The Christina Psalter

Book excerpt: This book is the first detailed analysis of an exquisitely illuminated thirteenth-century Parisian manuscript (The Royal Library, Copenhagen) which was owned by Christina of Norway (1234-1262), daughter of Håkon IV and wife of Philip of Castile and León. New information is provided about the Psalter?'s medieval and later components, its liturgical and other functions, missing illuminations and texts, as well as its provenance and date. Furthermore, the stylistic and iconographic similarities between the Psalter and some of the most important manuscripts illuminated in Paris in the Period, like the three-volume Moralized Bibles, are discussed. Suggestions also are made about the meanings the texts and images might have had for their intended audience.