XI | Parchment, 141 ff., 410 × 350 mm, 4 col., 40 lines per page. |  Minuscule. | Scribe: The main scribe is unknown and probably he/she did not know Greek. | Provenance: The manuscript originates from the female monastery of Essen (Abbey of Essen), which had a significant cultural flourishing during the eleventh century under the guidance of the abbess Theophano (d. 5 March 1058), granddaughter of Otto II and Theophano, a noble Byzantine lady, niece of the Byzantine emperor John Tzimiskes. The invocation of female saints on f. 139v provides an indication that the manuscript belonged to a female monastery. As the transliterated Greek and the many Greek prayers attest, the monastic community of the Abbey tried to keep the Greek tradition alive. Due also to the manuscript’s content (e.g. the liturgical texts on ff. 130r–131r), one could assume that it served liturgical purposes. | Owner: The marginal note on f. 1r mentions that the manuscript was in the possession of A. Gottung in 1810, a priest at a church of saint John in Essen.

Psalterium Quadruplex. The manuscript contains four versions of the Psalter and the Odes written in parallel columns and in Latin script. The beginning of the Psalter is missing until Psalm 19:9b. The first three columns consist of the three Latin translations of Jerome (Gallicanum, Romanum and Hebraicum), whereas the fourth one contains the Greek text transliterated in Latin characters. Psalter’s title: Psalterium (added by a later hand, most probably by Gottung in 1810) Heading of the four columns: Gallicum, Romanum, Hebraicum, Graecum (added by a later hand, most probably by Gottung in 1810). Psalms 1 and 17 are lacking. No subscription at the end of the Psalms and the Odes. | The order of the Psalms is the same as in another Psalterium Quadruplex, the codex Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek Msc. Bibl. 44 (Ra 1037). The Bamberg manuscript, the oldest of the preserved Psalters in this particular “Quadruplex” form, was commissioned by Solomon III (ca. 890–920), bishop of Constance and abbot of St. Gall. According to Radiciotti (1998: 69), the Essen Psalter is a direct copy of the Bamberg manuscript. Similar content and layout have also other Psalter manuscripts originating from the Latin West such as the codices Köln Dombibliothek Ms. 8 (s. XI, Ra 1077) and Vatican Library, Pal. lat. 39 (s. XI). | Text-type: Ga, L.

Content
ff. 1r–124r	Ps 19:9b–150
f. 124r	End of Ps. 150 “pnoi enesato to(n) k(urio)n”. There is no subscription in Greek. Ps. 151 occurs only in the Latin versions and concludes with the following phrase in majuscule calligraphic script, which is written below the three columns “expliciunt psalteria”
f. 124v	Book of Isaiah 12 (12, 5 om.). Is. 12, 1 (εὐλογήσω σε] exomologisome si). The third Latin column is vacant
ff. 124v–125v	Ode 11 (Prayer of Hezekiah)
ff. 125v–126v	Ode 3 (Prayer of Anna) Ending: “didosin… basileusi(n) imo(n)”
ff. 126v–128r	Ode 1 (First Ode of Moses). Ode 1:15 is lacking
ff. 128r–130r	Ode 4 (Prayer of Habakkuk)
ff. 130r–133v	Ode 2 (Second Ode of Moses)
ff. 133v–134r	Fragment of Ode 8 (Song of the three Holy Children)
ff. 134r –135r	Ode 9 (Prayer of Zachariah)
ff. 135r–135v	Ode 9 (Prayer of the Holy Virgin)
f. 135v	Ode 13 (Prayer of Symeon) There is no subscription marking the end of the Odes
f. 136r	The Lord’s Prayer (Pater Noster) in Latin and the Greek text in Latin script (Pater imon). The hymn Te Deum laudamus and a Greek translation of it in Latin characters (cf. the epinikios hymn)
f. 136v	Continuation of the hymn Te Deum laudamus (only in Latin) and at the end “Te decet laus te decet hymnus‧ tibi gloria Deo Patri et Filio cum Sancto Spiritu, in saecula saeculorum‧ Amen”. Symbolum Apostolicum
f. 137r	The Athanasian Creed (inc. “Quicumque vult salvus esse, ante omnia opus est ut teneat catholicam fidem”)
ff. 137v–139v	Litany of the Saints Invocations for the intercession of holy figures, e.g. apostles, martyrs, popes, female saints
ff. 140r–140v	Short prayers of salvation in Greek and Latin script Several orthographical errors occur in Greek
f. 141r	Two later notes in Latin a.) inc. “Scitulas careanti. Carbeanti” b.) inc. “Notandum in die palmarum postquam domini”, it concludes with the date 1331