The Bohun Psalter

Scenes from the Life of David

The Bohun Psalter and Hours was produced for the Bohun family, one of the leading noble clans of 14th-century England. Over the years it has featured in numerous scholarly books, articles, and exhibits because we know rather a lot about how it was made.

The text on this manuscript and some of the basic drawing seems to have been done in the 1360s. Some think it was illuminated not long afterward, but the consensus view seems to be that it was set aside for twenty years, and most of the illumination was done in the 1380s. 

The illumination was done by a group of artists who lived in one of the Bohun estates – Pleshey Castle, in Essex – and were maintained by the family. All of these artists, as well as the scribes, were Augustinian canons, basically monks. These canons had a special dispensation from the archbishop to live with and work for the Bohuns. At least ten illuminated manuscripts have been identified as the products of this workshop.

Ape with owl, and a scribal squirrel

When I stumbled on some wonderful pictures of this manuscript I thought I would fill out the story and get more pictures by visiting the web site of the British Library, where this lives under the name MS. Egerton 3277. Alas, the British Library was struck by a ransomware attack last October and lost their entire digital archive. The did have a backup but, as they explain here, they can't use the backup because their servers were so badly damaged that they have still not been able to get their web site back up. They did not even have a functioning catalog until January. 

So here is a selection of what I could glean from the usual spots on the web.