Faith with Humour. A Prayer Book from Northern France

Book decoration on every single page: with this precious manuscript from the period around 1300, the Museum Schnütgen has succeeded in acquiring a special new work. It is a magnificent example of French Gothic manuscript illumination.

The psalter-breviary was made for the Premonstratensian Abbey of St. Martin in Laon, located approximately 140 km northeast of Paris. The manuscript was kept at the abbey until the French Revolution, and afterwards in the collection of the Dukes of Arenberg and various private collections. It is now being made accessible to the public for the first time and shown in a special presentation.

On 900 decorated pages, the work combines the biblical psalms – the basis of medieval prayer books – with a book of the canonical hours for clergy. A calendar at the beginning of the manuscript provides an overview of the feasts of the saints and is of particular appeal owing to its painted decoration. The calendar also features the signs of the zodiac – from Aquarius in January to Capricorn, here more a unicorn, in December – as well as representations of the typical monthly activities.

With the lively design of the margins, the decorative pages are particularly magnificent. Here, everything is in motion: hybrid creatures with human heads and various animals frolic in the sprouting tendrils. Small figures go about different activities. The cheerful and playful marginal images also offer insights into everyday life in the Middle Ages, showing such things as ball and throwing games as well as scenes of bagpipe players and jugglers from annual markets. Sometimes they appear as humorous commentaries on the solemn prayer texts.

The exhibition vividly shows how French manuscript illumination served as a model for manuscript production in Cologne. A total of four loans from private collections and the Erzbischöfliche Dom- und Diözesanbibliothek in Cologne help to place the recently acquired work in an international context.

It is also possible to leaf through a selection of pages in the manuscript digitally and discover some of the humorous details.

The manuscript was acquired with the support of the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung and the Harald und Gertrud Kühnen Stiftung.

A richly illustrated monographic publication on the work, published by Hirmer Publishers in German and English, is published to accompany the exhibition: Karen Straub: Faith with Humour. A Psalter-Breviary, c. 1300, from Laon, Munich 2025 (120 pages, 103 colour ill.).

The realisation of the exhibition and publication was supported by the Kölner Kulturstiftung der Kreissparkasse Köln and the Freundeskreis Museum Schnütgen e. V. (Friends of the Museum).