What do we know about Sir Geoffrey?
Text
© The British Library Board 1998
The Latin words above the horseman read: 'Dns [Dominus] Galfridus [Geoffrey] louterell [Luttrell] me fieri fecit' - 'The Lord Geoffrey Luttrell caused me to be made'. This line of text is the main source of evidence we have as to the commissioning of the Psalter. Note the French-like spelling of the name 'Luttrell'.
Armour
© The British Library Board 1998
Sir Geoffrey is shown mounted and in full armour. Note that his horse is not a shire horse, as is commonly depicted, but a heavy hunter. His armour is made of steel plate rather than chain-mail. Full plate armour of this sort was worn by knights and men at arms from about 1350 to 1600: from, roughly, the age of Chaucer to the age of Shakespeare.
The armour shown here would have been made of articulated steel plates (possibly as many as 150 of them) held together with strips of leather. His helmet is a massive battle helm, with a moveable visor and cross-shaped breathing holes. Heavy and padded with leather, an armour like this would have been blisteringly hot in summer. Note that Sir Geoffrey's horse wears armour plate to protect its face.
When this image was painted Sir Geoffrey was probably well advanced in years. As a young man, however, he had fought in battle against the Scots, in a conflict in which the English fared badly, possibly because of the weight of the armour worn by the English knights.
The Luttrell Family
© The British Library Board 1998
The woman handing the helmet to Sir Geoffrey is his wife, Agnes. We know this because of the pattern of her costume. Agnes was the daughter of Sir Richard Sutton. Her costume bears the arms of the Luttrell family crossed with those of the Suttons: a golden lion on a green background. The woman holding the shield is Sir Geoffrey's daughter-in-law, Beatrice. We know from the family records that she was married to Sir Geoffrey's son when he was only seven years old. Marriage at such an early age, involving the linking of wealthy families and their property, was common among the aristocracy.
Fashion
Both women wear their hair in short plaits, with a gold chaplet. Note also that their necks and shoulders are covered with white linen. The younger woman wears what were probably fashionably long sleeves. Their gowns bear the Luttrell arms 'impaled' with those of their fathers.
Heraldry
© The British Library Board 1998
Sir Geoffrey's surcoat, that of his horse, and the shield held by his daughter-in-law, bear the arms of the Luttrell family: a diagonal silver line between six silver martlets. Note that as a result of oxidisation the once-gleaming silver has turned almost black.
Decoration
© The British Library Board 1998
It has often been pointed out that the Luttrell Psalter was made not only as an act of devotion, but also as a costly work of art, designed to display the family's wealth. This page, like the initial 'B' enclosing King David, uses a lot of gold leaf, both on the coat of arms and on the tapestry-like background, which again carries a floral pattern created by puncturing tiny holes.
An Interlinear Creature
© The British Library Board 1998
Lines 2 and 5 of the text fall short and are filled up with geometric patterns; the space at the end of lines 8-9 is occupied by an unexplained monster with the head of a man and the body of a fish. There are many such monsters or 'babewyns' in the Luttrell Psalter. More often than not they are hybrid in form, with the heads of humans grafted to the limbs and bodies of animals, birds and fish. We can't be absolutely certain why they are there, though it has been suggested that sometimes they might represent the demons of hell.
