The Luttrell Psalter is a decorated manuscript from the Middle Ages. It was written and illuminated from about 1325 for a land-owner, Sir Geoffrey Luttrell of Irnham in Lincolnshire.

It is primarily a book of psalms and canticles in Latin. It begins with a calendar, and ends with a litany with collects and the Office of the Dead with musical notation.

It is made up of 309 leaves of robust, well-prepared vellum, each measuring about 360 x 245 mm. It has been rebound in modern dark-brown Moroccan leather.

The writing is large and can be read at a distance. It is in the same hand throughout. The text is lavishly illustrated with illuminated initial letters and dozens of marginal decorations which cover almost every aspect of medieval life. Alongside such everyday scenes, the book contains fascinating images of fantastic monsters and beasts.

Who made it and how?

The Luttrell Psalter, made before paper was introduced in Europe, is on vellum: parchment made from stretched sheepskin. It was probably created over a period of several years, by a scribe (possibly several) and a team of illustrators. These people would probably have been professional artists rather than (as is commonly believed) monks.

The scribe would have used a quill and black ink; careful inspection of the pages shows that the evenness of the calligraphy was achieved by working on a page ruled with finely drawn lines. The illustrations seem to be the work of a number of different painters: this is evident from the style of workmanship. One of the artists — sometimes known as the ‘Luttrell Master’ — is clearly superior to the others. He was responsible for many of the more important images.

What is special about the Luttrell Psalter?

The Luttrell Psalter is special because so few images of medieval rural England survive to this day. Fragments of wall paintings, tapestries and carvings do remain, but such collections of images are rarely as comprehensive as those in illuminated manuscripts. The Luttrell Psalter is in a particularly good state of preservation and exhibits a very high quality of illustration, covering a wide range of subjects: scenes from the Bible, scenes from the lives of the saints, scenes of daily life on Sir Geoffrey’s Estates — and the most freakish monsters. The Psalter abounds with attractive illustrations in the margins showing scenes of rural life.

The ‘Luttrell Master’ has created exquisite images using a lively sense of colour. The drawings are attractive and witty. Historians have seized upon them to illustrate their texts. Having been copied and reproduced so often, these images have profoundly influenced the popular image of medieval England.

In Mirror in Parchment (1998), Michael Camille argues that the Luttrell Psalter was generally not intended by Sir Geoffrey to be a faithful record of daily life. It was more an expression of the way Sir Geoffrey idealised medieval life.

Where is it?

In 1896 the Luttrell Psalter was deposited with the British Museum. Since April 1998 it has been on display in the exhibition galleries of the British Library in London.