Ars nova notation. Written in France or the Low Countries (?)

A-Kv

RISM Supplement: Eleven strips cut from a segment of a roll (fol. A below), still in place in MS 56 as quire-guards, and visible before (a) fols. 60 and 72; (b) 82 and 94; (c) 106 and 118; (d) 130 and 142; (e) 160; (f) 172; (g) 184; (h) 196; (i) 205; (j) 214; (k) 226. Strips a-d are on the outsides of the quires, strips e-k on the insides. The original order of the strips is: k, i, f, h, d, a, c, e, b, i, and g; a strip is lost between c and e, and one or more strips are lost between b and i. Each strip now 255-265 x c. 10-20 mm. Ruling: at least 13 (recto) and 17 (verso) red five-line staves (c. 12 nmm.); 3 black five-line staves, added on recto, remain of 2. Ruled in two columns, with parts of 1 and 3 written across the intervening space; ruled indentations (c. 20 mm) for initials. Script: two hands, one responsible for 1, 3 and 4 writing a careful secretary, the other, responsible for adding 2, writing a rough quadrata. Notation: Ars nova. Decoration: guide letters only supplied for initials .

Written in France or the Low Countries (?). Used as above in the binding of MS 56, a copy of Johannes de Platea de Bononia, Lectura institutionum, written by four (?) scribes, probably between 1427 and 1443, at or near Cologne. Other materials used in the binding include (1) a notarized document, issued at Cologne on 14 July 1391, witnessed by Henricus dictus Meyken de Stralen, clerk of the diocese of Cologne, Johannes de Buschanen, canon of the church of St. George, Cologne, and Johannes de Duis-[...]; (2) further strips, some of which are from another notarial document; (3) fragments of leaves from a civil or canon law text, s. xiv. MS 56 was bound for All Souls, s. xv ex., in a standard College binding of white whittawed leather over square-edged wooden boards, slightly bevelled; remains of strap and catch fastenings are preserved on the front and back boards, and marks from a later chain plate appear on the back board. It seems likely, however, that the book came from the Continental mainland with the present flyleaves and other internal binding material and sewing (see Watson). Written between the lines of the staves, before the music roll was used in this binding, are '... deprise 1e ...', and the sum 'xxviij fl.' twice. Scribbles and pen-trials on fols. 292r-v, including 'Arma virum que cano qui primis ab oris' (Vergil, Aeneid, I, 1), may be either Continental or English. Owned: All Souls College, who acquired the book within the lifetime of their founder, Henry VI, d. 1461 (see Ker, pp. 3, 11; Watson); included in the list in Oas, Misc. Muniment 209 and in subsequent catalogues of the College library (Ker, List II; see also pp. 80, 86, 93, 184). Old All Souls numbers, including the shelf marks 'vv.6.8' and 'ss.2.8', appear on the front pastedown, and 'vv.4.3' on fol. 1; a black leather lozenge on the spine of the book bears the number '8'.

1. fol. A

[Apollinis eclipsatur]

[Z]odiacum signis lustrantibus

In omnem terrain. Tenor

(incipits RISM, B IV, 2, p. 289, No. 21)

NOTES ON CONTENTS

1 Most of Tr and all of T. See Lpro, E 163/22/1/24, No. 4 (above p. 55) for other details. 2-4 Fragmentary. 2 Two of probably three voices; also in Lbl, Add. 28550 (the Robertsbridge codex), fol. 44v in an ornamented version for keyboard (ed. W. Apel, Keyboard Music of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, I, Corpus of Early Keyboard Music (Rome, 1963), No. 5 and PMFC 17, pp. 156-157, No. 61; see also RISM, BIV, 2, p. 238). 3 Three (plus Solus Tenor) of four voices.

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