Prefatory cycle

A series of miniatures that introduce a text.

A series of miniatures that introduce a text. The prefatory cycle in manuscript Psalters reached a developed form in Anglo-Saxon England in the mid-eleventh century (the Tiberius Psalter). Psalter cycles usually consist of scenes from the life of Christ or of King David, author of many of the Psalms.

    Michelle Brown, Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts (Malibu, CA: J. Paul Getty Museum in association with the British Library, c1994).