PRoMs - The Production and Reading of Music Sources

Mise-en-page in manuscripts and printed books containing polyphonic music, 1480—1530

Manuscript: London, Great Britain, Royal College of Music, MS 1070

Manuscript type: choirbook

RISM siglum: GB-Lcm 1070

DIAMM Source Key: 2033

Folio(s): All folios

Date: 1505-13

c. 1505-10 according to Nowacki 1979 and Urkevich 1997/Urkevich 2009; c. 1505-13 according to Rifkin 2012. The date 1533-6 proposed by Lowinsky (Lowinsky 1970) is now discredited.

Location of origin: France

Provenance

Copied for Marguerite D'Angoulême (Urkevich 1997 and Urkevich 2009); copied in the context of the French court Rifkin 2012. The theory proposed by Lowinsky (Lowinsky 1970) that it was copied in London, as gift for Queen Anne Boleyn, possibly by Mark Smeton, a musician at the English royal court, is now entirely discredited. Owned in 19th century by Robert William Haynes and Sacred Harmonic Society of London. Library of latter purchased for newly founded Royal College of Music in 1883.

Artists/Scribes

Person: Anonymous, Anonymous
Person type: scribe
Note: Two main scribes, later additions by two further scribes

Bibliography

Urkevich 1997, Rifkin 2012

Basis for description: original

London, Great Britain, Royal College of Music, MS 1070, All folios

Physical description

Material: paper

Number of leaves: 134

Format: upright

Page dimensions: 287 x 190

Quire structure: Text version

Non-musical texts: Inscription on f. 79: "Mris A Bolleyne nowe thus," followed by musical motto of three minims and a longa.
Inscription on f. 116v : "Tuo te pede metire. Nosce teipsum ut noris quam sit tibi curta suppellex."
Inscription on f. 134v: "This MSS. is about 250 years old." Below this, a different hand has written: "that is in the year 1540."

Other devices: 1. Modern foliation pencil top right (William Barclay Squire, 1920s), 1-134.
2. Modern pagination pencil top centre (John Stafford Smith, late 18th or early 19th century), 1-267.

Page details (zoom):

Preparation and Copying

103-132

Preparation

Disposition of Voice Parts Key

Pricking never
Ruled grid always,
single line to left and right, only occasionally lines for text
Ruling pattern highly regular
ruled freehand, very even
Staves omitted from grid never
Incomplete staves never
Medium and colour of grid Frequency Folios Note
brown ink and hard point always ink for bounding lines, hard point for text lines
Colour of staves Frequency Folios Note
brown always
Ruling medium Frequency Folios Note
single rastrum always
Indentation for initials Frequency Folios Note
single always c. 20 mm. For lower voicesmusic and text indented by the same amount to accommodate initials
Extra space between voice parts Frequency Folios Note
empty ruled staves on grid often
Space provided for separate text Frequency Folios Note
no separate text always
Adhoc adaptation Frequency Folios Note
notation and staves extended into margin occasionally

Copying of text and music

Language(s) Latin
Order of Copying music first
always
Presence/absence of text Voice part Frequency Folios Note
fully texted with one text all voice parts always
Music
Colour(s) of notation brown
Type(s) of notation void mensural
Type of notation note void mensural, rhomboid shape, straight connected stems slightly tapered at tip
Monophonic notation absent
Level of calligraphy fair
Text
Types of script cursive (bastarda)
Types of script note At least two different scribes
Level of calligraphy fair
Colour(s) of text brown
Multiple texts no
Text repetitions fairly few
Abbreviations some
Non underlaid vocal text none
Liminary text Verte instructions, occasionally
Later changes rarely

Decoration

Level of Decoration very poor
Other decoration frequency Folios Other decoration type(s) Size position Description Discrepancies
rarely decorative final long
1-102

Preparation

Disposition of Voice Parts Key

Pricking never
Ruled grid always,
single line to left and right, horizontal bounding line at bottom all the way across the page, text on single line within justification
Ruling pattern highly regular
ruled freehand, very even
Staves omitted from grid never
Incomplete staves never
Medium and colour of grid Frequency Folios Note
red ink always
Colour of staves Frequency Folios Note
brown always
Ruling medium Frequency Folios Note
single rastrum always
Indentation for initials Frequency Folios Note
single normally Staves 1 and 7, c. 20-30 mm. Even where no indented staves, music and text indented by the same amount to accommodate initials
Extra space between voice parts Frequency Folios Note
empty ruled staves on grid sometimes
Space provided for separate text Frequency Folios Note
no separate text always

Copying of text and music

Language(s)
Order of Copying music first
always
Presence/absence of text Voice part Frequency Folios Note
fully texted with one text all voice parts normally
untexted all voice parts rarely
Music
Colour(s) of notation brown
Type(s) of notation void mensural
Type of notation note rhomboid shape slightly bent forward, straight separate stems slightly tapered at tip
Monophonic notation absent
Level of calligraphy high
Non verbal performance instructions Folios Note
signes-de-renvoi rarely
Later changes Folios
numerous corrections, some by scribe 1, some by scribe 2 ('editor')
Text
Types of script cursive (bastarda)
Types of script note At least two different scribes
Level of calligraphy high
Colour(s) of text brown
Multiple texts no
Text repetitions fairly few
Abbreviations some
Non underlaid vocal text none
Liminary text Verte instructions, occasionally

Decoration

Level of Decoration fair
Decoration initial type Frequency Folios Initial type(s) Size position Description Discrepancies
painted initials sometimes 1-21 decorated, flourished, zoomorphic initial square or slightly squat rectangular initials, letters highlighted and flourished in ink and grey watercolour, on red and blue ground. Human figures and heads, animal and plant motives.
initials planned often 22-102
Other decoration frequency Folios Other decoration type(s) Size position Description Discrepancies
occasionally decorative final long
133-134

Preparation

Disposition of Voice Parts Key

Pricking never
Ruled grid never,
no lines
Ruling pattern highly irregular
ruled freehand, very uneven
Staves omitted from grid never
Incomplete staves never
Medium and colour of grid Frequency Folios Note
n/a always
Colour of staves Frequency Folios Note
brown always
Ruling medium Frequency Folios Note
single rastrum always
Indentation for initials Frequency Folios Note
none always Music slightly indented over ruled staves at beginning of every voice part
Extra space between voice parts Frequency Folios Note
empty ruled staves on grid always
Space provided for separate text Frequency Folios Note
no separate text always

Copying of text and music

Language(s) French
Order of Copying music first
always
Presence/absence of text Voice part Frequency Folios Note
fully texted with one text all voice parts always
Music
Colour(s) of notation brown
Type(s) of notation void mensural
Type of notation note void mensural, rhomboid shape, straight connected stems slightly tapered at tip
Monophonic notation absent
Level of calligraphy fair
Text
Types of script cursive
Level of calligraphy fair
Colour(s) of text brown
Multiple texts no
Text repetitions fairly many
Abbreviations some
Non underlaid vocal text none

Decoration

Level of Decoration n/a