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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, British Library, MS Royal 11 E. xi

Manuscript type: choirbook

RISM siglum: GB-Lbl Royal 11.e.xi

DIAMM Source Key: 2031

Image repositories: British Library

Folio(s): All folios

Date: 1516

Date '1516' and initials 'PO' (probably for Petrus de Opitiis) inscribed on f. 1v: 'Me fieri et componi fecit P. O. 1516'.

Location of origin: Antwerp, Belgium

Provenance

1) Copied and decorated in the Southern Netherlands (probably at Antwerp) and intended as a gift for Henry VIII (b. 1491, d. 1547), King of England and Ireland, and his wife Catherine of Aragon (b. 1485, d. 1536) (maried between 1509-1533), includes their coats of arms and badges; commissioned by 'PO' (inscription on f. 1r), possibly identifiable with Petrus de Opitiis, Italian merchant of Antwerp, perhaps as a mean of securing a position of the court organist for his son, Benedictus de Opitiis, the composer of one piece of music in the present manuscript, listed from 1516 as 'player at organs' in Henry VIII's houshold book (see Skinner/Bell 2009, p. 13) ; 2) not included in Old Royal library catalogues; presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal library.

Artists/Scribes

Person: Anonymous, Anonymous
Person type: None
Location of origin: Antwerp, Belgium

Bibliography

Warner/Gilson 1921, I, 260; Hughes 1953, I, 259 II, 1, 193; Harrison 1963, 338-340, Plate XIII; Blume 1949-79, VIII, 1176-7; Braithwaite 1967, I, xxi, 30, 57-9, passim; Dunning 1970, 121-128; Watson 1979, I, no. 887; Searle 1987, 2-3; Searle 1990; Backhouse 1993, 1-13, figs. 1, 2; Backhouse 1997, no. 206; Wahlgren-Smith 2000, 229; Carley 2004, pl. 104; Parsons/Sandon 2005; Dumitrescu 2007a, 141-145, 163-164; Dumitrescu 2007b, 129-147; Doran 2009, no. 98; Skinner/Bell 2009; McKendrick/Lowden/Doyle 2011, no. 154.

Basis for description: original

London, Great Britain, British Library, MS Royal 11 E. xi, All folios

Physical description

Material: parchment

Number of leaves: ii + 17 + ii

Format: upright

Page dimensions: 489 x 360

Quire structure:

Title page / Frontispiece: Full-page allegorical miniature incorporating an elegiac poem in honour of Henry VIII and the Tudor dynasty, perhaps composed by Johannes de Opitiis (see Bell and Skinner 2009), incipit: 'Psallite, felices, protecti culmine rose', which also provides text for Sampson motet on ff. 3v-9r; and verses in praise of the royal rose inscribed on a scroll: 'Salve, radix varios producens germine ramos, Quos inter ramus supereminet altior unus', perhaps celebrating the birth of Mary, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, in 1516, which also provide text for motet on ff. 2v-3r.
The miniature depicts a crowned Tudor rose in a walled garden symbolising England; daisies in the garden refer to Henry VIII's sister Margaret of Scotland, marigolds to his another sister, Mary of France, and a pomegranate bush is an emblem of his wife, Catherine of Aragon; the garden walls are surmounted by banners with the royal arms of England, St George, and Castile; the garden gateway with a half open portcullis (allusion to the badge of the Beauforts, first adpoted by Henry VII, son of Lady Margaret Beaufort) and a lion lying beneath is flanked by a red dragon and a white greyhound (the usual supporters of the Tudor arms) and inscribed with words 'salve felix Anglia'.

Other devices: 1. Modern Arabic foliation in pencil in upper right corner, 1-17.

Page details (zoom):

Preparation and Copying

Preparation

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Disposition of Voice Parts

Pricking none visible
Ruled grid always
Ruling pattern highly regular
2v-3r,
Separate ruling for the circular staves and text and the rubrics at the top of the page.
Staves omitted from grid never
Incomplete staves never
Medium and colour of grid Frequency Folios Note
brown ink sometimes
red ink sometimes Red ink used only for the ruling grid of the rubric at the top of the page.
Colour of staves Frequency Folios Note
brown always On f. 3r the staves corrected in black ink, possibly by the music scribe.
Ruling medium Frequency Folios Note
single rastrum always
Indentation for initials Frequency Folios Note
none always
Extra space between voice parts Frequency Folios Note
none always
Space provided for separate text Frequency Folios Note
provided, in dedicated space always

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 black
Type(s) of notation void mensural
Type of notation note rhomboid shaped notation
Monophonic notation absent
Level of calligraphy very high
Non verbal performance instructions Folios Note
signa congruentiae 2v, 3r
end symbol 2v, 3r
Text
Types of script cursive (bastarda)
Types of script size position Voices names and titles written in larger script.
Level of calligraphy very high
Colour(s) of text black red
Voices names written in red.
Multiple texts no
Text repetitions none
Abbreviations very few
Non underlaid vocal text none
Liminary text Rubric: 'Canon fuga in diatessaron'.,
2v, 3r

Decoration

Level of Decoration high
Decoration miniature frequency Folios Size position Description Discrepancies
always 2v, 3r 125 x 115, unframed, placed in the middle of the page. Red roses (associated with the house of Lancaster, and later with the house of Tudor) are encircled by music and the verses 'Salve radix', written in praise of the royal rose.

Preparation

Show Preparation Slideshow
Show Preparation Slideshow
Show Preparation Slideshow
Show Preparation Slideshow

Disposition of Voice Parts

Pricking none visible
Ruled grid always,
Only the justification lines are visible.
Ruling pattern fairly regular
Staves omitted from grid rarely
Incomplete staves never
Medium and colour of grid Frequency Folios Note
light brown ink normally Justification lines only.
Colour of staves Frequency Folios Note
black normally
Ruling medium Frequency Folios Note
single rastrum always
Indentation for initials Frequency Folios Note
double often 3v, 4r, 4v-7r, 9r, 10v, 11r, 12r, 12v, 13r, 13v, 14r, 15r, 15v, 16v ff. 4v-7r, 12v, 13r, 15r: rubric 'residuum' inscribed in the indented space. f. 12: initial for contratenor only.
single sometimes 8v, 11v, 12r, 14v, 16r f. 12r: initial for tenor only.
none rarely 12v, 17r Initials painted over staves with text and music indented. f. 12v: initial for bassus only.
Extra space between voice parts Frequency Folios Note
empty ruled staves on grid often 4r, 4v, 5r, 5v, 6v, 7r, 7v, 8v, 9r, 13v, 14v, 15r, 16v Space left between voices (ff. 4v, 5r, 5v), below a voice (ff. 4r, 6v, 7r, 13v, 16v), between and below voices (ff. 7v, 8v, 9r, 14v, 15r, 15v).
staves not ruled on grid rarely 11v, 13r The space left blank on f. 11v was probably designed for enter decoration or rubric.
Space provided for separate text Frequency Folios Note
not in dedicated space rarely 10v-11r

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 black
Type(s) of notation void mensural
Type of notation note rhomboid shaped notation
Monophonic notation absent
Level of calligraphy very high
Non verbal performance instructions Folios Note
signes-de-renvoi 15v-16r run-over symbol in the form of a trefle (bassus).
coronae 5v, 6r, 7v, 11v, 12r, 12v
signa congruentiae 12v-13r A circle with a dot inside.
repeat signs 10v, 14r
Text
Types of script cursive (bastarda)
Types of script size position Names of voices written in larger script.
Level of calligraphy very high
Colour(s) of text black
Multiple texts no
Text repetitions very few
Abbreviations very few
Non underlaid vocal text none
Liminary text Names of composers: 'M. Sampson' (f. 3v); 'B. Opicius' (f. 10v); 'Benedictus de Opiciis' (f. 11r; inscribed on the lower stave); 'Sampson' (f. 11v). Performance instruction: 'Verte folium' (f. 4r). Added versicles and responses to the antiphon 'Sub tuum presidium' written in the margin below the motet which adapts the text of this antiphon: 'Post partum virgo inviolata permansisti dei genitrix intercede pro nobis. Pro rege domine falvum fac regem nostrum et exaudi nos in die qua invocaverimus te' (f. 10v); and 'Oremus. Concede nos famulos tuos quesumus Domine Deus noster perpetua mentis et corporis salute gaudere et gloriosa beate marie semper virginis intercessione a presenti liberari tristicia et eterna perfrui leticia. Per Christum dominum nostrum amen' (f. 11r).,
3v, 4r, 10v, 11r, 11v

Decoration 1

Level of Decoration poor
Decoration initial type Frequency Folios Initial type(s) Size position Description Discrepancies
penned initials normally 1r, 10r, 15v, 19r, 21r decorated c. 60 x 40 Outlined initials in black ink imitating decoration of printed books.
penned initials rarely 6v, 14r plain initials c. 60 x 40 Initials in black ink.

Decoration 2

Level of Decoration very high
Decoration initial type Frequency Folios Initial type(s) Size position Description Discrepancies
painted initials rarely 10v historiated 80 x 76 Acanthus initial 'S' in gold on rose ground with the Virgin and Child, opening the marian motet 'Sub tuum praesidium confugimus'.
penned initials often 8v, 9r, 11r, 12r, 13v, 14r, 16r, 17r calligraphic c. 80/50 x c. 70/40 mm
painted initials sometimes 3v-4v, 11v, 13v, 15v, 16v trompe l'oeil 80 x 65/80 mm. Either for all four voices (ff. 3v-4v) or only for discantus (ff. 11v, 13v, 15v, 16v). Acanthus initials in shell gold on coloured grounds some with red roses referring to Henry VIII, the owner of the manuscript (ff. 3v, 11v, 13v)
penned initials occasionally 10v, 11r, 11v, 12r calligraphic with grotesque heads c. 80/50 x c. 70/40 mm
initials planned rarely 8v, 14v, 16v