Manuscript: Brussels, Belgium, Bibliothèque Royal Albert 1er/Koninklijke Bibliotheek Albert I, MS 228

Manuscript type: choirbook

RISM siglum: B-Br 228

DIAMM Source Key: 1628

Image repositories: IDEM

Folio(s): All folios

Date: c. 1515, with additions around 1519

Based on the chronology of scribes, Warmington dated the main corpus before March 1516 when Archduke Charles became king of Spain (unpublished paper read in 1982, cited by Martin Picker in Kellman 1999, no. 2). A date around 1515 is in line with the style of the manuscript. Three pieces (ff. 33v-35r, ff. 47v-48r and ff. 48v-49r) which appear at the end of quires and which are followed by pages ruled with empty staves were added later. One of these added pieces, 'Proch dolor' (ff. 33v-35r) laments the death of a German monarch, presumably Maximilian I, Margaret's father, which occurred on 12 January 1519. The additions to the manuscript were perhaps made in the same year. Listed in Margaret's 1523 inventory (Michelant 1871, 26).

Location of origin: Brussels, Belgium ; Mechelen, Belgium

Provenance

1) Prepared for Margaret of Austria (1480–1530), regent of the Netherlands under the archduke Charles (later Emperor Charles V) from 1507 until her death in 1530 (her portrait and heraldic arms, f. 2r; many pages also include daisies – in French ‘marguerites’ – which allude to her name). 2) Mary of Hungary (1505-1558), a sister of Charles V and Margaret’s successor as regent of the Netherlands (cutting of her ex-libris with her coat-of-arms inside cover). 3) Library moved from Mechelen to Brussels after Marie’s death in 1559, joining the hereditary library of the dukes of Burgundy, later called the Bibliothèque de Bourgogne (shelfmark 679 inscribed inside on cutting inside upper cover; relates to the inventory of 1614-1617 by the court librarian Aubert Le Mire, called Miraeus). 4) Confiscated by the French in 1794 but restored in 1815. 5) In 1838, the restored Bibliothèque de Bourgogne was united with the newly organised Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique (1837).

Artists/Scribes

Person: Master of Charles V
Person type: artist

Person: Alamire, Petrus (member of Habsburg-Burgundian 'Alamire' workshop (Mechelen, Belgium))
Person type: scribe
Note: Apart from the first bifolio and three later additions, Petrus Alamire might have been responsible for writing the music.

Person: Scribe X, (member of Habsburg-Burgundian 'Alamire' workshop (Mechelen, Belgium))
Person type: scribe
Note: One piece which appears at the end of a quire and which is followed by pages ruled with empty staves (ff. 47v–48r) is an early work of scribe X which was probably added around 1519.

Person: Scribe X1, (member of Habsburg-Burgundian 'Alamire' workshop (Mechelen, Belgium))
Person type: scribe
Note: Two pieces which appear at the end of quires and which are followed by pages ruled with empty staves (ff. 33v-35r, 48v–49r) are works of scribe X1 which were probably added around 1519.

Person: Scribe C, (member of Habsburg-Burgundian 'Alamire' workshop (Mechelen, Belgium))
Person type: scribe
Note: Apart from three later additions, scribe C6 was responsible for writing the text underlay and he was probably also in charge of writing the text and music of the first bifolio.

Brussels, Belgium, Bibliothèque Royal Albert 1er/Koninklijke Bibliotheek Albert I, MS 228, All folios

Physical description

Material: parchment

Number of leaves: i + 73 + i

Format: upright

Page dimensions: 365 x 260

Quire structure: Text version

Other devices: 1. Modern pencil foliation top right, 1-73.

Page details (zoom):

Preparation and Copying

All folios

Preparation

Disposition of Voice Parts Key

Pricking	often, Prickings in upper and lower margins for vertical bounding lines except in quires i (ff. 1-2), vi-vii (ff. 36-49) and ix (ff. 56-63). Prickings in the outer margins for a maximum of nine staves.
Ruled grid	often, single line to left and right, no lines for text
Ruling pattern	fairly regular basically on a 9-stave grid, with staves unruled as required by the music.
Staves omitted from grid	sometimes
Incomplete staves	rarely, 42v, 54v, 66v

Medium and colour of grid	Frequency	Folios	Note
lead point	often
light brown ink	occasionally
Colour of staves	Frequency	Folios	Note
black	always
Ruling medium	Frequency	Folios	Note
single rastrum	always
Indentation for initials	Frequency	Folios	Note
double	normally		Double indentations for discantus.
single	normally		Single indentations for voice-parts after the discantus.
Extra space between voice parts	Frequency	Folios	Note
empty ruled staves on grid	often
staves not ruled on grid	rarely	21v, 22r, 56r
Space provided for separate text	Frequency	Folios	Note
not in dedicated space	sometimes
provided, in dedicated space	sometimes
Adhoc adaptation	Frequency	Folios	Note
made for complete additional staves	rarely
partial additional staves	rarely

Copying of text and music

Language(s)	Flemish, French, Latin
Higlighting	none
Order of Copying	music first always, As the scribe sometimes struggled to accommodate the text under the music, it is likely that the music was copied before the texts.

Presence/absence of text	Voice part	Frequency	Folios
fully texted with one text	all voice parts	normally
provided with single incipit	tenor	rarely	18v
fully texted with two or more texts	all voice parts	rarely	21v, 22r
untexted	bassus secundus	rarely	23v, 24r
untexted	tenor	rarely	25v
provided with single incipit	bassus	rarely	59v

Music

Colour(s) of notation	black
Type(s) of notation	void mensural
Type of notation note	rhomboid shaped notation ff. 33v-35r ('Proch dolor') entirely in black notes
Monophonic notation	absent
Level of calligraphy	very high

Non verbal performance instructions	Folios	Note
signes-de-renvoi		Shaped as signa congruentiae (ff. 1v-2r) and a trio of balls with a descending loop (ff. 50v-51r, 52v-53r, 56v), in brown ink.
signa congruentiae		in form of three pyramidal dots ending in a stroke or loop

Text 1

Types of script	display script
Types of script size position	For voice-names, mainly introduced by large initials at the beginning of voice-parts, and 'residuum' rubrics.
Level of calligraphy	very high
Colour(s) of text	black

Text 2

Types of script	cursive (bastarda)
Types of script note	Incipits written in larger script than the remainder of the text.
Level of calligraphy	very high
Colour(s) of text	black
Multiple texts	yes
Text repetitions	many
Abbreviations	few
Non underlaid vocal text	additional

Decoration

Level of Decoration	very high

Decoration miniature frequency		Folios		Size position	Description	Discrepancies
rarely		1v, 2r		3 miniatures on opening page introducing the beginning of a three-voice part (ff. 1v-2r). All miniatures on two staves. Upper miniatures with arched tops extended into the margins; lower rectangular miniature within the justification.	Virgin of the Apocalypse (f. 1v). Margaret of Austria in prayer / Heraldic arms (f. 2r).
Decoration border frequency	Border type	Folios	Size	Position	Description	Discrepancies
rarely	None	1v-2r, 3v-18r, 50v, 51v	full and partial borders		First opening decorated with full borders. First partial border on f. 3v two-sided, in the left and top margins. All following borders one-sided, in the left margin only. The full borders which decorate both pages are divided into coloured diagonal stripes showing flowers and strawberries on ochre, branches with sprouting acanthus on green, and jewels and pearls on grey grounds. The jewellery seems to be attached to the pages by needles piercing the parchment. A butterfly appears among the flowers. One of the compartments decorated with sprouting acanthus is enlivened by a monkey that looks at its own reflection in a mirror, another by a naked putto holding a bird. The partial borders contain strewn flowers, strawberries and acanthus on simple coloured or bi-partite grounds, with occasional butterflies and on one occasion (f. 17r) a bird. A few borders also refer to Burgundy by alternating fire steels with sheepskin hanging from them and crossed branches, referring to the collar of the Golden Fleece and the Cross of St Andrew (ff. 10v, 15r).
Decoration initial type	Frequency	Folios	Initial type(s)	Size position	Description	Discrepancies
painted initials	rarely	3v, 4r		At the beginning of voice-parts after the discantus.	Initials formed of branches with sprouting acanthus, set against coloured grounds, sometimes decorated with daisies.	Initials are meant to introduce the relevant voice-names although the remainder of the names are absent.
penned initials	normally			At the beginning of each voice-part. Large initials (two indented staves) open the first word of the discantus, while smaller initials (one indented stave) introduce the rubrics (voice-names) for the following parts.	Often, the discantus has a more elaborate initial; these were built up of various motives drawn with a thin pen and highlighted with washes in brown, blue, pink, green and yellow; they appear in combination with cadels drawn with a large pen and executed in red or blue ink. The initials consist mainly of branches with sprouting acanthus, often combined with grotesque fools’ heads and/or with dragons (ff. 19v, 22v, 54v). They may be further decorated with empty banderols (inscribed on one occasion with the composer’s name, ‘Josquin des Pres’, f. 27v, and on another with the monograms ‘IHS MA’ for Ihesus and Maria, f. 56v) and other motives, including a snail (f. 5v), a sword – a so-called scimitar (f. 17v), a mask (f. 19v), a crown combined with crossed branches, alluding to one of Burgundy’s emblem’s, the cross of St Andrew (f. 52v), and two fire steels and a flint surrounded by sparks, elements of the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, also linked to Burgundy (f. 53v). A few also include daisies, painted in the colours of the illuminator (ff. 4v, 5v, 45v). Simpler initials in black ink, used mainly for small but occasionally also for large initials, were usually drawn with a broad pen and consist of cadels. Some of their outlines are further enhanced with filigree patterns executed with a thin pen. Furthermore, the decorative loops were partly filled with colours. Exceptionally, one initial for the tenor is drawn in red (f. 58r) and two for the discantus in blue ink (ff. 62v and 63v).	One initial was forgotten at the beginning of the tenor on f. 17v.
initials planned	rarely	17v		One initial was forgotten at the beginning of the tenor on f. 17v.
Other decoration frequency		Folios	Other decoration type(s)	Size position	Description	Discrepancies
occasionally					Trio of balls which end in a final loop (ff. 23v–24r (in red ink), 50v–51r, 52v–53r and 56v–57r). On one occasion a simple plain cross (ff. 66v–67r).

PRoMs - The Production and Reading of Music Sources