Manuscripts

The quintessential features of French Gothic art in the High Middle Ages find full expression in this beautiful Psalter-Breviary, illuminated by skilled artists who combine serious religious imagery with playful borders displaying scenes from daily life, real and imaginary, enacted by people and animals.  No page in this lavish volume was left undecorated.  It was made for use at the very wealthy Premonstratensian Abbey of St. Martin’s in Laon at a critical time in the history of the town of Laon.  A serious altercation between the town and the cathedral canons in 1295 resulted in a papal interdict; the religious and communal life of Laon was restored only in 1297-1298 through the direct intervention of the pope and of King Philip IV.  This lavish Psalter-Breviary, perhaps a gift to the Abbey of St. Martin, must date to these very years, or soon after, when the Abbey came under protection of the Crown. The illustrations, probably by a local team of artists, not only recall those in an important group of Amiens manuscripts, but also echo scenes of the reliefs of the western façade of the Abbey Church rebuilt in 1270.  From the library of the Dukes of Arenberg (who also owned the Hours of Catherine of Cleves), the manuscript, although published, has long been in private collections, inaccessible for study.

452 folios on parchment, modern foliation in pencil top outer corner recto 1-196, 196 bis, 197-451, lacking at least five leaves (collation 1⁶⁺¹ [f. 7 added after 6] 2-8⁸ 9-11¹² 12-18⁸ 19-22¹² 23¹²⁺¹ (f. 215, added after 12) 24¹² 25¹²(-6, one leaf after f. 232, with loss of text) 26¹²(-6 and 7, after f. 243, with loss of text, -12, f. 247, with loss of text, current f. 247 is a more recent replacement) 27¹² 28-34⁸ 35¹⁰(-1 before f. 317, with loss of text) 36¹⁴ 37-45¹² 46-47², traces of what may be contemporary quire signatures extreme lower left corners of some folios, ruled in lightly lead with single full-length vertical bounding lines (justification 115 x 85 mm.), written in two columns of 29 lines in brown and red ink in two sizes of gothic book script (textualis), calendar ruled with 6 vertical and 36 horizontal lines in black ink and written in burnished gold, silver, blue, and two shades of red, line-fillers in red and blue penwork, text initials with delicate penwork in brown ink, frequently filled with yellow or green, initials in the top line of text sometimes extended into the upper margin and elaborated to form cadels incorporating grotesque faces, some very elaborate (e.g. ff. 104v, 112v, 113v, 121v), thousands of one-line initials in red or blue with penwork of the opposite color, hundreds of two-line initials in red or blue with pen-flourishing of the opposite color introducing chapters or readings, with red and blue “waterfalls” or “J-s” (”les bandes d’I”)  extending from initials the full length of the column, this decorative scheme is repeated for every column of the manuscript, even those without initials; in that case the waterfall extends from a red or blue half roundel, or an animal or other small figure in pen and ink or gold (for example, f. 24v, a cat’s head, f. 28v, a woman’s face, etc.), c. EIGHTY ILLUMINATED INITIALS of 3- to 15-lines alternately mauve on a blue ground or blue on a mauve ground with white tracery infilled with blue and orange ivy leaves on burnished gold grounds and with marginal extensions often the height of the page terminating in ivy leaves and tendrils, many initials or extensions incorporating faces or small grotesque creatures, THIRTY-ONE HISTORIATED INITIALS of 6- to 10-lines, including twelve LABORS OF THE MONTH IN THE CALENDAR, all WITH FULL BAR BORDERS in mauve, blue, burnished gold and burnished silver with ivy-leaf finials, accompanied by NUMEROUS BIRDS, ANIMALS, GROTESQUES AND HUMAN FIGURES engaged in various activities, TWELVE VIGNETTES WITH THE SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC, CALENDAR TABLE WITH FULL BAR BORDER (but no initial), cropped touching borders, slight rubbing to ff. 1v-2 and to other borders, occasional minor smudges, some offset or bleed-through from borders, white pigment sometimes rubbed and/or flaking, so some details of faces within the initials are missing, the silver oxidized, f. 140v, stain across part of text (which remains legible), f. 152, parchment repair, lower margin; f. 247 a later vellum insert originally blank, neatly incised hole to f. 374 removing one line of text, clean tears to ff. 167 and 238, f. 256, modern repair outer margin, c. 35 leaves with skillful parchment repairs, usually so well-done that they are imperceptible, and are likely contemporary with the manuscript (mostly to blank margins but in c. 15 instances clearly before writing or illumination), ff. 439-446, cockled and creased. Modern leather binding in the style of the sixteenth century, elaborately tooled in blind, with small traces of gilt, spine with four raised bands and head and tail bands, slight wear to the edges and corners, three tiny wormholes, fitted cloth case. Dimensions 180 x 132 mm. 

Provenance

1. Written and illuminated in Northeastern France, likely in Laon, at the end of the thirteenth century, c. 1300, based on the evidence of the script, the style of the illumination, and liturgical evidence   Although other manuscripts by this artist have not been identified, the rectilinear bar borders and profuse marginal decoration can be compared with a group of manuscripts from Amiens including a profusely illuminated Psalter, Paris, BnF, MS lat. 10435 (we thank Alison Stones and François Avril for their expertise, in correspondence).  It must date after 1297, the date of the canonization of St. Louis (Louis IX, king of France), since his Office is found in the Sanctoral. The calendar also includes St. Louis, perhaps, but not certainly, in the original hand, and he is mentioned in the litany, where his name seems to be added.  All this suggests that the manuscript may have in fact been copied very close to 1297, when this liturgical feast was just being introduced.

The Arenberg Psalter-Breviary was certainly made for use at the Premonstratensian monastery of St. Martin in Laon, as the evidence of feasts emphasized in the calendar, litany, and Sanctoral makes clear.  A series of ownership inscriptions tell us that it remained at this monastery until the abbey was suppressed in 1790; f. 446, 14th-century ex libris, “Iste liber est ecclesie sancti martini laudunensis”; f. 2, bottom margin, 17th-century inscription, partially erased but legible, “Ex communitate sancti Martini Laudunensis”; f. 1, 18th-century inscription with the same wording.

When this manuscript was copied, Milon de Curigny was abbot of St. Martin’s (abbot from 1287-1324?); in 1294, King Philip IV took the abbey under his special protection.  These were turbulent times for the commune of Laon.  Following the “second uprising” of Laon in February 26-27, 1295, the commune was restored by the crown in the February 9, 1297, the papal interdict was lifted August 8, 1297; public penance by the malefactors was exacted by the crown in March 1298, finally resolving the dispute (Denton, 1990).  It seems possible that this expensive volume was a gift to St. Martin’s; the border on f. 118 includes two battling figures, mounted on unicorns and holding swords and shields.  If the charges on the shields are accurate, they may hold a clue to the donor’s identity. The emphasis on St. Nicholas in the calendar is unusual for St. Martin’s and could hold a clue to the exact circumstances surrounding the origin of this manuscript.

2. In the sixteenth century the manuscript was used by Brother Quintinus Macar of the monastery, who wrote his name and mark on f. 263v, “Frater Quintinus Macar religiosus sancty Martini ... Teste meo signo,” where a contemporary hand entered the date 1538, and also scribbled his name on ff. 145v-146 and perhaps on f. 151v (now mostly erased). Liturgical additions throughout the volume are evidence of active use at least through the sixteenth century.

3. Library of the Dukes of Arenberg, MS 11.  The Dukes of Arenberg were established in Belgium in the sixteenth century. Their collection, compiled mainly during the latter part of the nineteenth century, was distinguished by many very fine manuscripts, including the famous Hours of Catherine of Cleves now in the Pierpont Morgan Library. This collection, exhibited in part at Düsseldorf in 1904, remained largely inaccessible to scholars and was dispersed in the 1950s; Schapiro, J. Seligman catalogue, 1952, pp. 20-23; small red label paper label with the number "11" is pasted on the spine; “ms 11,” “office divin, manuscript,” is written in ink, inside front cover (see also Lemaire, 1984, p. 100, no. 11).

4. George Armin Goyder (1908-1997); Goyder, was a businessman and social philosopher, as well as a serious collector of rare and important books.  He was an expert on the literature of the English Reformation and the works of William Blake. His library included, for a time, the only known copy of the Book of Common Prayer printed in 1572 and an early copy of Tyndale’s New Testament (1536), as well as a rare copy of William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience.  Sale, London, Sotheby’s, December 11, 1961, lot 145.

5. Eric Sexton (1902-1980), his bookplate inside front cover; sale, Christie’s New York, May 22, 1981, lot 3 (to Lathrop Harper).

6. Belonged to Helmut Nathan Friedlaender (1913-2008), lawyer, financial consultant, and book collector; inside front cover, small bookplate, with initials in red, “HNF”; his sale, Christie’s, April 23-23, 2001, lot 2 (The Helmut N. Friedlaender Library, part 1).

Text

ff. 1v-7, [f. 1, blank], Calendar, with numerous contemporary and later alterations and additions; the system of grading, marked by small stars is unusual; including Vincent in silver, nine lessons (January 22), Gregory, in gold, nine lessons (March 10), Benedict, nine lessons (March 21), Ambrose, in gold, nine lessons (April 4), Invention of the Cross, in gold, nine lessons (May 3), “Dedicatio ecclesie premonstratensis” (May 4), Translation of St. Nicholas, in gold, nine lessons (May 9), Servatius, bishop of Tongern, in gold, nine lessons (May 13), Dedicatio S. Augustini, in gold, nine lessons (May 27), Translation St. Servatius, in gold, nine lessons (June 7), Gervaius and Protasius, in silver, nine lessons (June 19), Translation of St. Martin, in gold, nine lessons (July 4), Transfiguration (July 27), Invention of Stephen, in gold, nine lessons (August 3), Lawrence, in gold nine lessons (August 10), Octave of St. Lawrence, in gold, nine lessons, Louis, confessor, in silver, nine lessons (August 25), Augustine, in silver, nine lessons, and with octave (August 28), Egidius, in silver, nine lessons (September 1), Exaltation of the Holy Cross, in gold, nine lessons (September 14), Remigius, in red, nine lessons (October 1), Denis, in gold, nine lessons (October 9), Translation St. Augustine, in red, nine lessons (October 11), Martin, written in gold on a red and blue background, nine lessons (November 11), Nicholas, in gold on blue, nine lessons (December 6);

f. 7v, Calendar tables;

f. 8-75, Psalter; additional liturgical texts occasionally added in the margins in a 16^th-century hand;

ff. 75-80, Canticles: Confitebor, Ego dixi, Exultavi cor mum, Cantemus domino, Domine audiui, Audite celi, Benedicte omnia, Benedictus dominus, Te deum laudamus, Quicumque vult;

ff. 80v-82, Litany and prayers, with Saints Lawrence, Martin, Augustine and All Saints marked for emphasis by adding “ii” above their names in red, Saints Gervasius and Protasius rewritten (or added?), and Saint Louis, confessor, added (or rewritten?) in a contemporary hand;

ff. 82v-87v, Commendatio mortuorum and Office of the dead, Premonstratensian use;

When a Premonstratensian canon died, the Office of the Dead was sung with nine lessons, followed by the Commendatio maior; a Commendatio media and the Office of the Dead was celebrated on the seventh and 30^th day following a death (Ottosen, 1993, p. 278).

ff. 87v-98, Hymns;

ff. 98-99v, Prayers to the Virgin, including O intemerata [masculine forms, i.e., ego peccator], and concluding with two prayers for Apollonia;

ff. 100-316v, Temporal from the first Sunday in Advent through the 28^th Sunday after Pentecost;

On f. 209v, following the eighth reading for Holy Saturday, is a verse text on the suffering of Christ in French, “Ha houme et famme voi q[u]ie sueffre p[our] toi, Voi ma doulour mon angoisseus…,” followed by texts for Sabbato primo post octabas penthecostes added in a later hand in the blank space; text then resumes with Easter on f. 211. Lacking one leaf after f. 232v (with the beginning of Ascension Sunday); missing two folios after f. 243v, with Trinity Sunday, that is, Sunday after Pentecost, and the text then continues through feria iv, top column b on f. 246v, with added texts In festo sacramentum altaris below; f. 247rv, is blank replacement leaf with added texts in another, later hand, for Sabbato primo post oct. pent.; f. 248 begins imperfectly in the first Sunday after Pentecost; texts for the Office of Nicasius copied at the end (December 14); on f. 319 in the Sanctoral there is a note to go back three folios to find his Office.

ff. 317-423v, Sanctoral, beginning imperfectly in the Office of St. Nicholas (6 December) and concluding with Andrew;

On f. 381v, the Office of St. Louis (Louis IX, king of France); on ff. 343v-344, lower margin, added: In festo corporum <?> reliquarum.  Historiated initials are found for the Purification, Lawrence, the Assumption, Nativity of the Virgin, and Martin; Offices beginning with illuminated initials include Lucy (December 13), Thomas, Agatha, Chair of St. Peter, Matthias, Annunciation, Mark, Philip and James, Invention of the Cross (May 3), John the Baptist (June 24) Translation of St. Martin (4 July), Mary Magdalene (July 22), Lawrence (10 August; his Office begins with an historiated initial, and the first prayer with an illuminated initial), Assumption (15 August), Deposition and Translation of St. Augustine, Michael, All Saints, Martin (also with an historiated initial), and Andrew.

ff. 424-446, Common of Saints;

ff. 446-448, Prayers;

ff. 448v-451, Office of Corpus Christi, added in a 16th-century hand; [f. 451v blank].

Illustration

The manuscript was illuminated in northeastern France at the end of the thirteenth century, c. 1300, likely in Laon.  This could be the product of a local workshop, or the work of an itinerant artist (perhaps from Amiens). The figures, dressed in rose, blue, pale green, bright orange, are painted against elegant diaperwork backgrounds (blue or mauve), or on highly polished gold; the hair is crisply drawn, often with rows of curls across the forehead, cheeks are rosy, noses are sharp and continue into the eyebrows, eyes have prominent pupils. Although other manuscripts by this artist have not been identified, the rectilinear bar borders and profuse marginal decoration can be compared with a group of manuscripts illuminated in Amiens, including, among others, the Psalter, Paris, BnF, MS lat. 10435, and the Psalter-Hours de Yolande of Soissons, New York, The Morgan Library and Museum, MS M.729, (we thank Alison Stones for her expertise, in correspondence; Stones, 2013, part one, volume 2, cat. III-31-36, pp. 222-245).

The calendar, copied with one month per page, is fully illustrated, with each page decorated with the labor of the month placed within the KL-monogram at the top, a vignette with the Zodiac symbol in a rounded frame, enclosed in a square frame near the middle of the page, all encircled by a full border with numerous small figures, animals, and birds sprinkled throughout.  The page of calendar tables that follow is also illustrated with a full border (here the small figures fit closely with the subject of the page – see the men holding a square, a compass, and a globe). The Psalter is divided into eight divisions, with large historiated initials and full borders for psalms 1, 26, 38, 52, 68, 80, 97, and 109. These divisions correspond to the groupings of psalms in the Divine Office on successive days of the week in non-monastic churches: psalm 1 was the first psalm of Matins on Sunday, psalm 26 on Monday, psalm 38 on Tuesday, and so on through Saturday. Psalm 109 was the first psalm sung at Sunday vespers.  Finally, initials mark the most important feasts in the text of the Breviary proper, including the feasts of Sants Lawrence and Martin.

A Breviary is a serious, liturgical volume, containing the words of the Divine Office, and the historiated initials introducing the most important liturgical occasions at the abbey are elegant and serious.  But this Breviary also includes a series of fantastic borders, surrounding the text on all four sides.  Borders such as these were an invention of the Gothic period.  They have been called the most typical decorative feature of the gothic manuscript (Derolez, p. 8). The borders here lend the whole volume a light-hearted, even frivolous tone. For example, the initial on f. 61v depicts the Trinity, but the entire page is surround by a complete border with scrolling vines, leaves, and bars of pink and blue with birds (quite carefully painted in a realistic fashion), amusing grotesques with human heads and animal bodies, a dog, and a stag.  In some borders we catch glimpses of daily life, a juggler, archers, bakers at work; in others we see mild scatological humor (lots of dogs squatting to poop), a scribe (or artist?) at his desk (f. 38v), a master teaching astronomy(?), and much more.  Every page of the manuscript is decorated.  On pages with no illumination, full-length red and blue penwork borders adorn every column (even those without initials).

Of special interest is the margin accompanying the calendar tables on f. 7v: referring to the art of calculation, men hold a square, a compass, and a globe.  On f. 118, two battling figures mounted on unicorns hold swords and shields (an allusion to the original owner?).  Accompanying Psalm 80, bees swarm a seated man on f. 46v, while another man attempts to swat them away, perhaps a textual reference to the verse describing the gathering of honey from a rock.

The subjects of the illuminations are:

f. 1v, January: Janus feasting. Vignette: Aquarius. In the border: a bird, a dog, a centaur archer, and a man blowing a trumpet at another man;

f. 2, February: warming by the fire. Vignette: Pisces. In the border: birds, grotesques, and a dog dancing on his hind legs before a man playing the bagpipes;

f. 2v, March: pruning vines. Vignette: Aries. In the border: grotesques, a juggler and two men playing a game with balls;

f. 3, April: digging. Vignette: Taurus. In the border: a bird, a dog, grotesques, a man with an ax, and a centaur with a club pursuing a grotesque;

f. 3v, May: a knight riding among flowering trees. Vignette: Gemini. In the border, grotesques, a man holding two sticks, and four men playing bowls; 

f. 4, June: haying. Vignette: Cancer. In the border: a dog, a fox, grotesques, a centaur holding two balls, an archer shooting a bird, and another bird caught in a snare and approached by two men;

f. 4v, July: hunting. Vignette: Leo. In the border, grotesques, a dog pursuing a stag, a centaur holding a stone, and three men baking bread in an oven;

f. 5, August: reaping. Vignette: Virgo. In the border: birds, grotesques, an archer shooting a stork, a hunter with a horn and club and two dogs, one of whom is attacking a stag;

f. 5v, September: archer shooting a bird. Vignette: Libra. In the border: grotesques, a man with a club, a man with bagpipes and a woman dancing, and an ape(?) chained to a post;

f. 6, October: harvesting the grapes. Vignette: Scorpio. In the border: a dog, a stag, grotesques, a jester, a man with a club, and two men fighting with swords and bucklers;

f. 6v, November: hunting the boar. Vignette: Sagittarius. In the border: a dog, grotesques, and two men with shields and clubs;

f. 7, December: slaughtering the pig. Vignette: Capricorn (a unicorn). In the border: a bird, a dog, grotesques, and two men, one with a bird in a wheelbarrow;

f. 7v, Calendar tables. In the border: dogs, grotesques with clubs, two seated men, perhaps a teacher, holding a globe, and student, and two other men, one holding a square, the other compasses;

f. 8, Psalm 1: David enthroned with his harp in the upper bow of the B, David and Goliath below. In the border: birds, grotesques, an archer, and a juggler;

f. 18v, Psalm 26: the anointing of David. In the border: birds, grotesques and an archer shooting at a bird;

f. 25v, Psalm 38: David before God, pointing to his mouth. In the border: a dog, a bird, grotesques, and a man holding a branch with a bird perched on it;

f. 32, Psalm 52: the fool. In the border: a bird, grotesques, a dog, and a rabbit;

f. 38v, Psalm 68: David in the water, God above. In the border: birds, grotesques, and a scribe seated before his writing desk with his implements on a table before him;

*f. 46v, Psalm 80: David playing the bells. In the border: a dog, a bird, grotesques, heads of two men sounding trumpets, and a boy with an artichoke-shaped fan protecting a seated man from the bees swarming around him;

f. 54, Psalm 97: three clerics singing from a book on a lectern. In the border: a dog, an archer, and grotesques, two of them fighting with a club and a stick;

f. 61v, Psalm 109: the Trinity. In the border: a dog, a stag, a bird, and grotesques;

f. 100, First Sunday of Advent: Annunciation. In the border: birds, grotesques, and an archer shooting a rabbit, and a figure with a club;

f. 100v, First Sunday in Advent, lesson: Isaiah preaching to a crowd.  In the border, grotesques, birds, and a hound chasing a hare;

f. 118, Christmas: Nativity in the bowl of the initial P; Daniel, Moses, and St. John in its stem. In the border: grotesques, including an archer, and two men mounted on fantastic animals and fighting with swords and shields;

f. 137, Epiphany: Adoration of the Magi. In the border: birds, a dog, grotesques, and three apes, two riding dog-like beasts, the third holding two spears;

f. 239v, Pentecost: Pentecost. In the border: grotesques, a man holding two sticks, an archer, and a rabbit with an arrow through its neck;

f. 304, First Sunday after the Octave of Pentecost: Dives and Lazarus. In the border: grotesques and a hound chasing a hare;

f. 326, Purification of the Virgin: Presentation in the Temple. In the border: grotesques, a man with a club, and a bird;

f. 367, St. Lawrence: St. Lawrence on the gridiron. In the border: grotesques, a dog playing the bagpipes, and a rabbit dancing; 

f. 371v, Assumption of the Virgin: the Dormition of Mary. In the border: two dogs, an archer shooting an arrow at a fantastic creature, two centaur-like grotesques fighting with club and spear; 

f. 388v, Nativity of the Virgin: Mary seated in a garden. In the border: a bird and grotesques; 

f. 411v, Deposition of St. Martin: St. Martin on horseback dividing his cloak with the beggar. In the border: grotesques.

The Abbey of St. Martin in the city of Laon became a Premonstratensian foundation in 1124, making it one of the very first foundations of that order.  The Premonstratensian Order, formally the Order of the Canons Regular of Prémontré (also known as the Norbertines or the White Canons) was founded in 1120 by St. Norbert of Xanten (c. 1180-1134). The first Premonstratensian foundation was in the diocese of Laon at Prémontré, only about 17 km. west of Laon.  The wealth and influence of St. Martin’s is easily seen in its grand twelfth-century church, which still survives today.  In the early thirteenth century, it acquired an important relic, the arm of St. Lawrence, and special indulgences were granted by the Pope in 1243 and 1245 to pilgrims visiting St. Martin’s on the feast and throughout the octave of St. Lawrence. The Western façade and the entrance to the abbey’s twelfth-century church were rebuilt c. 1270 to accommodate the crowds of pilgrims, incorporating relief sculptures honoring St. Lawrence and St. Martin. The composition of these reliefs is echoed in the illuminated initials of the present breviary. In the manuscript, St. Lawrence lies on the gridiron as one torturer fans the flames with his bellows and a second prods the saint with a pole; this corresponds closely to the central portion of the tympanum above the left portal of the church (Plouvier, 1995, p. 232, fig. 243). The initial which depicts St. Martin on horseback dividing his cloak for the beggar (Plouvier, 1995, p. 232, fig. 242) is a reverse copy of the sculpture on the façade of the church.

The calendar, litany, and Sanctoral of the Psalter-Breviary are a rich resource for the history of the liturgy and devotion to the saints at St. Martin’s. In the calendar two feasts are given special prominence: St. Martin (Nov. 11) whose name appears in gold letters on a blue and red ground, and St. Nicholas (Dec. 6), whose name appears in gold on a blue ground.  The special attention to St. Nicholas in our Breviary is noteworthy, since it does not seem to be recorded in other sources (see the list of patronages and relics in Bondéelle-Souchier, 2000, p. 186); the translation of St. Nicholas (May 9), is also emphasized (in gold in the calendar). Other names written in gold but without a special background include feasts known to be of significance at St. Martin: Invention of the Holy Cross, commemorating a relic given to the monastery by the Byzantine emperor John Comnenus (May 3), Translation of St. Martin (July 4), Lawrence (Aug. 10), Octave of St. Lawrence (Aug. 17), Augustine, whose rule the Premonstratensians followed (Aug. 28), and Exultation of the Cross (Sept. 14). The calendar also includes medieval additions in red and blue, as well as a few in black. These may have been intended in part to convert the calendar into one with a saint for (nearly) every day, but it is likely that some of the additions had special significance at St. Martin. There is also a complex system of symbols indicating the liturgical grade of various feasts; both medieval and 16th-century hands were responsible for multiple alterations to this information.

Literature

Published:

Meyer Schapiro, Illuminated manuscripts, 11th century through 16th century, from the Biblothèque of Their Highnesses the Dukes d'Arenberg, New York, Jacques Seligmann & Co, 1952, no. 11 (with three images).

“Bibliothèque des prémontrés de Saint-Martin de Laon,” Biblissima, the Observatory for Medieval and Renaissance Written Cultural Heritage
https://portail.biblissima.fr/fr/ark:/43093/coldatad37c7689bcdbeb48b7c38cd39fd8e1979ad9f309,

listing three manuscripts including this one 

Lemaire, Claudine. “La bibliothèque des ducs d'Arenberg, une première approche, “ in H. Liebaers, and F. L. J. Vanwijngaerden, eds., Liber amicorum Herman Liebaers, Pour les Amis de la Bibliotèque royale Albert Ier par le Crédit Communal de Belgique, Brussels, 1984, pp. 81-106, listing this manuscript p. 100.

Background:

Bondéelle-Souchier, Anne. Bibliothèques de l'ordre de Prémontré dans la France d'Ancien Régime. T. 1, Répertoire des abbayes, Documents, Etudes et répertoires, publiés par l'IRHT 58, Paris, 2000, pp. 184-192, listing this manuscript p. 189; see also p. 191.

Bliver, André. “Les écrivains et artistes de Saint-Martin de Laon. La bibliothèque de l'abbaye,” Bulletin de la société historique de la Haute Picardie 4 (1926), pp. 107-115.

Camille, Michael. Image on the Edge: The Margins of Medieval Art, London, 2015

Denton, Jeffrey. “The Second Uprising at Laon and its Surprising Aftermath, 1295-98,” Bulletin of John Rylands Library 72 (1990), pp. 79-92.

Derolez Albert. “Observations on the aesthetics of the gothic manuscript,” Scriptorium 50, no. 1 (1996), pp. 3-12.

Fritsch, Julia, “Laon: L'église abbatiale Saint-Martin,” Congrès archéologique de France, 148ème session, Aisne méridionale (1990), pp. 395-412.
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3209920q/f46.item.zoom

Gomart, Charles. “Notice sur l'abbaye de Saint-Martin de Laon (de l'ordre de Prémontré),”  Bulletin de la société académique de Laon 18 (1870), p. 121-166.
https://books.google.com/books?id=WZAcAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Plouvier, Martine, ed. Laon: une acropole à la française, Cahiers du Patrimoine 40, Laon, 1995, pp. 230-233, figs. 241-244.

Sandron, Dany. Picardie gothique. Autour de Laon et Soissons, Paris, 2001, pp. 215-228

Stones, Alison. Gothic Manuscripts: 1260-1320. Parts One and Two, Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in France, 4 vols., Turnhout and London, 2013, pp. 68, 479-490, figs. 683-705.

Online Resources

History of the Premonstratensian Order https://premontre.org/about-us/history-of-the-order/

“Bibliothèque des prémontrés de Saint-Martin de Laon,” Bibale-IRHT/CNRS https://bibale.irht.cnrs.fr/7365.

Paris, BnF, MS lat. 10435 https://archivesetmanuscrits.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cc72156s