Essentially a collection of Trouvère songs: the beginning is liturgical, but is followed later on by many secular French texts were replaced by sacred Latin ones. The authors of Trouvère songs are often named, e. g. Thibaut de Navarre, Colart li Boutellier, Chastelain de Coucy and Gace Brulé. Among the Latin conductus are a number with texts by Chancellor Philippe of Paris. Polyphonic works are relatively rare: there are 2 conductus and 5 motets in the first fascicle of the MS (6 quaternios + 1 folio + 1 ternio (f. 3-57), preceded by 2 flyleaves). Fascicle 2 (f. 58-93) consists of 4 quaternios and 1 smaller gathering (f. 90-93), fascicle 3 of 1 binio (f. 94-97), fascicle 4 (f. 98-118) of 2 quaternios and 1 irregular gathering (f. 114-118), and fascicle 6 of 1 bifolio, 3 quaternios and 1 binio (f. 131-160). Fascicle 5 contains no music. In each of the fascicles 2-6 there are some erasures with secular texts replaced by sacred ones or even by new compositions. For instance, fascicle 6 contains late 14th century sacred monodies with minims and black and red notes up to f. 137v. On the page in question are the remains of a two-part Benedicamus. From f. 149 there are German neumes. Another interesting feature which may reveal English influence is the presence of longs alternating with rhombs in LoB. The polyphonic conductus are as usual in score, the motets in parts. Arrived in the British Museum in 1832 from the Van der Velde collection in Ghent. Previous medieval owners were Jacobus Dogimon (f. 1) and Jehan Perthuis de Hacquemere (f. 160).

blue morocco with gilt tooling; the paper leaves at either end belong to this binding.

square unmeasured; Ars Nova modifications

3 accolades of 2 staves each, for motets 5 staves per page (for the two-part conductus);

160 ff + 3 blank flyleaves

original foliation at t.r.r. for f. ii and iv-vii only; otherwise, there is a 19th century ink foliation at t.r.r.

many illuminations adorned with gold; even small letters often use this colour. Otherwise, initials are blue or red with contrasting filigree

iii paper + 160 parchment + iii paper

RISM B/IV 1: A parchment manuscript meas. 150 x 107 mm. and containing 160 folios + 3 blank unnumbered paper flyleaves each end for the modern blue morocco binding with gilt tooling. The corpus is 13th century, but there are many 14th and 15th century additions near the end, both in square notes and Gothic neumes. LoB arrived in the British Museum in 1832 from the Van der Velde collection in Ghent. Previous medieval owners were Jacobus Dogimon (f. 1) and Jehan Perthuis de Hacquemere (f. 160). There is an original foliation at t.r.r. for f. ii and iv-vii only; otherwise, there is a 19th century ink foliation at t.r.r. Many illuminations are adorned with gold, and even small letters often use this colour. Otherwise, initials are blue or red with contrasting filigree. Although this is often considered essentially a collection of Trouvère songs, even a minstrel's song-book, LoB was liturgical from the beginning, and later on, many secular French texts were replaced by sacred Latin ones. The authors of Trouvère songs are often named, e. g. Thibaut de Navarre, Colart li Boutellier, Chastelain de Coucy and Gace Brulé. Among the Latin conductus are a number with texts by Chancellor Philippe of Paris. Polyphonic works are, however, relatively rare, a mere handful of 2 conductus and 5 motets in the first fascicle of the ms, which consists of 6 quaternios + 1 folio + 1 ternio (f. 3-57), preceded by 2 flyleaves. For the two-part conductus there are 3 accolades of 2 staves each, for motets 5 staves per page. The notation is mainly of square unmeasured type, but there have been one or two Ars Nova modifications at the beg. of the ms (f. 3 and f. 3v). Fascicle 2 (f. 58-93) consists of 4 quaternios and 1 smaller gathering (f. 90-93), fascicle 3 of 1 binio (f. 94-97), fascicle 4 (f. 98-118) of 2 quaternios and 1 irregular gathering (f. 114-118), and fascicle 6 of 1 bifolio, 3 quaternios and 1 binio (f. 131-160). Fascicle 5 contains no music. In each of the fascicles 2-6 there are some erasures with secular texts replaced by sacred ones or even by new compositions. For instance, fascicle 6 contains late 14th century sacred monodies with minims and black and red notes up to f. 137v. On the page in question are the remains of a two-part Benedicamus. From f. 149 there are German neumes. Another interesting feature which may reveal English influence is the presence of longs alternating with rhombs in LoB. The polyphonic conductus are as usual in score, the motets in parts.

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