The page begins with the number of the Psalm, 52, and a heading in rustic capitals. The first two words of the Psalm DIXIT INSIPIENS are in an elaborate and decorative heading script in which some of the letters are intertwined in the manner of a puzzle; a feature of high quality Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. The first D forms a historiated initial. It would be easier to untangle it if we could see it in colour, but we can't, so there.

It seems that images of this manuscript are not included on the British Library's website, at least not when I looked. This seems a little odd given that it is a famous treasure, but I guess they have so many treasures.

Vespasian Psalter, 8th century (British Library, Cotton Vespasian A1 f.53r). All photographs by permission of the British Library.

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Click on each of the above to walk your way through the text. The transcript will appear in a separate window so that you can use it for reference at any time. These exercises are designed to guide you through the text, not test you, so you can cheat as much as you like.
Medieval Writing
Script sample page for uncial script in this example
Script sample page for insular minuscule script in this example
Index of Exercises
Index of Scripts
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This site is created and maintained by Dr Dianne Tillotson, freelance researcher and compulsive multimedia and web author. Comments are welcome. Material on this web site is copyright, but some parts more so than others. Please check here for copyright status and usage before you start making free with it. This page last modified 2/6/2009.