A note at the bottom of f. 1 shows that the MS belonged to President Bouhier in 1721, and had the signature F. 61 in his library. He is the first known owner and was of Dijon origin. In 1781 the codex went to Clairvaux Abbey, then to Bar-sur-Aube, and then to Saint-Loup de Troyes on the sale of Bouhier's library. In 1804 Prunelle and Chardon-la-Rochette, two officials looking for important provincial manuscripts suitable for the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, saw Mo, but Prunelle, a teacher at the Ecole de Médecine in Montpellier, was able to turn over 300 fine MSS to the school there.

Two sheets of parchment filled with plainsong in large square notes, plus a spine and corners in light brown leather; early 18th century

The first five folios contain the title 'LIVRE || DE CHANSONS || ANCIENES ET || ROMANT || AVEC LEURS || NOTTES DE || MUSICQUE' (f. 1)

Franconian and pre-Franconian

6-8 red five-line staves per page

An old roman ink foliation at t.m.r. stops at f. 333, namely before the appendices to fascicle 7. The first five folios of the MS are not included in this foliation. A more recent arabic foliation in pencil stops only two leaves after the old one. A modern arabic foliation in ink at t.m.r. completes the original foliation from f. 334 to 397.

NOTE: the DIAMM numeration follows the t.r.r. pencil foliation which is complete. RISM uses the t.m.r ink foliation which omits folios 303 and 308. Therefore the foliation matches the RISM description/inventory up to fo. 303, but thereafter the foliation does not match.

original index (f. 2-5)

parchment

Interim corrections kindly provided by Solomon Guhl-Miller, 2014

RISM B/IV 1: A manuscript of thin parchment meas. 192 x 136 mm. and consisting of 400 folios. Mo is the largest medieval motet manuscript in existence. The first five folios contain the title "LIVRE || DE CHANSONS || ANCIENES ET || ROMANT || AVEC LEURS || NOTTES DE || MUSICQUE" (f. 1) and the original index (f. 2-5). The binding dates from the early 18th century, and consists of two sheets of parchment filled with plainsong in large square notes, plus a spine and corners in light brown leather. A note at the bottom of f. 1 shows that the ms belonged to President Bouhier in 1721, and had the signature F. 61 in his library. He is the first known owner and was of Dijon origin. In 1781 the codex went to Clairvaux Abbey, then to Bar-sur-Aube, and then to Saint-Loup de Troyes on the sale of Bouhier's library. In 1804 Prunelle and Chardon-la-Rochette, two officials looking for important provincial manuscripts suitable for the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, saw Mo, but Prunelle, a teacher at the Ecole de Médecine in Montpellier, was able to turn over 300 fine mss to the school there. The codex consists of 8 fascicles, using the word in the wider sense. These correspond to f. l-22v, 23v-62v, 63-86v, 87-110v, 111-230v, 231-269v, 270-349V and 350-397v. Of these, f. 22v, 23, 61v-62v, 63, 87, 228v-230v are blank. Fol. 83v-86v and 227v-228 were originally blank, but were later filled with 3 and 1 motet respectively. The old corpus consists of fascicles 1-6 and was written c. 1280. Fascicle 7, which originally consisted of f. 270-333v, was written at the very end of the 13th century. Two appendices (f. 334-345v and 346-349v) precede fascicle 8, which was originally an independent manuscript written in the early years of the 14th century. An old roman ink foliation at t.m.r. stops at f. 333, namely before the appendices to fascicle 7. The first five folios of the ms are not included in this foliation. A more recent arabic foliation in pencil stops only two leaves after the old one. A modern arabic foliation in ink at t.m.r. completes the original foliation from f. 334 to 397. In fact there are only 395 folios in addition to the 5 prelims, since f. 303 and 308 have been lost. The old index stops at the same place as the old foliation. Fascicle 8 was apparently slightly larger than the rest of the ms originally, since an old foliation at t.m.r. has been mainly cut away. The manuscript corpus seems to be Parisian in origin, though Mo 8 may well be from further east. Apart from Mo 1, which consists of organa and clausulae and one conductus, the whole ms is made up of motets. Exception should be made of the conductus Deus in adiutorium, which begins Mo 8 as it begins Ba, another motet codex. The notation is written on 6-8 red five-line staves per page. In Mo 3-6 the lines are continuous, while in Mo 2, 7 and 8 the writing is mainly in two columns. Mo 2 consists entirely of four-part motets, so that four columns across a double page take a complete motet. In Mo 3-5 however, a double page is divided as follows : Tr on the verso, Mot on the recto and T across the bottom of both pages, since these fascicles are devoted to three-part motets. The two-part motets of Mo 6 are similarly arranged, except that one Mot follows on another. The later fascicles 7 and 8 contain three-part motets again, but these are so arranged that the Tr occupies one column and the Mot the other on a single page, while the T as usual takes up the whole of the bottom stave. At least, this is the case unless the T has a complete text, as in certain French motets. In this case three-column writing is used. The organa and conductus of Mo 1 are written in 2 systems of three staves in score across the page. The four-part In seculum pieces are unusual in having a motet-type quadruplum, which is written across the verso. The other parts are written in 2 columns, with the Tr in one, the duplum in the other and the T across the bottom of the page (the recto in this case). The motet notation of Mo 2-6 is pre-Franconian, while in Mo 7-8 it is Franconian. Mo 7-8 even contain motets in the style of Petrus de Cruce, and nos. 235 and 236 are specifically attributed to him by Jacobus, the author of the Speculum musicae. Mo 3-5 may be further differentiated as follows : Mo 3 contains motets with a French Tr and a Latin Mot, Mo 4 with Latin Tr and Mot, and Mo 5 with French Tr and Mot. The ms is attractively decorated, and important miniatures open the individual fascicles. The marginal ornament and the squares forming the background of initials suggest a family relationship with such chansonniers as N and R. Only the small initials use gold, except for the big D opening Mo 8. The other colours used are red, blue, violet, green and orange.

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