A Psalter for a Danish Queen?

Abstract

London, British Library, Add. MS 17868 is an illuminated luxury psalter made in Northern France c. 1260. While nothing is known of its provenance before it was acquired by the library, the composition of the calendar is unusual for a French psalter in that it includes the Scandinavian saints King Olav, King Knud, and Knud Lavard. Alongside the physical characteristics of the psalter, which suggest the manuscript was made for a member of the uppermost strata of society, the calendar thus offers a hint as to the intended recipient. This article examines the psalter with a particular focus on the calendar. Placing the manuscript in the context of other illuminated psalters owned by members of the Scandinavian elite in the thirteenth century, it suggests that the psalter may have been made for Queen Ingeborg of Norway, daughter of the Danish King Erik Plovpenning and wife of King Magnus Lagabøte. This theory is supported by the historical circumstances as they are described in the saga of Håkon Håkonsson.