Queen Mary Psalter

The psalter was perhaps produced c. 1310–1320 by one main scribe and, unusually for a work so heavily illuminated, a single artist, who is now known as the "Queen Mary Master". It was probably made in London, and possibly for Isabella of France, queen of Edward II of England, though there is no agreement on the matter. For the next two hundred years, its history is not known. A note in a sixteenth-century hand indicates that it was owned by an Earl of Rutland, and though it does not identify the earl it appears likely that it was Henry Manners. A Protestant, he was imprisoned in May 1553, which may explain how the psalter landed in the possession of Queen Mary: a second note, in Latin, explains that the psalter was impounded by Baldwin Smith, a customs officer, and thus remained in England. It remained in the possession of Queen Mary and her successors until 1757, when George II donated the Old Royal Library to the British Museum. Elements of the text are not known from other manuscripts and may have been specially composed. Some of the captions and illustrations betray the influence of the twelfth-century Historia scholastica. At least twenty manuscripts from the fourteenth century have survived that reflect the "Queen Mary style". The contents indicate that it was probably made for a woman. Comparisons to psalters that focus on women and were known to have been owned by women (such as the Isabella Psalter, the Munich Psalter, and the Imola Psalter) are drawn. Especially the Isabella Psalter is similar in content and style to the Queen Mary Psalter, strengthening the case for identifying the original patron or owner as Isabella of France. Kathryn Smith argues that specifically the scenes depicting Joseph, if read in the proper historical context, suggest Isabella: "it [the Joseph cycle] functioned in two ways: as a commentary on royal policy and current events during the reign of Edward II, and as an "anti-model" of conjugal fidelity for his queen, Isabella of France."