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Like Gospelbooks, books containing the Psalms were very important for Christian observance, and were therefore fitting subjects for illumination. This book was made around 730 in Kent, perhaps at Canterbury or by the nuns of Minster-in-Thanet. On the left of this double-page is a picture of David playing a harp very similar to the one that was found in the early seventh-century Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo. The frame around the picture incorporates spirals of Celtic origin, like those found in the Lindisfarne Gospels. On the right-hand side there is an initial D showing David with Jonathan, the earliest surviving example of an ‘historiated’ initial (an initial with a scene in it). This book is written in the large rounded script called ‘uncial’. In the ninth century someone wrote the English meaning above each Latin word, to make it easier for someone to read who did not know Latin very well; this is the oldest surviving example of the translation of a biblical text into English.
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