Sankt Florian Psalter

It is not known exactly who was original owner of the book. Most likely it belonged to a female member of the House of Anjou (wife or daughter of Louis I of Hungary), or it was made for Jadwiga of Poland. Its creator is also unknown, and even its place of origin is uncertain, with scholars seeing either Bohemia (Kłodzko) or Lesser Poland (Kraków) (or both) as the likely regions of origin. The text contains several examples of central Lesser Polish dialect, and some scholars suggested that the work might have been carried out or at least influenced by bishop Piotr Wysz. Polish historian of literature, Julian Krzyżanowski, suggested that the text is a copy of an older work, perhaps the St. Kinga's Psalter (whose very existence is still disputed by scholars) though admitted that there's scant evidence for this. It was rediscovered by local librarian, Father Josef Chmel, in 1827 in St. Florian Monastery, in the town of Sankt Florian near Linz, Austria. ==Composition==

The manuscript contains a trilingual translation of the Psalms into Latin, Polish and German, as well as two prologues by Ludolph of Saxony, the Athanasian Creed, and musical score for several canticles. It is richly illustrated with astrological and Christian symbology. The text is divided into three parts: • part one, psalms 1–101, • part two, psalms 102–106, • part three, psalms 107–150. there are images of angels supporting a knot of interwoven letters "m" and the coat of arms of the Hungarian branch of the Capetian House of Anjou, both symbols associated with Queen Hedwig of Poland. Other illuminations on the page include images of a peacock, a bat, and wyverns. Each part was created at a different place in time. The first part was probably written in late 14th century, while second and third were written in the 15th century. One date given for the year that the work on the Psalter begun is 1398; another – 1370s. In these parts, influences of the Czech language are visible, as probably the psalter was patterned after a similar Czech publication. The book has a format of 34,5 × 24,5 cm and a weight of about 4 kilograms. The material used was parchment. ==Significance==

It is the oldest surviving translation of the Books of Psalms into the Polish language. The translation from Latin into Polish, however, is considered very poor. The psalter is also the oldest Polish language cultural artifact (zabytek) surviving to modern day in intact form. ==See also==