Illuminating the Manuscript Leaves:
Medieval Music, An illuminated leaf from an Antiphonal, France, early 15th century

• This music manuscript was made in what historians call the medieval period. By "medieval" we mean the period from roughly 500 to 1450 CE in Europe. This leaf is from a book made in the early fourteenth century in France. It is part of an antiphonal, also known as an antiphonary, which was a book of music for religious services. The word "antiphonal" comes from a Greek word meaning sung in response. In the medieval period much of the church music was sung by alternating voices. Antiphonals and other choir books have been in use in the western church since the fifth century, or about fifteen hundred years. Although the notation for the music looks much the same as modern day, machine-printed music, a closer look reveals several differences. First, the text is written in a Gothic script, which would be considered difficult to read today. The text itself is Latin, a language used by nearly everyone who could read in the 14th century, but no longer used for writing or speaking. The staves or lines upon which the notes are written have a different number of lines than today, and the notes are a different shape. In the medieval period, music was written in what is known as quadratic notation; or more simply stated, with square notes.
  
  
• This antiphonal leaf includes contains prayers and responses for a religious holiday known as the Feast of the Crown of Thorns. The Feast of the Crown of Thorns was established in the late thirteenth century by King Louis IX of France after he was given what was believed to be the actual crown of thorns on the head of Jesus as he was crucified. Relics such as these helped people in the medieval period focus their prayers.
  
  
• The knowledge that the Feast of the Crown of Thorns was not observed until the late thirteenth century helps us date this manuscript. Besides the text, other ways to date manuscripts include examining the style of lettering and ornamentation and comparing these to other works known to be of a certain date or location. For instance, we are pretty sure this antiphonal leaf was made in France in the early fourteenth century because we have compared it to other folios and found similarities between the shapes of the letters and the initials. Initials are the decorated first letters of a line in some medieval manuscripts. On this leaf, you can see two large initials, an "L" and an "E" and five smaller initials. The lines, squiggles and dots look like vines and flowers growing from the letters.
  
  
• The large fancy initials made the book beautiful, and also help people find their places in the text. Usually antiphonals and other books used for religious services were large books meant to be shared by several people at the same time. Not every person had a book. The large initial letters, which could be seen more clearly even in dim light, helped people see the divisions in the text, mark important passages, or know when to start singing. Although this leaf has initial letters and other features of a large antiphonal, it actually is from a much smaller, portable antiphonal which could be carried around and used by only one person.
  
  
• Monks made books, including the one from which this antiphonal leaf came, entirely by hand. They wrote on a material known as parchment or vellum, which was made from the skins of sheep and goats. They used a type of ink pen called a quill, made from goose feathers with a sharp square point cut in the end. The monks also had very fine brushes, and used red and blue inks made from plants and minerals to create the decoration you see on the page. Sometimes people believed that red ink was made from dragon's blood.
  
  

Additional Web Resources

"Celebrating the Liturgy's Books: Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in New York City." New York: Columbia University, 2002. http://www.columbia.edu/itc/music/manuscripts/ (accessed August 21, 2007).

"Complete Manuscripts." Medieval Music Database. Victoria, Australia: Latrobe University Library, 2004. http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/MMDB/localmss.htm (accessed August 21, 2007).

Driskell, Trudy. "Life Inside Castle Walls." Lesson Plan from PT3: Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology. Houston, Tex.: University of Houston-Clear Lake, n.d. http://pt3.cl.uh.edu/lessonplan/lessonplansee2.cfm?ID=155 (accessed August 21, 2007).