Seeing and hearing the faith of David. The King as a musician in the psalters and books of hours (13th -14th c.)

The figure of King David as listener, musician and speaker, which appears very frequently in psalters and books of hours (13th-14th c.), is contemporaneous with the foundation of the university and with secular and mendicant preaching. This is a part of the visual and verbal communication used by scholars for the moral edification of the educated elites. As illustrations of the psalms, the illuminators have associated this figure with musical instruments, gestures and others figures the juggler and the insipiens (madman), and have made perceptible his divine hearing, his harmony and faith. Based on the culture of the Word of God specific to medieval society and on scientific innovations of the time involving sound, movement and the senses, they have created an exemplary and performative image of this Prwfigura Christi.