Luttrell Psalter

Sir Geoffrey Luttrell , mounted, being assisted by his wife and daughter-in-law. Folio 202v.

Exterior view of the building known as Ransom Room, in Cajamarca where the Inca Atahualpa was confined.

Commissioned around 1320 for Sir Geoffrey Luttrell of Lincolnshire, the Luttrell Psalter fills its psalm margins with plowing serfs, acrobats, hybrid monsters, and a armored snail attacking a knight — 309 pages where medieval England's daily life sits beside its absurdist imagination.