What is a medieval salter?

Answer 1

I am not sure which word you mean - perhaps you man "psalter", or the tradesman known as a "salter". Both words are pronounced the same.

Salt was an important commodity in all parts of medieval society, used to flavour food and particularly for preserving meat and fish. In England, several sites in the west Midlands were centres of salt production - all their names end in -wich(Nantwich is one example). This salt production, distribution and marketing eventually became the responsibility of a guild of "salters", established in London in 1394.

A psalter, on the other hand, was a book of psalms, written in Latin and usually produced by hand in the monasteries. Such books included all of the 150 psalms from The Bible, together with a calendar showing the feast days and Holy days, a zodiac, stories of saints and martyrs, prayers and other elements. These books are always lavishly illustrated with illuminated capitals and full-page paintings.