The visualization of the contents of the psalms in the early Middle Ages.

Abstract

This dissertation presents a re-evaluation of the imagery of three ninth-century Psalters---the Corbie Psalter (Amiens, Bibl. Mun., Ms. 18), the Utrecht Psalter (Utrecht, Bibliotheek der Rijksuniversiteit, Ms. 32), and the Stuttgart Psalter (Stuttgart, Wurttembergische Landesbibliothek, Ms. Bibl. Fol. 23). This imagery visualizes the contents of the psalms, a biblical text unique for its extensive use of unspecified first and second person forms. The open referents of the I and you of the psalms made identifying with their voices an area of intense exegetical speculation. Yet the abundant imagery in the much-studied Utrecht and Stuttgart Psalters is often seen as literal illustration, that is, a direct translation of the words of the text into visual form, and left at that. This dissertation posits that in visualizing both the speakers and the contents of the psalms, the illustrators of these manuscripts provided an interpretation of the act of prayer in which the reader participated in complicated ways. In a series of close analyses of select illustrations an effort is made to map the reading process whereby images were brought together within and across pages to provide opportunities for and encourage extended meditations on the nature of God, the self, and the soul. By focusing on the strategies and themes of biblical exegesis, this dissertation calls attention to the interpretive capacities of the images and suggests that their creation be seen as providing a stimulus for the reader's devotional engagement with the text. Chapter 1 presents background on psalms illustration and a review of the scholarly literature. Chapter 2 focuses on the Corbie Psalter, the illustrations of which reveal a deep concern with figuring the ideal reader's encounter with the text of the psalms in the act of prayer. In Chapter 3 attention centers on the visualization of the figurative language of the psalms in the Utrecht Psalter and re-evaluates the role played by these images in the reader's attempt to discover their spiritual meaning. Chapter 4, focused on the Stuttgart Psalter, presents a thematic study of the representation of the act of prayer and examines its relationship to the reader before the text. The illustrations in all three manuscripts are understood to be fundamentally exegetical and to have offered to the reader of the psalms interpretive glosses not just on the text but on the spiritual life itself.