WTF is a Psalter?

What is a Psalter?

A psalter is a book containing the Book of Psalms, a collection of 150 sacred Hebrew songs, poems, and prayers from the Old Testament. Popular in the Middle Ages, clergy used psalters for liturgical worship, and wealthy laity used them for private devotion. Psalters were often exquisite illuminated manuscripts, with handwritten text and decoration. Starting in the 1450s, however, psalters were also printed.

Brief History of Psalters

So, where did these psalms come from? Tradition tells us that David, King of Ancient Israel (11^th century BCE), wrote 73 of them. In addition to ruling, he was dropping sick beats as a poet and musician. Other biblical figures, such as Asaph, Solomon, Moses, and the sons of Korah, are also credited with writing the psalms. However, modern-day scholars are like, no fucking way, there’s no historical evidence that David and Co. are the authors.

But since there really isn’t a way to know for sure, I say believe what you’d like. Religion is all about faith, isn’t it?

Psalters in Antiquity & the Middle Ages

Moving on, the earliest psalters were undecorated volumes in Coptic.¹ The earliest complete Coptic psalter dates to the fourth century CE and was discovered in a young girl’s grave in al-Mudil, Egypt. Latin psalters first made their appearance in the early 8^th century but peaked in the 12^th–13^th centuries.² In the Middle Ages, psalters were the most common prayer book for laity (non-clergy), with the uber wealthy commissioning beautifully decorated copies for private devotion.

In addition to the Book of Psalms, some psalters had supplementary materials, like a liturgical calendar or a litany of saints.³ In the 13^th century, psalters were included in a small number of Books of Hours, the next big thing in prayer book production.⁴ By the mid-13^th century, Books of Hours became all the rage. As the best sellers of their day, they largely replaced psalters. If you’re wondering WTF is a Book of Hours, click on the link to learn more.

When Johannes Gutenberg revolutionized book production by inventing printing with movable type in the 1450s, printers added psalters to their stock. In this early era of printing, booksellers wanted their books to look like manuscripts, so they mimicked their design with hand-painted illuminations.

Examples of Psalters

Utrecht Psalter

The Utrecht Psalter, c. 820–830 CE, hails from a scriptorium in Reims and is an example of a Carolingian manuscript. This means monks made the psalter under the Carolingian Empire, aka the rule of Charlemagne, King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor. Art created under his rule combined classical Roman elements with Northern European style.

The psalter is highly unique due to its decorative style. Instead of painted illuminations typical of medieval manuscripts, the psalter has sketch-like pen drawings depicting people in architectural and landscape scenes. 6 artists illustrated the Psalms—literally—by taking each phrase and drawing a narrative scene. No one had done this type of illustration before. As a result of this innovative style, we’re able to read the book through its pictures. There are 166 illustrations in total, visually narrating all 150 psalms and some canticles.⁵

Scholars don’t know who originally owned the book, but speculate that Charlemagne commissioned it for his son, Louis the Pious. If it wasn’t for Louis, perhaps it was for his wife Judith or their baby boy, who became Emperor Charles the Bald. Despite not knowing its original owner, we do know it made its way to Utrecht University Library in 1716, hence its name.

If you’d like to browse the whole book, you can do so here. Because it’s so damn cool, UNESCO digitized it and added it to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register for Documentary Heritage.

Queen Mary Psalter

The Queen Mary Psalter is an exquisite illuminated manuscript containing over 1,000 separate images by one artist, known as the “Queen Mary Master.”⁶ Many of the miniature paintings have glorious gold backgrounds, and I don’t just mean the color. The artist used real gold in the manuscript’s decoration.

The Queen Mary Psalter was created in England between 1310 and 1320. Along with the Book of Psalms, it contains Old Testament miniatures with commentary, canticles, and a litany. Scholars haven’t figured out who originally owned the psalter, but the use of gold indicates it was a royal commission. Historians have tossed around the idea that King Edward I commissioned it for his wife, Queen Isabella of France (1295–1358), but we really don’t know.⁷

What we do know, however, is that Mary Tudor (1516–1558) owned the psalter in 1553, hence its name. Mary is also known as Bloody Mary, not to be confused with the drink or the urban legend that haunted my childhood because I was certain she’d jump out of my bathroom mirror and stab me to death. No, the Bloody Mary we’re talking about was the daughter of King Henry VIII, who earned the moniker by executing a lot of Protestants.

Mainz Psalter

The last book on our tour is the Mainz Psalter, an incunabulum (early printed book). Johann Fust and Peter Schöffer printed it right after they sued Johannes Gutenberg and took everything from him.

In the mid-1400s, Gutenberg invented printing with movable type with the help of his financial partner, Fust, and his apprentice Schöffer. When Gutenberg was about to make bank printing the Gutenberg Bible, Fust accused him of diverting funds. He wanted his initial capital paid back, with interest. Gutenberg couldn’t pay his debt, so Fust sued him and won. He took everything from Gutenberg, including his printing shop, equipment, and some type. Schöffer, that weasel, backed Fust in the dispute and even became his son-in-law. With the inventor out of the way, it was time to print and make a fortune!

This duo printed the Mainz Psalter in 1457, which is the second book printed with movable type in the West. The first book, of course, was Gutenberg’s Bible. The Archbishop of Mainz commissioned the psalter in 1457, and there are only ten copies still in existence. The psalter’s pages are vellum, the most luxurious type of parchment. Its text is in red and black ink and contains sections of music inscribed by hand. To mimic illuminated manuscripts, Fust and Schöffer had the large capital letters handwritten in blue and red ink. I think we can all admire the craftsmanship of the psalter while still calling its creators backstabbing bastards.

To learn more about book history, see the following posts:

• WTF is Papyrus?
• WTF is Parchment?
• WTF is Vellum?
• WTF is a Palimpsest?
• WTF is a Codex?
• WTF is a Book of Hours?
• WTF are Illuminated Manuscripts?
• WTF are Incunabula?

Footnotes

1. Coptic was spoken by the Copts of Egypt, from about the 2^nd century CE onwards. It’s the final development of the ancient Egyptian language. ↩︎
2. Cave, The History of the Book, 265. ↩︎
3. A litany of saints was a prayer asking the saints for help. ↩︎
4. Watson, Illuminated Manuscripts, 34. ↩︎
5. Canticles are hymns from the Bible that are like psalms. ↩︎
6. Doyle, “The Golden Splendour.” ↩︎
7. Biggs, “Beautiful Contraband”; Davis, Janson’s History, 425. ↩︎

Bibliography & Further Reading

*Several of the following links are Amazon affiliate links, which means I earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no cost to you.

Biggs, Sarah J. “Beautiful Contraband: The Queen Mary Psalter.” Medieval Manuscripts Blog, November 6, 2012.

Cave, Roderick, and Sara Ayad. The History of The Book in 100 Books. Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books U.S., Inc., 2014.

Davies, Penelope J.E., et. al. Janson’s History of Art: The Western Tradition. 7^th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc., 2007.

Doyle, Kathleen. “The Golden Splendour of the Queen Mary Psalter.” Medieval Manuscripts Blog, July 18, 2022.

Royal Collection Trust. “The Mainz Psalter 14 August 1457.” Royal Collection Trust. Accessed July 6, 2025.

Utrecht University. “The Utrecht Psalter.” Utrecht University Special Collections. Accessed July 6, 2025.

Watson, Rowan. Illuminated Manuscripts and Their Makers. London: V&A Publications, 2003.