Ars nova notation and ligature shapes of Robert de Brunham; flagged semiminims and semibreve-minim movement in 5-7

22-29v

parchment

RISM Supplement: 8 fols, (trimmed; foliated 28, 24, 25, 29, 22, 26, 27, 23). Parchment. Now 252 x 175 mm. Written space at least 190 x at least 160 mm. Ruling: probably nine (now seven) freely-ruled brown five-line staves (16.5-18 mm); vertical frame rules visible in places. Collation: a gathering of eight leaves, possibly complete in this form, since an effort has been made to accommodate 7 complete on the final page. Script: two hands, writing a good and a poor gothica textualis quadrata, and responsible, respectively, for 1-4, and for 5-7. Notation: Ars nova; cauda hirundinis in 1, and ligature shapes of Robert de Brunham in 1 and 3; flagged semiminims and semibreve-minim movement in 5 - 7.

Written in England. Music erased and gathering re-arranged as fols. 22-29, to write part of the Liber metricus de nova poetria of Geoffrey of Vinsauf, s. xv in. The whole of this item (fols. 19-43) and other parts of MS 144 were given to the Benedictine Priory at Tynemouth, a cell of St Albans, by John Bamburgh, sub-prior (see fol. 16v 'Hic est liber Sancte Marie et Sancti Oswyni regis et martiris de Tynemoth ex dono Domini Johannis Bambwrgh quondam supprioris Anno gratie 1450°'; fol. 19v 'Dominus Johannes Bambwrgh dédit hune librum deo et ecclesie Sancte Marie Sanctique Oswini Anno domini 1438° in festo Sancti Edmundi regis, cuius [erased] anima eius requiescat in pace. Amen'; fol. 26 'In die Sancti Thome martiris anno Domini 1447°. Dominus Johannes Bambwrgh quondam supprior huius ecclesie anno etatis sue 46° dedit hunc librum sic ligatum cum contentis omnibus Deo et Sancte Marie et Santo Oswino quern qui abstulerit aut titulum deleverit anathema sit. Amen. Anima dicti Johannis et fidelium anime requiescant in pace. Amen'; see also fol. 18v). Bound with fols. 44 ff. by 1447. Traces of an earlier binding, with two clasps, of whittawed leather over boards without corner mitres, probably s. xv, remain on fol. 1. Fols. 1-16 are also palimpsest, and it is possible that both these and the music leaves originated at the parent house, St Albans. 'Samuell Moberlaye', s. xvi 2/2, fols. 71v, 116. Owned: John Dee? (see Roberts and Watson, pp. 65-66, 179); Brian Twyne, Fellow of Corpus, 1603-1644 (his name, fol. 1). Given by Twyne, probably between 1626 and 1644.

NOTES ON CONTENTS

1-7 Incomplete and legible only with difficulty, even under ultra-violet light. 1 Ed. PMFC 17, No. 48. Also, with numerous minor variants, in US-NYpm, MS 978, p. 3a (from which upper voice incipits here are supplied). 7 Ed. PMFC 17, No. 12; middle voice carries plainsong Alma redemptoris (AS, pl. 529).

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