The Melisende Psalter is an illuminated manuscript commissioned for Queen Melisende of Jerusalem by her husband Fulk around 1135. It was the most notable example of Crusader art, which was essentially a merging of the artistic styles of Roman Catholic Europe and the Eastern Orthodox Byzantine Empire.
Seven scribes and illuminators, working in the scriptorium built by the crusaders in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, were involved in the creation of the psalter.
The first twenty-four illustrations (on each side of the first twelve folios) were made by an illuminator named Basilius, who was likely a Byzantine artist, or had been trained in a Byzantine style. He signed the last illustration Basilius me fecit and is the only illuminator or scribe known by name. The others, however, can be distinguished by style and technique, if not by name. Next, the calendar and its text, along with the signs of the Zodiac, were illustrated in a Romanesque style, probably by an artist descended from one of the original crusaders. An unknown scribe wrote the text of the psalter itself, and a third illuminator seems to have painted the initials at each division in the text. The initials show influence from English, Italian, and even Islamic art. This scribe also wrote a series of prayers for Melisende, accompanied by paintings of various saints by a fourth illuminator, who worked in a Romanesque style influenced by Byzantine art.
The ivory covers show scenes from the life of King David on one side, and another king (perhaps representing Fulk) on the other, both showing influence from Byzantine, Islamic, and western art. The spine is decorated with Byzantine silk and silver thread, as well as red, blue, and green Greek crosses (which are also found in the royal arms of the kingdom). The spine was decorated by an artist who was either from northern France or who had been trained in a French style.
The manuscript is now in the British Library (London BL Egerton MS. 1139). The British Museum bought it from Grande Chartreuse, the mother abbey of the Carthusian order, in 1845.