All Souls Seminars in Medieval and Renaissance Music: Andrew Kirkman (University of Birmingham)

Presenter: Andrew Kirkman (University of Birmingham)
Title: Made to measure or prêt à chanter? The court of Wilhelm IV and the later Alamire manuscripts
Discussants: Thomas Schmidt (University of Manchester) and Zoe Saunders (Independent scholar)

The Alamire codices have traditionally been seen as diplomatic gifts, or at the very least commissions from magnates and super-rich aficionados. This article argues that for most of the later, paper codices at least, the sequence happened in reverse: in other words they comprised workshop material that was first produced and then sold once buyers could be found. The same conclusion prompts also a review of the construction of some of the more elegant, parchment sources, and the proposal that the ‘bespoke’ aspects of such codices may have extended no further than their opening—and hence most immediately visible—pages.