The Luttrell Psalter is a de luxe manuscript, a major status symbol in the Luttrell household demonstrating his wealth and taste, as well as being used as a devotional book. The pages measure 360mm x 245mm (approximately 14 x 9½ inches), which is big, and Janet Backhouse points out that the script is large enough to be read at a distance: whether by a priest or admiring visitors who were allowed to view it on a stand in Sir Geoffrey's hall is not known.

Lines are evenly spaced: the space between the written lines is equal to the space between head-line and base-line.

Since ascenders and descenders are half this depth or less, there is clear water between the lines. This leaves the scribe a tempting area in which he allows his letters to burgeon into spirals like new ferns uncurling (these are called 'fiddle-heads').

The text is left-justified. On this page the guide-lines are supplemented with an ornamental barrette which breaks into leafy tendrils at top and bottom. The right margin is roughly justified, and also marked with a smaller spray of leaves and daisy-like flowers.

When words are broken, the break is indicated with a hyphen, as at the ends of lines 1, 5, 7,11, 13, and even 14, the last line on the page. Since this is a verso, the text continues on the facing page.

He also assists the right justification by using ornamental line fillers, appropriately decorated:

This page contains the middle of a psalm, so there is no example of the major historiated initials which mark the first letter of the first word in the first verse.

Each verse is marked by a coloured versal, alternating gold (on a purple penwork foliage background) and blue (on a penwork background of red leaves).

Punctuation is by colon (on the head- and base-lines) and full stop (on the base-line). These mark out the balance in the verses much as they do in modern editions of the Bible.

Even the colons and fullstops have broken into fern fiddle-backs.

The margins are ample, and the illuminator has taken ample advantage of them to supply us with a gallery of grotesques (see the charming cowheaded dragon in the top margin)

and scenes from agricultural life.

Those who see a connection between architectural fashion and the fashion in scripts could try comparing this hand with the Eleanor Cross the person in the margin appears to be balancing on his head.

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© MEG TWYCROSS 1999