PsalterMark

Dame Eleanor Hull (c.1390–1460) is primarily known for translating a French commentary on the penitential psalms. The original French work dates from the late twelfth century. Eleanor’s father, Sir John Malet of Enmore, in Somerset, was a retainer of John of Gaunt. Eleanor was well-connected not only by birth but in marriage too, as her husband, John Hull, was also a retainer of John of Gaunt. He later became ambassador to Castile during the reigns of both Henry IV and Henry V. In her last years, having been widowed and her only son Edward having died in 1453, she retired to the Benedictine nunnery in Cannington, Somerset, close to the family home. It was there that she made her translation of the penitential psalms text. More biographical information can be found in Barratt (2003).

Hull’s translation was part of a growing interest in the seven psalms in the medieval period. Psalm 51 occupies pride of place because it is not only the middle psalm of the seven, but its heading, or superscription, began to play an increasingly important role in the interpretation of all of the penitential psalms. We will let the opening words of Hull’s commentary of Psalm 51 explain part of the reasoning why this was the case.

This Middle English text is not as daunting as it first appears. It is best read aloud, noting that ‘þ’ is pronounced as the modern ‘th’, ‘y’ is frequently there as an ‘i’, ‘u’ is frequently said as ‘v’, and ‘Ʒ’ is pronounced ‘g’:

This tytyl seythe, ‘in þe end, of þe psalmis of Dauid.’ Here by-fore ye haue herd what a tytyl ys. The tytyl ys þe entre of þe techyng for-to vndyrstond þe psalme. Psalme, he seythe, ys þe preysyng of God with song that is browht forthe by suetnes of þe euerlastyng ioye, and for that Dauid had for-Ʒete the preysyng of God al-myghty for þe veyne pleasance of his flessche, he made þis psalme wher-of þe tytyl sownyth, ‘in þe end, of þe psalmis of Dauid’. And hit sownyth as moche as þer-of he seyd, ‘Y haue be wykkid and wrecchyd al my lyfe vn-to now, but now schal y drawe towards hym that is þe ende of al euelys, and in þis proffytable ende that is þe begynnyng of al goodness that euer were and euer schal be y schal begynne my presyng besechyng þe al-myghty that he make me worþy to preyǀse hym aftyr his gret mercy and that he forƷeue me my mysdedys. And þer-for with gret repentance y seye and with feruent dezyre of myn hert: Miserere mei deus secundum magnam misericordiam tuam.

Barratt, 1995

These opening words argue that the title of the psalm is the interpretive key to understanding it. It echoes the importance of King David noted in C is for Contrition and Compunction. It does this by considering two components of the title. The part rendered ‘in þe end’ defied translators of the original Hebrew for centuries but we recognise this today as meaning ‘for the leader’, i.e. that this is a performance directive. This part of the title is of only small account for Hull. More importantly, ‘of þe psalmis of Dauid’ is taken in the text above as a statement of Davidic authorship. Today we would render this ‘Of David’ and recognise the ambiguity of the ‘of’ as implicit in the Hebrew text—it could mean authorship, association, dedication, etc. Despite these recent developments the basic premise of reading through a Davidic lens is still one, among a number of, possible reading. For Hull such a reading dominated, although her work is interpretively complex and nuanced.

Hull’s work is part of a movement in the medieval period to read the penitential psalms, and in fact the whole Psalter, through the heading of Psalm 51 and King David. Much literature and poetry that followed Hull had a more singular focus on David. In a later post we will return to the heading of Psalm 51 and the story that it alludes to in its mention of Nathan and Bathsheba.

References
Alexandra Barratt (editor), The Seven Psalms: A Commentary in the Penitential Psalms Translated from the French by Dame Eleanor Hull, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Alexandra Barratt, ‘Dame Eleanor Hull: The Translator at Work’, Medium Ævum, 272 (2), 277-296, 2003.