Seeing the Music in the Psalter of Queen Philippa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21322285 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Laura Slater (0000-0003-3627-3417, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 64 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 71-102 |
| Publication date | 2025-03-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Gesta (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0016-920X • E-ISSN: 2169-3099 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1086/733784 |
| OpenAlex | W4409418387 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 29 |
This article explores the interaction between text, image, and music in London, British Library, MS Harley 2899 (the Psalter of Queen Philippa), made ca. 1340. Securely connected by heraldic evidence to the ownership of Queen Philippa of Hainault (ca. 1310–69), wife of Edward III of England, this otherwise conventional psalter illuminated with Davidic images ad verbum contains over eighty notated antiphons. I suggest that the specific antiphons included in the psalter indicate the liturgical program followed in Philippa’s household chapel. I then explore how the antiphons may have served as tools to aid Philippa’s devotional meditations on and intellectual contemplation of the psalms, stimulating her memory, prayerful ductus, and spiritual engagement. The antiphons in Harley 2899 moved between (earthly or imagined) visual and aural experiences of sacred sound, in response to the imaginative and spiritual efforts of the manuscript’s user, or in relation to the current location and canonical hour at which the Psalter was used. The antiphons’ consistent and carefully calibrated visual juxtaposition with the major historiated initials in the manuscript expand both the interpretative possibilities and the spiritual meaning of the pictorial, musical, and textual contents of the page. I also suggest that Philippa actively utilized her strong personal interest in music to enhance the established Marian symbolism of her role as queen. Liturgical music played an important role in European court culture and the public definition of late medieval queenly authority
Art · Art history · Biology · Queen (butterfly) · Visual arts · Zoology · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Literature, Politics, and Exile Studies · Medieval Literature and History
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| Highly cited | No |
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