins and Nancy K. Turner
Voicing the Psalms in the Markyate Psalter: Devotional Experience and Experiments with Images and Words by Kerry Boeye
Intercessory Prayer and the Initials of the Markyate Psalter by Rachel Koopmans
La Vie de Saint Alexis and the Alexis Quire in the Crusading Context by Zrinka Stahuljak
The Psalmist and the Saint: David, Alexis, and the Construction of Meaning in a Twelfth-Century Composite Manuscript by Kathryn Gerry
Blindness and Insight, Seeing and Believing: Reading Two Emmaus Sequences from St. Albans by Morgan Powell
Praying with Pictures in the Gough Psalter by Martin Kauffmann
Madness and Innocence: Reading the Infancy Cycle of a Romanesque Vita Christi by Kristen Collins
The St. Albans Psalter Monograph of 1960: Fifty Years Later by J. J. G. Alexander

  • Edited by Kristen Collins
  • Edited by Matthew Fisher

"...Readers interested in a deep dive of the Psalter itself will be thankful for such careful, detailed analyses and for such numerous, glistening, often full-page reproductions of the Psalter's pages and initials." Lauren Mancia, The Medieval Review 18.10.08