Fragment from The Book of Psalms

A religious fragment from The Book of Psalms.

• [Continental Europe], [13th-14th century].
• Hebrew manuscript on vellum, in old black ink.
• This work is presented mounted.

Fragment from the Writings' Book of Psalms, with Masorah, containing Psalms 112 to 114. Psalm 113 also known in the Christian Latin liturgy as 'Laudate pueri Dominum' (beginning in the King James' version: 'Praise ye the Lord, O ye servants of the Lord'). In Judaism it is the first of the six Psalms comprising the Hallel prayer, which is recited on 'Rosh Chodesh' (the first day of the Hebrew month) and on Jewish holidays. In Roman Catholicism it is one of the Psalms included in the Vespers service (the evening prayer). It has been set to music often, notably by Claudio Monteverdi in his 'Vespro della Beata Vergine' in 1610. In Hebrew the psalm has several famous melodies, typical to each community's place of settlement, which were passed trough generations in Sephardi, Mizrachi and Ashkenazi communities and dating back to the middle ages, and possibly prior.

It seems that this leaf was used in what is known in Hebrew as 'Gnizat Krichot' (the use of the leaves from old books' for binding newer books) at a time when bookmaking materials were scarce. Many Jewish books that were confiscated by the Catholic Church during the Inquisition were also repurposed as binding material.