Born and raised in Ithaca, calligrapher/artist/scholar/singer Timothy Nelson-Hoy pursues a study of medieval calligraphy and the culture and practices associated with it. These videos reflect his attempt to re-copy the Seven Penitential Psalms from a specific 15th-century manuscripte (UPenn’s Lewis E 88). The psalms are copied in the same style of calligraphy as the original, but translated into modern English. The music you hear is a setting of Psalm 51 (Miserere Mei) in Tone IV, one of the eight psalm tones, modular melodies used to chant the psalms from the Early Medieval period onwards.