Copied mostly by Netherlands court scribe C'; last three pieces (ff. 58'-63) possibly copied by Netherlands court scribe Petrus Alamire (KellR). WarmMC assigns ff. 58'-63 to Netherlands court scribe D. In text of Févin's motet 'Adiutorium nostrum' (ff. 4'-6), original names 'Anna' [= Anne of Brittany] and 'Ludovicus' [= Louis XII, King of France] were entered in red ink, erased, and replaced by 'Katherina' [= Catherine of Aragon] and 'Henricus Rex' [- Henry VIII] (KellML). Text of motet 'O sancta Maria' mentions 'Carolus,' probably referring to Emperor Charles V (HugheCM). Later 8-voice canon on Garter motto 'Honi soit qui mal y pense' dedicated to 'Arundell' (see below). Copied in Brussels/Mechlin; belongs to Netherlands court complex (KellJ). Presented as gift to Henry VIII, King of England, and his wife, Catherine of Aragon. Morel canon written c. 1544, year of induction of Henry Fitzalan, 12th Earl of Arundel (d. 1580), into Order of the Garter. Manuscript in present form possibly in Fitzalan's possession by then; later passed to son-in-law, John, 6th Baron Lumley (d. 1609). Arundel-Lumley collection became part of Old Royal Library, which passed to newly founded British Museum in 1757.
| Archive | British Library, London, England (GB-Lbl) |
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| Shelfmark | Royal 8 G. vii |
| Surface | Mixed Paper and Parchment |
| Numbering System | Foliation |
| Measurements | 370 x 258 (inserted paper folio is double sized). mm |
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| Contents | Contains 35 compositions, 22 from 13 composers, 13 are anonymous. |
General Description
Binding
Modern covers of white parchment on boards. Original front and back parchment flyleaves glued to modern paper folios.
Notation
black void mensural
Ruling
Staff height 15. 8-voice canon on Garter motto 'Honi soit qui mal y pense' copied on double paper folio, notated on circular staff and illustrated staff within circle.
Foliation
Modern foliation, 1-65, omits flyleaves and counts double-sized paper folio as f. 1.
Decoration
Miniatures and borders illuminated in Ghent-Bruges style; painted initials and inked calligraphic initials. Heraldic emblems (coats of arms, pomegranate, Tudor rose) of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.
Surface
i parchment + 1 paper [mid-16th century insertion] + 64 parchment + i parchment folios
DIAMM Note
We are grateful to Dr Nicolas Bell for providing us with an updated bibliography for this MS.
Census Catalogue of Music Description
This information is reproduced here by kind permission of the publishers. It is COPYRIGHT and copying/reproduction of this content without permission may result in legal action.
28 motets, 6 Latin secular pieces, 1 canon (later addition) = 35
(A. Agricola?)-1, (Craen/C. Festa/A. Fevin/Josquin/Morales)-1, (A. Févin)-1, (A. Févin/Mouton)-1, (A. Fevin/Therache)-1, (Ghiselin)-1, (Isaac)-1, (Josquin)-5, (Josquin/Verdelot)-1, (La Rue)-3, Morel-1, (Mouton)-3, (Strus)-1, anon-14
i parchment + 1 paper [mid-16th century insertion] + 64 parchment + i parchment folios, 370 x 258 (paper folio is double sized). Original front and back parchment flyleaves glued to modern paper folios. Modern foliation, 1-65, omits flyleaves and counts double-sized paper folio as f. 1. Blank folios: 1, 2, 65'; blank staves only on ff. 63'-65. Modern covers of white parchment on boards. No index. Copied partly by Petrus Alamire (see general index for other manuscripts copied by the same scribe), partly by another Netherlands court scribe (KellBP). Staff height 15. Miniatures and borders illuminated in Ghent-Bruges style; painted initials and inked calligraphic initials. Heraldic emblems (coats of arms, pomegranate, Tudor rose) of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.
In text of Févin's motet "Adiutorium nostrum" (ff. 4'-6), original names "Anna" [= Anne of Brittany] and "Ludovicus" [= Louis XII, King of France] were entered in red ink, erased, and replaced by "Katherina" [= Catherine of Aragon] and "Henricus Rex" [- Henry VIII] (KellML). Text of motet "O sancta Maria" mentions "Carolus," probably referring to Emperor Charles V (HugheCM). Later 8-voice canon on Garter motto "Honi soit qui mal y pense" dedicated to "Arundell" (see below); canon copied on double paper folio, notated on circular staff and illustrated staff within circle.
1513-25, probably 1516-22 (KellJ). Copied in Brussels/Mechlin; belongs to Netherlands court complex (KellJ). Presented as gift to Henry VIII, King of England, and his wife, Catherine of Aragon. Morel canon written ca. 1544, year of induction of Henry Fitzalan, 12th Earl of Arundel (d. 1580), into Order of the Garter. Manuscript in present form possibly in Fitzalan's possession by then; later passed to son-in-law, John, 6th Baron Lumley (d. 1609). Arundel-Lumley collection became part of Old Royal Library, which passed to newly founded British Museum in 1757.
Vol 4
Physical: Copied mostly by Netherlands court scribe C'; last three pieces (ff. 58'-63) possibly copied by Netherlands court scribe Petrus Alamire (KellR). WarmMC assigns ff. 58'-63 to Netherlands court scribe D. See general index for other manuscripts attributed to the same scribes.
We are grateful to Dr Nicolas Bell for providing us with an updated bibliography for this MS.
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Sets
Books prepared by the Alamire workshop
Linked by Origin or Contents · 72 sources
‡ denotes primary source study
Neal, Thomas. 2012. London, British Library, Royal 8 G.vii and Anglo-Burgundian Relations at the Early Tudor Court. University of Cambridge, BA.
Thomas, Jennifer. 2005. Patronage and Personal Narrative in a Music Manuscript: Marguerite of Austria, Katherine of Aragon, and London Royal 8 G.vii. Musical Voices of Early Modern Women: Many-Headed Melodies, edited by Jennifer Thomas, 337-364. Aldershot.
Kellman, Herbert (editor). 1999. The Treasury of Petrus Alamire. Music and art in Flemish Court Manuscripts 1500-1535. Leuven: Alamire Foundation.
Milsom, John. 1993. The Nonsuch Music Library. Sundry Sorts of Music Books: Essays on the British Library Collections Presented to O. W. Neighbour on his 70th Birthday, edited by John Milsom, 146-82. London. Pages: 170–71.
Kellman, Herbert. 1989. Observations on the Production and Distribution of Music Manuscripts at the Netherlands Court. Early Music History, 9: . Notes: physical description; mention of MS; discussion.
Kellman, Herbert (editor). 1987. London, British Library, Royal 8 G. VII. Renaissance Music in Facsimile, vol. 9. New York. Notes: physical description; contents list; concordances (partial); facsimile; discussion.
Boorman, Stanley. 1983. Notational Spelling and Scribal Habit. Datierung und Filiation von Musikhandschriften der Josquin-Zeit, Wolfenbütteler Forschungen, vol. 26. Wiesbaden. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); transcriptions (partial); mention of MS; discussion.
Jonas, Luise. 1983. Das Augsburger Liederbuch: Die Musikhandschrift 2° Codex 142a der Staats- und Stadtbibliothek Augsburg. Edition und Kommentar. Berliner Musikwissenschaftliche Arbeiten, vol. Band 21 (2 vols.) . Munich and Salzburg. Pages: II,10,passim. Notes: physical description; contents list (partial); concordances (partial); mention of MS; discussion.
Warmington, Flynn. 1982. A Master Calligrapher in Alamire's Workshop: The Chronology of His Work. Paper read at the Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society, November, 1982, . Notes: physical description (partial); mention of MS; discussion.
Tirro, Frank P. 1981. Royal 8.G.vii: Strawberry Leaves, Single Arch, and Wrong-Way Lions. The Musical Quarterly, 67: 1-28. Notes: physical description; contents list; facsimile (partial); mention of MS; discussion.
Sadie, Stanley (editor). 1980. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London. Pages: IX, 720. Notes: facsimile (partial).
Kellman, Herbert. 1976. Josquin and the Courts of the Netherlands and France: The Evidence of the Sources. Josquin des Prez: Proceedings of the International Josquin Festival-Conference ... 21-25 June 1971, 181-216. London, New York, and Toronto. Pages: 200, 209, 212. Notes: contents list (partial); mention of MS; discussion.
Slim, H Colin. 1972. A Gift of Madrigals and Motets. Chicago and London. Pages: I, 8, 50, 108, Plate 31. Notes: mention of MS; contents list (partial); facsimile (partial).
Rifkin, Joshua. 1971-72. Review of DunnS. Notes, 28: 425-9. Pages: 427. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); mention of MS; discussion.
Kellman, Herbert. 1970. Musical Links between France and the Empire, 1500-1530. Paper read at the Annual Meeting of the American Musicologica] Society, November 1970, . Notes: contents list (partial); mention of MS; discussion.
Smijers, Albert, Myroslaw Antonowycz, and Willem Elders (editors). 1969. Werken van Josquin des Prés: Supplement. Amsterdam. Pages: xiv-xv, 26-9. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); transcriptions (partial).
Dunning, Albert. 1969. Die Staatsmotette 1480-1555. Utrecht. Pages: 125, 129-30, 335 [some information incorrect]. Notes: contents list (partial); mention of MS; discussion.
Lowinsky, Edward E (editor). 1968. The Medici Codex of 1518: A Choirbook of Motets Dedicated to Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino. Monuments of Renaissance Music, vol. III-V. Chicago. Pages: III, 145-6. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); texts (partial); mention of MS; discussion.
Braithwaite, James Roland. 1967. The Introduction of Franco-Netherlandish Manuscripts to Early Tudor England: The Motet Repertory. Boston University, Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Pages: I-III, passim. Notes: physical description (partial); contents list; concordances; texts; texts; mention of MS; discussion.
Osthoff, Helmuth. 1962. Josquin Desprez. 2 vols. Tutzing. Pages: II, 14, 19, 108, 174-5, 293, 334, 370, 382-4. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); transcriptions (partial); mention of MS; discussion.
Picker, Martin. 1960. The Chanson Albums of Marguerite of Austria: Manuscripts 228 and 11239 of the Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique, Bruxelles. University of California at Berkeley, Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Pages: I, 98-9, 360. Notes: physical description; contents list (partial); concordances (partial).
Kellman, Herbert. 1958. The Origins of the Chigi Codex: The Date, Provenance, and Original Ownership of Rome, Biblioteca Vaticana, Chigiana, C. VIII. 234. Journal of the American Musicological Society, 11: 6-19. Pages: 18. Notes: mention of MS.
Osthoff, Helmuth. 1954. Vergils Aeneis in der Musik von Josquin des Prez bis Orlando di Lasso. Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, 11: 85-102. Pages: 88ff. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); incipits (partial); transcription (partial); mention of MS; discussion.
Hughes, Dom Anselm. 1953. Catalogue of the Musical Manuscripts at Peterhouse, Cambridge. Cambridge. Pages: I, 140, 259 II, 1, 193. Notes: physical description (partial); contents list.
Lowinsky, Edward E. 1950. A Newly Discovered Sixteenth-Century Motet Manuscript at the Biblioteca Vallicelliana in Rome. Journal of the American Musicological Society, 3: 173-232. Pages: 224. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial).
Blume, Friedrich (editor). 1949-79. Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: Allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik. Kassel. Pages: II, 1347 VIII, 1177. Notes: physical description (partial); contents list (partial).
Blume, Friedrich (editor). 1929-. Das Chorwerk. Berlin/Wolfenbüttel. Pages: LIV, v, 5-8 XCI, iii-iv, 1-4. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial); transcriptions (partial).
Smijers, Albert (editor). 1926-64. Werken van Josquin des Prez: Motetten. Amsterdam. Pages: III, ix, xiii XIII, xxxvi. Notes: physical description; contents list (partial); concordances (partial).
Smijers, Albert (editor). 1925-68. Werken van Josquin des Prez: Wereldlijke Werken. Amsterdam. Pages: V, vii. Notes: contents list (partial); concordances (partial).
Davey, Henry. 1921. History of English Music. London. Pages: 65, 87, frontispiece. Notes: physical description (partial); facsimile (partial).
Warner, Sir George F, and Julius P Gilson. 1921. Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Old Royal and King's Collections. London. Pages: I, 277 IV, Plate 63. Notes: physical description; contents list; incipitsst of contents (partial); facsimile (partial).
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Thomas Neal
Saturday, 2 May, 2020
Added to bibliography: Neal, Thomas. 'London, British Library, Royal 8 G.vii and Anglo-Burgundian Relations at the Early Tudor Court.' BA dissertation, University of Cambridge, 2012.
Edward Tambling
Tuesday, 28 April, 2020
The setting of Jesus autem transiens on 58v-59 - not that by Robert Wylkynson - converted to an anonymous unicum
Census-Catalogue of Manuscript Sources of Polyphonic Music 1400-1550
Monday, 23 January, 2017
NB: Migrated from old site. Credit for notes may not be completely accurate. Census Catalogue of Music Description