§5. "The Northern Psalter". XVI. Later Transition English. Vol. 1. From the Beginnings to the Cycles of Romance. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature: An Encyclopedia in Eighteen Volumes. 1907

The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).
Volume I. From the Beginnings to the Cycles of Romance.

XVI. Later Transition English.

§ 5. The Northern Psalter.

The desire to impart a knowledge of the Scriptures to men who could understand only the vernacular likewise prompted the author of the Northern Psalter, a translation of the Psalms in vigorous, if somewhat rough, octosyllabic couplets, composed about the middle of the reign of Edward II. One of the three manuscripts in which it exists belonged to the monastery of Kirkham, but the language is that of a more northerly district, and the author probably lived near the Scottish border.