The Luttrell monsters

Yesterday in the stupid hours of the night I literally stumbled across a facsimile of the Luttrell psalter in the library. [when I say stumble I mean it, somebody left it on the floor where they were sitting and I tripped over it]

I will not go in to detail about the manuscript as it is ridiculously famous (especially for its marginalia) and its easy to find information about it on the web and in any library. The manuscript itself was created for Geoffrey Luttrell around 1325-1335.

Geoffrey Luttrell with his wife and daughter in law. Luttrell Psalter, Diocese of Lincoln, c.1325-1335, London British Library, Add MS 42130, fol 202 v.

I have seen a couple of images from the psalter before and to tell the truth because they were mostly the peasant/farming scenes I never felt inclined to search it out and study. Yet after it tripped me over and I was searching for an excuse to procrastinate I decided to give it a go. 

It is one of the most exquisite awesome things I have ever seen. There are no full page illuminations but the marginalia images are to die for. So bright, so humorous, so colourful! So imaginative! Seriously contemporary imagination is put to shame compared to the craziness that is happening on Luttrell borders. I applaude the workshop that had such extensive imagination to create so many hybrids with no two similar. I can probably sing praises for another few paragraphs so I will stop writing here and just upload the the images for them to be judged in their own right.

And we shall start with two UNICORNS!!!

Luttrell Psalter, Diocese of Lincoln, c.1325-1335, London British Library, Add MS 42130, fol 15 r.

Luttrell Psalter, Diocese of Lincoln, c.1325-1335, London British Library, Add MS 42130, fol 179r.

I have no idea what it is but I think its cute.

Luttrell Psalter, Diocese of Lincoln, c.1325-1335, London British Library, Add MS 42130, fol 24r. 

The Martyrdom of St Bartholomew

The martyrdom of St Bartholomew. Luttrell Psalter, Diocese of Lincoln, c.1325-1335, London British Library, Add MS 42130, fol 103v.

This image still give me the chills thought to be fair the skinned Bartholomew is probably scarier in Michelangelo's image, but this one is more graphic in that it shows the actual process of skinning.

Michelangelo, Last Judgment, 1531-1541, Fresco, Sistine Chapel, Vatican (Detail)

 I really like this hybrid bunny.

Luttrell Psalter, Diocese of Lincoln, c.1325-1335, London British Library, Add MS 42130, fol 156v.

 Bunny Hill! 

Luttrell Psalter, Diocese of Lincoln, c.1325-1335, London British Library, Add MS 42130, fol 176v.

 The two bunnies on the top remind me of South Park's Christmas Critters. 

South Park Christmas Critter

nom nom!

Luttrell Psalter, Diocese of Lincoln, c.1325-1335, London British Library, Add MS 42130, fol 192r.

More funnzies

Luttrell Psalter, Diocese of Lincoln, c.1325-1335, London British Library, Add MS 42130, fol 145r.

Luttrell Psalter, Diocese of Lincoln, c.1325-1335, London British Library, Add MS 42130, fol 148r.

Luttrell Psalter, Diocese of Lincoln, c.1325-1335, London British Library, Add MS 42130, fol 38r.

Luttrell Psalter, Diocese of Lincoln, c.1325-1335, London British Library, Add MS 42130, fol 64v.

This one I find very flirty, its as if she is playfully posing. I can almost see it fit well on the contemporary red carpet, (compared to Lady Gaga I dont thing anyone will even notice it)

Luttrell Psalter, Diocese of Lincoln, c.1325-1335, London British Library, Add MS 42130, fol 81r.

In the end all I can say is I found my new favourite procrastination book, if only it was less heavy.


Jenny


Book of the day: M.P. Brown, Luttrell Psalter/; a facsimile, London : British Library, 2006.  

I feel like Donestre

I do have some weird fascination with monsters; I still throw a glance at my wardrobe to make sure that there is no Boogieman before going to sleep. 

The Boogieman found on the Madrid Fashion Week 2009 catwalk.

 The word ‘Monster’ is believed to come from the Latin monstro meanings ‘to show’, ‘to demonstrate’, the idea being that monsters show outside themselves. Maybe it is because they are meant to be signs that they are so easy to relate to. Despite the almost 1000 year gap between the scribe of Marvels of the East manuscript and me and the fact that the monsters and concerns of 21^st century are different from 1050, I found myself relating to this guy:

Donestre devouring a traveler (bottom right) and crying over the dismembered head (bottom left) from Marvels of the East (Anglo-Saxon, c. 1050)
London, British Library, MS Cotton Tiberius B. v., fol. 83v.

Donestre weeping over the head, Notice the look of pity and guilt.

 Donestre were believed to be multilingual and when travelers came across them they would greet foreigners in their language. Once they gained the travelers trust they devoured their body. And then in a radical display of consciousness they would weep over the disembodied head. 

I find this story touching and right now Donestre can be the symbol of my day, no not because I devoured someone. Well I did devour far to many sweets and now I am sitting surrounded by wrappers stirring in my own guilt. So Donestre can be a symbol of everyone who regrets eating too much too soon.  

Another reason is that I was really looking forward to studying today as I have an awesome book to read, yet after switching on the computer I spent half of the day procrastinating. and now I keep looking at the time, the book and the computer guilty of my laziness. And I know that while its weeks till the exam I will be happily procrastinating ( Donestre devouring the body) once its down to days I will feel guilty and spend the rest of the time until exam blaming myself ( Donestre crying over the head). 

Jenny

Book of the day: Debra H. Strickland, Saracens, Demons and Jews, Princeton, N.J. ; Oxford : Princeton University Press, 2003.