Medieval masterpiece of East Anglian heritage

First published in Let's Talk! Norfolk, July 2005

One of the psalter's two full-page frontispieces, this shows St Edmund, patron saint of East Anglia - the other shows St Andrew.

It has been called "a national treasure" and "the most important English manuscript to be discovered in living memory". It's been the subject of a successful public campaign to keep it in England . And it probably came from Gorleston. Aidan Semmens reports

GORLESTON. What does the name mean to you?

Perhaps the James Paget Hospital ; perhaps its twice-yearly music and arts festivals; perhaps, like most of the media, you regard it simply as the slightly posher edge of Great Yarmouth.

Like many, you may be unsure what county it's in (it was Suffolk until 1891, since when it's been Norfolk ).

Now, however, Gorleston has another claim to fame - though it's not exactly new. In fact, it goes back almost 800 years.

It's a book: one of the most beautiful, fascinating - and expensive - books in the world.

Actually, it's two books; and it's because one of them was already known that the origins of the other, newly discovered, could be identified.

And their origin is Gorleston.

The so-called Gorleston Psalter has for many years been in the medieval collection of the British Library in London .

A psalter is a personal prayerbook, or book of psalms, often richly illuminated (or illustrated). The Gorleston Psalter is best known for an illustration of a fox with a quacking duck in its mouth.

The writing and artwork were all done by hand, for the book dates from 150 years before the invention of printing.

Such rare and historically important books are seldom found in private hands. But last year an astonishing discovery was made in Oxfordshire when the Earl of Macclesfield was clearing out his library.

Queck! The fox and duck from the Gorleston Psalter in the British Library

Between two larger books, on a high shelf, was found the small volume now known as the Macclesfield Psalter. Its 252 pages teemed with vivid illustrations, many fantastical, some humorous.

When it appeared for auction at Sotheby's in June it was recognised by scholars worldwide as one of the most important finds for decades, both historically and artistically.

And the connection with Gorleston was also quickly noted. For however long the manuscript had lain forgotten in the Macclesfield family library, it was clear to the experts that its script and exquisite illustrations were by the same writer and artist who created the Gorleston Psalter.

It is not known for certain where either was made, but there are plenty of clues linking them with the church of St Andrew in Gorleston.

And the strong likelihood is that the medieval genius who created the extraordinary and delightful images was a Franciscan friar at Gorleston.

Though his name is unknown, he has been called "one of the greatest English medieval artists", and the Macclesfield Psalter is his greatest work.

Helen Ward studied the friary when she was training for the ministry. She was ordained last year and is now curate of St Andrew 's, where her husband Tony is the vicar.

Ooh, look! A horseman and a woman with a little dog encounter a wild man, or wodewose - familiar from many carvings in Norfolk and Suffolk churches

She explained, "The local friary came into being a bit before the psalter and had a huge impact.

"Few local people now know it ever existed, but at the time people flocked to hear the friars preach.

"Monasteries, and monks, had become very unpopular, as they owned so much of the land and were effectively rich landlords. But the mendicant friars were beggars, living poorly, and they were clever men who attracted people to learning. They put the church back on the map.

"People came from miles around to their incredible library, which was full of wonderful books.

"Nobody really knows where the psalters were made, but the Gorleston Psalter was here for a long time and it could very well have been made in the friary here."

The newly discovered Macclesfield Psalter dates from the 1320s and is now regarded as the most important work of the so-called East Anglian School.

But it very nearly ended up in California. The winning bid at Sotheby's was one of £1.7million from the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

At once the National Art Collections Fund (NACF) began campaigning to keep it in Britain . The government refused to let it be exported until the campaign had had a chance to match the Getty offer.

TV stars Michael Palin and historian David Starkey backed the campaign.

Palin, the world traveller and former Monty Python member, said, "The Macclesfield Psalter is one of the richest and most beautiful examples of an early English illustrated book. It is a rare and very special insight into our medieval cultural life, and if anything deserves to stay in its country of its origin, this is it."

Starkey, the man behind history programmes Elizabeth I and The Six Wives of Henry VIII, said, "I do not automatically support campaigns to keep works of art in England. But for the Macclesfield Psalter the case is open and shut: the psalter was created in East Anglia and it will lose half its meaning if it is torn from its native roots."

The campaign succeeded. With contributions from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the NACF and almost 2,000 individual donors, the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge was able to match the £1.7m price.

After an initial brief spell on display at the museum, the psalter has been taken for vital preservation and documentation work. Its individual unbound pages will be the centre-piece of a major exhibition of illuminated manuscripts at the museum from July 26 to December 11. It will then become one of the Fitzwilliam's major permanent attractions.