Chaucer Geoffrey

“the verray develes officeres”: minstrels and the medieval church

Ian Pittaway Ars musicae, bagpipes, Berkeley manuscript, Beverley Minster, bombard, Bosch Hieronymous, Bosch Jheronimus, bray harp, Canterbury Tales, carols, Chaucer Geoffrey, cithara, citole, cymbala, ductia, dulcimer, estampie, fiddle, Garden of Earthly Delights (Bosch painting), gittern, hammer dulcimer, harp, Jean de Grouchy, Jerome of Moravia, Johannes de Grocheio, jongleurs, lute, minstrels, monochord, nota, Notre Dame school, Order of the Ancient Company or Fraternity of Minstralls in Beverley, organ, organistrum, organum, pipe and tabor, portative organ, psaltery, rebab, recorder, rubeba, Saint Mary’s Church Beverley, shawm, simfonie, simfony, sinfonie, stantipes, Summa musice, symfony, symphonia, symphonie, Tractatus de Musica, vielle, violin 16th June 202123rd August 2023 8 Comments

In the middle ages, minstrels were regularly accused by church commentators of vanity, idleness, inflaming carnal desire, lechery, and leading others into vice. In the 12^th century, Bishop of Chartres John of Salisbury expressed the view that all minstrels should be exterminated. Because of this reputation, the church wanted to ensure that its most sacred music was different in kind to minstrel music, and restated several times that only the voice and organ were allowed in the liturgy, not instruments of minstrelsy. Still some writers complained bitterly of secular styles of music corrupting singers’ voices in sacred chant.

How can we account for the contradiction between clergy’s invectives against minstrels and the innumerable quantity of medieval and renaissance paintings in which gitterns, shawms, harps, fiddles, lutes – the instruments of minstrels – are shown in worship of the Virgin Mary and in praise of the infant Jesus? How can we reconcile the critiques of clerics against minstrels with their regular appearance in religious manuscripts, their likenesses carved in churches, and their employment by the church? This article seeks answers through the evidence of medieval Christian moralists; church councils; music treatises; religious paintings; records of church ceremonies; and the relationship of the church with organised minstrelsy.

Images from *The Luttrell Psalter*, 1325-1340 (BL Add MS 42130).
**Top row, left to right:** church singers (f. 171v); bishop (f. 31r); pilgrim (f. 32r); nun (f. 51v).
**This row, left to right**, players of: harp (f. 174v); pipe and tabor (f. 164v);
organistrum, also called the symphony (f. 176r); portative organ (f. 176r).

“Infidels”, “traitors” and “that ugly bearded crew”: fear and loathing in the Cantigas de Santa Maria (CSM article 5/6)

Ian Pittaway Alfonso X, Canterbury Tales, Cantigas de Santa María, Chaucer Geoffrey, mediaeval, medieval 22nd May 201823rd January 2024 4 Comments

A devil takes a Jew to hell in an illustration
from *Cantiga* *de Santa Maria 34*.

King Alfonso X, chief author of the 13^th century songbook, Cantigas de Santa Maria (Songs of Holy Mary), is presented in modern literature as a wise, tolerant king who took steps to create a multicultural court of Christians, Jews and Moors, and a liberal kingdom of learning. Do these claims stand up to scrutiny? This article examines the evidence within the Cantigas and the king’s law codes, seen within the wider context of contemporaneous European culture.

This is the fifth of six articles about the Cantigas de Santa Maria, composed between 1257 and 1283. Most medieval music enthusiasts will be familiar with the manuscripts’ many depictions of medieval musicians and their instruments, and with some of its 420 songs. These articles focus on the influences behind the compositions and the contents of the songs.

We begin with an instrumental version of CSM 344: The miraculous night of peace, played on medieval harp. This Cantiga which tells the story of the Virgin preventing violence between two groups of soldiers, one Christian and the other Moorish.

Westron wynde: a beautiful fragment of longing

Ian Pittaway bray harp, Canterbury Tales, Chaucer Geoffrey, Cymbeline (play), Gothic harp, harp, Henry VIII, Lloyd A. L., medieval, renaissance, Royal Appendix 58, Shakespeare William, Western wind, Westron wynde 22nd June 201710th November 2023 0 Comment

The 16^th century song, Westron wynde, is an expression of longing to be with one’s love. It is just one verse and melody in a manuscript from the court of King Henry VIII. Much ink has been fancifully spilled over the meaning of its four lines. This article traces the history of its treatment through renaissance masses, folk music and 20^th century pop music; attempts to elucidate its meaning without fancy; and presents an arrangement to renaissance musical principles on bray harp.

Angelus ad virginem: why early music and traditional music share the same gene pool

Ian Pittaway Angelus ad virginem, Barbara Allen, Chaucer Geoffrey, folk music, Gabriel fram evene king, Gabriel fram heven king, Kalenda maya, Lowlands of Holland, Souvent souspire mon cuer, traditional music, troubadours, trouvères 20th March 201726th September 2023 3 Comments

Angelus ad virginem was a popular medieval and renaissance song, appearing in six manuscripts from the late 13^th to mid 16^th century in England, France and Ireland, with Latin words – Angelus ad virginem – and English words – Gabriel fram evene king. In each source, the melody is recognisably similar but different in detail, indicating a constant reworking of the musical material. This is also the central feature of traditional or folk music. Via Geoffrey Chaucer, Barbara Allen and the troubadours, this article traces the history of the variant versions of Angelus / Gabriel, arguing for the familial relationship between early music and traditional music, beginning with a performance of Angelus on medieval harp.

A brief history of farting in early music and literature

Ian Pittaway Aubrey John, bonacon, bonnacon, Bosch Hieronymous, Canterbury Tales, catch clubs, Chaucer Geoffrey, d'Urfey Thomas, de Vere Edward, Elizabeth I, Ellis William, farting, Garden of Earthly Delights, Luther Martin, marginalia, My Lady and her Mayd, Pepys Samuel, Playford Henry, Playford John, Puritans, Shakespeare William, Sumer is icumen in, Swift Jonathan, Two Gentlemen of Verona 27th July 20169th February 2024 5 Comments

This may seem like surprising material. Indeed, this article started out as a bit of silliness based on a few farty fragments, but soon became a serious study when I uncovered the surprising historical meanings behind flatulence in the medieval, renaissance and baroque periods. A 17^th century music society sang gleefully about it (for which there is a music video in this article); Thomas D’Urfey published several songs about it; and a buck does it in the earliest surviving piece of English secular polyphony. Plus there’s Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Jonathan Swift, Edward de Vere’s bottom burp in front of Queen Elizabeth, and farting musical marginalia. So rest your cheeks, wind down, and let rip with a brief history of farting.

The Lyke-Wake Dirge: the revival of an Elizabethan song of the afterlife

Ian Pittaway Aubrey John, Boulton Harold, Canterbury Tales, Chaucer Geoffrey, early music, folk music, harp, Lyke-Wake Dirge, mediaeval, medieval, medieval harp, renaissance, Ritson Joseph, Scott Walter, Sidgwick Frank, traditional music 3rd January 20164th November 2023 18 Comments

The Lyke-Wake Dirge, with its dark, mysterious imagery and its brooding melody, is known to singers of traditional songs through its resurrection in the repertoire of folk trio The Young Tradition in the 1960s, and its subsequent recording by The Pentangle and others. What many of its performers may not realise is that its history can be reliably traced to Elizabethan Yorkshire, with a hint from Geoffrey Chaucer that its origins may be earlier. This article uses direct testimony from the 16^th and 17^th century to explore its meaning, its perilous and punishing “Whinny-moor”, “Brig o’ Dread”, and “Purgatory fire”; and discovers the surprising origin of its doleful dorian melody.

The Psilvery Psound of the Psaltery: a brief history

Ian Pittaway Berkeley manuscript, bourdon, bowed psaltery, Canterbury Tales, Cantigas de Santa María, Chaucer Geoffrey, clavicembalum, dulcimer, early instruments, early music, Girolamo da Santacroce, hammer dulcimer, harpsichord, mediaeval, medieval, Memling Hans, Mersenne Marin, piano, psalterion, psaltery, renaissance, roof angels, There comes a ship a sailing 4th September 201526th September 2023 28 Comments

Psaltery played by a cat in a Belgian Book of Hours, c. 1470. — Psaltery played by a cat in a
Belgian Book of Hours, c. 1470.

There is something quite enchanting about the silvery sound of the psaltery. Its name probably originates in religious use, as an accompaniment to singing songs from the psalms, known as psalmody and sung from a psalter, thus the psaltery. The word is from the Old English psealm or salm and Old French psaume or saume, derived from Church Latin psalmus, which itself comes ultimately from the Greek psalmos, a song sung to a harp, and psallein, to pluck on a stringed instrument. Appearing in Europe from the 11^th century, the psaltery’s wire strings rang out in religious and secular contexts until around 1500, with a little evidence of a pocket of survival for a few decades after that. Its regular appearance in manuscript iconography, church iconography and in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales are evidence of its wide use and appeal. Its influence and development is surprisingly widespread, giving rise to the hammer dulcimer, the harpsichord family and ultimately the piano.

Bird on a briar: interpreting medieval notation, with a HIP harp arrangement

Ian Pittaway bird on a briar, bourdon, bryd one brere, Chaucer Geoffrey, early instruments, early music, Gothic harp, harp, historically informed performance, Lambertus, Langland William, Magister Lambertus, mediaeval, medieval, medieval notation, rhythmic modes, square notation, troubadours, trouvères 27th July 201517th May 2023 7 Comments

The aim of this article is to arrive at a performable and historically justifiable arrangement of the problematic song, bryd one brere, c. 1290–1320. This is the oldest surviving secular love song in the English language with a complete lyric and so it is early music gold-dust, but it does have some severe holes: it is for two voices, but one voice is missing; and some of the roughly-written notation is difficult to decipher. What follows is not the only possible musical solution; but on this journey I’ll take you through the process step by step, so you can decide for yourself if you’re convinced. I’ll also delve a little into the background of the song, arguing that it is clearly influenced by the troubadour and trouvère tradition of fin’amor – refined or perfect love. The article starts with a video performance on voice and medieval harp.

The bray harp: getting a buzz from early music

Ian Pittaway arpichordium, baroque, begena, bèguèna, bray harp, Chaucer Geoffrey, Davidsharffe, early instruments, early music, Gothic harp, harp, harpichordium, hurdy gurdy, Lamento di Tristano, lyre, mediaeval, medieval, muselar, Praetorius Michael, renaissance, Robert ap Huw manuscript, rota, rote, rothe, rotta, Ur lyres, vielle à roue 24th July 201519th November 2023 16 Comments

A donkey plays bray harp while a goat sings, from the Hunterian or York Psalter, 1170. — Donkey harpist, goat singer: Hunterian/York Psalter.

The bray harp is not a sound modern ears are used to, and even most early music groups with harps don’t use the period instrument, yet it was the standard European harp of the late medieval, renaissance and early baroque periods, from the 15^th century to the 1630s, and still used until the late 18^th century in some places. The bray harp gets its name from the L shaped wooden pins at the base of the strings, positioned so the strings buzz against them as they vibrate: the effect was said to sound like a donkey’s bray. It’s an older idea than the bray harp, one shared by the oldest surviving stringed instruments, made four and a half thousand years ago.

This article traces the earliest evidence for the European harp, leading to the origins and popular rise of the bray harp specifically. We ask why there is so little surviving early harp music and try to come to a feasible historical answer; and along the way take in Pictish stones, illuminated Psalters, Geoffrey Chaucer, harp-playing angels and an ape playing a rota, with a video of the harp being brayed.

The gittern: a short history

Ian Pittaway Berkeley manuscript, Chaucer Geoffrey, citole, cobza, early music, Elbląg 'gittern', Elbląg coboz, Elbląg koboz, Elbląg kobza, gittern, koboz, kobza, Tinctoris Johannes 14th July 201517th March 2024 25 Comments

The gittern was one of the most important plucked fingerboard instruments of the late medieval period. Loved by all levels of society, it was played by royal appointment, in religious service, in taverns, for singing, for dancing, and in duets with the lute. Yet we know of no specific pieces played on this instrument. What we do have are many representations of it being played in a wide variety of contexts and one surviving instrument of the 15^th century, and from this we can reconstruct something of the history and repertoire of this widely-loved instrument. This article begins with a video of a troubadour melody played on gittern.

Early Music Muse