Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries: Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 2764(1)

Legal document and polyphonic carols (fragments)

Introduction: A note on the display of images: The first image shows the fragment in its original orientation, as part an ecclesiastical legal document made in the late 14th or early 15th century. The second image shows the fragment in its second orientation, when the document was rotated 90° to the left and the blank dorse used for copying polyphonic carol music, probably in the early 15th century. The manuscript was then later cut into pieces and used as a sewing guard for a quire containing polyphonic mass music. The internal evidence suggests that this music was copied in the first years of the 1470s (see Provenance), giving a likely date for this second re-purposing of the manuscript. This quire of music was part of a manuscript otherwise containing Chancery formulae and precedents, now Cambridge, University Library, MS Ii.5.18. The fragment was removed from this manuscript in 1915 (see Custodial History), and the spine fold imposed by its use as a sewing guard was flattened at an unknown date thereafter. The leaves of MS Ii.5.18 were badly damaged and most are now mounted on paper guards, as part of rebinding and conservation work undertaken in the mid-20th century. Although sewing holes are visible along the fold, it is not therefore possible to determine in which orientation the fragment was used in the binding. Dr James Freeman|Medieval Manuscripts Specialist|Cambridge University Library

Language(s): Latin and Middle English

1. recto

Legal document (fragment)

Language(s): Latin

According to Baker and Ringrose, 'a fragment of a s. xiv/xv ecclesiastical legal document reciting the reversal of a judgement against an abbot called John'. No other identifying names or places are present.

Baker and Ringrose (1996), p. 384

2. dorse

Polyphonic carols (fragment)

Language(s): Middle English

Fragments of two polyphonic carols, '[...] of Mary de-' and 'Farewell lo-'.

Stevens and Fallows (2018), nos 19A and 20A

Bent and Wathey (2022), p. 44

Physical Description

Form: sheet

Support: Parchment

Extent: Fragment, comprising a single strip of parchment, originally part of a single sheet document, later repurposed for copying music (apparently as a single sheet, perhaps with others now lost), and later employed as a sewing guard in a manuscript (see Provenance). 1 item. The dimensions provided here are for the fragment's total height and width as a flattened component in a former binding. 285 × 28-33 mm.

Foliation:

No numbering.

Condition

The fragment has evidence of its re-use as a component of a later volume.

Layout

Recto: no ruling, single column.

Dorse: staves ruled in ink.

Hand(s)

Recto: Anglicana, with Secretary influences.

Dorse: Anglicana Formata.

Musical Notation:

'[I]n full-black notation and in perfect time' (DIAMM).

Additions

'Ii.5.18^frag = 2764 Add' written in pencil on the dorse, perhaps by Charles Sayle , presumably when the fragment was removed from this manuscript (see Custodial History).

Accompanying Material

Accompanied by a folded piece of paper (not photographed) bearing the classmark, Library size classification, and a description: 'Part of a Carol Roll, loose at fol. 219. From Ii.5.18' (the last, and perhaps the rest, written by Charles Sayle . The suggestion that this was part of a roll has been rejected (see Stevens and Fallows (2018), p. 147).

History

Origin: Late 14th or early 15th century. ; England.

Provenance and Acquisition

The fragment was separated from the source manuscript at an unknown date, probably in the early 15th century, when its blank dorse was used for copying music.

Bent and Wathey (2022)

The fragment was re-used as a component in the binding of a quire of paper (see Extent), onto which was copied a polyphonic three-part, five-movement mass Ordinary, as well as various legal texts, within a volume otherwise containing Chancery precedents (Cambridge, University Library, MS Ii.5.18, ff. 219-228). According to Margaret Bent, 'The Mass occurs within a discrete libellus [...] and is set off from adjacent gatherings by its watermark and damp-staining. The music was apparently copied first; then, on the surrounding pages, were added documents (copies of legal processes following issues of the writ Quia diem clausit) whose originals Roger Bowers has been able to date in the late 1460s and early 1470s. Howe soon after this the present copies were made, and for what purposes, remains undetermined, but it seems unlikely that the music was copied before the early 1470s or the legal documents before the mid-1470s', thus providing a likely approximate date for the re-use of this fragment.

Bent, 15th-century liturgical music II (1979), p .173

Baker and Ringrose (1996), pp. 381-82

John Moore (1646-1714) , bishop of Ely (see Acquisition).

Presented to the University Library in 1715 by George I (1660-1727) : donation bookplate engraved by John Pine (1690-1756) in 1736 on the front pastedown of MS Ii.5.18.

Additional Information

Availability

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card. For information on eligibility and admissions procedures, see Joining the Library). For further enquiries, and to confirm the availability of the manuscript, please contact the Special Collections Reading Room.

Custodial History

The fragments were removed from the binding of MS Ii.5.18 on 15 July 1915, according to a note by Charles Sayle between ff. 218v and 219r in MS Ii.5.18, and placed shortly thereafter in Add. 2764.

The spine fold relating to the fragment's re-use was opened out in or after 1915.

Bibliography

Some Sources of 15th Century English Music Renaissance News, Bukofzer, Manfred F. (2, 4, 65-67, 1949)

The Early English Carols, (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1977)

Fifteenth-century liturgical music: II. Four anonymous masses Early English church music, Bent, Margaret (London, Stainer and Bell for the British Academy, 1979)

A Catalogue of English Legal Manuscripts in Cambridge University Library, with Codicological Descriptions of the Early Manuscripts, Baker, J.H.Ringrose, J.S. (Woodbridge, Boydell Press, 1996)

GB-Cu Add. 2764(1) Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music (DIAMM), Fallows, DavidBent, Margaret (2017, https://www.diamm.ac.uk/sources/4073/#/)

Henry V and the Earliest English Carols: 1413-1440, Fallows, David (Abingdon, Routledge, 2018)

Mediæval Carols Musica Britannica: A National Collection of Music, Stevens, JohnFallows, David (London, Stainer and Bell, 2018)

Fragments of English Polyphonic Music c. 1390-1475: A Facsimile Edition Early English Church Music, Bent, MargaretWathey, Andrew (London, Published for the British Academy by Stainer and Bell, 2022)

Digital Images

Cambridge Digital Library

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 2764(1)

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