A team from The University of Aberdeen's History of Art, Modern Languages and Historic Collections Departments have completed a major £72,000 project, funded by the AHRB (Arts and Humanities Research Board) and a grant from the Faculty of Arts and Divinity, to bring history to the present by making available on the web a significant manuscript from the 12th century.
The St Albans Psalter is a manuscript made for Christina of Markyate in the 1130s. The new website aims to display the manuscript in such a way that readers may enjoy its beauty and contents. The book consists of the psalms prefaced by 211 decorative initials, forty full-page minatures illlustrating the Life of Christ -picking particular topics to engage the devotion of a woman - and also the Chanson of St Alexis, the earliest piece of French literature. The brilliantly painted illuminations, and the unusual text merit publication for their own sake but the book has an added interest because Christina left behind an account of her life, dictated to a monk of St Albans.
As Dr Jane Geddes, explains: "The St Albans Psalter was an obvious candidate for display on the web. Access to the original is complicated because it is owned by a parish church, not a library, and its artist the so-called Alexis Master was one of the most influential English Romanesque painters. The contents are also more intriguing than a normal liturgical book because they contain so many clues about the personal involvement of Christina and her loving admirer Abbot Geoffrey. Geoffrey began as a schoolmaster with an interest in producing plays: the book shows signs of design as a reading primer, and the illustrations have close connections to liturgical drama.The manuscript was photographed in Germany under strict security while the web work took place in Aberdeen. At the request of the owners, the entire site is also available in German. It is of interest to anyone studying medieval art, feminism, the history of drama, French literature and of course the psalms."
The psalter was made at St Albans Abbey and probably kept at Christina's little priory of Markyate, not far from St Albans in Hertfordshire, until the Reformation. During the Civil War, a fugitive English Catholic
brought the manuscript to the English Benedictine monastery of Lamspringe (founded in 1643) in Lower Saxony. The manuscript has been at is at St Godehard's church, Hildesheim since in 1803 where relatively few English readers have ever seen it.
The St Albans Psalter is available on the web at: www.abdn.ac.uk/stalbanspsalter
Images from the manuscript are available from the press office. Dr Jane Geddes is available for interview. Please contact Emma Darling on 01224 272014.
Christina of Markyate (born c, 1096 - died after 1155) was an attractive Anglo-Saxon girl forced to marry against her wishes. She had made a private vow to become a nun following a childhood visit to St Albans Abbey. She fled to a series of Anglo-Saxon hermits who protected her for a number of years, finally reaching Roger the Hermit, a monk from St Albans, at his cell at Markyate. When he died, she took over the cell and was subsequently protected by Abbot Geoffrey. She exerted considerable influence over the abbot's spiritual development and administrative decisions, while he provided her cell with financial support. Their intimate relationship remained chaste, but caused malicious gossip and jealousy at the abbey. The manuscript was a product of their relationship.
Christina has a strong cult following. A conference organised jointly by Oxford University and Aberdeen, will be held at St Albans, August 2-3.
The service of Vespers, sung by the Woodhill Singers, will be performed at St Albans Cathedral at 15.00-16.00, Sunday 3 August. All are welcome. This service aims to recreate the medieval experience of worship which Christina would have recognised when she visited the cathedral as a child.
Issued by Public Relations Office, External Relations, University of Aberdeen, King's College, Aberdeen. Tel: (01224) 272014 Fax: (01224) 272086. Contact: Emma Darling