All Souls Seminars in Medieval and Renaissance Music: James Tomlinson (University of Oslo)

Presenter: James Tomlinson (University of Oslo)
Title: A reassessment of Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 512/543 and its Implications for the Production and Transmission of Polyphony in Late Medieval England
Discussants: Peter Lefferts (University of Nebraska) and Karen Desmond (Maynooth University)

Around half of the surviving sources of late 13th- and 14th-century English polyphony have been attributed to specific institutions in scholarly literature. Those attributions, the evidence for which varies greatly from source to source, seem to suggest that the production and transmission of polyphony before the later 14th century was dominated by large Benedictine and Augustinian monasteries. Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 512/543, is one such source, which is traditionally thought to have its origins in the Benedictine cathedral priory of Norwich. Yet the evidence instead suggests that it was compiled within a medieval university. Caius 512/543 is, in fact, one of several sources whose previous provenance attributions have obscured their connections to the medieval university. These manuscripts have never been considered together from this perspective.

This paper re-evaluates Caius MS 512/543 and contextualises it among other sources of polyphony that challenge monastic musical hegemony in the period. Foregrounding issues of ownership, mobility, and the mechanics of musical transmission, Caius 512/543 prompts new understandings of the circulation of polyphony among medieval England’s many diverse and interconnected centres of intellectual and artistic engagement.