Until the advent of the Book of Hours in the fourteenth century the psalter, a book with the texts of the hundred and fifty psalms, was the most important prayer book for lay people. Like the future Books of Hours, psalters were often elaborately decorated, as commissioned by wealthy patrons. An outstanding example of such an illuminated psalter is the one discussed here, which was executed in Normandy around 1180. The manuscript contains twenty-six full-page miniatures, twelve in the calendar at the beginning of the book, followed by fourteen (originally probably eighteen) miniatures with representations from the life of Christ. In the actual text the usual division of the psalms is emphasized by historiated initials (first letters with a figurative representation) in which here scenes from the life of David, the author of the psalms are depicted. Particularly striking are the full-page miniatures in the calendar, which have taken the place of the usual, much smaller historiated initials. The ‘labours of the months’ portrayed in these miniatures show the traditional combination of the hard labour of the farmers on the land, and the pleasant pastimes of the nobility. Belonging to the latter is the picture of the month of May, in which a knight on horseback rides out to go hawking. The hawker, draped in ermine, is shown at the moment of taking off the hawk's hood, a rarely depicted detail. The style with its bright colours and austere outlines, as well as the physiognomy of the falconer's face reveal that the miniature is painted by an artist coming from Normandy or the south of England. The manuscript was made for an unknown, possibly noble patroness, who had herself portrayed in a kneeling position in a full-page miniature before the beginning of the texts of the psalms. The calendar contains a number of saints who were especially venerated in the monastery of Fécamps in north-west France, which suggests that she lived in that neighbourhood.