Manuscript: London, Great Britain, British Library, MS Additional 35087

Manuscript type: choirbook

RISM siglum: GB-Lbl Add. 35087

DIAMM Source Key: 1897

Date: 1505-06

McMurtry 1967

Location of origin: Bruges, Belgium

Provenance

Perhaps copied in Bruges (scribal concordance with B-Br IV.90/B-Br IV.1274/B-Tv 94). Compiled for Jérôme Lauweryn of Watervliet (d. 1509), an official at the Netherlands court during reigns of Maximilian I, Philip the Fair, and Margaret of Austria (inscription on f. 1: "Hieronymus Laurinus est meus herus"). Two English inscriptions (ff. 37v, 75v) apparently in 16th-century hands; manuscript probably came to England through connections between Lauweryn family and English humanists. Subsequent owners unknown until 19th century. Presented to British Museum by Herbert Thompson in 1897.

London, Great Britain, British Library, MS Additional 35087, All folios

Physical description

Material: parchment

Number of leaves: iv + 95 + iii

Format: upright

Page dimensions: 293 x 198-203

Quire structure: Text version

Non-musical texts: Inscription on f. 1: "Hieronymus Laurinus est meus herus".
Two English inscriptions (ff. 37v, 75v) apparently in 16th-century hands.

Other devices: 1. Original ink foliation, ii-xciiii, begins on new f. 3, counts stub as "iii," and runs congruently with new foliation until end (except that two consecutive folios are numbered "lxxxxiii").
2. Modern pencil foliation, 1-95 (one folio torn out between new ff. 3/4, leaving stub, labelled 3+; one folio missing at end, making last piece incomplete).

Page details (zoom):

Preparation and Copying

All folios

Preparation

Disposition of Voice Parts Key

Pricking	normally, sometimes visible in upper and lower margins for justifications lines
Ruled grid	often, faint, often no longer visible.
Ruling pattern	fairly regular justification lines only
Staves omitted from grid	never
Incomplete staves	rarely, 86r, It is unclear why this stave is incomplete mid-page, mid-part; it may have been an accident?

Medium and colour of grid	Frequency	Folios	Note
lead point	normally		Reddish brown in colour (presumably plummet), very faint/faded.
Colour of staves	Frequency	Folios	Note
dark brown	always
Ruling medium	Frequency	Folios	Note
single rastrum	rarely	1r-7v	c. 16.5mm (quire 1)
single rastrum	normally	8r-71v	c. 17mm (quires 2-9)
single rastrum	occasionally	72r-95v	c. 14.5mm (quire 10 to end)
Indentation for initials	Frequency	Folios	Note
double	normally		staves indented at the start of each voice part
single	occasionally		single stave indented in lower part of page ff. 2r-19r (with some exceptions)
single	rarely	3r	notation indented on stave
Extra space between voice parts	Frequency	Folios	Note
empty ruled staves on grid	often
Space provided for separate text	Frequency	Folios	Note
not in dedicated space	rarely	53v
Adhoc adaptation	Frequency	Folios	Note
partial additional staves	rarely	90v	inserting omitted notes
notation extended into margin	occasionally
notation and staves extended into margin	occasionally
staveline added	occasionally
Indentation for initials filled in	rarely	90v

Copying of text and music

Language(s)	Dutch, French, Italian, Latin
Order of Copying	music first normally

Presence/absence of text	Voice part	Frequency	Folios
fully texted with one or two texts	all voice parts	normally
provided with single incipit	all voice parts	rarely	16v-17r, 34v-35r
partially texted with one text	all voice parts	rarely	68v-69r, 80v-81r
provided with single incipit	discantus	rarely	90v-91r
fully texted with one text	all except discantus	rarely	90v-91r
partially texted with one text	altus	rarely	95v
untexted	discantus	rarely	95v

Music

Colour(s) of notation	black
Type(s) of notation	void mensural
Type of notation note	mainly in a single hand (or group of similar hands), with two different hands at the end of the manuscript (ff. 93v-94r, 94v-95v)
Monophonic notation	absent
Level of calligraphy	high

Non verbal performance instructions	Folios	Note
signa congruentiae		present
coronae		present
end symbol		a single, double or sometimes triple line
repeat signs	5v-6r, 21v-22r, 23v-24r, 25v-26r, 45v-46r, 55v-56r, 69v-70r
signes-de-renvoi	5v-6r, 90v, 93v-95v	pairs of symbols
Line fillers	Folios	Note
occasionally	48v	107mm decorative long, extending to nearly the end of the stave
sometimes		when there is a small distance between the final note and the stave end (under c. 20mm) then the custos is placed midway within this space. On f. 47v two custodes fill the space to the line end.
Later changes	Folios
songs added to blank staves	1r, 93v-95v

Text

Types of script	cursive
Types of script size position	underlaid text
Types of script note	Varying degrees of formality. Some liminary text in a more formal script.
Level of calligraphy	fair, some decorative descenders indicate a high level of calligraphy
Colour(s) of text	black
Multiple texts	yes 5v-6r, 21v-22r, 23v-24r, 25v-26r, 55v-56r, 69v-70r
Text repetitions	fairly many
Abbreviations	few
Non underlaid vocal text	additional 53v, in blank stave
Liminary text	36v: "Contratenor Jo. de Vyzeto. In dyatesseron" 37v, 39v: "Agricola" 41v: "Laurentius .d.a." 42r: "Qui me sequitur ante me finitus est" 45r: "Verbonnet" 55v: Jo Mouton 62r, 92r: voice names incorporated into initials for lower voices 69v: "verte folium propter residuum" 79r: "benedictus appescelderus" 83v: "Canon Qui se exaltat humiliabitur" 88v: "Anthoine Fevin" 90v: "Residuum", 36v, 37v, 41v, 42r, 45r, 55v, 62r, 69v, 79r, 83v, 88v, 90v

Decoration

Level of Decoration	fair

Decoration initial type	Frequency	Folios	Initial type(s)	Size position	Description	Discrepancies
penned initials	sometimes	1v-26r	calligraphic	Normally two staves indented at the start of each voice part, although sometimes only one stave is indented in the lower part of the page	Red and blue alternating calligraphic letters, occasionally with empty banners (perhaps for voice names?).	Blue initial missing f. 26r. Initials missing 2v, 8v-9r, 18v-19r, 20v-21r.
penned initials	rarely	27v-28r, 59v-60r, 61v-62r, 64v-65r, 89v-92r, 93v-94r	calligraphic	Two staves indented at the start of each voice part.	Black calligraphic initials, often simpler than the red/blue initials found at the beginning of the manuscript
initials planned	often	2v, 8v-9r, 18v-19r, 20v-21r, 26v-27r, 28v-59r, 60v-61r, 62v-64r, 65v-89r, 92v-93r, 94v-95r		Two staves indented, cue letter often visible for discantus with first letter missing from underlaid text. First letter often present for other (lower) voices.
Other decoration frequency		Folios	Other decoration type(s)	Size position	Description	Discrepancies
occasionally			banner	Banners (empty) incorporated within some of the red and blue initials (ff. 1v-26r).

PRoMs - The Production and Reading of Music Sources