What is special about the Luttrell Psalter?
The Luttrell Psalter is special because so few images of medieval rural Europe survive to this day. Fragments of wall paintings, tapestries and carvings do remain, but such collections of images are rarely as complete as those in illuminated manuscripts. The Luttrell Psalter is in particularly good condition and has very high quality illustrations, covering a wide range of subjects: scenes from the Bible, scenes from the lives of the saints, scenes of daily life on Sir Geoffreys Estates and the most freakish monsters. There are many such monsters or ‘babewyns’ in the Luttrell Psalter. More often than not they are hybrid in form, with the heads of humans grafted to the limbs and bodies of animals, birds and fish. We can’t be absolutely certain why they are there, though it has been suggested that sometimes they might represent the demons of hell.
