We have no way of telling whether or not this is an actual city, but it is possible that it is meant to be Stamford, a walled city in Lincolnshire 12 miles south of Irnham, where Sir Geoffrey had his estates. In the Middle Ages Stamford was a prosperous wool town and an important religious centre, with four monasteries and priories, four friaries and fourteen parish churches. The city is depicted in considerable detail, with a gothic church with a weather-vane, a square with a market cross, and many small houses and taverns. The houses, mostly thatched and timber-framed, are very convincingly painted, with considerable variation in size, colour and design, giving the impression of close observation on the part of the artist.
Constantinus Nobilis
© The British Library Board 1998
Written above the image of the city are the words 'Constantinus Nobilis'. It has been suggested that the writer of these words - who was clearly not the calligrapher responsible for the rest of the page - took the city to be Constantinople. Whether the artist intended it to represent Constantinople is doubtful: the words in fact mean 'Constantine the Noble'. These words are another of the Psalter's many puzzles.
Fortifications
The city has a strongly fortified outer wall with round towers, 'crenellated' battlements to give protection in time of siege, and cross-shaped arrow-loops through which archers could shoot arrows with a minimum risk of being hit by attackers. Note that there are two gatehouses with portcullises. The one on the left is raised to permit a procession to pass through.
Music and Dance
© The British Library Board 1998
The people streaming through the gates, cheered on by spectators on the battlements, are dressed in matching clothes and are dancing to the accompaniment of musicians. Projecting through the arch are two long horns, from which hang the arms of the Luttrell and Sutton families. In front of the dancers are a man playing a shawm (a reed instrument of the oboe family) and another playing a pipe and a small drum called a tabor. Musicians, singers and dancers appear many times in the Psalter, possibly in reference to the words of the final Psalm:
Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
Psalm 150:3-5
