Liturgy and Sequences of the Sainte-Chapelle: Music, Relics, and Sacral Kingship in Thirteenth-Century France (Cultural Encounters in Late Antiquity ... in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, 35) [Bilingual ed.] 9782503591056, 2503591051

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Liturgy and Sequences of the Sainte-Chapelle

CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS IN LATE ANTIQUITY AND THE MIDDLE AGES Volume 35

General Editor Yitzhak Hen, The Hebrew Uni­ver­sity of Jerusalem Editorial Board Angelo di Berardino, Augustinianum, Rome Nora Berend, Uni­ver­sity of Cam­bridge Leslie Brubaker, Uni­ver­sity of Birmingham Christoph Cluse, Universität Trier Rob Meens, Universiteit Utrecht James Montgomery, Uni­ver­sity of Cam­bridge Alan V. Murray, Uni­ver­sity of Leeds Thomas F. X. Noble, Uni­ver­sity of Notre Dame Miri Rubin, Queen Mary, Uni­ver­sity of London

Previously published volumes in this series are listed at the back of the book.

Liturgy and Sequences of the Sainte-Chapelle Music, Relics, and Sacral Kingship in Thirteenth-Century France

by

Yossi Maurey

F

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

© 2021, Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. ISBN: 978-2-503-59105-6 e-ISBN: 978-2-503-59106-3 DOI: 10.1484/M.CELAMA-EB.5.121256 ISSN: 1378-8779 e-ISSN: 2294-8511 Printed in the EU on acid-free paper. D/2021/0095/26

Table of Contents List of Illustrations 7 Acknowledgements 10 11 Sigla of Manuscripts Abbreviations 14 A Note on the Transcriptions and Translations 14 Introduction 15

Part I The Crown of Thorns (11 August) Historia susceptionis coronae spinae The Liturgy for the Crown of Thorns Sequences for 11 August and its Octave Si vis vere Regis et pontificis Gaude, Syon, que diem recolis qua corona Liberalis manus Dei Quasi stella matutina Verbum bonum et iocundum Florem spina coronavit Letetur felix Gallia Gens Gallorum Epilogue – Dyadema salutare

29 30 35 40 45 61 66 70 74 78 81 87 92

Part II The Reception of Relics (30 September) Relics in Motion The Liturgy for the Reception of the Relics Sequences for 30 September and its Octave Nos ad laudes Solemnes in hac die Gaude, Syon, que diem recolis qua vexilla Nos oportet gloriari Cum tremore exulta

101 107 115 118 122 125 129 135

6

ta b l e of con ten ts

Vergente mundi vespere, crucis Res est venerabilis Sexta passus feria Cursor levis arcte Letabundus decantet fidelis

141 143 145 149 153

Conclusions 161 Appendix 1 The Main Sources for the Sainte-Chapelle Liturgy

171

Appendix 2 Manuscript Sources of the Crown Mass Propers

184

Appendix 3 Manuscript Sources of the Crown Sequences

188

Appendix 4 Manuscript Sources of the Relics Sequences

192

Appendix 5 Synopsis of the Crown Sequences

194

Appendix 6 Synopsis of the Relics Sequences

196

Appendix 7 The Historia susceptionis coronae spinae: Edition and Translation

198

Appendix 8 Lessons for the Reception of Relics

210

Biblio­graphy

225

Index

239

List of Illustrations Plates Plate 1. Gens Gallorum. Bari 5, fol. 302v. 

36

Plate 2. Gaude, Syon […] qua corona. Bari 5, fol. 235v. 

62

Plate 3. Nos ad laudes. Bari 5, fol. 268v. The rubric De sacrosanctis reliquiis appears on fol. 268r. 

116

Plate 4. The feast of the Crown of Thorns added in the lower margins of BnF lat. 8884, fol. 228v. 

182

Musical Examples Example 1. Si vis vere, from Bari 5, fols 239–40v.42–43 Example 2. Opening versicle of Si vis vere, from Arsenal 110, fol. 222. Example 3. Comparison of chant readings for Regis et pontificis.

44 54–60

Example 4. Gaude, Syon […] qua corona, from Bari 5, fols 235v–236v.64–65 Example 5. Liberalis manus Dei, from Bari 5, fols 238–39.

68–69

Example 6. Quasi stella matutina, from Bari 5, fols 240v–241.

73

Example 7. Verbum bonum et iocundum, from Bari 5, fol. 241r–v.

77

Example 8. Florem spina coronavit, from Bari 5, fols 241v–242v.

79

Example 9. Letetur felix Gallia, from Bari 5, fols 242v–244v.86–87 Example 10. Gens Gallorum, from Bari 5, fols 302v–304.90–91 Example 11. Dyadema salutare, from Liverpool F.4.13, fols 37v–40v. 93 Example 12. Nos ad laudes, from Bari 5, fols 268v–269.

121

8

l i s t of i l lustr ation s

Example 13. Solemnes in hac die, from Bari 5, fols 269v–270.

124

Example 14. Gaude, Syon […] qua vexilla, from Bari 5, fol. 270r–271v.128–29 Example 15. Nos oportet gloriari, from Bari 5, fols 271v–273.134–35 Example 16. Cum tremore exulta, from Bari 5, fols 273v–274v.138–39 Example 17. Vergente mundi vespere, crucis, from Bari 5, fols 274v–275.

142

Example 18. Res est venerabilis, from Bari 5, fols 275–76.

144

Example 19. Sexta passus feria, from Bari 5, fols 276–77.

148–49

Example 20. Cursor levis arcte, from Bari 5, fols 277–78.

152–53

Example 21. Letabundus decantet fidelis, from Bari 5, fols 278–79. 155 Tables Table 1. The Crown chant Propers, from Brussels IV.472, fols 18–21.

34

Table 2. The Introit Gaudeamus omnes in three relics feasts. 

34

Table 3. Rubrication of Crown sequences as they appear in Bari 5.

37

Table 4. Si vis vere: text and translation. Table 5. Regis et pontificis: textual and musical recensions according to the manuscripts.

38–39 47

Table 6. Regis et pontificis: text recensions juxtaposed with Si vis vere.48–51 Table 7. Gaude, Syon […] qua corona: text and translation.

63

Table 8. Liberalis manus Dei: text and translation.

67

Table 9. Quasi stella matutina: text and translation.

71

Table 10. The texts of the Marian and Crown Verbum bonum sequences translated and compared. 

74–75

list of illustrations

Table 11. Florem spina coronavit: text and translation.

78

Table 12. Letetur felix Gallia: text and translation.

82–83

Table 13. Gens Gallorum: text and translation.

88–89

Table 14. Dyadema salutare: text and translation.

94–95

Table 15. Scysma mendacis Grecie: text and translation.

106

Table 16. The Relics mass Propers.

114

Table 17. Rubrication of relics sequences in Bari 5.

117

Table 18. Nos ad laudes: text and translation.

119

Table 19. Solemnes in hac die: text and translation.

123

Table 20. Gaude, Syon […] qua vexilla: text and translation.

126–27

Table 21. Nos oportet gloriari: text and translation.

131–32

Table 22. Cum tremore exulta: text and translation.

136–37

Table 23. Vergente mundi vespere, crucis: text and translation.

141

Table 24. Res est venerabilis: text and translation.

143

Table 25. Sexta passus feria: text and translation.

146–47

Table 26. Cursor levis arcte: text and translation.

150

Table 27. Letabundus decantet fidelis: text and translation.

154–55

9

Acknowledgements My research was generously supported by the Israel Science Foundation (grant No. 1863/13). The seeds of this volume were sown in 2010, when David Fiala (Université de Tours) submitted a research proposal to the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) in France, which was subsequently accepted under the title ‘Musique et musiciens dans les Saintes-Chapelles, xiiie–xviiie siècles’. I was fortunate to be part of a large team of researchers involved in the project and benefited from the conversations I had with them, as well as access to PDFs of various manuscripts that were ordered through the ANR project. My own research on the liturgy of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris has since evolved in different directions. Along the way, I have benefited from the help of colleagues who offered advice and support in a variety of ways, shared drafts of articles before their publication, and provided PDFs of manuscripts I could not otherwise consult. I extend my sincere thanks to Bonnie Blackburn, Elsa De Luca, Emily Guerry, Eleanor Giraud, Leofranc Holford-Strevens, and Innocent Smith, OP. Cédric Giraud was always available to help with questions related to Latin texts. His mastery of medieval Latin and familiarity with biblical texts greatly impacted my own understanding of the liturgy studied in this volume and enriched my conclusions in many important ways. Rebecca Baltzer read a draft of this volume and made invaluable comments and suggestions. I also thank Gerardo Cioffari, OP, director of the Archivio della Basilica di San Nicola in Bari, for his kind permission to use images from the Sainte-Chapelle Proser. Above all, however, this volume owes its current shape and scope to Cecilia Gaposchkin. A couple of years ago, we discovered we were both working on exactly the same topic, using many of the same primary sources. We even entertained the idea of co-authoring a book on the Sainte-Chapelle, a plan that ultimately did not materialize, but which left us continuing to work very closely with one another. We frequently shared ideas, materials, and drafts, often testing hypotheses on one another, and I often recalibrated my own work in response to hers. In the process, I learned immensely from her insights and approach to understanding history in its interaction with liturgical texts. Her past and current scholarly work has inspired me while writing this volume; as a scholar and friend, she is the ultimate vademecum.

Sigla of Manuscripts Arsenal 110

Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, MS 110

Arsenal 114

Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, MS 114

Arsenal 197

Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, MS 197

Arsenal 203

Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, MS 203

Arsenal 602

Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, MS 602

Arsenal 607

Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, MS 607

Arsenal 608

Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, MS 608

Arsenal 620

Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, MS 620

Assisi 695

Assisi, Biblioteca del Sacro Convento, Fondo antico, MS 695

Autun 10

Autun, Bibliothèque Bussy-Rabutin, MS 10 (8*)

Avallon 1

Avallon, Médiathèque Gaston Chaissac, MS 1 (36)

Bari 3

Bari, Archivio della Basilica di San Nicola, MS 3 (81)

Bari 5

Bari, Archivio della Basilica di San Nicola, MS 5 (85)

Bari 10

Bari, Archivio della Basilica di San Nicola, MS 10 (39)

Beaune 32

Beaune, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 32

BL 16905

London, British Library, Additional MS 16905

BL 30058

London, British Library, Additional MS 30058

BL 38723

London, British Library, Additional MS 38723

BL Harley 2891

London, British Library, MS Harley 2891

BnF lat. 830

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 830

BnF lat. 831

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 831

BnF lat. 857

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 857

BnF lat. 859

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 859

BnF lat. 861

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 861

BnF lat. 864B

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 864B

BnF lat. 865A

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 865A

BnF lat. 871

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 871

BnF lat. 1023

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 1023

BnF lat. 1028

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 1028

BnF lat. 1104

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 1104

BnF lat. 1107

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 1107

BnF lat. 1112

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 1112

BnF lat. 1113

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 1113

BnF lat. 1291

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 1291

12

s i gl a o f m an u s c r i p t s

BnF lat. 1337

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 1337

BnF lat. 1339

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 1339

BnF lat. 1435

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 1435

BnF lat. 3282

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 3282

BnF lat. 8884

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 8884

BnF lat. 8885

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 8885

BnF lat. 8890

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 8890

BnF lat. 8892

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 8892

BnF lat. 9441

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 9441

BnF lat. 9455

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 9455

BnF lat. 10502

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 10502

BnF lat. 10525

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 10525

BnF lat. 13233

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 13233

BnF lat. 13238

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 13238

BnF lat. 13239

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 13239

BnF lat. 14363

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 14363

BnF lat. 14365

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 14365

BnF lat. 14448

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 14448

BnF lat. 14452

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 14452

BnF lat. 14506

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 14506

BnF lat. 14819

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 14819

BnF lat. 15139

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 15139

BnF lat. 15182

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 15182

BnF lat. 15615

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 15615

BnF lat. 17310

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 17310

BnF lat. 17315

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 17315

BnF lat. 17316

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 17316

BnF n.a.l. 1423

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds nouvelles acquisitions latines 1423

BnF n.a.l. 2356

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds nouvelles acquisitions latines 2356

Bordeaux 89

Bordeaux, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 89

Bourges 34

Bourges, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 34

Brussels 9125

Brussels, KBR (formerly Koninklijke Bibliotheek/ Bibliothèque royale), MS 9125

Brussels IV.472

Brussels, KBR (formerly Koninklijke Bibliotheek/ Bibliothèque royale), MS IV.472

Cambrai 32

Cambrai, Bibliothèque municipale (Le Labo), MS 32 (36)

si gla o f manu scri pt s

13

Chambéry 9

Chambéry, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 9

Chantilly 51

Chantilly, Bibliothèque du château, MS 51 (olim Musée Condé 1887)

Chantilly 54

Chantilly, Bibliothèque du château, MS 54 (olim Musée Condé 804)

CharlevilleMézières 275

Charleville-Mézières, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 0275

Châteauroux 2

Châteauroux, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 2

Chaumont 266

Chaumont, Médiathèque municipale Les Silos, MS 266

Clermont-Ferrand 62

Clermont-Ferrand, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 62

Clermont-Ferrand 64

Clermont-Ferrand, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 64

Dijon 1166

Dijon, Archives départementales de la Côte d’Or, série G 1166

Limoges 2

Limoges, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 2 (17)

Lisbon 84

Lisbon, Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, Iluminado 84

Liverpool F.4.13

Liverpool University, Sydney Jones Library, MS F.4.13

Lyon 5122

Lyon, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 5122

Madrid Gr. 2

Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, MS Gr. 2

Mazarine 406

Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, MS 406

Mazarine 410

Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, MS 410

Mazarine 411

Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, MS 411

Mazarine 412

Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, MS 412

Mazarine 413

Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, MS 413

Mazarine 422

Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, MS 422

Montpellier H71 Nancy 1480 Paris Rés. 146 Paris Sorbonne 705

Montpellier, Bibliothèque interuniversitaire, section Médecine, MS H71 Nancy, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 1480 Paris, Bibliothèque historique de la Ville, Rés. 146 (olim 12) Paris, Bibliothèque interuniversitaire de la Sorbonne, MS 705

Provins 227

Provins, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 227

Reims 233

Reims, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 233

Santa Sabina XIV L 3 Sens 17

Rome, Santa Sabina, MS XIV L 3 Sens, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 17

Soissons 85

Soissons, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 85 (78)

Toulouse 98

Toulouse, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 98

Toulouse 102

Toulouse, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 102

Toulouse 103

Toulouse, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 103

Toulouse 105

Toulouse, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 105

Tours 199

Tours, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 199

Abbreviations AH

Analecta hymnica medii aevi, ed. by Guido Maria Dreves, Clemens Blume, and Henry Marriott Bannister, 55 vols (Leipzig: 1886–1922) 7

Prosarium Lemovicense: Die Prosen der Abtei St Martial zu Limoges, aus Troparien des 10., 11. und 12. Jahrhunderts, ed. by Dreves (1889)

8

Sequentiae ineditae: Liturgische Prosen des Mittelalters aus Handschriften und Frühdrucken, ed. by Dreves (1890)

34 Sequentiae ineditae: Liturgische Prosen des Mittelalters aus Handschriften und Frühdrucken, ed. by Blume (1900) 37 Sequentiae ineditae: Liturgische Prosen des Mittelalters aus Handschriften und Frühdrucken, ed. by Blume (1901) 54 Thesauri hymno­logici prosarium: Liturgische Prosen des Über­gangs­ stiles und der zweiten Epoche, insbesondere die dem Adam von Sankt Victor zugeschriebenen, aus Handschriften und Frühdrucken, ed. by Blume and Bannister (1915) 55 Thesauri hymno­logici prosarium: Liturgische Prosen zweiter Epoche auf Feste der Heiligen nebst einem Anhange: Hymno­logie des Gelder­landes und des Haarlemer Gebietes aus Handschriften und Frühdrucken, ed. by Blume (1922) BL

British Library

BnF

Bibliothèque nationale de France

A Note on the Transcriptions and Translations On the whole, Latin transcriptions faithfully reproduce the text as it appears in the cited manuscripts. Diphthongs are retained, and the original ortho­graphy is preserved even in cases in which different letters are used interchangeably for similar words (the use of the letters i and y, for instance). Proper nouns are capitalized, as are Dominus, Deus, Crown (when referring to the Crown of Thorns), Cross (when referring to the fragment of the True Cross), and Ordinary and Proper (when referring to mass). Abbreviations are resolved without comment, and most punctuation is editorial. Translations of texts based on the Vulgate are taken from the Douay-Rheims translation.

Introduction And plaiting a Crown of Thorns, they put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand. And bowing the knee before him, they mocked him, saying: Hail, king of the Jews. Matthew 27. 29

Relics were of utmost importance in the Middle Ages. They provided a focal point for worship and meditation, a tangible testimony of an otherwise ephemeral system of beliefs, a corporeal expression of the logos. Relics stimulated pilgrimage and augmented the revenues of churches and the commercial hubs that usually sprung up around them. Relics were sometimes discovered (the Latin inventio, often used in relation to relics in medieval documents, means both the action of discovery and of invention), sometimes exchanged as presents between churches. Like trophies on a shelf, reliquaries, brimming with ossuary and other kinds of relics, were venerated on special feast days inscribed in the Church calendar, carried during processions, and inspired numerous works of art. Considered to be inert authentications and witnesses to some of the most poignant and formative events at the basis of the Christian faith, relics conjured up the proximity of saints and events that were chrono­logically and/or geo­graphically distant, and thus put the faithful in touch with the most fundamental facets of their faith. Relics thus were the cornerstones of devotion, of community building, and of personal and institutional identity. Relics also begot competition, and within the hierarchy of saints (scriptural and late martyrs, bishops, apostles, and so forth) and their associated relics — something explicit in every Church calendar — relics of the Passion were undoubtedly the most precious and sought after. This volume revolves around the activating force of some of the most important relics of Christendom — chief among them the Crown of Thorns, together with other Passion and Marian relics, as well as four heads of saints — and the ways in which they became personal objects of devotion, notwithstanding their ostensible universal appeal. It was France that laid claim to them in the mid-thirteenth century in a campaign that involved the construction of a new magnificent chapel — the Sainte-Chapelle — designed specifically to display the relics, and the composition of new liturgies to celebrate and focus attention on them. France was not the first to be in possession of these relics; they originated, of course, in the Holy Land, where they were at some point ‘found’ and transplanted to the Byzantine palace in Constantinople, before being sold to the French for an exorbitant price.1  1 The circumstances in which these formidable relics were discovered are muddled and uncertain, as they tend to be; we are somewhat better informed about the relocation of some

16

i n tro d uct i o n

France was, however the first to capitalize on the potential value of the relics, the first to ‘activate’ them most effectively. The transferral of the Crown and other relics to Paris ushered in a new era for France as a whole, and for the young King Louis IX (r. 1226–70) in particular. Liturgists and royals alike promptly realized the full import of the newly acquired insignia of Christ’s Passion, and soon thereafter set to weave them into a narrative that foregrounded and idealized France, Paris, the French king, and the Passion of Christ. The various threads of the narrative were woven not only into liturgies and various forms of art, but most visibly into the edifice built expressly to showcase the relics, the Sainte-Chapelle. Established in the Palais de la Cité, in the public sector of the palace complex, it replaced various existing chapels and may well have been accessible not only to members of the royal family and attending clergy, but also to the general public.2 As we will see, the liturgy, music, architecture, and artistic plan of the Sainte-Chapelle betray a political and theo­logical agenda that sought to draw a straight and clear line between the Old Testament time and its kings, and New Testament time crystallized by the French monarchy, and above all by King Louis IX, while simultaneously inscribing France in the history of salvation, carving for it a place of honour in the end of time. Inert objects, relics could not accomplish much without being ‘activated’ in one way or the other, whether in prose, poetry, paintings, statues, or in music. It is these modes of activation that endowed the substance of relics with identity and meaning that made them so powerful and effective. The liturgies studied herein were some of the most critical mechanisms of activation; they enabled the power of the Sainte-Chapelle relics and articulated the nature of that power. Nowhere is this more evident than in the sequences memorializing these relics, which were chiefly cultivated and championed at the Sainte-Chapelle. This volume is principally written from the vantage point offered by those sequences, Latin songs of praise. As we will see, they give prominence to the underlying agenda of the French monarchy by promoting and naturalizing the notion of sacral kingship, rooted in biblical kingship.3 The musical analysis that proved to be the most effective for this repertory has laid bare one of the most important and ingenious ways in which music of them to Constantinople, and we have extremely detailed accounts of their transfer to France (more on the latter below). On some of the relics that were transported to Constan­ tinople, see Wortley, ‘The Wood of the True Cross’. I thank Cecilia Gaposchkin for drawing my attention to this article.  2 According to Meredith Cohen, ‘the public participated in the liturgical program of the Sainte-Chapelle’. Moreover, already in 1244, before the Sainte-Chapelle was even consecrated, Pope Innocent IV granted indulgences to those who visited the Sainte-Chapelle on its three main feasts and their octaves. Other popes and bishops did the same in subsequent years, offering at least one year of redemption. See Cohen, The Sainte-Chapelle and the Construction of Sacral Monarchy, pp. 151–52; quotation at p. 167.  3 I borrow this termino­logy from Cohen, The Sainte-Chapelle and the Construction of Sacral Monarchy, p. 170.

i nt ro d u ct i o n

conveys meaning in these sequences. It does so by contrafacture, that is, by relying on a pre-existing chant and preserving its melody while substituting the original text with one appropriate for the new occasion. This sort of recycling was typical of medieval music in general (both secular and sacred) and liturgical music in particular, with borrowing taking place across generic and liturgical boundaries.4 By seizing on the potential of music to evoke the ritual for which it was originally composed, the text of contrafacted chants became imbued with a subtle web of associations that reverberated with new meanings and which could not be contemplated by the text alone. The very premise of musical contrafacture may challenge the sensibilities of modern listeners, who have come to expect and understand music as a self-contained creation, fulfilling the imperatives of originality and creativity above all (copyright laws reflect this conviction). Yet contrafacture was perhaps one of the most formidable ways for medieval composers to produce new meanings, in a period well before words and music were connected in a systematic way, and before music acquired the affective specificity that would become its hallmark in later centuries.5 Thus, unearthing the meaning of the sequences examined in this volume depends less on the ways in which particular words are emphasized by the melody, and more on the web of significations embedded in the contrafacted sequences. The melodies that set the majority of the sequences examined below were borrowed from a variety of liturgical contexts, occasionally from the Temporale (Pentecost and Easter), but chiefly from the Sanctorale, with festivals honouring the Virgin representing the most common source of inspiration, along with a smaller number of festivals celebrating individual saints. One of the sequences celebrating the Crown of Thorns, Liberalis manus Dei, is a contrafact of In superna civitate, a sequence for St Francis. Whereas the two sequences essentially share the same melody, the original text celebrating Francis was replaced with a new one extolling France for safeguarding the Crown of Thorns. The allusion to St Francis in a Crown sequence may have well been intended as a reminder of the central role the saint’s liturgy and music played in the Sainte-Chapelle. As we shall see, the Franciscans played an important role in the composition of one of the two quintessential feasts celebrated at the Sainte-Chapelle; they even modelled its liturgy after that of their patron saint. The sequences, then, are rife with hidden polyphonies, harmonizing more than their apparent constituent parts in ways that bring to the fore the confluence of melodies, allusions, allegories, and meanings.

 4 Although contrafacture was a widespread practice in the Middle Ages, I am not aware of a single case in which the choice of melody was ever rationalized. It was not something medieval liturgists and music theorists addressed, and rarely are we informed about compositional choices of this type in medieval chant in general.  5 The process through which music developed its self-referential world is examined in Katz, A Language of its Own.

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The Sainte-Chapelle in Paris,6 often described as a royal, or monumental, reliquary, has been the subject of many studies, examining its architecture, history, stained-glass windows, and murals, its musicians’ careers, cultural significance, and political meaning.7 Interest in the liturgy celebrating its relics has grown considerably in the last two decades or so, with studies and editions devoted to specific manuscripts and repertories, bringing to light various liturgical traditions and their significance.8 Musico­logists too have studied the liturgy associated with the Sainte-Chapelle relics, considering above all the mass and office complexes as a whole, and on occasion analysing individual chants for their potential to shed light on the spiritual and political ideo­logy behind the construction of the Sainte-Chapelle.9 To non-specialists, musical notation constitutes an impenetrable barrier that precludes analysis and meaningful insights. Historians and historians of art often draw on liturgical sources, relying solely on their texts, oblivious to the nuanced ways in which music can articulate the text, highlight certain words or phrases in it, and produce new meanings that would otherwise not be contemplated by examining the text alone. The purpose of this volume is to integrate music and liturgy into the history of the burgeoning Sainte-Chapelle during the thirteenth century as a vehicle for constructing its theo­logical and political programme. Music is not the object of this study per se, but rather, its role and effectiveness in reflecting and shaping the sacral dimensions of the Sainte-Chapelle. It is my hope that this study will offer a model for considering new kinds of sources for the study of medieval history. Participation

 6 This volume is devoted only to the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. The latter inspired the establishment of some twenty Sainte-Chapelles, mostly in France, and one in Bari, Italy, half of which are still standing today. They were founded between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries; see Billot, ‘Les Saintes-Chapelles de Saint Louis’, and Billot, Les Saintes-Chapelles royales et princières. A forthcoming research project led by David Fiala will shed light on their musical traditions (‘Musique et musiciens dans les Saintes-Chapelles, xiiie–xviiie siècles’).  7 The biblio­graphy is enormous. The following publications include a small number of studies, with yet others mentioned throughout this volume: Morand, Histoire de la Sainte-Chapelle; Branner, ‘The Sainte-Chapelle and the Capella Regis’; Cohen, The Sainte-Chapelle and the Construction of Sacral Monarchy; Billot, ‘Le Message spirituel et politique de la SainteChapelle’; Weiss, Art and Crusade in the Age of Saint Louis; Mercuri, Corona di Christo, corona di re; Brenet, Les Musiciens de la Sainte-Chapelle du Palais; Guerry, ‘The Wall Paintings of the Sainte-Chapelle’; Durand and Laffitte, Le Trésor de la Sainte-Chapelle.  8 See Gurrado, ‘La Sainte-Chapelle de Bari’; Gurrado, ‘La Liturgie de Notre-Dame dans le royaume de Naples’; Haggh, ‘An Ordinal of Ockeghem’s Time’; Le Prosaire de la SainteChapelle, ed. by Hesbert; De Luca, ‘I manoscritti musicali dell’archivio di San Nicola a Bari’; Anheim and Brunel, ‘La Sainte-Chapelle’. More recently, and most crucial to the arguments made in this volume, are the following studies on the Sainte-Chapelle and the sources of its liturgy: Gaposchkin, ‘Between Historical Narration and Liturgical Celebrations’; Gaposchkin, Vexilla Regis Glorie; Guerry, ‘Crowning Paris’.  9 Arnaud, ‘L’Office de la Couronne d’épines’; L’Office de la Couronne d’épines à Sens, ed. by Arnaud and Dennery; Baltzer, ‘Notre-Dame and the Challenge of the Sainte-Chapelle’; Kirk, ‘Translatione Corona Spinea’; Taylor, ‘Rhymed Offices at the Sainte-Chapelle’.

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in Church ceremonies (attending mass, for instance) comprising prayers, chants, and processions — to name just the salient features of liturgy — was for most medieval people the main way to demonstrate religious devotion and to become aware of what the Sainte-Chapelle meant.10 In the Middle Ages, liturgy was virtually synonymous with music. From short prayers to strophic poems, from prose to poetry, practically every word uttered during the Divine Office or mass was set to music, whether simple recitation formulae or elaborate musical settings with complex structures. There was something to sing for everyone, and indeed all clergymen were expected to sing during services, regardless of their level of musical literacy. We can be certain that even liturgical manuscripts transmitting texts alone were meant to be sung, the music probably notated elsewhere or sung from memory. The liturgies for the mass composed in the thirteenth century to celebrate the Crown of Thorns and all the other Sainte-Chapelle relics were fairly standardized across churches and religious orders, if limited in circulation.11 As we shall see, while their chants mainly harked back to predictable allusions to a crown in the Hebrew Bible, sequences provided a means to make a uniform liturgy more distinct and local. They widened the historical context against which the relics were to be understood, and they weaved together interrelated narratives about crowns that were placed as significant mileposts on a continuum of salvation history. The sequences served also as sign of propriety, both materially and conceptually, and imbued the Crown with far-reaching implications not only for individuals, but for the French nation as a whole. Every mass comprises two types of chants: Ordinary ones, whose texts are always the same (but not necessarily the music that sets them), regardless of the feast day (a Kyrie or a Credo, for instance), and Proper ones, chants that distinguish one celebration from the other because their text (and usually the music) relates specifically and directly to the saint/occasion being celebrated (an Introit or a Communion, for instance). Whether the text is set one or two notes per syllable (‘syllabic’) or to many notes per syllable (‘melismatic’), whether a chant is newly composed or a contrafact, Proper chants usually have relatively short texts, consisting of a single phrase or grammatical unit. Like all Proper chants, they are mostly written in prose, comprising concise, specific statements related to the feast being celebrated, contrasting with the more general statements of faith sung regularly on every day of the year. There were liturgical celebrations, however, that because of their relative importance were considered to be worthy of an augmented level of observance.  10 I am referring only to the spiritual dimensions of the Sainte-Chapelle, for during the thirteenth century, the building, over forty metres in height, towered above the landscape of Paris and was ‘visible far beyond [its] great medieval walls’ (Cohen, The Sainte-Chapelle and the Construction of Sacral Monarchy, p. 1).  11 The liturgies for the Divine Office, however, are anything but standardized. We will examine some of them below, but their differences, modes of transmission, and relative chrono­logy have recently been fully elucidated in Gaposchkin, Vexilla Regis Glorie.

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These included feasts of the Temporale and Marian feasts as well, universally celebrated with great solemnity and usually marked by an octave, but also feasts of the Sanctorale, whose degree of solemnity was a function of local customs, geo­graphy, monastic order, and more. Church calendars from all over Europe regularly assign a very high rank to the feasts of St Martin and St Nicholas, for instance, but saints with a more local, restricted fame and stature — St Cucuphas or St Dagobert, for example — usually do not fare that well, except in the churches where the community has a special motivation to venerate them, for any number of reasons. In the context of mass, one of the most common ways to demonstrate an elevated level of devotion to a feast was by adding one other Proper chant to the standard unfolding of Ordinary and Proper chants immediately after the Alleluia: a sequence, having anywhere between three to twelve paired versicles, each pair set to the same melody, usually rhymed and in regular accentual rhythm (at least from the beginning of the twelfth century onwards), a marked contrast to the style of all other Proper chants.12 This could be a ready-made sequence drawn from the liturgy of a certain saint, or from the Common of Confessors, a liturgical one-size-fits-all, made relevant to a specific saint by adding his/her name in the place assigned for it. It could also be a completely new sequence, freshly composed for a new occasion such as the addition of a new feast to the Church calendar. The sequences composed to celebrate the different Sainte-Chapelle relics include both compositional strategies. These sequences have never been examined in depth from both textual and musical perspectives, nor has their dissemination ever been considered.13 The sequences examined in this volume belong to two of the three feasts that were the hallmark of the liturgical calendar at the Sainte-Chapelle and its raison d’être. The two feasts celebrated the reception of relics and gave rise to various mass and office cycles: 11 August, commemorating the Crown’s arrival in France, and 30 September, commemorating the reception of the other relics. The third feast inscribed in the calendar of the Sainte-Chapelle celebrated its Dedication on 26 April 1248; this occasion generated very little

 12 The sequence has a long and complicated history, and it evolved considerably since its first notated examples at the end of the ninth century. Paris was just one centre for the composition of sequences, but it became a very important one in the course of the twelfth century, above all at the abbey of Saint-Victor. The best study of the late medieval sequence in Paris, of which the sequence repertory examined in this volume is an heir, is Fassler, Gothic Song.  13 Hesbert’s introduction to his 1952 publication, Le Prosaire de la Sainte-Chapelle, is to date the most extensive treatment of some of the Sainte-Chapelle sequences, and surely an essential starting point for any related research. A small number of Sainte-Chapelle sequences is masterfully analysed in Baltzer, ‘Notre-Dame and the Challenge of the Sainte-Chapelle’. The only study encompassing a more substantial number of relics sequences (about half of them), considers them only as ‘a source for identifying the Sainte-Chapelle relics’ (Gould, ‘The Sequences De Sanctis Reliquiis’, p. 316). A small number of sequences is also mentioned in passing in Jordan, ‘Stained Glass and the Liturgy’.

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liturgy that was proper to the Sainte-Chapelle, relying instead on a common stock of chants and readings for the liturgy of the Dedication of the Church. The history, liturgy, and meaning of the two relics feasts — Crown and ‘relics’ — stand at the centre of the present study, especially through the perspective of the most thoroughly Proper items of their liturgies, sequences, bringing to the fore nuanced interpretations of the conceptual, religious, and national foundations of the Sainte-Chapelle. The single most important source of sequences that are proper to the Sainte-Chapelle, that is, composed specifically for its two distinguishing ceremonies and, with very few exceptions, found virtually nowhere else, is a manuscript housed not in Paris, but in the south of Italy. Ever since 1952, when René-Jean Hesbert published his insightful study and facsimile of the proser in Bari 5, the manuscript has been recognized as significant for the study of the late medieval sequence repertory of Parisian churches in general, and as the single most important repository for Sainte-Chapelle sequences in particular. The only Sainte-Chapelle outside of France, it was founded by Charles I of Anjou in Bari, in the south of Italy. The younger brother of Louis IX, Charles adopted the liturgy of the Sainte-Chapelle for the collegiate church of Saint-Nicolas in Bari, and in 1296, his son, Charles II (1254–1309), endowed it with twenty-three manuscripts that followed the usage of Paris.14 Of all the manuscripts examined in this volume, the proser in Bari 5 is undoubtedly the most celebrated and familiar to musico­logists. Better known as the Sainte-Chapelle Proser,15 Bari 5 comprises, in fact, two notated volumes copied almost contemporaneously and at two different ateliers:16 a Parisian gradual (fols 1–152), and a slightly later proser (fols 153–308) copied for the Sainte-Chapelle after 1257.17 It is the proser that is the most relevant to the present study; it transmits a staggering number of sequences, 190 in total, thirty-four for the Temporale (fols 153–87) and 156 for the Sanctorale  14 On the liturgy and manuscript tradition of the Sainte-Chapelle of Bari, see De Luca, ‘I mano­scritti musicali dell’archivio di San Nicola a Bari’; and Gurrado, ‘La Sainte-Chapelle de Bari’.  15 Medieval manuscripts commonly use the Latin term prosa in relation to the sequence. A proser, or a sequentiary, is that part of a manuscript comprising sequences (whether notated or just their texts), usually found at the end of missals. I retain the name SainteChapelle Proser mainly because this is how it is known in the scholarly literature.  16 Branner, Manuscript Painting in Paris during the Reign of Saint Louis, p. 140.  17 The Sainte-Chapelle Proser is edited and masterfully studied in Le Prosaire de la Sainte-Chapelle, ed. by Hesbert. For recent studies of Bari 5, see De Luca, ‘I manoscritti musicali dell’archivio di San Nicola a Bari’, pp. 47–51, 86–93; Gurrado, ‘La Sainte-Chapelle de Bari’, pp. 130–38. I am most grateful to Elsa De Luca for generously sharing with me materials and opinions pertaining to Bari manuscripts. Hesbert was convinced that both gradual and proser were copied by a single hand, and he was not far from the truth (pp. 31–32, n. 1). There were apparently two copyists, A and B; copyist A was responsible for most of the gradual and ‘B’ for a small portion thereof. It is copyist B who single-handedly copied the proser (De Luca, ‘I manoscritti musicali dell’archivio di San Nicola a Bari’, p. 48). For a brief and informative overview of the Bari manuscripts related to the liturgy of Notre-Dame of Paris and the Sainte-Chapelle, see Gurrado, ‘La Liturgie de Notre-Dame dans le royaume de Naples’.

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(fols 187v–304). Twenty-three of the Sanctorale sequences are dedicated to a single group of feasts belonging to the Sainte-Chapelle (Crown, relics, and Dedication of the Church), and most of them are unica.18 Four of the twenty-three sequences for Sainte-Chapelle feasts in Bari 5 are for the Dedication of the Church feast, but they are the standard, ubiquitous ones, known from multiple other sources, and do not offer a unique perspective on the theo­logical and political rationale of the Sainte-Chapelle and its liturgy. Of the remaining nineteen sequences for feasts proper to the Sainte-Chapelle, nine are for the Crown of Thorns and ten for the relics; they are the subject matter of Parts I and II respectively. There is no doubt that the Sainte-Chapelle Proser was copied after 1248; it includes the feast of the Dedication of the Sainte-Chapelle established on 26 April 1248. Scholarly literature typically and correctly refers to it as a mid-thirteenth-century manuscript, yet there is a more precise terminus post quem: 1257.19 This hypothesis rests on circumstantial evidence gleaned from the melody that sets the Crown sequence Regis et pontificis, demonstrating additional ways in which music can be used as historical evidence. There exist two melodic settings of the sequence — more about it below — but as transmitted in Bari 5 and most other manuscripts, Regis et pontificis is a contrafact of Per unius casum grani, a sequence for St Quentin.20 The original words of the sequence honouring Quentin were scraped and replaced with words paying tribute to the Crown of Thorns, all while preserving the original music. What could have been the reason to make Regis et pontificis, a sequence paying tribute to the Crown of Thorns, a contrafact of Per unius casum grani, a sequence with barely any concordances in the Parisian sequence repertory,

 18 Hesbert published the texts of twenty-nine sequences that are unica at the Sainte-Chapelle (Le Prosaire de la Sainte-Chapelle, ed. by Hesbert, pp. 51–76). They include sequences for the Crown of Thorns and for the Sainte-Chapelle relics, but also for other liturgical celebrations, not examined in the present volume.  19 The title of Hesbert’s above-mentioned volume includes reference to it being copied vers 1250.  20 The sequence is first attested in three manuscripts from the third decade of the thirteenth century: (1) BnF lat. 1112, fol. 199v (notated incipit only), a notated missal from Notre-Dame Cathedral copied c. 1220; (2) the troper-proser Assisi 695, fols 201v–203, modern foliation, copied c. 1230; and (3) the psalter-hymnary-proser Cambrai 32, fol. 77v, from the diocese of Cambrai, copied around the same time; the folios transmitting the St Quentin sequence were copied ‘after 1228’, but most of the manuscript dates to the second third of the thirteenth century (Meyer, Catalogue des manuscrits notés du Moyen Age, iv, 142). Assisi 695 is a composite source containing troped and untroped mass ordinaries and a proser made of three distinct, overlapping, and incomplete prosers. It contains some 180 sequences, about twice as many sequences compared to most other thirteenth-century graduals and missals from Paris and northern France. Most sequences are notated and have concordances in earlier and contemporaneous Parisian sources from Notre-Dame and Saint-Victor. See Seay, ‘Le Manuscrit 695 de la Bibliothèque communale d’Assise’, pp. 12–23. The most thorough and enlightening study devoted to this manuscript is Shinnick, ‘The Manuscript Assisi, Biblioteca del Sacro Convento, Ms. 695’.

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and for a saint who is not known to have had any special significance to the French monarchy?21 It was the personal involvement of Louis IX in a 1257 ceremony marking the translation of the saint’s relics that may have rekindled interest in the saint’s cult at the Sainte-Chapelle. The cult of St Quentin was particularly developed in the north of France, with feasts celebrating his martyrdom (31 October), the finding (inventio) of more relics of his body by St Eligius in the seventh century (3 January), and the Translation of his relics and those of his two companions, Victorice and Cassian (2 May).22 The 2 May feast was the most recent to be added to the Church calendar. During the first half of the thirteenth century, the choir and the chevet of the collegiate church of Saint-Quentin in Picardy were rebuilt, and the bodies of the trio of saints were moved from their tombs in the crypt and translated to reliquaries in the nave of the church in 1228. Although the 2 May feast commemorated the 1228 translation, it was just the first of two translations. Only once the construction of the choir and the chevet had been completed did the relics find their permanent place behind the high altar.23 The translation of the relics to their new and final location took place almost thirty years later, on 2 September 1257, and it was King Louis himself who presided over the ceremony, having already funded part of the construction campaign and the new reliquaries.24 It was on that occasion that the king and his entourage might have learned of Per unius casum grani, a relatively new sequence composed less than thirty years earlier, and hitherto barely known in Paris.25 If the ceremony in the collegiate church of Saint-Quentin inspired the modelling of a Crown sequence on a chant for St Quentin, then it is likely that the sequence in particular, and Bari 5 in general, were composed in or slightly after 1257.26

 21 Even though Quentin is depicted in one of the medallions portraying martyrs at the SainteChapelle — his is found in the dado of the upper chapel — he is just one of forty-four such saints, none of which was celebrated with particular solemnity at the Sainte-Chapelle. Many of the medallions suffered greatly and cannot be identified. For a detailed study of the one showing Quentin, see Guerry, ‘The Wall Paintings of the Sainte-Chapelle’, pp. 235–37. See also Branner, ‘The Painted Medallions in the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris’. There is no correspondence between the martyrs depicted in the medallions and the relics housed at the SainteChapelle. See Cohen, The Sainte-Chapelle and the Construction of Sacral Monarchy, p. 163.  22 There were even more feasts celebrating different aspects related to St Quentin and celebrated only in the chapter of the cathedral. See Mathieu, Saint-Quentin, p. 161.  23 Shortell, ‘Dismembering Saint Quentin’, p. 32.  24 Mathieu, Saint-Quentin, p. 158.  25 I only know of a single manuscript from Paris, BnF lat. 1112, that transmits a notated incipit of this sequence. The text of Per unius casum grani was probably written by Adam of SaintVictor. See Adam de Saint-Victor, The Liturgical Poetry, ed. by Wrangham.  26 The so-called Sorbonne Missal, BnF lat. 15615, not only transmits Regis et pontificis, but is also one of the first Parisian missals to include Per unius casum grani, making it the only manuscript to transmit both sequences. On the dating of this manuscript, see Leroquais, Les Sacramentaires, ii, 112; Fassler, Gothic Song, p. 167.

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The Sainte-Chapelle Proser transmits a considerable number of sequences per feast, one that would have allowed for a most rigorous veneration, with sequences dotting not only the feast day itself, but also each and every day during the octave. The architectural, artistic, political, and liturgical undertaking that is the Sainte-Chapelle hinges above all on the Crown of Thorns, whose very shape and history proved to be a perfect fit for a French monarch who, less than three decades after his death, would be canonized and pronounced ‘saint’. The Crown is the most frequently mentioned relic in both sets of sequences, and so we begin with the framing narrative about the Crown’s purchase and its arrival in France, before moving to the acquisition of two additional sets of relics, events whose nature and significance can be gleaned from a variety of liturgical records. Originally a relatively insignificant object of torture and mockery, the Crown of Thorns became a coveted relic by emperors and kings alike.27 Parallel to the westward path it took (from Jerusalem through Constantinople to Paris), it was progressively impregnated with more power and significance to match the political aspirations and agendas of its respective owners. The exact period and circumstances that led to the transferral of the Crown from Jerusalem to Constantinople are cloaked in the shroud of mystery that typically adorns relics in general. It seems to have arrived in Constantinople between 958 and 985,28 but confusion as to its exact location persisted well into the twelfth century, as pilgrims still reported seeing it in Jerusalem.29 We owe some of the first pronouncements about the location of the Crown in Constantinople to chroniclers of the Crusades. According to Raymond d’Aguilers, Emperor Alexius I Comnenus (1081–1118) made leaders of the armies of the First Crusade swear ‘on the cross of the Lord and the Crown of Thorns, and many other objects’, and just over a century later, Robert of Clari, a knight from Picardy who participated in the siege of Constantinople (1204), was filled with awe at the sight of the relics he reportedly saw in the church of the Virgin of the Pharos: ‘two pieces of the True Cross as large as the leg of a man […] [and] the blessed crown with which [Christ] was crowned’.30

 27 Artistic representations of the Crucifixion do not even feature the Crown until the tenth century. Cynthia Hahn has aptly called the Crown ‘a minor prop’, referring to the place it occupies in accounts of the Passion in the Gospels. See Hahn, ‘“The Sting of Death Is the Thorn”’, pp. 195, 196.  28 Klein, ‘The Crown of his Kingdom’, p. 206.  29 Hahn, ‘“The Sting of Death Is the Thorn”’, p. 197. According to Fernand de Mély, the Crown reached Constantinople in 1063. See Exuviae sacrae Constantinopolitanae, ed. by de Mély, p. 180. Adding to the confusion, in the eleventh century the Crown of Thorns was reportedly in the possession of both Oviedo Cathedral and the Palatine chapel in Aachen. See Bacci, ‘Relics of the Pharos Chapel’, pp. 234–35. In the nineteenth century there are accounts of it displayed in Jerusalem (see Klein, ‘The Crown of his Kingdom’, p. 202).  30 Klein, ‘Sacred Relics and Imperial Ceremonies’, pp. 79, 94. For a list of medieval sources mentioning the Crown’s presence in Constantinople, see Bacci, ‘Relics of the Pharos Chapel’, pp. 243–44. The well-known description of the imperial relic collection by Nikoloas

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Undoubtedly owing to these and other Western accounts, ‘a steady flow of distinguished visitors’ such as Louis VII of France in 1147 and Henry the Lion, Duke of Bavaria, in 1172 came to witness the Crown in person.31 At whatever period it arrived in Constantinople, the Crown was incorporated into ‘the imperial church-reliquary and one of the manifestations of the Triumph of Orthodoxy’.32 Whereas relics from the Holy Land were brought to Constantinople and delivered to churches all over the city, those related to the Passion of Christ were placed within the confines of the Great Palace, a complex that included some thirty churches and chapels. More specifically, these relics, including the Crown, were housed in the small church of the Virgin of the Pharos built in the middle of the eighth century by Emperor Michael III (842–67), after the end of the so-called ‘second iconoclasm’ (814–42). Deriving its name from the lighthouse (pharos) that stood nearby, it was strategically located south-east of the Chrysotriklinos, the throne room, and its north side was adjacent to the imperial apartments. According to Alexei Lidov, ‘the Pharos church was a sacred destination of every pilgrim coming to Constantinople’ in the Middle Ages.33 Perhaps because it was a relatively late addition to an already impressive collection of Passion relics, the Crown does not seem to have been accorded a special status in the rituals of the Byzantine court; the Book of Ceremonies (De Ceremoniis), providing a fragmentary description of ceremonies as they unfold in the imperial court in Constantinople (especially during the festivities of Holy Week), does not mention it,34 nor do medieval miniatures depicting the Pharos Church feature it.35 In part, this may have been the case because two ceremonies that could have been symbolically enhanced by the Crown of Thorns were already associated with another relic. As Ioli Kalavrezou has argued, after 421, when the right arm of Stephen became the possession of the Byzantine emperor, the church of St Stephen was ‘made into the marriage chapel of the imperial court’ (the word stephanoma is Greek for marriage

 31  32  33  34

 35

Mesarites, written in 1201 when he was skevophylax of the church of the Pharos, opens with the Crown of Thorns. For the English translation and discussion, see Klein, ‘The Crown of his Kingdom’, p. 201. Klein, ‘The Crown of his Kingdom’, p. 208. Lidov, ‘A Byzantine Jerusalem’, p. 66. Lidov, ‘A Byzantine Jerusalem’, p. 64 (quoted on p. 75). Konstantinos Porphyrogennetos: The Book of Ceremonies, ed. by Moffatt and Tall. It was written/commissioned by Constantine VII in the mid-tenth century, ostensibly before the arrival of the Crown of Thorns in Constantinople. As Alexei Lidov notes, even services to the Virgin are not mentioned in the church bearing her name (Lidov, ‘A Byzantine Jerusalem’, p. 71). For instance, a twelfth-century manuscript by John Skylitzes (Madrid Gr. 2, fol. 210v) depicts a liturgical procession organized by Emperor Michael IV in 1037, praying for rain to end a prolonged drought. The clergy marches from the Great Palace to the Pharos Church, carrying two processional crosses and some precious relics, including the Holy Mandylion, but not the Crown. See more in Lidov, ‘A Byzantine Jerusalem’, pp. 80–81.

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ceremony). Symbolically, it also reinforced the act of coronation in the adjacent hall (stephanos meaning ‘crown’).36 The Crown, to be sure, was a revered relic in Constantinople. Around 1200, Nikoloas Mesarites, then skevophylax (sacristan) of the church of the Pharos, analogized ‘his’ church to the Garden of Eden and the Ark of the Covenant, enumerating its ten most prized relics using the topos of the Ten Commandments, and opening with the Crown of Thorns. Just four decades later, however, the Crown would be pawned and then put on sale. By 1241, the treasury of the imperial palace in the capital of the Byzantine Empire would be virtually depleted, when, one after the other, relics of the Passion would be transferred from Constantinople to Paris. The Fourth Crusade and the siege of Constantinople in 1204 brought with them a sea of changes not only to the capital city, but to the Byzantine Empire as a whole. Leaders of the Fourth Crusade en route to the Holy Land ‘redirected their armies to Constantinople, and laid siege to the Byzantine capital, eventually conquering the city and slaughtering the population, most of whom were fellow Christians’.37 Consequently, the relics of the santa capella, as the Pharos Church was called in Latin accounts of Constantinople, were almost entirely preserved, whereas the church itself was completely destroyed. The crusaders established the Latin Empire of Constantinople, and in 1236 the young Baldwin II, cousin of Louis IX, became the Latin emperor of Constantinople. A man whom both Louis and his mother Blanche of Castile reported to be ‘infantile in speech’ and ‘hardly capable of governing’,38 Baldwin essentially ruled over little more than the demoralized city itself, but provided the French monarchy with the linchpin of a Christian cosmo­logy that would manifest itself in monuments, art, and theo­logical discourse. Owing to financial difficulties, the Passion relics formerly kept in the Pharos Church were pawned to the Venetians, and in 1238 Louis acquired them for the sum of about 135,000 livres, more than half of the annual revenue of the entire kingdom of France in that period.39 In 1238 the Crown of Thorns began a new journey. From its original place in Jerusalem, and after some two centuries in the Pharos Church, it was transferred to France in 1239. On 11 August of that year Louis and his retinue greeted the Crown in Villeneuve-l’Archevesque, not far from the city of Sens. The Crown was kept in Saint-Pierre-le-Vif — a monastery in the centre of Sens — over the night of 11 August 1239 and then was displayed and paraded

 36 Kalavrezou, ‘Helping Hands for the Empire’, pp. 61–62. The church of St Stephen was adjacent to the coronation hall in the imperial palace.  37 Weiss, Art and Crusade in the Age of Saint Louis, p. 5.  38 Weiss, Art and Crusade in the Age of Saint Louis, p. 219, n. 28.  39 Mercuri, Corona di Christo, corona di re, p. 112. The relics were probably pawned by John of Brienne (d. 1237), titular king of Jerusalem, who was engaged to Maria, the daughter of Baldwin II. See Gaposchkin, Vexilla Regis Glorie, p. 21.

i nt ro d u ct i o n

in the city the following day.40 Louis IX marched barefoot ‘and dressed only in a tunic’ in the streets of the city, displaying the newly acquired Crown. The following passage, almost certainly written by Gautier Cornut, then archbishop of Sens, gives a vivid account of how that day unfolded, an account that would subsequently form the basis of the Sens office for the Crown of Thorns: with all the people coming out to meet it; every group of people, regardless of sex or age, rejoices. At the first entrance to the city, the king, with bare feet and dressed only in a tunic, with his brother Count Robert, a similarly humbled companion, took up on his shoulders the sacred burden to be carried. Knights precede and follow, in proper shoes; the joyful city, the assembly of clerics in procession go out to meet it; clerics of the mother church come, dressed in silks; monks with the other religious carry the bodies and relics of the saints; the devotion of people is seen as though saints were desiring to meet the Lord as he comes. They vie in praises of the Lord; the city, decked out with tapestries and banners, exhibits its beautiful wares; it echoes with bells and instruments and with the joy of the people; wax candles with twisted holders are lit through the public squares and in each and every neighbourhood. [The Crown] is brought into the church of Stephen Protomartyr and is entrusted to the people, and the reason for such great joy is revealed.41 In order to enhance and convey the significance of this precious relic, the young king Louis envisioned a church located within the confines of his palace in Île-de-la-Cité, what would later be called the Sainte-Chapelle. By the time of its consecration on 26 April 1248, the treasury of the Sainte-Chapelle would be amplified by further groups of relics acquired by Louis on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross in 1241 (14 September), and on 30 September 1242,42 comprising, among other things, pieces of the True Cross, and the means with which the soldiers mocked Jesus before his crucifixion (more about these relics and the liturgy composed for them below).43 As scholars have already noted, there can be little doubt that the Sainte-Chapelle was meant to evoke the church of the Virgin of the Pharos, the original santa capella of Constantinople. Not only was a remarkable set of Passion relics transplanted from one church to the other, the Sainte-Chapelle may also have  40 For a fuller and more detailed description of the arrival of the Crown in France, see Gaposchkin, ‘Between Historical Narration and Liturgical Celebrations’, p. 105.  41 For the full account and its import, see Appendix 7.  42 In relation to the first instalment of relics, Gaposchkin argues that ‘The date was surely intentional, since the trove contained two pieces of the True Cross’ (Gaposchkin, Vexilla Regis Glorie, p. 24). Moreover, there are conflicting views on the exact date, and even the year, in which the second instalment of relics took place, but they too are resolved by Gaposchkin.  43 See Exuviae sacrae Constantinopolitanae, ed. by Riant, i, 24; Frolow, La Relique de la Vraie Croix, n. 530, pp. 427–28. Information taken from Cohen, The Sainte-Chapelle and the Construction of Sacral Monarchy, p. 266, n. 7.

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shared ‘a number of design and decorative features’ with the Pharos Church, reinforcing the association between the two conceptually and materially in ways that raised the status of Paris as a religious centre.44 Moreover, in Paris as in Constantinople, relics of the Passion were housed in the heart of the royal palace, private chapels rife with political and monarchical overtones, not in the cities’ chief religious establishments (Notre-Dame Cathedral and Hagia Sophia respectively). The steady stream of relics transferred from Jerusalem to various churches in Constantinople made Constantinople a holy city in its own right, often likened to a New Jerusalem (nea Ierousalem), the expected place of the Second Coming. Barely a decade after the Crown was transferred from Constantinople to Paris, a narrative attributed to Gérard de Saint-Quentin and written c. 1250 acknowledged that ‘on account of whose presence [the Crown of our Lord and Saviour] the city of Constantinople was then flourishing’.45 And so would Paris, by virtue of the Sainte-Chapelle, be similarly acclaimed, with the French people considered to be the chosen people.46 This and related themes were above all developed in the liturgies of the two feasts, perhaps most powerfully and eloquently in their sequences, to which we now turn our attention.

 44 See for instance Cohen, The Sainte-Chapelle and the Construction of Sacral Monarchy, pp. 115–25; Weiss, Art and Crusade in the Age of Saint Louis, pp. 16–32; Hahn, ‘“The Sting of Death Is the Thorn”’, p. 200; Lidov, ‘A Byzantine Jerusalem’.  45 ‘de cujus presentia [corone Domini et salvatoris nostri] Constantinopolis civitas tunc pollebat’. The text attributed to Gérard de Saint-Quentin is entitled Incipit translatio sancte Corone Domini nostri Jesu Christi a Constantinopolitana urbe ad civitatis Parisiensis facta anno domini mccxli regnante Ludovico filio Ludovici regni Francorum. It opens with the events leading to the reception of the Crown, before moving to depict the two-additional instalments of relics, discussed further below in this volume. For the attribution, see Krafft, ‘Gerhard von St-Quentin und die h. Elisabeth’. I extend my thanks to Cecilia Gaposchkin, who drew my attention to this article.  46 Cornut’s Historia and the first part of Gérard’s text are related, but different. Gérard’s text is extant on fols 172–74v of BnF n.a.l. 1423, a collection of various historiae copied in France in the thirteenth century, and Charleville-Mézières  275, on fols 172–77, a manuscript copied in the last quarter of the thirteenth century and whose provenance is the abbey of Notre-Dame at Belval-Bois-des-Dames (see Institut de recherche et d’histoire des textes, ‘Notice de Charleville-Mézières, Bibliothèque municipale, 0275’, in Pascale Bourgain, Francesco Siri, and Dominique Stutzmann, FAMA: Œuvres latines médiévales à succès, 2014, [accessed 3 August 2020]). There exist four modern editions of Gérard’s text: de Wailly, ‘Récit du treizième siècle sur les translations’; Golubovich, Biblioteca bio-bibliografica della Terra Santa; Miller, ‘Review of Exuviae sacrae Constantinopolitinae’; Délisle, Manuscrits latins et français ajoutés, p. 207. Subsequent quotes from Gérard’s text hereafter are taken from Miller’s edition (pp. 295–302) of BnF n.a.l. 1423, fols 172–174v. For the role of sacred relics in Constantinople, see Flusin, ‘Construire une nouvelle Jérusalem’, pp. 62, 66–67.

Part I

The Crown of Thorns (11 August) Historia susceptionis coronae spinae Of the three quintessentially Sainte-Chapelle feasts, we are perhaps best informed about the events leading up to the purchase of the Crown of Thorns, and of the circumstances leading to its arrival in France. It was, after all, the feast which inaugurated the ideo­logical and physical establishment of the Sainte-Chapelle, and which set into motion the purchase of additional relics.1 Of the contemporary accounts narrating the Crown’s new chapter in history, the one attributed to Gautier Cornut (d. 1241), archbishop of Sens, stands out for several reasons. His Historia susceptionis coronae spinae provides a vivid historical background of the Crown’s peregrination and purports to be authoritative. Cornut was adviser for French monarchs since the time of Philip Augustus, and he officiated at the marriage ceremony of Louis IX and Marguerite of Provence in 1234. He in fact accompanied King Louis and his entourage when they welcomed the Crown for the first time on 11 August 1239, in Villeneuve-l’Archevesque, and it was Louis who asked Cornut to write an account of the Crown’s translation. The bulk of the Historia (see Appendix 7 for an edition and translation) is an account of the circumstances that led to the acquisition of the Crown of Thorns and its arrival to France. Rife with historical details including names of individuals and locations, and wryly narrated in chrono­logical order, the main part of the Historia stands in sharp contrast to its opening and closing sections, which are congratulatory and hortatory in tone. It opens by calling on everyone to celebrate ‘today’s feast’ with uplifted hearts, and points to the Crown as a common source of pride and joy for all of France, ‘regardless of gender, dignity, or rank’. The text concludes by recounting the reception of the Crown in Sens (but not its continued journey to Paris), where the humble demeanour of King Louis and his brother Robert of Artois as they parade with the sacred relic is contrasted to the extravagance around them: clerics don silk robes, relics are taken out of their reliquaries and displayed, and the city in general reveals its most beautiful artefacts to the light of brightly lit tapers and to the sound of bells and organs. After establishing Baldwin’s ties to King Louis, ‘from whose blood on both his [Baldwin’s] mother’s and father’s side he had sprung’, the office vividly describes Baldwin’s plea for help against the Greeks, ‘begging humbly, beseeching pitifully that they [Louis and Blanche] help him, and that they  1 It is impossible to know with confidence when the construction of the Sainte-Chapelle began, but see Cohen, The Sainte-Chapelle and the Construction of Sacral Monarchy, pp. 205–06.

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not allow the Empire of the Latins, which had been acquired powerfully and gloriously by the Franks, to be forced back into servitude to the infidel Greeks’. King Louis IX and his mother, Blanche, were reportedly so moved by Baldwin’s supplication that they bestowed on him great quantities of money, and even offered to send soldiers to his aid. It is then, according to the Historia, that Baldwin mentions to them the holy Crown of Thorns. He says, therefore, that he knew by accurate report that the nobles enclosed in the city of Constantinople had come to the calamity of starvation […] [because of] the incomparable treasure of the Crown of our Lord, which was the special honour and glory of the whole empire. […] It was fitting for these foreigners to sell it, or at least pawn it. Whence he was ardently praying that the inestimable honour and glory of this beautiful gem should come to the king, a blood-related lord, and to his benefit, indeed to the kingdom of France from which his parents on either side had come. But because he had perceived that if such a precious thing were to be sold to him for the price of money, the conscience of the king would be aggrieved, with impassioned prayer he begs him with tears that he deem himself worthy to receive this honoured gift from him as a gift and for free. At the behest of Louis IX, two Dominican friars arrived in Constantinople to acquire the Crown, only to learn that it was essentially already pawned to the Venetians. They went on board the ship and accompanied the Crown to Venice, intent on obtaining the necessary funds to release it from pawn. It was the middle of winter (around Christmas), the sea was treacherous, and the waves were high. An evil enemy (the Historia identifies him as one ‘Vastachius’, referring to John III Doukas Vatatzes, emperor of Nicaea 1222–54) conspired to snatch the Crown from the sailors, but divine providence prevailed. Eventually, the pawn was redeemed and the journey to France resumed, with the Crown encased in ‘a very beautiful coffer of purest gold’. In France, the treasure chest was opened in the presence of the king and the queen, who, spellbound, felt ‘as if they had seen in person the Lord crowned with these present thorns’.

The Liturgy for the Crown of Thorns As evocative and arresting as the Historia unfolded the story, it was the SainteChapelle liturgy that imbued and framed the arrival of the Crown in France as an important episode in salvation history. We learn as much from the earliest extant manuscript to transmit the mass and office for the Crown of Thorns at the Sainte-Chapelle, Brussels IV.472, encompassing an assortment of liturgies (text and music) that were needed to supplant the ceremonial cursus of the Sainte-Chapelle (which at its core is Parisian), when it was consecrated in 1248.2  2 The most thorough study of this manuscript in its relation to the nascent Sainte-Chapelle liturgy is Gaposchkin, Vexilla Regis Glorie, pp. 40–43, 129–33. Judging from the overall quality

t h e c row n o f t ho rns ( 11 au gu st )

This slim volume was purchased by the Brussels library in 1967, and owing to palaeo­graphical considerations, it is believed to have been copied ‘between 1248 and 1270’.3 It comprises 144 folios (fols 143–44 were left empty) and is mostly devoted to the liturgy of just two feasts, namely the Crown of Thorns and the Reception of Relics (a survey of this and other manuscripts relevant to the study of the Sainte-Chapelle liturgy and informing much of this volume is found in Appendix 1).4 The chants constituting the Sainte-Chapelle recension of Adest nova solempnitas, the Crown liturgy for the office, anticipate several of the main themes amplified by the Crown sequences, examined below, especially as they relate to the theo­logical significance of the Crown, encapsulated in what Cecilia Gaposchkin has called ‘an exaltation of reversal’.5 Instead of the Crown as an instrument of mockery and a source of shame, the liturgy entreats the faithful to venerate it with pride and as a sign of victory: ‘we venerate the shame’, declares Gestat coronam spineam, and ‘the crown of triumph carries the sign of victory […] [and] of royal dignity’ (Signum profert victorie corona triumphalis […] dignitatis regalis), adds the antiphon Signum profert victorie (the two are antiphons for First Vespers). The Crown, moreover, is ‘the hope of victory’ (spem vincendi coronam), as we read in the Matins responsory Occidentem illustrat oriens. Further foreshadowing the vocabulary and concepts employed in the Crown sequences, the Crown is likened to a ‘helmet of salvation’ (salutis galea) in the Lauds hymn Laudes ad laudes, and pronounced the ‘crown of glory’ (coronam glorie) in O rex clemencie, the antiphon to the Magnificat in Second Vespers. The chants of Adest nova solempnitas are also concerned with passing from Old to New Testament time; mockery once addressed to Christ is henceforth reserved to the Jews, labelled ‘men of blood’ (viri sanguinum) in the First Vespers antiphon Iudei viri sanguinum, and Christ, who showed dignity under the shadow of the Old Testament (‘sub umbra legis veteris’), signals that ‘the old things have gone away’ (from the responsory De coronis exodi). These short examples, situating the Crown in a larger theo­logical framework of sacrifice and redemption, constitute one of the two main themes that both the Sainte-Chapelle Adest nova solempnitas and the Crown sequences elaborate on and reinforce. The Sainte-Chapelle office, however, offers just a glimpse of the second theme, elucidating the meaning of the Crown’s

of the Brussels manuscript, Robert Branner concluded that ‘this manuscript almost certainly was not made for official use at the Sainte-Chapelle’. Yet, there is no other church for which the manuscript could have been written, whether for official or unofficial use. See Branner, ‘The Sainte-Chapelle and the Capella Regis’, p. 22, n. 40.  3 ‘Quinze années d’acquisition, de la pose de la première pierre à l’inauguration officielle de la bibliothèque’, pp. 19–20.  4 These two feasts are edited, with Brussels IV.472 as the base manuscript, and against other MSS, in Gaposchkin, Vexilla Regis Glorie, appendix 2.  5 Gaposchkin, ‘Louis IX and Liturgical Memory’, p. 275.

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transferral to France, one that the Crown sequences develop earnestly and unabashedly. Adest nova solempnitas articulates a personal rapport between the Crown and France, attributing agency to Christ, who wanted his Crown to be housed in France. Thus, we read in the First Vespers antiphon Christe caput ecclesie that it is ‘Christ who transfers to us today the Crown of [his] head’ (‘Christe […] qui transfers ad nos hodie tui coronam capitis’). In a similar vein, the responsory Occidentem illustrat oriens proclaims that ‘Christ the conqueror has sent the arms of his victory to us today’ (Victor christus arma victorie sue nobis transmisit hodie). The third stanza of Deus tuorum militum, the hymn for Lauds, moreover, hails France as the depository for the Crown, which Christ will re-collect on the Day of Judgement, assigning France a pivotal role at the end of time:6 Nostra conservat regio tibi thesaurum inclitum imminente iudicio resumes hoc depositum.

Our country retains for you this remarkable treasure. As the Day of Judgement approaches, you shall recover this deposit.

Whereas Adest nova solempnitas is relatively reticent about the implication of ‘this deposit’ to the future of France, to the French, and to the standing of Louis IX, the Crown sequences, as we shall see, overflow with praises to all of them, earning France the reputation of a new Holy Land, and crowning Louis as the epitome of all kings. The themes developed in the Crown office at the Sainte-Chapelle were to some degree echoed in the sequences, yet the latter were more tightly bound with the Crown mass, during which they were performed. By contrast with Adest nova solempnitas, the mass for the Crown of Thorns, Gaudeamus omnes, had a far more stable transmission and is practically identical in all extant medieval sources, including from churches having office recensions exhibiting a considerable degree of variance (Sens, Sainte-Chapelle, and Paris). Propers for Gaudeamus omnes are found in just over forty medieval manuscripts, originating mainly from Parisian churches but also from other parts of France (see Appendix 2).7 Table 1 provides their full texts — except for the sequences, examined in detail further below — transcribed from the earliest extant source to transmit them, Brussels IV.472. It was around the sequence  6 The opening words of Deus tuorum militum are taken from the hymn bearing the same name and drawn from the Common of One Martyr. Their melodies, however, are different. In all probability, the allusion to ‘corona’ in the latter liturgy played a role in the decision to base upon it a new hymn in the Crown liturgy.  7 The Dominican and Cistercian Orders adopted the feast and composed their own liturgies for it. Although they share the same Introit (Gaudeamus omnes), they diverge on other chants and are overall very different from the Parisian mass Propers. They are therefore excluded from this volume. On the Cistercian liturgy for the Crown, see Maître, ‘Une corona spinea cistercienne’. For the Dominican Crown liturgy, see Maurey, The Dominican Office and Mass for the Crown of Thorns.

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that boundaries between churches and religious orders were usually marked; the standard and most common liturgy features the Alleluia A corona spinea, a contrafact of the Alleluia Dulce lignum, from the liturgies of the Exaltation of the Cross (14 September) and the Invention of the Cross (3 May).8 The sequence that followed was nearly always either Regis et pontificis or Si vis vere, each associated, as we shall see below, with a different liturgical tradition. The Cistercians distinguished their Crown liturgy by using their own contrafact of Dulce lignum, the Alleluia Dulcis spina, which they too sang during the mass for the Invention of the Cross, apparently with no sequence associated with it.9 Finally, Dominican sources either substitute the Alleluia A corona spinea with Dyadema spineum or at times have both Alleluias in succession. The texts of the Crown Propers heavily depend on biblical sources (indicated in square brackets in Table 1), without a doubt chosen because they include a reference to a crown, providing the prefiguring link to the Crown of Thorns and to that of Louis IX, an exegetical trope that, as we shall see, plays a major role in the feast’s theo­logy, one that is intensely developed in the feast’s sequences. This overarching theme was of course substantiated not only in the chanted items of the mass, but also in the recited ones, above all in the Epistle assigned to Gaudeamus omnes, Song of Songs 3. 11–4. 8 (depending on the source, the reading may include all or part of that verse range), including a reference to the crowning of King Solomon. The texts of only two Propers are without biblical foundations, and they include specific references to the Crown of Thorns during the Passion of Christ: the first is the Introit Gaudeamus omnes, known from myriads of liturgical contexts, including Marian feasts, All Saints, St Catherine, St Mary Magdalene, and St Agatha. It is made Proper simply by replacing a couple of words that render it specific to the celebration at hand (in the case of the Crown mass, the words ‘sub honore corone Dominum’).10 Although the Introit Gaudeamus omnes gave its name to a good number of masses, it may have had a special resonance at Notre-Dame of Paris, where it was associated with three different relics feasts: (1) Notre-Dame’s own relic feast (in susceptione reliquiarum), first appearing in extant manuscripts in the first decade of the thirteenth century and celebrated annually on 4 December;11 (2) the Crown of Thorns; and (3)  8 Schlager, Alleluia-Melodien, i, melody Thk 242, and see the discussion on p. 631. Three manuscripts (Brussels IV.472, BnF lat. 830, and BnF lat. 8884) depict the crown as ‘golden’ (aurea), whereas all others described it as rosea, that is, red, or perhaps made of roses.  9 For the melody, see Schlager, Alleluia-Melodien, ii, 151, and the discussion on p. 628. The Alleluia Dulcis spina shares not only music with the Alleluia Dulce lignum, but also key textual elements and overall structure, making the connection to the Invention of the Cross liturgy even tighter.  10 Among the manuscripts that transmit a fully texted version of this Introit, and not just an incipit, three sources use the word translatione instead of solempnitate: BnF lat. 1028, BnF lat. 14448, and Provins 227.  11 The liturgy of this feast and its transmission are examined in Baltzer, ‘Another Look at a Composite Office and its History’, and Wright, ‘The Feast of the Reception of Relics’.

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Table 1. The Crown chant Propers, from Brussels IV.472, fols 18–21.

 

Text

Translation

Introit

Gaudeamus omnes in Domino, diem festum celebrantes sub honore corone Dominum, de cuius sollempnitate gaudent angeli et collaudant filium Dei.

Let us all rejoice in the Lord, celebrating the Lord on this day on the honour of the Crown of Thorns, about whose solemnity the angels rejoice and praise the son of God.

Verse: Omnes gentes plaudite manibus, iubilate Deo in voce exultationis.

Verse: [Ps. 46. 2] O clap your hands, all ye nations: shout unto God with the voice of joy.

Gradual

Corona aurea super caput eius A crown of gold upon his head, expressa signo sanctitatis; gloria marked with the sign of holiness, honoris et opus fortitudinis. glory of the honour and a work of valour. [Based on Ecclus. 45. 14] Verse: Quoniam prevenisti eum in benedictionibus dulcedinis; posuisti in capite eius coronam de lapide precioso. Alleluya.

Verse: [Ps. 20. 4] For thou hast prevented him with blessings of sweetness: thou hast set on his head a crown of a precious stone. Alleluia.

Alleluia Verse

Verse 1: A corona spinea Verse 1: Golden life wondrously vita surgit aurea mirifice, que rises from a thorny crown, which is mutata tropice fit corona aurea. figuratively changed into the golden crown.

Offertory

Lauda Ierusalem Dominum quia dabit tibi coronam pro cinere et eris corona glorie in manu Domini et dyadema regni in manu Dei tui, alleluya.

Communion Letare mater nostra quia dabit Dominus capiti tuo augmenta graciarum et corona inclita proteget te.

Praise the Lord, Jerusalem, because he will give to you the crown instead of ashes and thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God, Alleluia. [Based on Ps. 147. 12 and Isa. 62. 3] Rejoice, our mother, because the Lord shall give to thy head increase of graces, and protect thee with a noble crown. [Based on Prov. 4. 9]

Table 2. The Introit Gaudeamus omnes in three relics feasts. Italics indicate changes from the common text.

Reception of Notre-Dame relics (4 Dec.)

Crown of Thorns (11 Aug.)

Reception of SainteChapelle relics (30 Sept.)

Gaudeamus omnes in Domino, diem festum celebrantes sub honore sanctorum omnium de quorum solemnitate gaudent angeli et collaudant filium dei.

Gaudeamus omnes in Domino, diem festum celebrantes sub honore corone dominum de cuius sollempnitate gaudent angeli et collaudant filium dei.

Gaudeamus omnes in Domino laudes Christo decantantes qui pro nobis se morti tradidit et sue passionis signa fidelibus reservanda commendavit.

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the Reception of Relics at the Sainte-Chapelle. Their identical musical setting and the considerable overlap of words (see Table 2 for their texts, with italic denoting departures from the common text) further called attention to this trio of feasts because they all celebrated the Reception of Relics.

Sequences for 11 August and its Octave In all, ten sequences (with one set to two different melodies) were composed in France to celebrate the Crown of Thorns, all appearing in Sainte-Chapelle sources.12 Two of them, Regis et pontificis and Si vis vere, were relatively popular: the former is extant in twenty manuscripts, the latter in twenty-eight, a rather wide dissemination, considering that most other Crown sequences — sung throughout the octave — are unica. The internal organization of the SainteChapelle Proser follows that of numerous other prosers, starting with the Temporale and proceeding with the Sanctorale and the Common of Saints. A single sequence satisfies the liturgical needs of most feasts, but the most important feasts in the Temporale, as well as most Marian feasts, are usually dotted with a number of sequences. In addition to the one sung in die, alternative sequences may be provided for that same celebration (designated by item prosa for this or that feast, vel ista, or simply alia), or an extra sequence in octavas. A greater number of sequences assigned to a particular feast is a testament to its relative importance, and it is no surprise that Easter, Pentecost, the Assumption, and the Nativity of the Virgin — to name just a few prominent examples — usually have not just a sequence in die, but also in each and every day during the octave. Such sequences are commonly thus designated with rubrics pointing to the day in the liturgical calendar in which they are to be sung: in feria ii of a certain feast and through feria vi, and followed by a sequence for Sabbato. This is exactly the practice for all feasts in Bari 5 that have sequences throughout the octave, except for the Crown of Thorns and, as we shall see below, the Reception of Relics. Uncharacteristically for Bari 5, the rubrics for all nine Crown sequences (the eight grouped together immediately after Prunis datum for St Lawrence and right before Mirabilis Deus, assigned here for the martyr Hippolytus of Rome, and a ninth copied at the end of a section comprising sequences for the Common of Saints) include a word — corona — that makes identification with the intended feast unmistakable. This may well have been done to facilitate identification of a new sequence repertory, highlighting the presence

 12 One other sequence, Synagoga praeparavit, has no concordance in Sainte-Chapelle sources; it is found exclusively in Swedish missals and graduals from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It is a short piece of three paired versicles, most probably of Swedish origin. It is discussed and analysed in Björkvall and Jacobsson, ‘“Diadema salutare” and “Synagoga preparavit”’, pp. 33, 43–44.

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Plate 1. Gens Gallorum. Bari 5, fol. 302v. Reproduced with permission of the Archivio della Basilica di San Nicola, Bari.

t h e c row n o f t ho rns ( 11 au gu st )

of sequences that were freshly composed from among numerous sequences whose context was already well known. The Crown sequence Gens Gallorum is a case in point (see Plate 1). The proser ends with a section opening with various Common sequences, starting with one for the Common of Apostles. As Hesbert has already noted, this section of the proser includes not only sequences for the Common of Saints, but also items that should have found their place earlier in the manuscript and that for some reason were left out during the copying process. Such is the sequence Superne matris for St Sylvester, for instance, and also Gens Gallorum, whose rubric De corona Domini helps identify it as belonging to the Crown liturgy, given that it was copied out of liturgical order. Hesbert, perhaps fancifully, surmised that Gens Gallorum might well have been saved for the end deliberately, crowning the entire volume with a Crown sequence glorifying the French people.13 As we shall see below, this is suggested not only by its relative position within the manuscript, but mainly by the message it carries. The same logic of promoting better orientation within the proser may stand behind the rubrication of the other eight Crown sequences, as can be seen in Table 3. Leafing through the manuscript, the clergy would surely have recognized an Ave virgo […] mater as a Marian sequence, even though its accompanying rubric plainly states feria v, without a reference to the Virgin. This and many other sequences belonged to a repertory that, by the time Bari 5 was copied, had been known at Notre-Dame for more than a century, and in some cases even centuries, which was not the case with the Crown sequences. Table 3. Rubrication of Crown sequences as they appear in Bari 5.

Rubric

Folio

1 Gaude, Syon […] qua corona

 

Sequence incipit

De sancta corona Domini

235v

2 Regis et pontificis

De sancta spinea corona Domini

236v

3 Liberalis manus Dei

Item de corona Domini

238

4 Si vis vere

De sancta corona Domini

239

5 Quasi stella matutina

Item de sancta corona Domini

240v

6 Verbum bonum et iocundum De sancta corona

241

7 Florem spina coronavit

Item de sancta corona Domini

241v

8 Letetur felix Gallia

Item de sancta spinea corona Domini 242v

9 Gens Gallorum

De corona Domini

302v

And yet, should we take the utter lack of chrono­logical indications for Crown sequences (feria i, ii, and so forth) at face value? Given that Bari 5 was copied when liturgical practices at the Sainte-Chapelle were still nascent, perhaps

 13 Le Prosaire de la Sainte-Chapelle, ed. by Hesbert, p. 47, n. 5.

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Table 4. Si vis vere: text and translation.

1a. Si vis vere gloriari, et a Deo coronari, honore et gloria, 1b. Hanc coronam venerari studeas, atque sectari portantis vestigia.

1. If you want to be truly glorified and crowned by God, with glory and honour, take care to venerate this crown and follow the steps of the one who bears it [i.e. Christ].

2a. Hanc celorum rex portavit, 2. The king of heaven wore it, honoured it, and honoravit et sacravit consecrated with his sacred head. In this sacro suo capite. helmet he fought, when he defeated the old 2b. In hac galea pugnavit, enemy, triumphing on the cross. cum antiquum hostem stravit, triumphans in stipite. 3a. Hec pugnantis galea, triumphantis laurea, tyara pontificis, 3b. Primum fuit spinea, post modum fit aurea, tactu sancti verticis.

3. This is the fighter’s helmet, the triumphator’s laurel, the pontifical tiara, which was first made of thorns and afterwards of gold, having touched the crown of [his] sacred head.

4a. Spinarum aquuleosa virtus fecit aureos Christi passionis, 4b. Que peccatib spineos mortis eterne reos adimplevit bonis.

4. The power of Christ’s passion made golden the prickles of the thorn, which filled with good things the thorny ones of sin (?) condemned to eternal death.

5a. De malis colligitur et de spinis plectitur spinea perversis, 5b. Sed in aurum vertitur, quando culpa tollitur, eisdem conversis.

5. The Crown of Thorns was gathered from the wicked and plucked from crooked thorns. But it turned to gold when sin was removed — the evil men transformed into good.

6a. Iocunda mysteria sunt hec sed materia presentis letitie, 6b. Nobis estc hystoria, qua patenterd Francia coronatur hodie.

6. These are pleasing mysteries, but the joy of the present matter is for us [made into] history, by which France is openly crowned today.

7a. Huius coronatio corone susceptio, cuius festum agimus, 7b. Debito cum gaudio et anniversario honore recolimus.

7. His [is] the coronation, his receipt of the Crown, whose feast we celebrate; we commemorate it with worthy joy and with annual honour.

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8a. Thesauro tam nobili tam desiderabili dives es effecta, 8b. Terra carens simili, carens comparabili, Deo predilecta.

8. By this treasure so noble and so desirable, you have been made rich and beloved of God, lacking anything like it, anything comparable on earth.

9a. Triplex preminentia regna tibi alia subdit in honore, 9b. In fide, militiae unctionef regia, quarum flores flore.

9. This triple honourable privilege submits other kingdoms to you in honour, military service, and royal anointing. It is in their flower [this privilege] that you flourish.

10a. Tibi, og urbs inclita, omni laude predita, mater studiorum, 10b. Esth corona credita, et in te reposita, urbs Parisiorum.

10. To you, O renowned city, gifted with all praise, mother of learning, the Crown is entrusted, and in you it is stored, city of Paris.

11a. In Dei preconium totum confert studium, totum cor appone, 11b. Que Christi palladium, et sacra sacrarium, facta es corone.i

11. It [Paris] devotes all its effort to praise the Lord; put all your heart in it, you who became the protection of Christ, the sacred shrine of the Crown.

12a. Ihesu pie, Ihesu bone, nostro nobis in agone largire victoriam, 12b. Mores nostros sic compone, ut perpetue corone mereamur gloriam.

12. Merciful Jesus, good Jesus, grant us victory over our trials, arrange our conduct in such a way that we may be worthy of the glory of the Crown forever.

Notes: a While Arsenal 110 and other manuscripts have aculeos, Bari 5 has aquuleos, an orthographic variant. b Arsenal 110 has pietatis. c Arsenal 110 has Facta est, which would render this versicle to mean ‘These are pleasing mysteries, but the joy of the present matter has been made into history’. d Arsenal 110 has potenter (powerfully). e Bari 5 has malicia, but Arsenal 110 has militia, which works better here (BnF lat. 1337 has fides et malicia). f Arsenal 110 and BnF lat. 1337 have unctioque. g Bari 5 has ob, but the vocative o urbs is more appropriate here, and is indeed found in other sources such as Arsenal 110 and BnF lat. 1337. h Bari 5 has Et. i Verse 11 in Arsenal 110 reads as follows: 11a. O Christi palladium | sacre tu sacrarium | facta es corone, 11b. In Dei preconium | totum confer studium | totum cor appone. Translation: O protection of Christ, you [Paris] are made the shrine of the sacred Crown; devote all your effort and put all your heart into praising God.

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the order in which Crown sequences dotted each day throughout the octave had not yet been fixed. A definite answer to this question cannot be given, however, given that Bari 5 is the only indication we have that at some point in the history of the Sainte-Chapelle, a sequence was sung not only in die, but also on each day throughout the octave. We can be certain, however, that no other source, not even from the Sainte-Chapelle, features Gaude, Syon […] qua corona as the sequence in die, contrary to what seems to be implied by its relative position in Bari 5. With very few exceptions, if manuscripts transmit any liturgy for the Crown of Thorns at all, the honour of being the sole Crown sequence ordinarily falls on the shoulders of either Regis et pontificis or Si vis vere, which in Bari 5 appear in the second and fourth places respectively. Even Brussels IV.472, the Sainte-Chapelle miscellany copied just around the same time as Bari 5, and possibly slightly earlier, assigns Regis et pontificis as the only Crown sequence. At the very least, this state of affairs seems to indicate that the ordering of the Crown sequences in Bari 5 did not have the force of a binding precedent, and it may well have had a quodlibet quality. Let us examine in more detail each of the Sainte-Chapelle Crown sequences, starting with the two most popular ones, Regis et pontificis and Si vis vere, which Bari 5 is the first to transmit, before turning to the remaining sequences in the order in which they appear in Bari 5. Si vis vere

Following an appeal to believers to venerate the Crown of Thorns, the sequence narrates the Crown’s history (for the text, see Table 4), with verse 6 marking a transition between hystoria and the benefits of it hodie, echoing a similar transition found in Cornut’s Historia.14 At this midpoint of the sequence, the focus turns to France — whose standing among the nations emanates from the Crown — and especially to Paris, its capital city. Four verses (8–11) are devoted to Paris, more than to any other subject in the sequence. The city is depicted as a spiritually rich metropolis, a royal capital, a learning centre (mater studiorum), and finally (verse 11) as a shrine of Christ, an unmistakable allusion to the Sainte-Chapelle, functioning inter alia as a sumptuous reliquary. Verse 9 distinguishes Paris for its military strength, erudition, and the anointment of the king. This trio of merits resonates with the opening

 14 Whereas the musical edition of Si vis vere is based on Bari 5, the textual edition occasionally takes into account the readings of two notated Parisian graduals which often transmit a better Latin version than Bari 5: BnF lat. 1337, fols 422–24 (copied in the early fourteenth century), and Arsenal 110, fols 222–23v (copied in the 1280s). For the dating of Arsenal 110, see Baltzer, ‘The Sources and the Sanctorale’, p. 127. A rubric was added by a different hand on the right-hand margins indicating it was for In translatione sancte corone. Si vis vere concludes the sequentiary portion of this source. The mass for the Translation of the Crown of Thorns is found on fols 133v–134 (most of the manuscript contains music for the choral chants of the mass Proper). None of the manuscripts, however, is devoid of mistakes.

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of the conductus Gaude, felix Francia, perhaps written for the coronation of Louis on 29 November 1226:15 Gaude, felix Francia, Speciali gaudio! Felix es militia, Felix es et studio. Sed precellit omnia Tui regis unctio, Quam regnans in Gloria tibi donat, Qui solus in solio regni tonat.

Rejoice, o fortunate France, With special joy! Fortunate thou art in war, And fortunate in thy erudition. But high above all other joys Stands the anointing of thy king, whom [God] ruling the kingdom in glory gives thee, Who alone on the kingdom’s throne rules.

From a conceptual point of view, the sequence can be divided into five entirely symmetrical sections: Verse 1: Exhortation to the public, presumably the people of Paris; Verses 2–5: Description and praise of the Crown of Thorns; Verses 6–7: France rejoices; Verses 8–11: We/you the people of Paris are honoured and must give praise; Verse 12: Invocation, prayer to Jesus. Textually, the sequence works by fairly standard rules and is governed by a taste for repetition, paraphrase, wordplay, and symmetry that was standard by the High Middle Ages. It features thumping rhymes, with usages that are often strained, perhaps also because of the constant change of metrical patterns, opening and closing with the same 8+8+7 scheme. Intervening verses, however, are anything but regular, with 7+7+6 and 7+7+7 versicles. It is the only Crown sequence in which the rhyme scheme for each verse is AABAAB throughout. The overall symmetry of the poem is emphasized by some regular compositional ploys. For example, the last line of every verse but one (verse 3) includes a verb of action. This gives the poem some forward movement even though the rhythm suggests a stop or rest at the end of each verse. One of several sequences for the complex of Gaudeamus omnes masses sung during the Translation of the Crown of Thorns, Si vis vere is found in twenty-eight manuscripts copied mainly between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, half of which are notated. Without doubt, it was the sequence of choice for most churches that adopted the Crown liturgy; no other SainteChapelle sequence was as ubiquitous. Whether notated or not, Si vis vere is a quintessentially Parisian sequence, extant in graduals, ordinals, and missals emanating from the Sainte-Chapelle (including that of Bourges), as well as from a variety of Parisian churches (all the manuscripts with Crown sequences are listed in Appendix 3). It usually follows the Alleluia A corona spinea, and both chants — Alleluia and sequence — are in mode 7.16 The earliest extant

 15 Translation taken from Notre-Dame and Related Conductus, ed. by Anderson, p. ii.  16 There exist several varieties of masses for the 11 August feast opening with the Introit Gaudeamus omnes. The identity of the remaining Propers varies among the sources. Moreover, depending on the manuscript, the same Alleluia chant may be followed by a different sequence. A case in point is BnF lat. 1028, a manuscript from Sens Cathedral copied

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Example 1. Si vis vere, from Bari 5, fols 239–40v.

source to transmit the sequence is Bari 5, fols 239–40v (see Ex. 1).17 Subsequent sources reveal textual and musical variants alike, with the former usually involving prepositions, but sometimes also an omission, addition, or change of words that do not, however, impact the overall meaning of the poem. The melody that sets the sequence actually has a more stable transmission across the sources, mostly with inconsequential differences. Interestingly, the earliest version, that in Bari 5, has numerous grammatical and spelling errors: there are two such mistakes in versicle 4a alone, for instance (aquuleos instead of aculeos, aureo instead of aureos), and versicle 9a, moreover, has subdit in the singular, which is clearly erroneous, as the verb must be in the plural (subdunt) to go with regna alia. The melody that sets Si vis vere seems to be an original composition of the thirteenth century.18 It is a rhymed sequence almost uniformly syllabic, with in the mid-thirteenth century, with additions made c. 1280. The Alleluia A corona is followed there by the sequence Regis et pontificis. See Arnaud, ‘L’Office de la Couronne d’épines’, pp. 43, 98–100.  17 For a detailed description of this source, see De Luca, ‘I manoscritti musicali dell’archivio di San Nicola a Bari’, pp. 47–49.  18 For the purpose of this study, I examined sequences from the following manuscripts: (1) BnF lat. 14452 (a Victorine gradual and proser, the latter dated to 1225–50); (2) BnF lat. 14819 (fragment of a Victorine gradual and a proser, the latter dated to 1220–35); (3) BnF lat. 1112 (Notre-Dame Cathedral, c. 1220); (4) BnF lat. 15615 (Paris, mid-thirteenth

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frequent occurrences of three or four notes per syllable. While all musical lines cadence with a descending figure to the finalis g (b–a–g or c–a–b–g), some of the internal cadences on g feature the so-called ‘Gallican cadence’ (in verse 2, for instance). Like many other sequences, the melody of Si vis vere moves gradually higher, from a low e (verse 1) to a high d (verses 3–5). Immediately after the midpoint of the sequence, verse 7 opens with the lowest note of the entire sequence, a low d, uniquely reached at the opening of this verse. It is thereafter followed by the highest opening note of all double-versicles (a high e in verse 9), and by the melodic climax reached in verse 10, a high g. Significantly, this melodic climax draws attention to Paris, which, as we have seen, is a central theme in this sequence. As already mentioned, there exist also a number of melodic variants between the extant notated versions of Si vis vere, with the most significant one occurring in the opening melodic unit, with Bari 5 opening with an upward leap of a fourth (d–g), where most other sources, like Arsenal 110 (see Ex. 2), have a third (e–g). Moreover, it is the opening melodic unit as a whole (set to the words Si vis vere gloriari) that sets Bari 5 apart from all other sources. The opening melodic unit in Bari 5 is almost identical to that of the twelfth-century sequence Laudes crucis attollamus, the famous sequence likewise honouring a Passion relic, probably composed as a response to the arrival of a fragment of the True Cross from Jerusalem in 1120.19

Example 2. Opening versicle of Si vis vere, from Arsenal 110, fol. 222.

As soon as the Sainte-Chapelle was consecrated on 26 April 1248, the feast celebrating the Crown of Thorns became inexorably associated with the city of Paris. The text of the sequence Si vis vere pays tribute to this union, expressed

century); (5) BnF lat. 830 (Notre-Dame Cathedral, c. 1270; see below, note 23, for more details); (6) BnF lat. 1107 (Saint-Denis, 1259–75); (7) Sens 17 (Sens Cathedral, thirteenth century); (8) BnF lat. 10502 (Sens Cathedral, first half of thirteenth century); and (9) Assisi 695 (a troper-proser copied c. 1230). Some of the datings are taken from Fassler, Gothic Song, p. 167.  19 For an extensive analysis of Laudes crucis, see Fassler, Gothic Song, pp. 64–78. Si vis vere is not a contrafact of Laudes crucis, but it shares the exact same opening, with the d–g leap, with one that is: Ecce magno sacerdoti, for St Gendulphe, also transmitted in Bari 5. The four opening notes of the second melodic unit (set to Hanc celorum) are likewise identical to the corresponding melodic unit of Laudes crucis, but this is where the similarity ends. All other extant sources transmit a melodic version that does not evoke Laudes crucis. Brussels 9125, a notated Parisian missal copied in the second half of fourteenth century, presents an interesting pastiche, encompassing both melodic versions. The melody that would have made it identical with that of Laudes crucis is provided as a parenthetic melisma, before continuing with the version found in Arsenal 110 (but not in Bari 5).

t h e c row n o f t ho rns ( 11 au gu st )

in terms likening Paris to a mother, safeguarding a beloved offspring. The music undergirds this perception by crowning it with the melodic peak of the entire sequence. Regis et pontificis

The sequence offers a sweeping narrative of the Crown of Thorns, which is compared to the entire universe. It is likened to a model for the whole of humankind and consistent with the central trope of the Crown liturgy in general: here too the thorns, once signalling death, are turned into a victorious source of life. Almost as popular as Si vis vere, Regis et pontificis is attested in twenty-one manuscripts, including Brussels IV.472, the miscellany produced in time for the Sainte-Chapelle’s consecration in 1248, where it is the only sequence stipulated for the Crown feast.20 Regis et pontificis and Si vis vere were written in close proximity to one another and even share some verses in common. While the transmission of Si vis vere is relatively straightforward, as we have seen above, Regis et pontificis has come down to us in no fewer than three textual recensions, and with two utterly different melodies (one textual recension, represented by a single example, is extant without music). The geo­graphical distribution of these two widespread sequences is also strikingly different: while Si vis vere is exclusively associated with Parisian institutions, Regis et pontificis is also associated with the archdiocese of Sens, where the first public ceremony in honour of the newly arrived Crown was conducted in 1239. It is copied in manuscripts from Sens Cathedral (including BnF lat. 1028, to which it was added in the last decades of the thirteenth century), Auxerre, Autun, and the Premonstratensian abbey of Notre-Dame of Dilo up to the seventeenth century.21 Oddly for a place far removed from the orbit of the Sainte-Chapelle and lying outside the archdiocese of Sens (of which Paris was a part until 1622), the sequence also appears in a single manuscript from the church of St John the Baptist in Chaumont (about 200 km east of Sens), a sixteenth-century notated gradual.22 More than half of the manuscripts transmitting Regis et pontificis are Parisian; both sequences are found in the earliest witnesses to the liturgy at the Sainte-Chapelle, but not necessarily in the same manuscript: in other words, the two sequences are found in Bari 5, but only one of them,  20 Appendix 3 lists all the Crown sequences (with or without notation, and sometimes only its incipit). Analecta hymnica lists several more concordances in printed volumes as well (AH 54: 205).  21 The manuscript in question is Sens 17, a notated gradual copied before 1264 available online: . See Meyer, Catalogue des manuscrits notés du Moyen Age, iii, 196–97. The sequence is found in the seventeenth-century supplement of Sens 17, which ‘might well reflect thirteenth-century practice, like the seventeenth-century replacement-pages at the beginning of Sens 16’ (see Kelly, ‘Sequences in Sens’, p. 345).  22 Chaumont 266, is analysed in Meyer, Catalogue des manuscrits notés du Moyen Age, ii, 56–57.

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Regis and pontificis, in Brussels. Only Si vis vere continued to be copied into Sainte-Chapelle manuscripts, while Regis et pontificis became associated from early on with the abbey of Saint-Victor and a small number of other Parisian churches.23 As already mentioned, Regis et pontificis is set to two utterly different melodies (listed as Melodies 1 and 2 in Table 5 below), and also has three textual recensions that somewhat overlap (listed as Texts A, B, and C). Different melodies for identical sequence texts were quite common, especially from the twelfth century onward: dozens of sequence texts are set to more than two melodies: the Marian sequence Orbis totus, unda lotus, for instance, was set to three different melodies in the twelfth century alone,24 and some sequences were set to as many as eight melodies.25 It is interesting, nonetheless, that the same sequence text should be set to two different melodies at about the same time, in the same city, and perhaps most peculiarly, at the same institution, if we accept that Brussels IV.472 is indeed a miscellany for the Sainte-Chapelle. We shall examine the possible reason for this below. We can catch a cursory glimpse of all the manuscripts transmitting a version of Regis et pontificis in Table 5; only manuscripts with the full text of the sequence (whether with or without notation) are included, while BnF lat. 14506, which provides only a text incipit, has been left out since, owing to its incompleteness, it is impossible to know what textual recension it belongs to. Conspicuously, the earliest extant melodic version of Regis et pontificis (Text A) is an unicum, this in a manuscript — Brussels IV.472 — ostensibly reflecting the earliest chapter in the liturgy of the Sainte-Chapelle; all other manuscripts transmit an identical melody (Melody 2) for this sequence, regardless of the text recension. The two Parisian sources that together with Brussels IV.472 constitute the earliest evidence for the Crown and relics masses already transmit a version of Regis et pontificis with a different melody (Melody 2) albeit set to the same text recension (Text A).26 The singularity of Regis et pontificis in Brussels IV.472 is even more striking considering that two manuscripts copied

 23 On the connection between Saint-Victor and the early Sainte-Chapelle liturgy, see Gaposchkin, Vexilla Regis Glorie, p. 60. I thank her for drawing my attention to the Victorine manuscripts in the context of the Sainte-Chapelle. Other Parisian establishments include Notre-Dame and the Sorbonne. Leroquais and others state that BnF lat. 830 is from Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois, but in fact ‘it is a copy of the cathedral liturgy, but with certain peculiarities. It was produced ca. 1270 in Paris, but the Sanctorale contains no feast after 1200. The calendar is much more up to date; it represents a state of the mid to late 1260s. The proser represents a later state than the Sanctorale, for it includes a number of saints not found in the Sanctorale, but it is not as up to date as the calendar. There are several rubrics that mark it as the use of Notre Dame’ (Rebecca Baltzer, personal communication).  24 Huglo, ‘Origine et diffusion de la séquence parisienne’, p. 210.  25 Van Deusen, ‘Polymelodic Sequences and a “Second Epoch”’, pp. 220–21.  26 BnF lat. 15615, the Parisian missal copied in the mid-thirteenth century (in use at the Sorbonne, but certainly not made for it originally), and Arsenal 197, a mid- to late thirteenthcentury Victorine gradual.

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Table 5. Regis et pontificis: textual and musical recensions according to the manuscripts.

Text recensions

Musical recensions

Text A

Text B

Text C

Melody 1

Melody 2

Brussels IV. 472

Bari 5

BL 38723

Brussels IV. 472

Bari 5

BnF lat. 15615

BnF lat. 1028

BnF lat. 15615

Sens 17

Lisbon 84

BnF lat. 1028

BnF lat. 17316

BnF lat. 864B

Lisbon 84

Chaumont 266

BnF lat. 865A

Mazarine 422

Montpellier H71

BL 30058

Arsenal 197

Arsenal 197

Soissons 85

Chaumont 266

BnF lat. 14452

Mazarine 422

Sens 17

BnF lat. 14448

Autun 10

BnF lat. 14452

BnF lat. 830

BL 38723 Soissons 85

just a decade or so later already transmit yet another version of the sequence, with both a contrasting melody (Melody 2) and textual recension (Text B).27 That Brussels IV.472 provides a version of Regis et pontificis that was quickly abandoned is consistent with other types of changes that the Crown liturgy knew at the Sainte-Chapelle, albeit at a considerably slower pace. As Cecilia Gaposchkin has demonstrated, the office for the Crown of Thorns at the Sainte-Chapelle changed considerably in the fourteenth century, when the original office Adest nova (found in Brussels IV.472 and Bari 3) was replaced with Gaude felix, while preserving the same lessons based on the sermon Qui dat escam.28

 27 The two manuscripts are Bari 5, copied in the mid-thirteenth century, and the contempora­ neous Lisbon 84, a gradual-proser from Sens. The latter was copied in two phases, most of it ‘not much later than 1264’ (fols 1–250), in which the sequence is copied, and a small part ‘after 1297’ (fols 251–67). See De Luca, ‘A Notated Graduale-Prosarium from Sens in Lisbon’, p. 241. The manuscript is accessible online at . The same version is found in two other sources copied slightly later, towards the end of the thirteenth century: BnF lat. 1028 and Mazarine 422, a Parisian missal. Originally, the latter may not have had a proser, as the one currently concluding it was copied by a different hand, possibly in the fourteenth century, and without notation, contrary to the bulk of the missal (Bernard, Répertoire de manuscrits médiévaux, ii, 79–81). Regis et pontificis was added to Mazarine 422 in a way that clearly demonstrates that it was not part of the original plan. It was copied at the end of a section containing votive masses. In all probability, it was copied there (by the same thirteenth-century hand that copied the music of the bulk of the missal, it seems to me) because of space considerations: the verso of the penultimate folio and the concluding folio of that particular gathering would otherwise have remained empty.  28 Gaposchkin, Vexilla Regis Glorie, pp. 60–64.

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Table 6. Regis et pontificis: text recensions juxtaposed with Si vis vere.

Regis et pontificis — Text A Regis et pontificis — Text B 1a. Regis et pontificis Let us honour with mystical 1a. Regis et pontificis praises the diadem of [our] king dyadema mysticis dyadema mysticis and [our] High Priest. Let us honoremus laudibus. honoremus laudibus. rejoice in allegorical songs, let us 1b. Iocundemur tropicis, 1b. Iocundemur tropicis, be united in angelic conduct. canticis angelicis canticis angelicis concordemus moribus. concordemus moribus. Si vis vere — 1. Si vis vere gloriari, | et a Deo coronari, | honore et gloria, | Hanc coronam venerari | studeas, atque sectari | portantis vestigia. Regis et pontificis — Text A Regis et pontificis — Text B In the Crown of our Lord, a 2a. In corona Domini 2a. In corona Domini model, beautifully necessary, is formaa datur homini forma datur homini pulchre necessaria. given to humankind. The thorn is pulchre necessaria. the prick of death, but the round 2b. Spina mortis stimulus 2b. Spina mortis stimulus ring of the Crown is victory over sed corone circulus sed corone circulus death. mortis est victoria. mortis est victoria. Si vis vere — 2. Hanc celorum rex portavit, | honoravit et sacravit | sacro suo capite. | In hac galea pugnavit, | cum antiquum hostem stravit, | triumphans in stipite. Regis et pontificis — Text A Regis et pontificis — Text B The lightness of the reed 3a Levitas arundinis 3a. Levitas arundinis represents humankind’s destiny, levis casus hominis levis casus hominis [and] the heart fallen by nature. cor natura labile. cor natura labile. The humble heart bears the 3b. Fert coronam spineam 3b. Fert coronam spineam thorny Crown made of reed. arundineam arundineam cor contritum humile. cor contritum humile. Si vis vere — 3. Hec pugnantis galea, | triumphantis laurea, | tyara pontificis, | Primum fuit spinea, | post modum fit aurea, | tactu sancti verticis. Regis et pontificis — Text A Regis et pontificis — Text B The thorn punctures the proud 4a. Spina pungit cor elatum, 4a. Spina pungit cor elatum, heart, it softens the hardened cor emollit induratum, cor emollit induratum, heart, pricking it with the reed. pungens ex arundine. pungens ex arundine. The orb of the Crown represents 4b. Orbis orbis est corone 4b. Orbis orbes est corone the orb of the world, even the vel unguentum vite bone vel unguentum vite bone perfume of the good life, fragrant fraglans ex dulcedine. fraglans ex dulcedine. in its sweetness. Si vis vere — 4. Spinarum aculeos, | virtus fecit aureos | Christi passionis, | Que pietatis spineos | mortis eterne reos | adimplevit bonis. Regis et pontificis — Text A Regis et pontificis — Text B 5a. Hanc coronam hodie nostre confert Gallie rex misericordie. 5b. Cuius testimonia vera clamant omnia mundus et demonia.

Today the King of Mercy confers 5a. Hanc coronam hodie this Crown upon our France. sue confert Gallie Whose true testimonies the world rex misericordie. and all spirits cry out. 5b. Cuius testimonia vera clamant omnia mundus et demonia.

Si vis vere — 5. De malis colligitur | et de spinis plectitur | spinea perversis, | Sed in aurum vertitur, | quando culpa tollitur, | eisdem conversis.

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Let us honour with mystical praises the diadem of [our] king and [our] High Priest. Let us rejoice in allegorical songs, let us be united in angelic conduct.

Regis et pontificis — Text C 1a. Regis et pontificis dyadema mysticis honoremus laudibus. 1b. Iocundemur tropicis, canticis angelicis concordemus vocibus.

In the Crown of our Lord, a model, beautifully necessary, is given to humankind. The thorn is the prick of death, but the round ring of the Crown is victory over death.

Regis et pontificis — Text C 2a. In corona Domini forma datur homini pulchre necessaria. 2b. Spina mortis stimulus sed corone circulus mortis est victoria.

In the Crown of our Lord, a model, beautifully necessary, is given to humankind. The thorn is the prick of death, but the round ring of the Crown is victory over death.

The lightness of the reed represents humankind’s destiny, [and] the heart fallen by nature. The humble heart bears the thorny Crown made of reed.

Regis et pontificis — Text C 3a. Ponderosa levitas carnis est fragilitas cor natura labile. 3b. Fert coronam spineam sanguine purpuream cor contritum humile.

The weighty lightness is the fragility of the flesh, a heart naturally changeable. The heart, contrite and humble, bears the Crown of Thorns made red by blood.

Regis et pontificis — Text C The thorn punctures the proud 4a. Spina pungit cor elatum, heart, it softens the hardened heart, cor emollit induratum, pricking it with the reed. The orb of penetrans acumine. the Crown represents the orb of the 4b Orbis orbes est corone world, even the perfume of the good vel unguentum vite bone life, fragrant in its sweetness. frangans ex dulcedine.

Let us honour with mystical praises the diadem of [our] king and [our] High Priest. Let us rejoice in allegorical songs, let us be united in angelic voices.

The thorn punctures the proud heart, it softens the hardened heart, pricking it with the reed. The orb of the Crown represents the orb of the world, even the perfume of the good life, fragrant in its sweetness.

Regis et pontificis — Text C Today the King of Mercy confers this Crown upon his France. Whose true testimonies the world and all spirits cry out.

5a. Spina dum configitur Golie confringitur fons et cassis erea. 5b. Frangit cassis cassidem sathane tyrannidem, hec salutis galea.

As the thorn pierces through, the source of Goliath and his brass helmet are broken. The helmet breaks the helmet, the helmet of salvation (breaks) the tyranny of Satan.

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Table 6. Regis et pontificis: text recensions juxtaposed with Si vis vere (cont.).

Regis et pontificis — Text A Regis et pontificis — Text B This is the fighter’s helmet, the 6a. Hec pugnantis galea, 6a. Dilatatur amplius triumphant laurel, the pontifical triumphantis laurea, civitas Parisius tiara, which was first made of tyara pontificis, Gallie ginnasium. thorns and afterwards of gold, 6b. Primum fuit spinea, 6b. Et in sensum spiritus having touched the crown of [his] post modum fit aurea, transeat divinitus sacred head. tactu sancti verticis. litterale studium. Si vis vere — 6. Iocunda mysteria | sunt hec sed materia | presentis letitie, | Facta est hystoria, | qua potenter Francia | coronatur hodie. Regis et pontificis — Text A Regis et pontificis — Text B The king of heaven wore it, 7a. Hanc celorum rex portavit, 7a. Ludovice rex francorum, honoured it, and consecrated honoravit et sacravit sub te iungent antiquorum it with his sacred head. In this sacro suo capite, regum dyademate. helmet fought, when he defeated 7b. Dum corona coronarum 7b. In hac galea pugnavit, cum antiquum hostem stravit, the old enemy, triumphing upon spina crucis, flos spinarum the cross. triumphans in stipite tua prefert scemate. Si vis vere — 7. Huius coronatio | corone susceptio, | cuius festum agimus, | Debito cum gaudio | et cum anniversario | honore recolimus. Regis et pontificis — Text A Regis et pontificis — Text B Merciful Jesus, noble Jesus, grant 8a. O rex regum qui centenis 8a. Ihesu pie, Ihesu bone, us victory over our trials, arrange nostro nobis in agone sexagenis et tricenis our conduct in such a way that we largire victoriam, es coronis gloria. 8b. Mores nostros sic compone, may be worthy of the glory of the 8b. Hac corona nos corones Crown forever. Amen. ut perpetue corone et illarum per hanc dones mereamur gloriam. Amen. post agonis stadia.

Si vis vere — 8. Thesauro tam nobili | tam desiderabili | dives es effecta, | Terra carens simili, | carens comparabili, | Deo predilecta. Regis et pontificis — Text A Regis et pontificis — Text B   Beata nobis gaudia. Si vis vere — 9. Triplex preminentia | regna tibi alia | subdunt in honore, | In fide militia | unctioque regia, | quarum flores flore. Si vis vere — 10. Tibi, o urbs inclita, | omni laude predita, | mater studiorum, | Est corona credita, | et in te reposita, | urbs Parisiorum. Si vis vere — 11. O Christi palladium, | sacre tu sacrarium, | facta es corone, | In Dei preconium | totum confer studium, | totum cor appone. Si vis vere — 12. Ihesu pie, Ihesu bone, | nostro nobis in agone | largire victoriam, | Mores nostros sic compone, | ut perpetue corone | mereamur gloriam. | Amen Notes: a Erroneously, some sources, including Brussels IV.472, have forme instead of the nominative forma. b Sic: cilicitia does not rhyme with disciplina.

t h e c row n o f t ho rns ( 11 au gu st )

The city of Paris, the school of France, is further amplified. And may the study of the literal sense [the Bible] divinely pass into the spiritual sense.

O Louis, King of the Franks, the diadems of ancient kings unite under your reign. As long as the Crown of crowns, the thorn of the cross, the flower of thorns, gives preference to your emblems.

O, King of kings, you who are the glory for 100, 60, and 30 crowns. May you crown us with this Crown, and may you grant to us, through this Crown, the blessed joys of those [crowns] after our agony’s struggle.

Everlasting joys.

Regis et pontificis — Text C 6a. Hec fiscella scirpea, liliosa rosea caput nostrum continens. 6b. Hec est torquis aurea triumphalis laurea ad victorem pertinens.

Regis et pontificis — Text C 7a. Hec nostri ligatura capitis et armatura, membra salvans omnia. 7b. Hec est signum militare per quod novit triumphare militans ecclesia.

Regis et pontificis — Text C 8a. Hec est vestis cilicitiab quam pro pacis disciplina quasi stella matutina Ninive rex induit. 8b. Hec est byssus sed retorta cuius candor lux est orta. Hec est prima celi porta quam Christus aperuit. Amen

Regis et pontificis — Text C  

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This branch of marine rush, lily and rose, girdles our head. It is the gold necklace, the laurel of triumph that belongs to the winner.

It is the protection of our head and the armour that saves all our limbs. It is the military standard through which the militant Church knows that it triumphs.

This is the tunic (sackcloth) which, in order to maintain peace, like the morning star, the king of Nineveh wears. It is linen but pleated, whose brightness gives birth to light. This is the first door of the heavens that Christ has opened. Amen.

 

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The three textual versions of Regis et pontificis (A, B, and C, compared side by side and provided with English translations in Table 6), are identical in length, comprising eight double-versicle verses. In all versions, each double versicle is composed of three textual lines, with the exception of Text C, which concludes with an extended verse, comprising two four-line versicles. The first four verses in all textual recensions are essentially identical, with only versicles 3a and b and 4a of Text C being in slight variance; the meaning remains the same, but the vocabulary is different, as if someone was recalling the original text from memory.29 Whereas Text C is completely different from the fifth verse onward, the agreement between Texts A and B continues through verse 5, after which they diverge.30 Both textual versions A and B, accounting for all but one extant sequence, allude to France and/or Paris (Text C, found in a single Parisian missal and proser copied in the mid-thirteenth century, is the only one entirely devoid of such references).31 Just before Texts A and B start to diverge, verse 5 makes clear that the Crown, whose attributes have just been extolled, was bestowed on his/our France not fortuitously, but intentionally, as part of a divine plan to elevate France among the nations. Whereas Text A, representing a textual tradition centred overwhelmingly on Paris (mainly the Sainte-Chapelle and Saint-Victor) continues the exegetical thrust of the preceding verses, transforming the mocking Crown into a triumphing one, Text B, overwhelmingly associated with sources from Sens, expounds on the less-than-universal significance of the Crown. Verse 6 stresses that the status of Paris is amplified thanks to the presence of the Crown, while the entire sequence seems to culminate in verse 7, revealing King Louis to be the real addressee of the poem, he for whom the Crown of Thorns is a reflection both of his standing among the nations and of his merit in the eyes of God.32

 29 Of course, it can also be owing to a copying error.  30 Manuscripts in each ‘version category’ exhibit the kinds of variants (textual and musical) that are common in medieval transmission. While preserving the syllable-count and assonance (where relevant), words such as vocibus/moribus, Dilatature/Dilatetur, and nostre/ sue are used interchangeably.  31 BL 38723, fol. 187v. The manuscript is notated, but the sequence, added by a later hand, is only partly notated. Moreover, it is out of place; the Crown liturgy is copied on fols 185–86, followed by the Laudes regiae on fols 186v–187v. Regis et pontificis was clearly not envisioned when the manuscript was originally copied, but it was added right after the Laudes regiae in the empty staves left in the left-hand column, and continuing on the right-hand, staffless side of the page. Consequently, only that part of the sequence that fits into the musical staff on the left-hand column is notated (corresponding to the first and second musical lines), enough to identify it as unmistakably belonging to musical Type 2. I thank Cecilia Gaposchkin for drawing my attention to this manuscript.  32 Verse 8 includes a curious allusion to the ‘king of kings, you who are the glory for 100, 60, and 30 crowns’. It may well be a reference to the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, in which a seed that falls on good ground yields 100‑, 60‑, or 30-fold. I thank Jordan Sramek for suggesting this to me.

t h e c row n o f t ho rns ( 11 au gu st )

Interestingly, the concluding three verses of Text A are also found interpolated in the much longer Si vis vere so that verses 6 and 7 of Regis et pontificis are identical to verses 3 and 2, respectively, of Si vis vere. Both sequences end with the same invocation (verse 8 and verse 12 respectively). Given the mutual connection between the two, it is tempting to speculate on the relative priority of one sequence over the other, but they both appear on stage practically at the same time, and even in the same manuscript. Bari 5 is the only extant source to transmit the two sequences together, with only one sequence, Liberalis manus Dei, separating them. All other sources transmit one or the other, but not both. From a narrative point of view, Si vis vere is clearly the more coherent of the two. As we have seen above, it logically progresses from recalling the history of salvation to its relevance to present times and to the feast of the Crown, pointing to parallels between then and now. In Text A of Regis et pontificis, however, the narrative of salvation history is unexpectedly interrupted in verse 5 with an allusion to then-current events (‘Today the King of Mercy confers this Crown upon our France’), after which the concluding verses signal a return to the logical thrust of the sequence as a whole. In that sense, Text B of Regis et pontificis is far more coherent than Text A, with the former carrying on with the significance of the Crown for Paris, France, and the French monarchy. Although Text A already appears in Brussels IV.472, which may well be slightly earlier than Bari 5, it is impossible to point to which sequence came first on the basis of internal coherence alone. The melody that sets Regis et pontificis in Brussels IV.472 is probably an original composition,33 but the melody that replaced it shortly thereafter (regardless of the textual version that went along with it) is a contrafact of Per unius casum grani.34 The new Regis et pontificis is almost an exact contrafact of the St Quentin sequence, save for the adjustment owing to the difference in syllable count. Whereas the versicles of Per unius casum grani are made of 8+8+7 lines, which are very common in the sequence repertory, Regis et pontificis has an unparalleled metrical variety in the Crown sequence repertory: some verses have the 8+8+7, still others proceed with 7+7+7, but versicle 3b has 7+5+7.35 As we can see comparing the melodic recensions of Regis et pontificis, the original Regis et pontificis found in Brussels IV.472 is in mode 7 and is almost

 33 The first half of verse 1 is very similar to that of Corde puro mente for St Eustache (which is a fourth lower), but beyond this superficial resemblance, the sequence seems to be an original creation. See note 18 above for the list of manuscripts whose sequence repertories were examined for the sake of comparison.  34 It has been claimed that the melody that sets Regis et pontificis is modelled on Mane prima sabbati or Veni Sancte Spiritus, but their melodies have no relation whatsoever (see L’Office de la Couronne d’épines à Sens, ed. by Arnaud and Dennery, p. xxxviii).  35 Metrical variety is fairly common in numerous sequences, for instance in the famous Laudes crucis, which incidentally has a significant metrical shift in the third verse as well (the two sequences are unrelated). See Adam de Saint-Victor, Les Proses, ed. by Misset and Aubry, pp. 28–55.

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Example 3. Comparison of chant readings for Regis et pontificis.

t h e c row n o f t ho rns ( 11 au gu st )

Example 3 (cont.). Comparison of chant readings for Regis et pontificis.

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Example 3. (cont.). Comparison of chant readings for Regis et pontificis.

t h e c row n o f t ho rns ( 11 au gu st )

Example 3 (cont.). Comparison of chant readings for Regis et pontificis.

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Example 3. (cont.). Comparison of chant readings for Regis et pontificis.

t h e c row n o f t ho rns ( 11 au gu st )

Example 3 (cont.). Comparison of chant readings for Regis et pontificis.

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pa rt i Example 3 (cont.). Comparison of chant readings for Regis et pontificis.

t h e c row n o f t ho rns ( 11 au gu st )

uniformly syllabic (see Ex. 3). The melody that sets the new composition, however, is in mode 1, with verses that start syllabically before giving way to melismas that become more and more gushing. In fact, leafing through the major collections of notated sequences from the thirteenth century, one cannot escape the notion that this is perhaps the most melismatic sequence in the French repertory. A particularly long melisma comprising a stepwise descent of a seventh (b flat to c) draws attention to the sweetness of the reed in verse 4 (arundine and dulcedine), while a melisma encompassing the exact same interval but in a stepwise ascent (c to b flat) highlights France and its place among all nations (Gallie/rex and omnia/mundus) in verse 5, which also has a different rhyme scheme (AAABBB) from all other verses, which have the more typical AABCCB. The most elaborate melisma, which also happens to reach the highest note of the entire sequence (a high b flat) is found in verse 6 to the words tyara and Gallie (Texts A and B respectively), again essentially delineating a stepwise descent of a seventh. The longest melisma over a single syllable, it also encapsulates the differing emphases given in each version of Regis et pontificis: one centring solely on the Crown of Thorns (likened to a pontifical tiara), the other exploiting it for enhancing the legitimacy of the French monarchy and its standing among the nations. Gaude, Syon, que diem recolis qua corona

Whereas the popular Regis et pontificis and Si vis vere follow along a more or less similar trajectory, situating the Crown and its role in salvation history before taking pride in its presence in Paris while adopting a congratulatory tone, Gaude, Syon […] qua corona is one of several Crown sequences that opens by singing the praises of the Crown in Paris and France before moving to a more theo­logical vein of narration (see Plate 2). The opening verse clearly establishes a translatio imperii from East to West, with Zion now standing for the French people. Verse 2 extols the Crown as it is respected by both humankind and ‘heavenly dwellers’, turning France into an ‘invincible kingdom’. Indeed, according to Gérard de Saint-Quentin, it was on account of the Crown that ‘the city of Constantinople was then flourishing’ (de cujus presentia Constantinopolis civitas tunc pollebat), and by extension, ‘Paris, that city as if another Jerusalem’ (ad urbem Parisiensem […] ipsa civitas quasi altera Iherusalem) would ultimately thrive as well.36 Verses 3–6 revisit the familiar trope of the theo­logy of reversals (braided with evil thorns, the Crown became a helmet for salvation), with verse 6 delineating a Christo­logical history with the Crown of Thorns playing a role starting with the incarnation of Jesus (‘the first day of the union with his flesh’), continuing with his Passion (‘the suffering of the flesh’), and culminating with a reference to the Triduum and the crown of glory received at the resurrection of Christ. As is usual in  36 Miller, ‘Review of Exuviae sacrae Constantinopolitinae’, pp. 296, 301.

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Plate 2. Gaude, Syon […] qua corona. Bari 5, fol. 235v. Reproduced with permission of the Archivio della Basilica di San Nicola, Bari.

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Table 7. Gaude, Syon […] qua corona: text and translation.

1a. Gaude, Syon, que diem recolis Qua corona Christi Francicolis De thesauro Constantinopolis asportatur. 1b. Hec corona, mundo splendidior Astris, cunctis coronis sanctior. Nulla ferri a Christo dignior destinatur.

Rejoice, Zion, you who celebrate the day on which the Crown of Christ is brought to the Franks from the treasury of Constantinople. This Crown is more resplendent for the world than the stars, more sacred than all crowns. No more worthy crown is chosen to be worn by Christ.

2a. Hec corona a servis subdolis Dudum spreta, sed a Christicolis Nunc regibus et a celicolis honoratur. 2b. Hec corona, tunc contumelie Sed honoris nunc est et glorie, Regnum per quam invictum Gallie sublimatur.

This Crown, formerly despised by treacherous slaves, is now honoured by the Christian kings and the heavenly dwellers. This is the Crown, formerly an object of scorn but now of honour and glory, through which the invincible kingdom of France is exalted.

3a. Hec corona, cuius aquuleus Pungens fuit, cruentans, spineus Placens Christo, dulcis et aureus approbatur. 3b. Hec corona, Christo ut rosea, Sed Iudeis ferrea, spinea, Fidelibus plebibus aurea comprobatur.

This Crown, whose prick was piercing, bloodying, thorny, [but] pleasing to Christ, is considered sweet and golden. This Crown, like a rose to Christ, but like iron and thorns to the Jews, is approved like gold to the faithful people.

4a. Hec corona de spinis plectitur Et de malis sertum connectitur, Sed in aurum, cum culpa tollitur commutatur. 4b. Hec corona, salutis galea, Triumphantis athelete laurea, Cuius signo clerus et in ea gloriatur.

This Crown is braided from thorns, and the garland is woven from evils, but when the sin is removed, it is changed into gold. This is the Crown, the helmet of salvation, the laurel of the victorious athlete, under whose sign the clergy also glories in it.

5a. Hec corona altaris vertice Arche serto mense mirifice Aureola aurea mistice figuratur. 5b. Hec corona nescia comparis Patris patrum inclita cytharisa Qua gloria celi pax eucharis terre datur.

This Crown is mystically symbolized by a golden circle at the top of the altar or the Ark [of the Covenant], the garland of the miraculous table. This is the Crown, knowing no equal, illustrious cithara of the Father of fathers, through which glory the agreeable peace of heaven is given to earth.

6a. Hec corona, qua rex iusticie Desponsate carnis primo die Et ipsius cordis letitie coronatur. 6b. Hec corona Christo miserie Carnis prima misericordie Iustitie tertia glorie postparatur.

This is the Crown with which the king of justice is crowned on the first day of the union with his flesh [incarnation] and of the joy of his heart. This Crown is then prepared for Christ on the first [day] for the suffering of the flesh, on the third [day] for mercy, justice, and glory.

7a. O corona Christi, egregium Dyadema sertumque regium, Cum angelis tuis preconium admittatur. 7b. O corona, que spem currentium Per stadium regis et studium, Per te celi corone bravium conferatur.

O Crown of Christ, a singular diadem and royal wreath, may your praise be admitted with your angels. O Crown, you who guide the hope and zeal of those running through the stadium, may the reward of the crown of heaven be granted through you.

Note: a Bari 5 has cydaris.

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t h e c row n o f t ho rns ( 11 au gu st )

Example 4. Gaude, Syon […] qua corona, from Bari 5, fols 235v–236v.

this genre, the concluding verse promises rewards to the faithful, likened to athletes in a stadium, an image derived from i Corinthians 9. 24: ‘know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain’37 (see Table 7). Gaude, Syon […] qua corona is one of five sequences found in Bari 5 opening with Gaude, Syon, que diem recolis. The sequences subsequently diverge according to the saint/object being celebrated on that day: the Crown of Thorns, Blaise, Martin, the so-called triumphal cross, and all the relics together (vexilla). While the Martinian sequence is found in numerous manuscripts from all over Europe, the four other sequences are virtually unique to Bari 5, and as a group they celebrate relics found at the Sainte-Chapelle. Gaude, Syon […] qua corona is the sequence inaugurating the series of Crown sequences in Bari 5. Only one other source transmits this sequence, albeit as

 37 The sequence contains some very obscure passages, and is far from being the epitome of clarity. In verse 5, for instance, aurea and aureola are usually both adjectives meaning golden; they can be substantives referring to a gold coin, but this seems odd unless the word refers to the shape of a gold coin, hence close to ‘halo’ or ‘circle’.

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a later addition: BnF lat. 8884, fol. 328v, originally a Dominican missal copied sometime between 1233 and 1239, and later adapted to reflect the rite of Paris, when it came to be used in the chapel of St Louis of Marseilles at Notre-Dame. It includes one more sequence (likewise a later addiiton): Si vis vere, known from the Parisian/Sainte-Chapelle context. The mode-7 melody that sets the two Gaude, Syon sequences for the Crown and Relics (see Ex. 4) is practically identical and is a contrafact of Gaude, Syon for St Martin, set to the Parisian melody found in both Notre-Dame and Sainte-Chapelle, where it has six verses.38 Both sequences comprise versicles of 10+10+10+4 syllables, which contrast with the more prevailing penchant for 8+8+7 lines per versicle. Of the two, the Crown sequence recalls the one for St Martin more closely; not only does it share the same melody (with the exact same number of verses) but also the same grammatical construct (each versicle ends with a four-syllable passive verb in the indicative) and the opening formulations of each verse, as can be clearly seen in the comparison of line openings:  

Gaude, Syon (St Martin)

Gaude, Syon (Crown)

Verse 1

a) Gaude, Syon […] b) Hic Martinus

a) Gaude, Syon […] b) Hec corona

Verses 2–6

a) Hic Martinus […] b) Hic Martinus

a) Hec corona […] b) Hec corona

Verse 7

a) O Martine […] b) O Martine

a) O corona […] b) O corona

All melodic lines have g as a final, and typically for this repertory, verses 1–4 have a definite plagal quality to them, with the concluding three verses exuding a more festive tone, exploring the authentic range of the mode. Liberalis manus Dei

Right from the outset (verses 1 and 2), Liberalis manus Dei pays tribute to the actual cause for celebration: France is rightfully the permanent repository of the Crown of Thorns, by virtue of which the king of France is heavenly anointed (see Table 8). As Alyce Jordan observed, allusions to the Crown of Thorns ‘are interwoven with more ambiguous references to crowns which could be interpreted as the Crown of Christ, the temporal crown of the king, or the crown as a metaphor for the realm. This rhetorical ambiguity’, Jordan continues, ‘constituted a powerful rhetorical device that fueled the perceptual  38 In Saint-Victor, the Martinian sequence has two additional verses and is set to a different melody. See Fassler, Gothic Song, pp. 293, 311–12, and Le Prosaire de la Sainte-Chapelle, ed. by Hesbert, p. 93.

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Table 8. Liberalis manus Dei: text and translation.

1. Liberalis manus Dei, sue domus speciei, et corone triumphorum collocat in Francia.

The generous hand of God finds in France a place for the beauty of its house, and for the crown of its triumphs.a

2a. Roma, caput christianum, Insignatum habet manum Summo sacerdotio. 2b. Celi gaudet unctione Rex Francorum et corone Dei privilegio.

Rome, Christian capital, has a remarkable band of soldiers for the supreme priest. The king of France rejoices in the celestial unction and crown through divine privilege.

3a. Hec corona primitiva, Coronarum genitiva, Que coronat merita. 3b. Non ex auro, sed de spinis Seu de juncis est marinis, Virens, pungens condita.

It is the original Crown, the mother of crowns which crowns the merits. It is not made of gold but of thorns or sea reeds, blossoming and pricking.

4a. Viror cingens Christi tempus Regnaturi iuge tempus Verno monstrat circulo, 4b. Et quod caro refloreret, Ne corrumpi se videret Mortis ictus iaculo.

Its green colour which surrounds Christ’s temple signifies by its spring-like circle the time of Christ, who must reign forever, and that the flesh should flourish again, nor shall he who was smitten by the arrow of death see corruption.

5a. Multitudo stimulorum Mortes signat redemptorum, Ambitus victoriam. 5b. Quam conclusit morti funus, Cuius solvit sanguis unus Omnis mortis hostiam.

The multitude of pricks signifies the death of the redeemed, the circle the victory which [Christ’s] death completed over death, whose single blood freed the sacrificial victim of every death.

6a. Ante David regno functus Fit secundo rex inunctus Oleo letitie. 6b. Sanum caput dum invadunt, Mors et culpa victe cadunt Sanguisuge filie.

Before David, he had the monarchy; he became king a second time by being anointed with the oil of gladness. At the moment in which they attack his healthy head, death and fault, bloodsucking daughters, fall defeated.

7a. Crucifixi novat letum Fel propinat et acetum, Percutit arundine. 7b. Infidelis nequam levis Quem circumfert aura quevis Ad crimen de crimine.

He renews the death of the Crucified, he makes him drink bile and vinegar, he strikes him with a reed. [He is] the infidel, wicked and fickle, whom any breath carries around from crime to crime.

8a. Sanguis emptor emptis tanti Nobis fiat, nostra quanti Fuit huic miseria. 8b. Instat paci, sic certemus Quod regnanti conregnemus Cum corone gloria.

May the blood of the redeemer mean as much to us the redeemed as our misery did for him. He presses for peace; may we fight so as to reign with him who reigns with the glory of his crown.

Note: a The opening phrase of this sequence seems to have a word missing, or else the case of one of the words is wrong. It is only by slighting changing the sense of ‘collocare’, a transitive verb, that the opening phrase can be translated adequately.

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Example 5. Liberalis manus Dei, from Bari 5, fols 238–39.

melding of biblical and historical time’.39 It is only after this preamble that the sequence considers the salvific attributes of the Crown in verses 3–7, perhaps most succinctly found in verse 5, hinting at the Pauline theo­logy according to which by his death and resurrection, Christ won over death and gave life to all humankind. The sequence includes references to the Crown both as an instrument of Christ’s Passion (verse 7, for instance, echoing the narrative of the Crucifixion found in Matt. 27. 34) and as a symbol of monarchy (as in versicle 6a, where the ‘oil of gladness’ (oleo letitie) brings to mind Ps. 44. 8: ‘Thou hast loved justice, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows’).40 As disposed in Bari 5, Liberalis manus Dei concludes a group of three Crown sequences modelled after sequences for Saints Martin, Quentin, and Francis. It is immediately followed by Si vis vere, an original piece, and a group of three

 39 Jordan, ‘Stained Glass and the Liturgy’, p. 283.  40 ‘Dilexisti iustitiam, et odisti iniquitatem propterea unxit te Deus, Deus tuus, oleo laetitiae, prae consortibus tuis’.

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additional Crown sequences, all contrafacts of Marian sequences, to which we turn our attention below. Liberalis manus Dei is an unicum, found only in Bari 5. It opens with a verse comprising four lines of 8+8+8+7 syllables, with the ensuing seven verses having the customary rhyme scheme of AABCCB, with each verse having double versicles of three lines of 8+8+7 syllables each. Like most other Crown sequences, Liberalis manus Dei too is in mode 7, with verses first exploring the plagal range of the mode before rising to a higher register (see Ex. 5). The opening verse features a rather long melodic unit that is immediately repeated (the melody that sets the words sue domus speciei repeats for et corone triumphorum), a compositional ploy frequently found in the long melismas of Alleluia chants. All melodic lines end on the finalis g except for the one setting verse 4 that ends on d, a fifth above the final. Liberalis manus Dei is an almost exact contrafact of In superna civitate, a sequence for St Francis that was relatively new when it inspired whoever wrote Liberalis manus Dei. The Franciscan sequence is one verse longer than Liberalis manus Dei; it comprises nine double versicles, compared to the eight of Liberalis manus Dei. The melody that sets verse 6 in In superna civitate finds no correspondence in Liberalis manus Dei. The sequence in Francis’s honour was composed shortly after he was canonized in 1228, around the same time the sequence for St Quentin was composed. It must have been copied into manuscripts shortly thereafter, and it is first found in the same manuscripts that are first to transmit Per unius casum grani as well, namely Assisi 695, fols 201v–203, and Cambrai 32, fol. 77r–v, with no concordance in the contemporaneous Parisian sequence repertory.41 The intimation of St Francis in a Crown sequence may have well been intended as a reminder of the central role the saint’s liturgy and music played in the Sainte-Chapelle. As we shall see, the feast honouring the Sainte-Chapelle Relics was not only composed by Franciscans, it was also modelled on the liturgy of St Francis, just as the Dominican Crown office was modelled on that of St Dominic.42 Significantly, Brussels IV.472 concludes with readings for the feast of St Francis (see Appendix 1). Quasi stella matutina

We have seen that the series of nine Crown sequences in Bari 5 opens with a trio of contrafacted chants honouring Saints Martin, Quentin, and Francis respectively. Following an intervening sequence — Si vis vere — whose melody  41 In superna civitate is also found notated in a later, fourteenth-century Franciscan proser copied in Paris (BnF lat. 1339, fols 47–48v). While the text is identical in all three sources, the melody that sets the sequence in BnF lat. 1339 is completely different. Although the feast of St Francis (4 October) was adopted in Paris from early on, its liturgy relied on the Common of Confessors. Finally, Assisi 695 features another sequence celebrating St Francis, Ceciderunt in praeclaris, a contrafact of Laudes crucis.  42 Maurey, The Dominican Office and Mass for the Crown of Thorns.

t h e c row n o f t ho rns ( 11 au gu st ) Table 9. Quasi stella matutina: text and translation.

1a. Quasi stella matutina Luci refulget vicina Nebule de medio. 1b. Sic refulget lux divina Sub spinarum disciplina, Refulgenti radio.

Like the morning star neighbouring the light, glittering from the middle of the cloud, so the divine light glitters under the yoke of the thorns, as a gleaming ray.

2a. Inter spinas, Ihesu Christe, Cur es tibi calix iste Quasi pro convivio? 2b. ‘Amor pungit plus quam spina, Hominisque plus ruina, Quem salvare sitio’.

Among the thorns, Jesus Christ, why do you have this chalice as if for a feast? ‘Love pricks more than the thorn, and the fall of man more, whom I am thirsty to save’.

3a. Quid te vitam mortis credis? Quid est homo quo recedis A vite consilio? 3b. ‘Sic elegi pro te mori, Ut non possis digniori Redimi commercio’.

Why do you think you can bring life to death? What is man for you that you distance yourself from the decision to live? ‘I have chosen to die for you, so that you shall not be redeemed by a more deserving exchange’.

4a. In excessu tue mentis Cyprorum sentes non sentis Nec cedis obprobrio 4b. Nec immensa vis doloris Preciosi nec cruoris Te vincit effusio.

In the stupor of your spirit, do you not perceive the thorns of the Cyprus trees, nor yield to disgrace? Neither the immense power of the pain, nor the outpouring of your precious blood defeat you.

5. ‘Ecce vides, homo, quanti Mihi sis, sim tibi tanti, Emite me precio’. Amen.

‘You see then, man, that I mean to you as much as you mean to me, you who were redeemed by my price’. Amen.

seems to be a new composition, Quasi stella matutina inaugurates a second group of three sequences, all contrafacts of Marian sequences drawn from the liturgy of her Assumption. The reliance on Marian devotion in general, and on her Assumption in particular, is characteristic also of the Sainte-Chapelle relics sequences; half of them are contrafacts of Marian sequences, four from her Assumption. As we shall see, the reliance on the Virgin’s Assumption in the Sainte-Chapelle sequences mirrored the centrality of that liturgy at the nearby Notre-Dame Cathedral, itself dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin. The sequence is distinctive for being in the form of a question and answer between Christ and humankind, thus departing from all other Crown sequences, which narrate history in a more linear fashion43 (see Table 9). It has the characteristics of a miniature liturgical drama, with the opening verse raising  43 On the four main types of medieval Latin dialogue, see Cardelle de Hartmann, Lateinische Dialoge, 1200–1400.

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the curtain and setting the stage for what follows. From among the glittering thorns/rays emerges a dialogue between humankind and Christ set forth in a very personal mode of expression, and mostly in the second person singular. In it Christ explains his role in the history of salvation: his suffering and death are offered to humankind for their redemptive merits. Quasi stella matutina conveys this central principle of Christian faith by adopting the discursive dynamic of the Ludus and the liturgical Passion play, making it more didactic (without being pedantic) than any other Crown sequence. When humankind wonders why a chalice is present ‘as if for a feast’ (an unmistakable allusion to the chalice used in the Last Supper to institute mass), Christ answers that he is thirsty to save humankind after it had fallen. The sequence continues to read like an interview a child might conduct with an adult, addressing core theo­logical concepts with questions that appear to be innocent: ‘Why do you have this chalice’? ‘Why do you think you can bring life to death?’ Why did you choose to die? Don’t we mean anything to you? The exchange in verses 2–3 is framed by the more formal, dispassionate verses 1 and 4, but the sequence ends with a return to the more casual, friendly register of verses 2 and 3, providing a crucial epilogue: you see, we mean so much to one another. As Hesbert realized, Quasi stella matutina is a contrafact of the eleventh-century Hodierne lux diei, the popular mode-1 sequence known from various Marian feasts (the Assumption, Nativity of BVM, and the Annunciation) and found also in Bari 544 (see Ex. 6). Its melody aroused the interest of many poets, who subsequently set it to new words, creating new sequences for non-Marian festivals, many of which are unica or have a very limited circulation. The manuscript Assisi 695 alone, for instance, has six sequences based on Hodierne lux diei,45 and Bari 5 has four, half of them for the Crown of Thorns, namely Quasi stella matutina and Florem spina coronavit. Quasi stella matutina and Hodierne lux diei comprise five verses, with the latter entirely consisting of double versicles made of 8+8+7 syllable lines each, and the former concluding with just a single versicle. Quasi stella matutina almost perfectly matches the metre of its model, its accentual rhythm oddly interrupted in line 2 of verse 1 with the word refulget, probably in order to allow for the comparative statement that starts with the conjunctional Quasi […] refulget in versicle 1a and continues with the demonstrative sic refulget in versicle 1b. Both sequences are united not only by their music, but also by having all versicles conclude with the same assonance: -io in Quasi stella matutina, and ­-ia in Hodierne lux diei, as well as with the same cadence (fedcd). The opening two verses have a distinct plagal shade, and it is only in the midpoint of the sequence, in verse 3, that d, the highest note of the entire sequence, is reached. Although the progression from a plagal (lower)

 44 Le Prosaire de la Sainte-Chapelle, ed. by Hesbert, p. 94.  45 Examined in Shinnick, ‘The Manuscript Assisi, Biblioteca del Sacro Convento, Ms. 695’, pp. 334–42.

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Example 6. Quasi stella matutina, from Bari 5, fols 240v–241.

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Crown sequence Latin

English translation

1a. Verbum bonum et iocundum Quod iocundet totum mundum Per os purum, per cor mundum Personemus hodie. 1b. Per quod mundum veneretur Veneratum collaudetur Collaudatum exaltetur Sertum regis glorie.

1a. Let us resound today with a pure mouth, a spotless heart, a good and delightful word that shall resound in the entire world. 1b. Let the world venerate through it [the word], venerated, it praises, praised, it exalts the Crown of the king of glory.

2a. Ave, veri Salomonis Corona redemptionis Donum cunctis maius donis, Francorum presidium. 2b. Ave, sacrum sertum Christi, Ave, Christo placuisti Ave, Francis contulisti Decus et imperium.

2a. Hail, Crown of the redeemer, the true Solomon, superior gift of all gifts, protection of the Franks. 2b. Hail, sacred Crown of Christ, hail, you pleased Christ, hail, you gave the Franks the glory and the empire.

3a. Ave, sertum dulcis spine Protegentur sine fine Per te reges et regine In felici Francia. 3b. Supplicamus, semper serva Regnum nostrum et guberna, Nosque transfer ad eterna Supernorum gaudia. Amen.

3a. Hail, Crown made of a sweet thorn, may through you be protected endlessly the kings and queens in blessed France. 3b. We beseech you to always protect and govern our kingdom, and to carry us to the eternal joys of the heavens. Amen.

Note: a The English translation of the Marian Verbum bonum is taken from Baltzer, ‘Notre-Dame and the Challenge of the Sainte-Chapelle’, p. 516.

opening to a melodic climax is characteristic of a good number of sequences, the opening versicle of Quasi stella matutina sets the stage beautifully for what follows in the music, ‘Like the morning star […] glittering from the middle of the cloud’. Likewise, the melodic climax (high d), reached just once in verse 3, is repeated three times in the concluding verse — it opens the versicle and appears twice in the following melodic unit — thus drawing attention to the moral of the entire sequence. Verbum bonum et iocundum

Verbum bonum et iocundum is the shortest sequence composed for the two feasts proper to the Sainte-Chapelle. It comprises only three double versicles and, save for minor melodic variants, is a contrafact of the ubiquitous Marian sequence for the Assumption or the Annunciation, Verbum bonum et suave,

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Marian sequence Latin

English translationa

1a. Verbum bonum et suave personemus illud ave per quod Christi fit conclave virgo mater filia. 1b. Per quod ave salutata mox concepit fecundata Stirpe David Virgo nata inter spinas lilia.

1a. The word good and sweet, that ‘Ave’, let us continually sound, through which the dwelling-place of Christ was virgin, mother, and daughter. 1b. Greeted through that ‘Hail!’, the Virgin soon became fecund, born of David’s line, a lily among thorns.

2a. Ave, veri Salomonis mater vellus Gedeonis cuius magi tribus donis laudant puerperium. 2b. Ave, solem genuisti Ave, prolem protulisti mundo lapso contulisti vitam et imperium.

2a. Hail, Mother of the true Solomon, Gideon’s fleece, whose child-bearing the wise men praise with triple gifts. 2b. Hail, thou hast begotten the sun! Hail, thou didst bear a son! To a fallen world thou hast brought life and power.

3a. Ave, mater verbi summi maris portus signum dumi aromatum virga fumi angelorum domina 3b. Supplicamus nos emenda emendatos nos commenda tuo natu ad habenda sempiterna gaudia. Amen.

3a. Hail, bride of the highest Word, harbour of the sea, sign of the burning bush, branch of fuming aromatic spices, mistress of the angels. 3b. We pray that thou restore us, and being restored, commend us to thy Son, so that we might have eternal joys. Let all sing Amen!

itself belonging to a large family of sequences composed by the Victorines and which are all, ‘to a greater or lesser degree [modelled upon] Laudes crucis’ (with twelve double versicles).46 Laudes crucis inspired numerous contrafacts for sequences both from the Temporale and the Sanctorale, including Heri mundus for St Stephen, found in the earliest extant Victorine and Parisian (Notre-Dame) sequence repertory.47 Oddly, Hesbert classified Verbum bonum  46 Fassler, Gothic Song, pp. 68–69, and n. 43; quotation from p. 294. In Fassler’s reckoning, Verbum bonum et suave belongs to family IVE, with sequences devoted to the Apostles and the Virgin. Verbum bonum et suave does not appear in Bari 5. The sequence is not found in any thirteenth-century missal from Notre-Dame Cathedral, nor is it found in the SainteChapelle Proser.  47 ‘Heri mundus […] a servi de type à Verbum bonum’ (Le Prosaire de la Sainte-Chapelle, ed. by Hesbert, p. 99).

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et iocundum as belonging to the category of Types à deux témoins, suggesting it had a double source of inspiration, Laudes crucis (which Hesbert does not explicitly mention, but which is implied) and Heri mundus, also found in Bari 5, where it literally opens the Sanctorale part of the proser. The reason for this seemingly superfluous double attribution (after all, one is a contrafact of the other) must have been that Verbum bonum and Heri mundus share a much closer variant reading of the opening double versicle (this is especially true concerning the second melodic unit of the opening verse, corresponding to the words ‘Quod iocundet totum mundum’ in Verbum bonum), the only melody that all three sequences have in common. Yet there is a much more straightforward compositional model for Verbum bonum et iocundum, one that has the exact same melody and which is set to the same number of verses (three) comprising four- rather than three-line versicles, and it is Verbum bonum et suave (see Table 10). Obviously, the two Verbum bonum sequences have a lot in common from a musical point of view, having the same mode-8 melody (see Ex. 7), four-line versicle structure (8+8+8+7 syllables), rhyme scheme, and a musical rhyme (the final melodic unit of the first verse is identical to that of the third and last verse). Moreover, the Crown Verbum bonum is dependent on the Marian sequence in one other significant way. As can be seen in Table 10, the versicles in both sequences open with the exact same word(s), and verses 2 and 3 conclude with exactly the same word as well (imperium and gaudia respectively). Adding to the overall sense of textual and structural likeness between the two sequences is the use of the same hortatory subjunctive verb in the opening versicle — personemus, ‘let us resound’ — albeit in different lines. In both sequences, it is the Word that has to be resounded. In the Marian sequence, which pays tribute to the Virgin for providing the womb (‘dwelling-place’, conclave in line 3 of versicle 1a) in which Christ was conceived, the word is Ave, that with which the Archangel Gabriel greeted Mary during the Annunciation (‘Ave gratia plena’, Luke 1. 28). According to Margot Fassler’s perceptive analysis of the Marian sequence, ‘word begets Word and praise is offered to the language which inspired Mary’s consent to become pregnant with a divine son’.48 As we can see in Table 10, the Crown Verbum bonum hinges on a word associated not with the moment of Christ’s conception but with a moment associated with the final period of Christ’s life, his Passion. That word is, of course, the Crown, to which an Ave is invariably offered in the Crown Verbum bonum. If Mary is the intercessor between the praying community and Christ (Verbum bonum et suave concludes with the community pleading with Mary to correct their ways, and to commend their improvement to Christ so that they may enjoy eternal joy), it is the Crown which serves that role in Verbum bonum et iocundum, mediating between Christ, the Franks, and the Kingdom of  48 Fassler, Gothic Song, p. 313.

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Example 7. Verbum bonum et iocundum, from Bari 5, fol. 241r–v.

France along with its kings and queens. Albeit their surface and fundamental similarities, then, the two sequences are conceptually very different from one another, the Marian one having a universal appeal (which explains, in part, its immense popularity), the Crown one singling out the French monarchy as the sole beneficiary from singing the praises of the Crown of Thorns, whose protective powers are entreated.

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Florem spina coronavit

Closing the group of three Marian contrafacts is Florem spina coronavit, cut from the same cloth as Hodierne lux diei. The melody that sets Quasi stella matutina is practically identical to that of Florem spina coronavit, and a comparison with the melody of Hodierne reveals that the two contrafacts have closer melodic readings with one another than with the original Hodierne, underlining the allusive art of contrafacture at play. All five verses of Florem spina coronavit are regular throughout, with a rhyme scheme of AABCCB, and comprising double three-line versicles, each having the prevailing 8+8+7 syllable count (see Table 11; for the music, see Ex. 8). Table 11. Florem spina coronavit: text and translation.

1a. Florem spina coronavit, Sed flos spinam procreavit; Flos Marie filius. 1b. Flos effecit preciosam Spinam quamvis tortuosam; Flos spineti nescius.

The thorn crowned the flower, but the flower begot the thorn; the flower is the son of Mary. The flower made the thorn precious although tortuous; the flower does not know the bush of thorns.

2a. Florem florum spina pungit, Sed spineum flos inungit Pietatis oleo. 2b. Arbor vitam, vita spinam Querit imo medicinam Mellis sub aculeo.

The thorn pricks the flower of flowers, but the flower anoints the thorn with the oil of piety. The tree seeks life, and life the thorn, indeed, the remedy of honey [hidden] under the thorn.

3a. Fructum vite spina ledit; Exul fructu vita redit, Vivi fructus gratia. 3b. Surge fortis et letare Et coronam venerare Qua ditaris Gallia.

The thorn wounds the fruit of life; life, deprived of the fruit, returns by the grace of the living fruit. Rise up with courage and rejoice and venerate the Crown with which France is enriched.

4a. Super aurum hec corona Preciosa, digna, bona, Vernat agni sanguine. 4b. Tale gerens dyadema Hostem fallit per problema Deitas in homine.

This Crown is more precious than gold, it is dignified, good, it flourishes thanks to the blood of the lamb. Carrying such a crown, the deity in man through a mystery tricks the enemy.

5a. Vernat supra cetym ligna, Quibus archa fuit digna Legis tabernaculo. 5b. Hanc coronam veneremur Ut cum Christo coronemur In futuro seculo. Amen.

It is greener than the acacia tree with which the ark became worthy of becoming the tabernacle of law. Let us venerate this Crown so that we are crowned with Christ in the world to come. Amen.

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Example 8. Florem spina coronavit, from Bari 5, fols 241v–242v.

The texts of Florem spina coronavit and Quasi stella matutina share a similar mode of expression, devoid of the lofty exhortations and predictable fanfare that characterize many other sequences. Both sequences have a didactic quality to them, but whereas the latter is in the form of a dialogue, the former is more

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homiletic in nature, expounding on the nature of the thorn by alluding to various plants and trees. Exactly halfway through the sequence, versicle 3b marks a transition from the thorn to the Crown as a whole, making the sole allusion to France in the entire text. The concluding two verses include two tropes central to the theo­logy of the feast of the Crown of Thorns. The first is the theo­logy of reversals; an instrument of mockery during torture is ‘more precious than gold’ and ‘good’. Moreover, it is owing to the humility of Christ, symbolized by his Crown of Thorns, that he was able to ‘trick the enemy’, a reference to the devil. The sequence concludes with a compelling doctrinal statement about the theo­logy of replacement, with the new covenant through Christ replacing the old covenant made with the Jewish people. The Crown of Thorns is greener and fresher than the acacia tree from which the Ark of the Covenant was made,49 and it becomes Law, replacing the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments safeguarded therein. The allusion to the green colour of the Crown echoes that found in Liberalis manus Dei, where it too symbolizes the reign of Christ until the end of time. As a whole, then, Florem spina coronavit gives the impression of being the work of a scholastic, with botanical and theo­logical references that need to be unpacked by the attentive audience. Contrary to Quasi stella matutina and most other Crown sequences in Bari 5, however, Florem spina coronavit is not an unicum. It is found in three additional sources, the earliest being a gradual from the abbey of Fontevraud (Limoges 2, fols 296v–297v) copied between 1250 and 1260, that is, around the same time as Bari 5.50 It is also found in two fifteenth-century sources: an unnotated missal from Troyes (BnF lat. 865A, fol. 731), and a notated missal from Langres copied in 1419 (Avallon 1, fols 206v–207).51 Whereas the musical setting of the Langres manuscript is practically identical to the one in Bari 5, there can be no doubt that the copyist from Fontevraud had at his disposal just the text of Florem spina coronavit alone. Although in both sources the sequence is a contrafact of Hodierne, the version from Fontevraud departs  49 It is interesting that the Latin text makes use of the uncommon cetym, in reference to the Hebrew word for acacia, Shita.  50 This is the so-called Gradual of Eleanor of Brittany, the sixteenth abbess of Fontevraud (‘so-called’ because she was born several decades after the manuscript was copied). The manuscript is accessible online at . The manuscript has been the object of a master’s thesis (Richards, ‘Le Graduel de Fontevraud’) and has more recently been discussed in Meyer, Catalogue des manuscrits notés du Moyen Age, vi, 197–205. I am grateful to Jean-François Goudesenne for sharing with me his copy of the thesis.  51 The notated missal from Langres, some 70 kilometres north of Dijon, is accessible online at . The manuscript is described and indexed in Meyer, Catalogue des manuscrits notés du Moyen Age, iii, 100–104. The sequence follows Alleluia A corona spinea, the same mass Proper that all Crown sequences come after, except in the Dominican Order. The Alleluia in the Langres missal, however, has an additional verse coming right after the one mentioned above, Dyadema spineum, and in that it is the only extant manuscript to follow the example of the Liverpool manuscript (see note 25 in Appendix 1 below).

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from that of Bari 5 in some important ways, beginning with the melody that sets its fourth verse (with significant variants) and above all in its fifth and final verse. This suggests that the Fontevraud copyist knew that the sequence ought to be a contrafacture of the ubiquitous Hodierne, and that he used the melodic reading available to him, the one he knew from his own church. As we have seen above, in all that concerns the Crown sequences of the Sainte-Chapelle, especially those composed for the week leading up to the feast’s octave, the proser in Bari 5 serves as a comprehensive antho­logy of chants found virtually nowhere else, and for good reason. No other church but the Sainte-Chapelle observed the octave for the Crown. And yet, the presence of Florem spina coronavit in the liturgy of churches that had no particular relation to the Sainte-Chapelle or to the French monarchy is puzzling. No other Crown sequence is extant in more than two sources, and with the exception of Regis et pontificis and Si vis vere, most Crown sequences are unica. The three concordances of Florem spina coronavit demonstrate how ideas about the Crown of Thorns and its significance to France percolated from the Sainte-Chapelle to far-flung churches. They also testify to the existence of more than one, centralized path of transmission of the Sainte-Chapelle Crown liturgy. Outside of Paris, churches that embraced the Crown liturgy typically adopted Regis et pontificis as their sequence of choice, most probably because it was embedded in an exemplar they acquired. Churches in Fontevraud, Troyes, and Langres, however, must have come by the text of Florem spina coronavit independently, and set it to the melodic version of Hodierne known in their own churches. Letetur felix Gallia

The ensemble of eight Crown sequences comes to a climax with Letetur felix Gallia, another original piece coming after three contrafacts. Its jubilant tone stands in stark contrast to the profound and solemn character of Florem spina coronavit that immediately precedes it (see Table 12). A conclusion to the octave of the Crown of Thorns, Letetur felix Gallia is bursting with consummate exultation over the significance of the Crown to the kingdom of France and to its standing among the nations, echoing Eterne rex altissime, the First Vespers hymn of the Crown liturgy in the Sens office examined above. The sequence opens with an exordium (verses 1–2) calling on the people of France to exult on that day in which the Crown is translated to Paris. The jubilant tone is established from the outset, with derivatives of laetitia appearing in each of the three lines of the opening versicle alone. The devout crowd is encouraged to offer praises with their bodily organs likened to musical instruments, the pulsating heart analogized to a tambourine and the mouth to an organ, resulting in a lively musical reception. Verses 3–4 situate the Crown in salvation history with a reference to Christ’s suffering on the cross echoing that made in Regis et pontificis (verse 7) and Si vis vere (verse 2), the sequences probably sung exactly a week earlier, and expressing

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pa rt i Table 12. Letetur felix Gallia: text and translation.

1a. Letetur felix Gallia Speciali letitia; Locus detur letitie, 1b. Ut corone translatio Sacrosancte cum gaudio Representetur hodie.

May the blessed France rejoice with special joy; may a place be made for happiness, so that the translation of the sacrosanct Crown be displayed today with joy.

2a. Aptemus ergo tympanum Cordis et oris organum, Laudantes his solempniis 2b. Omnipotentis gratiam, Qui insignivit Galliam Tam preclaris exenniis.

Let us prepare then the tambourine of the heart and the organ of the mouth, praising through these solemnities the grace of the Almighty who distinguished France by such precious gifts.

3a. Que corona sublimior, Que laudibus est dignior Corona quam rex omnium 3b. In ea die detulit, Qua se pro nobis obtulit In cruce sacrificium?

What crown is more sublime, what crown is more worthy of praise than that which the king of all brought on this day, by which he offered for us the sacrifice on the cross?

4a. Quam felix iuncus extitit, Qui tales spinas prestitit, Que coronarent dominum 4b. Et caput eius tangerent, Cum morti eum traderent Iudei, viri sanguinum.

It which the happy reed, which supplied such excellent thorns that they could crown the Lord and touch his head, whereas the Jews, men of blood, delivered him to his death.

5a. O regalis humilitas, Quam respexit divinitas Ut ei vellet tradere 5b. Tam sollempnes reliquias Quas nulli regum alias Dignataa est concedere.

O royal humility, for which the divinity so cared that it wanted to provide him with such distinguished relics that no other kings were ever worthy of receiving.

6a. Quanta regni felicitas, Per cuius regem civitas Parisiensis continent 6b. Thesaurum tanti pretii, Coronam Dei filii, Cuius regnum non desinet.

How great is the fortune of this kingdom! Thanks to its king the city of Paris preserves a treasure of such value, the Crown of the Son of God whose reign will have no end.

7a. Que civitatis gloria, Cum ab eius custodia Deferetur hec laurea 7b. In manibus angelicis Ante tribunal iudicis, Cum cruce, clavis, lancea.

How great will the glory of this city be when the laurel will be carried from its custody to the hands of the angels before the court of the Judge with the cross, the nail, and the lance.

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8a. Hec erunt in iudicio Iustorum delectatio Reproborum obprobrium, 8b. Quos, iudicante domino, Constringet sine termino Fletus et stridor dentium.

At the time of the Judgement they will be the pleasure of the righteous, the disgrace of the outcast. Who, when the Lord will judge them, he condemns without end the tears and the grating of teeth.

9a. Deus, ad cuius gloriam Impendunt reverentiam Corone rex et populus, 9b. Salva regem et populum Ne post presens hoc seculum Noster involvat emulus.

God, for whose glory the king and the people honour the Crown, save the king and the people so that after the present time our enemy does not surround us.

10a. Da nobis, pie petimus, Sic pugnare dum vivimus, Ut expugnatis hostibus. 10b. Mereamur percipere, Soluto carnis onere, Coronam in celestibus. Amen.

Give us, we devoutly entreat you, to combat as long as we live that after we defeat our enemies we deserve to receive, after the weight of the flesh dissolves, the crown in heaven. Amen.

Note: a Sic: dignata does not agree with regum.

blunt contempt for the Jews (‘viri sanguinum’) who ‘delivered [Christ] to his death’, retribution for which is exacted in verse 8.52 Pretence of royal humility swiftly gives way to a self-congratulatory tone to king, kingdom, and capital city in verses 5 and 6: the humility of King Louis (‘regalis humilitas’) is compared here to that of the Virgin in a language reminiscent of the Magnificat (‘quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae’), but he reportedly received that formidable relic because he deserved it more than any other king. After addressing the present and the past, the last four verses contemplate the end of time from collective and personal perspectives alike. Verses 7 and 8 interpolate Paris in the eschato­logical roadmap for salvation, designating the city as the guardian of relics waiting to be re-collected by the Lord on the Day of Judgement, while verses 9 and 10 constitute a petition for personal salvation for those who fought for the Lord and therefore ‘deserve to receive […] the crown in heaven’. The sequence celebrates not just the Crown in general, but more specifically its translation today (verse 1).53 By including a reference to ‘translatio […] hodie’ (verse 1) and to the Crown being brought to Paris ‘in ea die’ (verse 3), Letetur felix Gallia undoubtedly pays tribute to the actual day in which the Crown was translated to Paris, exactly a week after it was solemnly received by Louis IX in Sens, mirroring its relative position in the Crown sequence cycle in Bari 5. The two sequences sung a week earlier in die, namely Regis et  52 As discussed above, the cycle of Crown sequences in Bari 5 opens with Gaude, Syon.  53 Actually, it is the translation of the Crown, not the Crown itself, which is reportedly ‘displayed today’. It makes little sense to display a translation, however, and the grammatical constraints imposed by the metrical and rhyme scheme must have contributed to this weird formulation.

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pontificis and Si vis vere, likewise call attention to events taking place hodie. Details about the events surrounding the Crown’s arrival in Paris were left out of the Matins lessons from Sens, which perhaps understandably draws attention to Sens, not Paris, as the culmination point of the Crown’s journey. An epilogue to these events, however, concentrating on Paris this time, is extant in two Victorine collections of saints’ lives: a twelfth-century compilation with additions from c. 1270 which concludes with In translatione corone sancte Domini (BnF lat. 14363, pp. 196–98) and a compilation copied in the second quarter of the fourteenth century (BnF lat. 14365, fols 386v and 389–92v). The two medieval Victorine sources are unique in that they present a concatenated text comprising Cornut’s Historia incorporated in the Sens liturgical tradition and the hortatory materials associated solely with the Parisian liturgy for the Crown of Thorns. They conclude with a recounting of the Crown’s arrival in Paris, an occasion that was commemorated liturgically only during the octave for the feast of the Crown of Thorns, observed only at the Sainte-Chapelle:54 Eight days later, a great pulpit is constructed outside the walls [of the city of Paris], right next to the church of Blessed Anthony, on a level part of the field; with many prelates standing around, and clerics of the churches dressed in silks, the relics of the saints having been displayed amidst such a crowd of people as came out from Paris. The reliquary of the sacred crown is displayed from the pulpit, the felicity of the day and the cause of joy is preached. After this, it is carried into the walls of the city of Paris by the king and his brother, barefoot as before, and, save their tunics, with all their garments were lain aside. All the prelates with the clerics and religious men, and also the knights, march barefoot in front. No one would be able to express just how great was the joy throughout the city, just how many signs and shows of joy were seen in sight of those who were arriving. It is brought into the episcopal church of the Blessed Virgin, and after devout prayers were recited to God and his most blessed mother, they returned solemnly to the royal palace with the noble treasure. The Lord’s crown was placed in the royal chapel of the Blessed Nicholas with much joy.55 Sung on the feast’s octave, Letetur felix Gallia reflects the powerful voice given to the bodies of those present to praise the Crown just outside the wall of

 54 This new understanding of the Crown’s liturgy in France is indebted to the meticulous study of Cecilia Gaposchkin, who has recently untangled the texts narrating the Crown’s history in France: Gaposchkin, ‘Between Historical Narration and Liturgical Celebrations’. Information about the Victorine sources and their relative place and import to the Sainte-Chapelle is also taken from here. Sources that include an octave to the feast of the Crown of Thorns (either in the calendar or in the body of the manuscript) are BnF lat. 1023, BnF 10525, BnF lat. 13238, and Brussels IV.472. The octave was observed only at the Sainte-Chapelle, but the above-quoted passage appears also as the ninth lesson in the Paris version of Adest nova solempnitas.  55 English translation taken from Gaposchkin, ‘Between Historical Narration and Liturgical Celebrations’, p. 137.

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Paris; the prelates, clerics, the ‘crowd of people as came out from Paris’ are at once the intended audience of this song of praise as well as its performers. The feast’s octave, then, serves not only to elevate the celebration and mark its relative importance in the Sainte-Chapelle’s calendar; it has a historical rationale. Many feasts from the Temporale and Sanctorale alike have octaves, and especially when it comes to saints’ feasts, their identity tends to change according to the individual church, diocese, and religious order. And yet, with the exception of Circumcision, which is technically the octave of Christmas, no other feasts whose octaves are actually warranted by historical circumstances, and not only causa necessitatis, come to mind. Even though Letetur felix Gallia completes a series of eight Crown sequences in the Sainte-Chapelle Proser, as much as needed for the most rigorous veneration, a ninth Crown sequence brings the proser to a fitting climax, to which we turn our attention after considering the sequence’s music below. Comprising ten verses with a rhyme scheme of AABCCB, the sequence has a regular accentual verse with each versicle having lines of 8+8+8 syllables each, the only Crown sequence to have such a metrical scheme. The opening melody somewhat resembles that of Salve dies dierum for Easter. The chain of descending thirds opening verse 6 is rather generic and found in many other sequences, but Letetur felix Gallia is an original composition of the mid-thirteenth century with no concordances. As we can see in Ex. 9, it stands out from the standard sequence repertory for featuring an unusual number of downward leaps of fifths and fourths, most conspicuously in the final three verses: verse 8 opens with a downward leap of a fifth, and verse 10 has one in the middle of its opening melodic unit. Perhaps most striking is the chain of three downward leaps of a fourth opening versicle 9a, echoed in the second melodic unit of versicles 9a and 9b (with one and two such leaps respectively). Only one sequence comes close to replicating this unusual string of fourths: Iubilemus omnes una for the fourth Sunday of Advent, which has two consecutive leaps of downward fourths. It is not unusual for sequences to have verses (regardless of their relative position within the sequence) opening with a leap of a fifth; Marian sequences, for instance, abound in them (O Maria stella maris, Ave mundi spes), Organicis canemus (for Confessors) opens with one, and verse 3 of Laudes crucis starts with one, to name just a couple of well-known examples.56 While downward leaps of thirds (single intervals or chains thereof) are quite common in the sequence repertory, larger leaps are considerably less frequent, with examples of downward leaps of a fifth found, for instance, in the opening of the final verse of the Martinian Gaude, Syon, qui diem recolis, verse 5 of Salve, crux arbor for the Exaltation of the Cross, and verse 5 of Psallat chorus corde for St Luke. Additional examples notwithstanding, Letetur felix Gallia has very unusual instances of such downward leaps.

 56 The leap of an upward octave in Gratulemur in hac die for the octave of the Assumption is quite rare.

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t h e c row n o f t ho rns ( 11 au gu st )

Example 9. Letetur felix Gallia, from Bari 5, fols 242v–244v.

Gens Gallorum

There is a certain air of summing-up common to both Letetur felix Gallia and Gens Gallorum, both concluding a well-defined component of the liturgy, the former closing the sequence cycle celebrating the Crown of Thorns, the latter bringing to a close the entire Sainte-Chapelle Proser. Departing from the opening lines of all other Crown sequences, Letetur felix Gallia and Gens Gallorum literally open by conjuring up the attention of a specific audience presumably in attendance — considerable as it may be — and in

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the vocative (‘France’, and ‘People of France’), as if sermonizing from the pulpit (see Table 13). Indeed, the opening verse of Gens Gallorum constitutes a different kind of exordium, not so much urging the audience to rejoice in the subjunctive in expectation of things to come, but instructing them instead to reap the benefits of the Crown now, doing so in the imperative. It is not merely its relative position in the proser that provides Gens Gallorum with its valedictorian qualities, but more so the allusions to the duty of remembrance strewn throughout it. Verses 1–5 launch the process of recollection by urging the audience not so much to ‘rejoice’ (a platitude often used in sequences), but to remember ‘the unique gift of God which comes from the Crown of Thorns’. The injunction to ‘remember’ is further echoed in verse 7, which exhorts the public ‘not [to] forget the mysteries of the Crown’ (with ‘ne obliviscaris’ in versicle 7b bringing to mind the force of biblical commands) and thereafter in versicle 9a, stating that ‘the honour is associated with the thorn in order to be retained faithfully by the memory of the mind’. Table 13. Gens Gallorum: text and translation.

1a. Gens Gallorum iucundare Te precunctis habundare Sabaoth in vinea; 1b. Voce pia memorare Donum Dei singulare De corona spinea.

People of France, take delight in living in affluence in the vineyard of God before everyone. With a pious voice, remember the unique gift of God which comes from the Crown of Thorns.

2a. Quam cum turba prelatorum Ludovicus, rex Francorum A Philippo tertius, 2b. Magna cum devotione Passionis et corone Attulit Parisius.

That [the crown] which, with a multitude of prelates, Louis, the third king since Philip, brought to Paris with a great devotion for the passion and the Crown.

3a. Quam venetaruma incolis Preses Constantinopolis Obligarat in pignore, 3b. A Pipinis et Carolis Honorandam christicolis Tuo redemit tempore.

That [the Crown] which the sovereign of Constantinople pawned to the inhabitants of Venice, in your time, he bought from the Pepins and the Charleses in order to make it honoured by Christians.

4a. Providit hoc bizantii heres Quod regis nuntii Non inconsulto pecore 4b. Attulerunt in Franciam Latrie terram propriam A latiali lutore.

The heir of Byzantium anticipated that the envoys of the king, consulting the people, brought to France, a land proper for adoration from the hands of a launderer.

5a. Felix proles Hectorea, Gens in bello fulminea,b Felix Francorum filius, 5b. Gens audax, a qua postea Lutetium urbs antea Dicta fuit Parisius.

Happy offspring of Hector, stunning people in war, blessed son of France, daring people, owing to which the city, once called after Lutetia, was subsequently called Paris.

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6a. Sanctis cuius doctoribus Et invictis militibus Victricis doctis galea, 6b. Hiis ut predicatoribus, Istis tamquam martyribus Sacra mittitur aurea.

To the Doctors of the Church and to its invincible soldiers, this helmet of victory [is sent], as well as to those preachers and martyrs, this sacred object of gold is sent.

7a. Plebs gratie singularis, Que propter hec congregaris, Corone sollempnia 7b. Dum canendo gratularis, Inde ne obliviscaris Corone mysteria.

A people of unique grace, reuniting for these solemnities of the Crown, singing, you rejoice, but you shall not forget the mysteries of the Crown.

8a. Christus fuit coronatus, Sed corone cruciatus Pungentis angustia. 8b. Victor fuit laureatus, Fuit tamen sociatus Dolor cum victoria.

Christ was crowned but he was injured by the pain of the Crown that pricks. The victor was crowned with a laurel but the pain was yet associated with the victory.

9a. Honor spine sociatur, Ut fidelis habeatur Mentis in memoria, 9b. Quod hiis qui nunc honoratur De proximi compungatur afflicti miseria.

The honour is associated with the thorn in order to be retained faithfully by the memory of the mind, that he who is now honoured was stricken because of the adversity of his neighbour.

10a. Et attende, plebs devota, Cui ratio non est nota, Cur ex spinis laurea, 10b. Et quid [per]c hoc figuretur, Istud enim, ut videtur, Factum est propterea:

And observe, devout people, to whom the reason is not known, why the laurel comes from the thorns, and what is represented by this: In fact, this happened, it seems, for this reason:

11a. Nam corona, que beatis Erit, fiet hec dampnatis Ac reprobis spinea, 11b. Quando Christus iudicabit, Quando puram separabit Triticum a palea.

For the crown, which the blessed will have, will become thorns for the damned and for the outcast, when Christ will judge, when he will separate the wheat from the chaff.

12a. Nunc devoti supplicamus, Ut in mundo sic vivamus, Quod omnes qui gaudia; 12b. Hec corone celebramus, Coronati gaudeamus Eterna presentia.

Now, we the faithful pray to live in such a way in the world so that all of us, who celebrate the joys of the Crown, once crowned, we shall rejoice in your eternal presence.

Notes: a The scribe erroneously wrote venerator when surely venetarum is expected. b Bari 5 actually has fluminea, probably a scribal error. c One syllable is missing from the opening line of versicle 10b in Bari 5: it comprises 7 syllables, where the metrical scheme dictates 8, just like in the opening line of versicle 10a. The monosyllabic word ‘per’, added in square brackets, seems to be the one missing and is taken from AH 34: 26, based on a sixteenth-century manuscript from Ravenna. Incidentally, versicle 9b finds no correspondence in the aforementioned Ravenna manuscript.

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Example 10. Gens Gallorum, from Bari 5, fols 302v–304.

The Crown undoubtedly stands at the centre of verses 1–5, but only insofar as it allows the audience to appreciate the stature of Louis against the backdrop of French and pagan history. Verse 2 states that Louis ‘brought’ the Crown to Paris, and parenthetically adds that he is the third king since the crusading king Philip Augustus, all while referring to the former as Rex Francorum, and not Rex Franciae, ironically in use exactly since the reign of Philip Augustus. Verse 3 recalls at once the more recent history of the precious relic pawned by Baldwin to the Venetians, while alluding to Pepin the Short, the first Carolingian to be king of the Franks, and his son Charlemagne, who famously was not only Rex Francorum but also Emperor of the Romans since 800. Translated more literally than in Table 13, versicle 3b states that ‘Louis bought the Crown from these Pepins and Charleses’, perhaps an awkward way to include a reference to the Holy Roman Empire, thereby deepening the historical roots of the narrative. This tendency continues in verse 4, which is far from being a model of clarity,57 and verse 5, where the distant, Gallo-Roman history of Paris (Lutetia) is brought up, not before comparing Louis with Hector, the greatest warrior of the Trojans. After concerning itself with the past, the Crown is then offered to all its rightful beneficiaries, from the Doctors of the Church (verse 6) to those gathered that day ‘for these solemnities of the Crown’ (verse 7). Verses 8–11 meander back to the past in a more theo­logical vein, recalling Christ’s Passion and contemplating the Last Judgement and  57 In fact, both Bari 5 and AH 34: 26 transmit corrupt versions of this sequence, neither of which makes much sense.

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the fate of believers and non-believers alike, before the sequence reaches a triumphant conclusion with a supplication for an everlasting life. Just like Letetur felix Gallia, Gens Gallorum too is an original composition in mode 7, not a contrafact (see Ex. 10). It lingers in the plagal range of the mode until it begins to move very gradually higher on verse 4, and only in verse 10 is the climactic high g reached, just twice in the opening melodic unit of the verse.

Epilogue – Dyadema salutare We conclude the study of the Crown sequences at the Sainte-Chapelle with Dyadema salutare, a sequence that, although not found in Bari 5, became fully incorporated into the rituals of the Sainte-Chapelle from early on. It belongs to a different liturgical undertaking, being composed by the Dominicans who presided over the celebration of the Crown of Thorns on 11 August at the Sainte-Chapelle. We learn from Guillaume de Saint-Pathus, the bio­grapher of Louis IX, that this tradition was established by Louis himself; writing in 1301–02 and relying on a testimony given in 1282, he reveals that the king ordained that the Dominicans of Paris officiate the feast at the newly constructed chapel, a tradition that lasted well into the fifteenth century and probably beyond.58 In their painstaking textual analysis of Dyadema salutare, Gunilla Björkvall and Ritva Jacobsson identify its main compositional ploys and themes, whose ‘versification, style, the type of rhymes [… and] its very poetic mentality’ all indicate that it was inspired by the sequences of Adam of St-Victor (see Table 14). Dyadema salutare is unusually rich in verbs (some forty of them), mostly in the present tense and in the third person singular, making the few examples of exhortations in the subjunctive stand out as a result. The poem is rich in allusions to the Old and New Testaments, and even to the Rule of St Benedict, whose formulation mens concordet voci (let the mind be in accord with the voice) is paraphrased here by replacing mens with vita (versicle 1b). Verse 2 presents a well-known metaphor of Christ as head and the Church and human beings as members of the body: it is the blood trickling from the wounded head of Christ on the cross which anoints the organs and heals them. Similar to the other Crown sequences examined above, Dyadema salutare too alludes to the Song of Songs, with versicle 3a paraphrasing that same passage read during the Crown mass in both the Dominican and non-Dominican  58 ‘En la premiere sollennité [The Crown of Thorns] il festoit estre le couvent des Freres preecheeurs de Paris’. See Guillaume de Saint-Pathus, Vie de Saint Louis, p. 42; Gaposchkin, Vexilla Regis Glorie, p. 37, n. 101. A breviary copied after 1459 testifies to the enduring involvement of the Dominicans in celebrating the Crown of Thorns: ‘In solemnitate sacrosancte corone spinee Domine festum annuale cum octava solemnibus. Et faciunt officium in sacra capella fratres predicatores’ (BnF lat. 13238, fol. 259). Similar information is provided by the Sainte-Chapelle ordinal copied in 1471 (Arsenal 114, fols 157v–158).

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Example 11. Dyadema salutare, from Liverpool F.4.13, fols 37v–40v.

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1a. Dyadema salutare Toto corde nos laudare Condecet et vocibus. 1b. Voci vitam concordemus Ut coronam reportemus Pro corone laudibus.

It is fitting to praise the Crown of salvation, with all our heart and our voice. Let us harmonize our life with our voice to take back the Crown for the sake of the praises of the Crown.

2a. Spina pungit campi florem, Late spirat flos odorem, Per quem vivunt omnia. 2b. Caput ledit punctione, Membra sanat unctione Spinarum molestia.

The thorn pricks the flower of the field, the flower breathes its perfume far off, thanks to which all things are alive. The affliction of the thorns wounds the head [of Christ] by piercing [but] heals its organs by anointing them.

3a. Vide, Syon filia, Corone ludibria Veri Salomonis. 3b. Aurum, gemmas repulit Et coronam pertulit Tribulationis.

Behold, daughter of Syon, the insults to the crown of the true Solomon. He rejected gold, precious stones, and suffered the crown of tribulation.

4a. Spine pena Christum pungit; Penas nostras Christus ungit Miranda dulcedine. 4b. Iam fit dulcis presens pena Cruentata vite vena Spinarum acumine.

The torture of the thorn pricks Christ; Christ anoints our troubles with admirable sweetness. He has already made sweet the present punishment, the artery of the blood-soaked life, by the sting of the thorns.

5a. Ve corone superborum, Spinam portat spreta florum, Gloria rex glorie. 5b. Spine plecta nostros plectit Inimicos et nos nectit Deo nexu gratie.

Woe to you, crown of the proud! Scornful of the glory of flowers, the king of glory carries the thorn. The braided thorns punish our enemies and bind us to the Grace with God as a knot.

6a. Spinas profert sceleris Ager Ade veteris, Terra maledicta. 6b. Redit benedictio, Dum fit spine punctio Carne benedicta.

The field of old Adam carries the thorns of the crime, this land having been cursed. The blessing returns at the moment when the thorn pricks, thanks to the blessed flesh.

7a. Cum corona pungens cinxit Christi caput et constringit Spinarum angustia, 7b. Spine nostre confringuntur, Nam dolores leniuntur Et purgantur vitia.

When the crown that pierces surrounded the head of Christ and pain of thorns constricted it, then our thorns are broken to pieces because our pains are alleviated and our vices cleansed.

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8a. O quam felix hec punctura, Cuius surgunt ex lesura Virtutes et premia! 8b. Benedicta sit hec spina, Per quam profluit resina Mala curans omnia. 9a. Laudes ergo dominico Serto demus mirifico Voce plena. 9b. Per quod salus acquiritur, Vita redit, mors moritur, Perit pena. 10a. Supplicamus, Iesu bone, Nos perducas vi corone Ad coronam glorie. 10b. Tua spina nos confortet, Ut mens nostra leta portet Spinas penitentie.

O how happy is this puncture! From the wound it makes spring up the virtues and the rewards! Blessed be this thorn through which flows forth the resin that cures all evils. Let us then resound for the admirable Crown of the Lord our praises in full voice. Through it salvation is obtained, life returns, death dies, sorrow perishes. We beseech you, good Jesus, guide us by the force of your Crown to the crown of glory. May your thorn comfort us so that our spirit brings in joy the thorns of the penance.a

Note: a For another English translation of this sequence, see Björkvall and Jacobsson, ‘“Diadema salutare” and “Synagoga preparavit”’, pp. 32–33.

liturgies (Song of Songs 3. 11). The sequence as a whole calls attention to familiar tropes associated with the liturgy of the Crown of Thorns, namely contrasting life with death and expounding on the virtues of the Crown, once a source of pain and agony, now a source of healing.59 The fully notated Dyadema salutare is extant in two medieval manuscripts: (1) Liverpool F.4.13, fols 37v–40v, copied in Pisa following ‘the reception in 1332 of a thorn from the Crown of Thorns by the Pisan church known since then as Santa Maria della Spina’,60 where it follows the Alleluia Dyadema spineum (see Ex. 11); (2) Santa Sabina XIV L 3, fols 155–57v, a Dominican source containing a notated liturgical miscellany, dated to anywhere between the mid-1250s and the early fourteenth century.61 Although a notated Dyadema salutare is extant in just two medieval manuscripts,62 it has concordances (incipits only) in the liturgical orbit of the French monarchy: the fifteenth-century ordinal from the Sainte-Chapelle of Dijon (Dijon 1166, fol. 78v; text incipit only) and the ordinal from the Capella regis (BnF lat. 1435, fol. 44v; textual and musical incipit).63 The lion’s share of the Liverpool manuscript is dedicated to the

 59 Björkvall and Jacobsson, ‘“Diadema salutare” and “Synagoga preparavit”’, pp. 34–42.  60 Blezzard, Ryle, and Alexander, ‘New Perspectives on the Feast of the Crown of Thorns’, p. 24.  61 Giraud, ‘The Production and Notation of Dominican Manuscripts’, p. 40. I am grateful to Fr Innocent Smith, OP, for consulting the Santa Sabina manuscript at my request.  62 The sequence has numerous concordances (many of which are fragmentary) in fifteenthcentury Scandinavian sources. See Björkvall and Jacobsson, ‘“Diadema salutare” and “Synagoga preparavit”’, pp. 26, 28.  63 I thank David Fiala for sharing with me a copy of the Dijon ordinal. For the ‘Ordinarium

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Dominican liturgy of the Crown of Thorns, and, as such, it represents the only extant comprehensive and notated version of both rhymed office and mass composed by the Dominicans. As we have already seen, the Dominicans played an important role in the events that led to the relocation of the Crown of Thorns to France. The two Dominican friars who accompanied the Crown from Constantinople to France in 1239 — Andrew de Longjumeau, prior of the Dominican monastery in Constantinople, and another known only as Brother James, from that same monastery — are even commemorated in the office readings for the Crown liturgy taken from Cornut’s Historia.64 Dyadema salutare is one of several contrafacts of In celesti ierarchia, a sequence originally composed for the Translation of St Dominic (24 May), in F mode transposed to C.65 Both sequences, the one for the Crown and the one for St Dominic, display a rhyming scheme typical of many sequences (AABCCB), comprising ten double versicles, with a metrical scheme that is predominantly that of the typical 8+8+7 syllable lines per versicle, with the exception of two verses with different schemes, verse 6 (7+7+6), and verse 9 (8+8+4). From a conceptual point of view, both sequences can be divided into three main sections: Verse 1: Exhortation to the faithful Verses 2–9: Praise of St Dominic/Crown of Thorns Verse 10: Supplication to Christ In addition to the surface similarities between the Crown and Dominic sequences, and the obvious musical dependence on In celesti ierarchia, the sequence Dyadema salutare draws further attention to its model by recalling almost verbatim the text of versicle 9a: In celesti ierarchia (St Dominic)  9a. Laudes ergo Dominico Personemus mirifico, Voce plena: 9b. Clama petens suffragia, Ejus sequens vestigia Plebs egena.

Let us therefore give praises to Dominic, with full voice. Let the destitute people cry out for his approval, while following in his footsteps.

tenendum in capella regis’, see Palazzo, ‘La Liturgie de la Sainte-Chapelle’, p. 107.  64 Cornut’s Historia pays homage to the two friars by stressing that their familiarity with Constantinople was instrumental in securing the Crown.  65 See AH 55: 133–34. Significantly, Synagoga praeparavit, the late medieval Crown sequence from Sweden, is also a contrafact of In celesti ierarchia. Other examples of contrafacts of this sequence include a sequence for Corpus Christi, John the Baptist (24 June), the octave of the Assumption, and for the Virgin. See Hamburger and others, Liturgical Life and Latin Learning at Paradies Bei Soest, table 1 in appendix D, and appendix E.

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Significantly, versicle 9a coincides with the musical climax of both sequences.66 The music that sets the opening five verses progresses mainly in stepwise motion, with the occasional leap of a third and a fourth. Exactly at the midpoint of the sequence, verse 5 opens with a soaring melodic figure: a fifth (a ‘first’ in this sequence) followed by a minor second, reaching a, the highest note thus far. Verse 6 continues this melodic ascent, opening with g — the highest opening note of all versicles — and reaching b-flat for the first time in the entire sequence. Verses 7 and 8 mark a brief return to a lower tessitura and to a more reserved style, as if building tension towards the climax of verse 9. Opening with the same melodic gesture as verse 5, the melody that sets verse 9 transcends it by continuing to the melodic climax of the entire sequence (high c), charting an interval of an octave, reached over the word Dominico. Although the subject matter of both sequences is very different and their texts share no common vocabulary or assonances, the crowning melodic point of both sequences occurs in conjunction with the same word, Dominico. Through ingenious play on words (at once a reference to St Dominic and an adjectival locution modifying ‘serto’) the poet of Dyadema salutare found an additional way to recall the saint whose own liturgy already permeated every component sound of the Dominican feast of the Crown of Thorns.

* * * When in 1239 King Louis led the procession in Sens, he was displaying what he believed to be the very Crown mentioned in three of the Gospels, an instrument of torture used to mock Christ during his crucifixion, part of God’s plan to save humanity. Crown sequences plainly inscribe the Crown in the story of the Passion of Christ, and although there is a reference to the Roman soldiers making Christ drink ‘bile and vinegar’ before placing him on the cross (Liberalis manus Dei),67 most of them address Christ’s suffering on the cross whether directly or indirectly, alluding to ‘the torture of the thorn’. We read that ‘the thorns wound the head by piercing’ (Dyadema salutare), ‘the thorn is the prick of death’ (Regis et pontificis), and that ‘this crown […] was piercing, bloodying, thorny, [but] pleasing to Christ’ (Gaude, Syon). In the vein of welcoming torture, Si vis vere extols ‘the power of Christ’s passion’, and Quasi stella matutina declares that Christ does not ‘yield to disgrace’ in spite of ‘the immense power of the pain’. Yet the effectiveness of the Crown as the centrepiece of an elaborate new liturgy was not only indebted to the ability to situate it in a precise historical moment, making a distant historical event concrete and giving it a coherent textual and musical form. It was the potential to manipulate it with far-reaching consequences that transcended the events recounted in the New Testament. As is abundantly clear from  66 This was first observed in Blezzard, Ryle, and Alexander, ‘New Perspectives on the Feast of the Crown of Thorns’, p. 37.  67 A reference to Matt. 27. 33 and Ps. 69. 21.

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the Crown sequences and the liturgies in which they were embedded, King Louis was symbolically parading not only the Crown of Thorns but in fact an entire lineage of consequential connections with past and future crowns. Within the context of the Passion itself, the Crown was of course not just pointing to the horrific past; more importantly, it anticipated the salvation of those who believed that Christ triumphed on the cross (Si vis vere and Regis et pontificis). Thus the Crown is described as the helmet of victory (Gens Gallorum) and as the helmet of salvation and a triumphant laurel (Si vis vere, Regis et pontificis, and Gaude, Syon). It is by giving praise to the ‘Crown of salvation’ that ‘salvation is obtained’ (Dyadema salutare), with most sequences fittingly ending with a plea for a happy afterlife and a hope for redemption for those who venerate the Crown. As an emblem of regal power, the Crown of Thorns was symbolically understood to be that worn by kings of the Old Testament, namely King David (Liberalis manus Dei), but especially King Solomon, with Verbum bonum, Regis et pontificis, and Dyadema salutare proclaiming Christ to be ‘the true Solomon’, echoing Song of Songs 3. 11: ‘Go forth, ye daughters of Sion, and see king Solomon in the diadem, wherewith his mother crowned him’, the reading in both the Adest nova office and the Gaudeamus omnes mass, and quoted also in the Historia attributed to Cornut.68 A much longer portion of Chapter 3 of the Song of Songs, moreover, which includes verse 11, was the lectio of choice in most churches that adopted the liturgy for the Crown, whether from Paris (including the Sainte-Chapelle), belonging to the Dominican Order, or other churches throughout France. In the office, it was habitually the capitulum read during First Vespers, and as for the Crown mass, if a lectio was at all specified, it was without exception Chapter 3 of the Song of Songs. The translation of the Crown of Thorns to France, then, signified much more than a relocation of a sacred relic. It was also a symbolic superimposition of the New over the Old, of Paris over Jerusalem, of Kings David and Solomon prefiguring King Louis, an abstraction made explicit in the second and later narrative recounting the Crown’s reception in Paris in August 1239, the text attributed to Gérard de Saint-Quentin: Convenientibus igitur ad prefatam diem de omnibus regni partibus innumerabilibus populis utriusque sexus, necnon et pontificalibus indutis diversarum ecclesiarum pastoribus, insuper tam religiosorum quam clericorum secularium, non solum de civitate Parisiensi sed et de adjacentibus locis congregationibus, adest inter eos et noster David rex Ludovicus, non precioso et eminente equo subvectus, non phaleris adornatus, sed pedes incedens et discalciatis pedibus, quasi archam Domini in civitatem suam Parisiensem cum gaudio mox ducturus.69  68 The text has been newly examined, edited, and translated in Gaposchkin, ‘Between Historical Narration and Liturgical Celebrations’.  69 Emphasis mine. The above-mentioned passage is found in Miller, ‘Review of Exuviae sacrae

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[with countless people of both sexes coming together on that day from all parts of the kingdom, and also pastors of various churches clothed with pontifical [episcopal] ornaments, along with many religious as secular clerics, not only from the city of Paris but also from congregations of adjacent places, and our David, King Louis, was present among them, carried not by a precious and lofty horse, not adorned with decorations, but walking on foot, in bare feet, as if carrying the Ark of the Covenant into his city, Paris, with joy.] In addition to the crown of Old Testament kings, the Crown of Thorns could also be understood, perhaps more obliquely, to be the one belonging to the Byzantine emperors in whose possession the Crown was heretofore (Gaude, Syon reports that the Crown was brought to the Franks ‘from the treasury of Constantinople’), but above all, the precious Passion relic created a new source of pride for the Capetian dynasty as a whole, exactly because, through liturgy, it was understood to represent all crowns, past, present, and future. Regis et pontificis encapsulates this idea most succinctly by stating that ‘the diadems of ancient kings unite under [Louis’s] reign’. It is King Louis IX, Rex Francorum (Regis et pontificis, Gens Gallorum, and Liberalis manus Dei), who is worthy of the Crown of Thorns more than anybody else (Letetur felix Gallia). The Crown protects the Franks (Verbum bonum et iocundum), and in turn, France as a whole is enriched by the Crown (Florem spina coronavit) and distinguished by it (Letetur felix Gallia), an idea that runs like a thread throughout most of the sequences except for Dyadema salutare, the Dominican sequence, which is decidedly less nationalistic and focuses not so much on the glory of France, its monarchy, and the supremacy of Paris, but more on the Passion of Christ and the theo­logy of the feast.

Constantinopolitinae’, pp. 296–97. The text is also published in de Wailly, ‘Récit du treizième siècle sur les translations’, pp. 408–15.

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The Reception of Relics (30 September) Relics in Motion Less than two years after the purchase of the Crown of Thorns, a flow of additional relics was on its way to France, one that would substantially increase the trove of relics of the future Sainte-Chapelle. As we have seen above, these relics arrived in two major instalments: one on 14 September 1241 and the other on 30 September 1242. We learn about these two additional translations of relics from the text attributed to Gérard de Saint-Quentin.1 The dramatis personae of Acts II and III of this extensive translation of relics from Constantinople to Paris are the same as those of Act I: King Louis IX, his young cousin, ‘vir illustris Balduinus, de quo superius tactum est, dicti regis consanguineus’ (that illustrious man Baldwin, about whom we spoke above, a relative of the king),2 two friars (Dominicans in Act I, Franciscans in Acts II and III), pawnbrokers (Venetians in Act I, the Knights Templars in Syria in Acts II and III),3 and obviously relics. To this notable list we should add another member of the cast, ‘a certain knight by the name of Gui’, who managed to steal the spotlight from the two Franciscan friars who were dispatched to Constantinople by Louis in order to take possession of the Passion relics, including a large portion of the True Cross: Nam cum dicti fratres injunctum sibi a rege sollempne negotium sollicite peragere cupientes ad prefatum imperium festinarent, accidit ut eisdem adhuc in via existentibus, quidam miles, Guido nomine, de regno Francie oriundus, et predicti doni quod imperator regi fecerat conscius tunc temporis cum eodem imperatore moram faciens, acceptis ab eo litteris, cum eis in Syriam transfretaret, et sublato inde auctoritate bulle imperialis ligno dominico, facta creditoribus sufficienti cautione, illud cum quibus Francie nobilibus de Syria revertentibus in Franciam deferret, idque regi cum aliis preciosissimis reliquiis honorifice presentaret.4 [For when those two friars, desiring to carry out the solemn business assigned to them by the king, were hastening to that empire  1 See note 46 of the Introduction for more details.  2 Miller, ‘Review of Exuviae sacrae Constantinopolitinae’, p. 297.  3 ‘apud magistrum et fratres militie Templi erat in Syria obligatum’ (Miller, ‘Review of Exuviae sacrae Constantinopolitinae’, p. 297).  4 Miller, ‘Review of Exuviae sacrae Constantinopolitinae’, p. 298. That ‘certain knight’ has been proposed by E. Miller to be Gui de Mauvoisin, lord of Rosni, who participated in the so-called Crusade of 1239, and who would play an important role in the first crusade led by St Louis (see Miller, ‘Review of Exuviae sacrae Constantinopolitinae’, p. 303).

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[Constantinople], it happened that, while they were already on their journey, a certain knight, by the name of Gui, having been born in France, and knowing of that gift which the emperor [Baldwin] had made to the king, was then for a time dallying with that same emperor, the letters having been received by him, when he was crossing over into Syria with them [the friars], and the Lord’s cross having been taken away by the authority of the imperial bull, sufficient pledge having been given over to the creditors, he [Gui] carried it [the cross] with certain French nobles who were returning from Syria into France, and he [Gui] honourably presented it to the king [Louis] with many other precious relics.] Gui managed to procure not only a large piece of the cross, ‘illud eterni regis venerabili signum’ (that venerable sign of the eternal king), but also a considerable number of relics that would subsequently be memorialized at the Sainte-Chapelle in music, words, and visual art.5 The text attributed to Gérard de Saint-Quentin itemizes the following relics, twenty-one in total (indicated by italics): Sacrosanctus sanguis Domini et salvatoris nostri Ihesu Christi, vestimenta infancie ipsius, frustum6 magnum crucis dominice, non tamen ad formam crucis redactum, de quo imperatores Constantinopolitani amicis et familiaribus suis dare consueverant, sanguis etiam qui mirabili prodigio de ymagine Domini percussa effluxit, cathena qua idem salvator ligatus fuit, tabula quaedam quam, cum deponeretur Dominus de cruce, ejus facies tetigit, lapis quidam magnus de sepulcro ipsius, de lacte quoque gloriosissime virginis matris ejus, superior pars capitis Baptiste et precursoris Christi, caput sancti Blasii, caput sancti Clementis, cum capite beatissimi Symeonis. Hec omnia de Constantinopoli per mandatum et auctoritatem predicti imperatoris sublata, dictus Guido in Syriam detulit, atque inde, ut dictum est, una cum preciosissimo crucis vexillo ad prefatum regem Francie deportavit.7 (italics added) [[1] The most sacrosanct blood of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ, [2] his swaddling clothes, [3] a large piece of the Lord’s cross, not, however, rendered in the shape of the cross, from which the emperors of Constantinople had been in the habit of giving to their friends and familiars, and also [4] the blood which by a wonderful miracle flowed from an image of the Lord that had been beaten, [5] the chain with which the Saviour had been bound, [6] a certain plank/picture [Holy

 5 Guerry, ‘The Wall Paintings of the Sainte-Chapelle’.  6 The manuscript (BnF n.a.l. 1423, fol. 173) erroneously reads ‘frustrum’. It has been corrected to ‘frustum’ in Miller, ‘Review of Exuviae sacrae Constantinopolitinae’, p. 298.  7 Miller, ‘Review of Exuviae sacrae Constantinopolitinae’, pp. 298–99.

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Mandylion]8 which, when the Lord was taken down from the cross, touched his face, [7] a great piece of stone from his sepulchre, [8] some of the milk of his most glorious virgin mother, [9] the superior part of the head of the Baptist and precursor of Christ, [10] the head of St Blaise, [11] the head of St Clement, and [12] the head of the most blessed Simeon. The said Guido carried all of these from Constantinople to Syria, by the order and authority of the aforesaid emperor, and as was said, he brought them with the most precious standard of the cross to the aforesaid king of France.] Far from being depleted, the treasury of the devitalized Byzantine Empire still had something for the two Franciscan friars, lest they returned to France empty-handed. There was [13] ‘gloriosissimum lancee ferrum omnibus tremendum, omnibus reverendum, in Christi latere consecratum, immaculati agni sanguine rubricatum, quo ipsius in cruce pendentis latere perforato’ (the most glorious iron lance, awed and revered by all, consecrated in the side of Christ, made red by the blood of the immaculate lamb, with which he was pierced in the side while hanging on the cross; italics added). The list went on, continuing with [14] a fairly small cross (‘crux mediocris […] dicitur triumphalis’; italics added), the so-called triumphal cross which Constantine reportedly received from Helena, thereafter carrying it into battle to secure victories. As Cecilia Gaposchkin suggested, this and other cross relics have a special meaning in the context of the French royal court, which was preparing to send its king on his first crusade.9 And there were more relics: Erat preterea in dicta urbe Constantinopolitana imperialis illa trabea, vestis videlicet coccinea, qua, juxta evangelice veritatis seriem, milites illudentes induerunt Dominum, exprobrantes ei quod se regem faceret Judeorum, qui universorum habebat imperium. Erat et arundo preciosa quam in ejus posuerunt dextra in sceptri similitudinem, per hoc vilipendentes ejus potenciam, qui habebat omnium monarchiam. Erat et de spongia que Salvatori in cruce salutem nostram sitienti fuit porrecta, non optati potus refectionem preferens, sed aceli quo intincta fuerat acredinem representans. Erat et pars quedam sudarii quo in sepulcro positum corpus Christi obvolutum fuit. Erat et preciosum lintheum quo precinctus in cena Dominus, peracto humilitatis obsequio pedes discipulorum extersit. Erat denique pars quedam de peplo gloriosissime Virginis, et virga Moysi qua eduxit aquam de vena silicis, et in cujus virtute factis in Egypto signis  8 Karen Gould identified the ‘tabula’ that came into contact with Christ’s face as the image (or Mandylion) of Edessa, ‘a portrait of Christ made, according to legend, when he pressed his face against a cloth that, when taken to Abgar, king of Edessa, healed the ailing monarch. After the image was transferred to the Pharos chapel in Constantinople in 944, the cloth with the picture was attached to a board’ (Gould, ‘The Sequences De Sanctis Reliquiis’, pp. 331–32). See also Guerry, ‘The Wall Paintings of the Sainte-Chapelle’, p. 77.  9 Gaposchkin, ‘Louis IX, Heraclius, and the True Cross’.

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atque portentis ipse ad ultimum filios Israhel sicco vestigio traduxit per medium sicci maris. (italics added) [[15] the scarlet cloak, which, according to evangelical truth, the mocking soldiers put on the Lord, reproaching him that he would make himself king of the Jews, who had the power of the universe. There was also [in Constantinople] [16] the reed [the soldiers] put in his right hand similar to the sceptre, and by this making fun of his power, while he had [power] over the monarchy of all. There was also from [17] the sponge that was stretched out to the saviour on the cross to drink for our salvation, not choosing the refection of desired drink, but representing the bitterness of the vinegar which impregnated it. And there was [18] a part of the shroud with which he was wrapped when placed in the tomb. There was too the most precious [19] linen cloth in which the Lord was wrapped at the Last Supper, and the obedience of humility having been done, he cleaned the feet of his disciples. And at last there was a part of a certain [20] veil of the most glorious virgin, and [21] the rod of Moses by which he brought water from the purchase of a stone, and in which, the power of the sign having been done in Egypt and the portents, he led the sons of Israel to the end through the dry footsteps through the medium of the dried sea.] The same number of relics is also listed in Baldwin’s act of concession to Louis IX from June 1247 (occasionally using different termino­logy to describe the same relics), but with two differences: (1) the act mentions three cross relics, whereas Gérard’s text mentions only two, and (2) the latter includes a part of the Virgin’s veil, nowhere mentioned in Baldwin’s act.10 All in all, then, Louis had in his possession twenty-three relics, of which eleven were Passion relics. The reputation of the Sainte-Chapelle as a comprehensive depository of Passion relics was so great that even someone like Durandus, the great thirteenth-century liturgist and bishop of Mende, assumed it also included the tabula affixed to the cross on which Pilate wrote Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum.11 Most of the non-Passion relics found their place in this trove either because they were contact relics (the swaddling clothes of Christ, a piece of his tombstone, or St Simeon, who took Christ in his arms during the Presentation at the Temple, for instance), belonged to the Virgin (the milk with which she fed Christ, her veil), or to the three martyrs who in their deaths imitated Christ ( John the Baptist, Blaise, and Clement). The rod of Moses, moreover, has been considered by medieval liturgists to prefigure the cross.

 10 Gould, ‘The Sequences De Sanctis Reliquiis’, pp. 317–18.  11 ‘In cereo etiam affigitur, seu charta scripta, que significat Tabulam in qua Pilatus scripsit: Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudeorum, quam vidimus in Parisiis in capella illustris regis’ (Durand, Rationale divinorum officiorum I–VIII, ed. by Davril and Thibodeau, vi. 80. Quoted in Guerry, ‘The Wall Paintings of the Sainte-Chapelle’, p. 78, n. 137.

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In addition, as Emily Guerry has suggested, it may have found its place at the Sainte-Chapelle because in Constantinople it was believed to have been ‘made of the same wood as the cross’.12 Gérard’s text provides another possible explanation when it analogizes the carrying of the Crown by Louis in 1239 to the carrying of the Ark of the Covenant, echoing the sequence Florem spina coronavit, examined above. According to Gérard’s text, ‘[Ludovicus] sed pedes incedens et discalciatis pedibus, quasi archam Domini in civitatem suam Parisiensem cum gaudio mox ducturus’ ([Louis was] walking on foot, in bare feet, as if carrying the Ark of the Covenant into his city, Paris, with joy).13 In the Hebrew Bible, Moses is closely associated with of the Ark of the Covenant, built to house the two stone tablets he had reportedly received on Mount Sinai, and on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed. Moreover, the Bible credits Moses himself with building the Ark (Deuteronomy 10. 5), albeit also for instructing others to built it (Exodus 31). The rod of Moses, who died before entering the Promised Land, was now in the possession of Louis, who reigned over a holy kingdom, and his people were the Chosen People, thus completing the mission that was denied to Moses. We have already seen how in liturgy and historical narratives, Paris was imagined to be a new Jerusalem, and France the new Holy Land. Just around the time the Crown of Thorns was solemnly received in France, Pope Gregory IX gave prominence to the notion that France surpassed other nations, that it was a special, chosen country: ‘The son of God establishes various kingdoms, among which, just as the tribe of Judah is chosen from among the sons of the patriarch [to receive] gifts of a special blessing, so the kingdom of France is distinguished from other peoples of earth by a prerogative of honour and grace’.14 More than half a century later, Pope Clement V (r. 1305–14) would make a similar pronouncement in the bull Rex glorie: ‘The King of Glory formed different kingdoms […]. Among those, like the people of Israel […], the kingdom of France, as a peculiar people chosen by the Lord to carry out the order of Heaven, is distinguished by marks of special honor and grace’.15 One of the earliest extant pieces of music to call attention to the historical and Christo­logical significance anticipated by the arrival in Paris of an ensemble of Passion relics is the two-voice conductus Scysma mendacis Grecie (see Table 15 for the Latin text and English translation). The composition of

 12 Guerry, ‘The Wall Paintings of the Sainte-Chapelle’, p. 78, n. 136.  13 Miller, ‘Review of Exuviae sacrae Constantinopolitinae’, p. 297.  14 ‘Dei filius […] diversa regna constituit, inter quae, sicut tribus Juda inter filios patriarchiae ad specialis benedictionis dona suscipitur, sic regnum Franciae prae caeteris terrarum populis praerogativa honoris et gratiae insignitur’. See Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, xxiii, ch. 107. I am grateful to Cecilia Gaposchkin for the reference. This is surely an allusion to Christ being a descendant of the tribe of Judah (Matt. 1. 1–6, and Luke 3. 31–34).  15 Quoted and translated in Strayer, ‘France’, p. 15.

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pa rt i i Table 15. Scysma mendacis Grecie: text and translation.

1. Scysma mendacis Grecie Vexilla Christi deserunt Et ad fidelis Francie Castitatem se transferunt Ubi sponsus ecclesie Sumendus mediatur, Adversus quem non potuerunt Perfidorum insidie, Quin sponsam tueatur.

1. Christ’s standards desert the schism of lying Greece and transfer themselves to the purity of faithful France, where the bridegroom whom the Church will take is diminished, whom the schemes of evil men could not prevent from guarding the Bride.

2. O cuius imperio Paretur a superis Terrenis et inferis! Quanto beneficio Franciam prosequeris Pre regnis ceteris! Iam ornatu regio, Tota splendet regio, Cum crucem, cum lanceam, Cum corona scyrpeam, Que subtrahis danais miseris; Ad ipsam miseris Quodam presagio Arma quibus viceris Cum sub Pontio Iudicatus fueris?

2. O he whose rule is obeyed by those dwelling above, on earth, and below! With how great a benefit do you accompany France before other kingdoms! And now by kingly adornment the kingdom shines forth, when you have sent it the Cross, the Lance, and the Crown of Thorns, which you remove from the wretched Greeks by some presentiment, the arms by which you might conquer, when under Pontius Pilate’s judgement you were condemned?

3. Quid sibi volunt talia, Francorum rex catholice, Quod sis inunctus celice, Quod te ditent insignia Passionis dominice, Quod assumis et alia Cum a supremo iudice Tua pulsantur ostia? Ne nesciat Ad quem refugiat Exul ecclesia, Que sic opprimitur, En a summo pontifice Vocaris ad subsidia. IIluc confugitur, Ubi Christus diligitur. Ex his tibi conicitur Deberi monarchia.

3. Why so such things mean, O Catholic king of France, that you are celestially anointed, that the standards of the Lord’s Passion enrich you, that you take on other hazards too, when by the supreme judge your own doors are being assailed? Let the exiled Church, which is thus oppressed, not be unaware to whom it can flee. Lo, by the highest pontiff you are called to help. Refuge is taken thither where Christ is loved. It is from these things it is surmised that the monarchy is your due.

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its text has been dated to 1244, allowing for the possibility that the Passion relics in question are those of the Sainte-Chapelle. It is uniquely transmitted in BnF lat. 15139, fols 262–63v, a composite manuscript with sections copied between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries comprising two treatises on music, several literary works, and a selection of polyphonic music, including two motets, ten conducti, and mostly clausulae.16 The conductus uses a vengeful vocabulary which foregrounds the arrival in France of the Passion relics as part of a divine plan, while attributing agency to the relics themselves. If in the Crown sequence Gaude, Syon […] qua corona, the Crown ‘is brought to the Franks from the treasury of Constantinople’, in the conductus the relics ‘desert the schism of lying Greece and transfer themselves to the purity of faithful France’, and God ‘remove[s them] from the wretched Greeks’. The harsh language against the Greeks echoes that found in Cornut’s Historia, where references to the ‘infidel Greeks’ (Grecorum infidelium), identify the Greeks as enemies that ought to be expelled and, significantly, relate to the schismatic nation of the Greeks (‘scismatica Grecorum gente’), as in the opening line of the conductus.

The Liturgy for the Reception of the Relics As we have seen, the celebration of the liturgy of the Crown of Thorns at the Sainte-Chapelle was entrusted to the hands of the Dominicans at some point during the reign of Louis IX. They played a crucial role in the events that led to the Crown’s arrival in France and also composed one of the liturgies for the feast, one that begins to be copied into royal service books from the beginning of the fourteenth century. The feast of relics, on the other hand, was given into the charge of the Franciscan Order; in his bio­graphy of Louis IX, Guillaume de Saint-Pathus indicates that this tradition too was established from early on by order of Louis.17 A summer breviary from the Sainte-Chapelle confirms that this tradition continued well into the fifteenth century; it introduces the relics liturgy with the following rubric: ‘festum annuale cum octabis solemnibus. Et faciunt officium in sacra capella fratres minores’ (an annual feast, with a solemn octave. The Friars Minor perform this office at the Sainte-Chapelle).18

 16 The manuscript is available online: . It had been part of the library of the abbey of Saint-Victor in Paris from as early as the fifteenth century and is known to musico­logists as the St-Victor manuscript (StV). The text of the conductus Scysma mendacis Grecie has been dated to 1244 in Meyer, Gesammelte Abhandlungen zur Mittellateinischen Rythmik, ii, 355. See also the discussion in Schrade, ‘Political Compositions in French Music’, pp. 32–33. The English translation is adapted from Notre-Dame and Related Conductus, ed. by Anderson, pp. ii–iii.  17 ‘en la seconde [the second feast, i.e. relics of the Sainte-Chapelle] le couvent des freres meneurs’ (Guillaume de Saint-Pathus, Vie de Saint Louis, p. 42).  18 The manuscript in question was copied after 1459: BnF lat. 13238, fol. 351v.

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Some of the most revered and central relics in Christendom, related to a fundamental episode in the Christian doctrine of salvation, the relics of Christ’s Passion together with other relics were celebrated in an almost private manner. If the Crown liturgies for the office and mass are extant in several dozen manuscripts from all over France and even outside it, the relics mass and office (Gaudeamus omnes and Vexilla regis respectively) had a considerably more circumscribed transmission and were celebrated chiefly at the Sainte-Chapelle, or in religious communities that had ties with members of the royal court. The office Vexilla regis is extant in ten manuscripts, including the two earliest witnesses to the office liturgy of the Sainte-Chapelle. Brussels IV.472 is the only source to transmit both mass and office for the relics, and significantly the only source in which the office is extant with notation.19 The second manuscript is the near-contemporaneous summer breviary, Bari 3. Copied between 1253 and 1263, it comprises a calendar which is that of the SainteChapelle, whereas the bulk of the notated manuscript reflects the liturgy of the Use of Paris, probably that of Notre-Dame.20 As Cecilia Gaposchkin has demonstrated, the second section of Bari 3 (fols 336v–366) can be considered a Sainte-Chapelle supplement, corresponding almost entirely to the materials found in Brussels IV.472 (Bari 3, a breviary, obviously does not contain any mass items).21 Moreover, Elsa De Luca has already pointed to the parallels between the relics liturgies in the two manuscripts, which essentially transmit the same office, except that Brussels IV.472 has four optional responsories after Matins, absent from Bari 3.22 Musical notation was clearly envisioned for the relics feast during the mise-en-page of Bari 3 (fols 349v–351), but for an unknown reason the staves were left empty.23 The only two breviaries that include or were meant to include a notated Vexilla regis — Bari 3 and Brussels IV.472 — give prominence to some Matins responsories by using the same descriptive rubrics, pointing to a likely connection between them. The rubrics seem to serve a didactic purpose, perhaps also to facilitate orientation in the manuscript: Responsorium de corona (R4 Eterni tabernaculi rex), Responsorium de cruce triumphali (R5 A nuti crucis), Responsorium de cruce et sanguine Christi (R6 Crucis instet preconiis), De cruce et corona et reliquiis aliis responsorium (R7 Dies festa movet), Responsorium de lancea (R8 Dum

 19 Brussels IV.472, fols 31v–54v. Both relics mass and office are edited in Taylor, ‘Rhymed Offices at the Sainte-Chapelle’, pp. 92–168; Gaposchkin, Vexilla Regis Glorie, pp. 103–24.  20 For a detailed analysis of Bari 3, see De Luca, ‘I manoscritti musicali dell’archivio di San Nicola a Bari’, pp. 38–42, 70–81. The calendar of Bari is heavily damaged, with the months of July and August missing altogether. And yet, both the Dedication of the Sainte-Chapelle and the relics feasts, together with their respective octaves, are found therein.  21 Gaposchkin, Vexilla Regis Glorie, pp. 44–47.  22 De Luca, ‘I manoscritti musicali dell’archivio di San Nicola a Bari’, pp. 256–57.  23 Bari 3 also includes the Crown liturgy, identical to the one in Brussels IV.472, apart from the octave, which is not present in Bari 3.

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leonis immanitas), and Responsorium de lacte et peplo beate virginis et aliorum sanctorum (R9 Baptiste calvaria symeonis). Most of the ten sources transmitting Vexilla regis form a close-knit group owing to their inclusion of readings and/or chants for the octave, suggesting an augmented sense of devotion.24 Except for the Sainte-Chapelle miscellany Brussels IV.472, they are all breviaries: BnF lat. 13233, fols 645–50, a breviary used in the Capella regis and mostly copied around 1295; BnF lat. 13238, fols 351v–360v, a summer breviary from the Sainte-Chapelle copied in the second half of the fifteenth century; Chantilly 51, fols 371–77v, a Franciscan breviary copied for Queen Jeanne d’Évreux in the first half of the fourteenth century; Chantilly 54, fols 506v–511v, a Dominican breviary copied in the second half of the fourteenth century; and Châteauroux 2, fols 348v–357v, the so-called breviary of Louis, Duke of Guyenne and Dauphin of Viennois, son of Charles VI, copied c. 1414. Taking into account another breviary transmitting Vexilla regis albeit without an octave, BnF lat. 1023, fols 534v–538v, the so-called Breviary of Philip the Fair copied before 1297, it is clear that the overwhelming majority of service books transmitting the relics office were associated with members and institutions of the French royal family, whether directly or indirectly.25 They are related to the orbit of the Sainte-Chapelle or the Capella regis either by direct association (the Saintes-Chapelles of Paris and Bari), or else belonging to someone who was expected to follow the liturgy of the Sainte-Chapelle (BnF lat. 1023 and BnF lat. 13233), or an otherwise royal institution (Chantilly 54). About half of the sources — BnF lat. 1023, BnF lat. 13233, Chantilly 51, and Chantilly 54 — moreover, are in some way related to Philip the Fair. BnF lat. 1023 was copied for him, Chantilly 51 and BnF lat. 13233 belonged to Queen Jeanne d’Évreux (d. 1371), wife of his son, Charles IV, and Chantilly 54 was copied for the Dominican convent  24 Vexilla regis is also transmitted in two service books that have nothing to do with the Sainte-Chapelle, BnF lat. 13239, fols 408v–412, a fourteenth-century unnotated breviary from Saint-Germain-de-Prés which conflates some elements of the Crown liturgy with the relics one, and Nancy 1480, fols 275v–277v, an unnotated Franciscan breviary from the second half of the fifteenth century whose provenance is unknown (Leroquais notes that the calendar includes numerous saints from Paris and Toul, just west of Nancy. See his Les Bréviaires, ii, 277). The presence of the relics liturgy in two manuscripts lying outside the royal/ Sainte-Chapelle orbit can perhaps be explained by two kinds of proximities: in the case of Saint-Germain-de-Prés, it is the abbey’s close relations with the French monarchy, and in the case of the manuscript from Nancy, it is in all likelihood a religious one. As we have seen, the relics liturgy was modelled after that of St Francis.  25 The feast of St Louis (canonized in 1297) was added to BnF lat. 1023 at the end of the manuscript, indicating that at the time the bulk of it was copied, the feast had not yet been instituted. See Délisle, Recherches sur la librairie de Charles V, i, 179–82; Leroquais, Les Bréviaires, ii, 465–75. One additional breviary from the Sainte-Chapelle, in Bari 10, records the relics in the calendar but provides no liturgy for it. Moreover, extensive readings for Vexilla regis (including for each day throughout the octave) are found in the lectionary of the Sainte-Chapelle in Bourges (Bourges 34, fols 77v–94v). I thank Cecilia Gaposchkin for drawing my attention to this lectionary.

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of Saint-Louis of Poissy, which Philip founded in memory of St Louis, his grandfather (hence it is both royal and Dominican). Three sources include the same rubric announcing materials for the octave, suggesting that they may well have been copied from a single exemplar, albeit they are not identical in every other respect. In BnF lat. 13233, Brussels IV.472, and Châteauroux 2 the rubric reads as follows: ‘ista responsoria que secuntur canentur per octabas vel in die festo si placet. In hoc responsorio redditur communiter gratiarum actio pro omnibus reliquiis’ (The following responsories are sung during the octave or on the feast day, if you please. In this responsory, thanksgiving is rendered for all the relics).26 The single most important overarching theme of Vexilla regis is that the various relics celebrated on that feast day are tantamount to the ‘whole armour of God’ that the faithful should don in their battle (earthly and spiritual) against evil. The theo­logical cue for the entire office is taken from Ephesians 6. 10–11, the chapter read during First Vespers: Finally, brethren, be strengthened in the Lord, and in the might of his power. Put you on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armour of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. This militant theme is expounded without delay in the First Vespers antiphons, with the first two setting the background against which the relics mentioned in subsequent chants and readings are to be understood. The opening words of the antiphon Vexilla regis glorie, after which the entire relics office is named, were undoubtedly meant to recall the famous hymn composed by Venantius Fortunatus in the sixth century, Vexilla regis prodeunt. The latter was likewise composed for the Reception of a relic; Fortunatus apparently wrote it to celebrate a fragment of the True Cross that Emperor Justinian gave Queen Radegunda of Poitiers. The counterpoint of allusions may well have extended to the eleventh-century sequence Vexilla regis for the Invention of the Cross, which borrows from the hymn the entire opening verse before continuing with a new text extolling the cross for its salvific merits and its beauty, concluding with a vision of the cross in the sky, heralding the Final Judgement.27 Returning to the First Vespers antiphon for relics, it conjures up images of the battleground (echoing those found in the above-mentioned hymn) with the militant Church promising the faithful victory over death:

 26 Five of the sources (Brussels IV.472, Bari 3, Chantilly 51, Chantilly 54, and Châteauroux 2) indicate that Matins concludes with the responsory Baptiste calvaria Symeonis, whereas BnF lat. 1023, BnF lat. 13238, and BnF lat. 13233 conclude with Te Christe laudent.  27 The text is edited in AH 7: 105.

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Vexilla regis glorie militantis ecclesie laudibus attolantur per que de mortis nexibus mortis confractis viribus fideles liberantur. [The banner of the king is exalted by the militant Church through which the faithful are freed from the snares of death as the strength of death having been broken.] Victory over death is a central theme in both Crown and relics feasts, as it is of course also in the theo­logy of salvation in general. Although the Crown of Thorns has a dedicated feast day, it nonetheless has prominence in the relics feast as well, including in the sequences discussed below. Consistent with the militant tone of the preceding chant, the second antiphon for First Vespers, Carnis indutus trabea, likens the Crown to a helmet dreaded by the enemy and making him withdraw: Carnis indutus trabea corona Christus spinea pro nobis coronatur. Hec est preclara galea quam hostis horret framea et cedens hebetatur. [Dressed in a robe of flesh, Christ was crowned with the Crown of Thorns for us. This is the illustrious helmet which the enemy shudders at with his spear, and that makes him back down by weakening it.] Other chants, and especially the antiphons for the First Matins nocturn, urge kings to venerate Christ in the battlefield, lest they be shattered to pieces like a potter’s vessel.28 Thereafter, however, most of the chants and readings stretching from First to Second Vespers mention the relics received in 1241 and 1242 rather straightforwardly, sometimes inventory-like.29 Typical in that regard is the responsory Baptiste calvaria Symeonis and the Matins antiphon Vitalem Christi sanguinem, where the itemization of various relics is usually followed by the conventional exhortation to thank Christ for such precious gifts: The Responsory Baptiste calvaria Symeonis Baptiste calvaria, Symeonis, Blasii et Clementis capita signa sunt amoris. Adsunt et donaria pepli lactis proprii que presentat inclita mater salvatoris.

The skull of the Baptist, the heads of Simeon, Blaise, and Clement, are signs of love. Here are also the gifts of the [virginal] veil and the very milk exhibited by the mother of the Saviour.

Verse: Gaudeat ecclesia memor beneficii, tantis donis predita nostri redemptoris.

Verse. May the Church rejoice in remem­ ber­ing this kindness, she who received so many gifts from our redeemer.

 28 The first antiphon, Reges ut vasa, is paired with Psalm 2, wherein verse 9 reads: ‘Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron, and thou shalt break them in pieces like a potter’s vessel’. The antiphon, then, uses the language of Ps. 2. 9 to warn kings not to end up like their enemies.  29 The Matins lessons are fashioned out of a sermon, as indicated by the rubric introducing Lesson 1 in Bari 3, fol. 350v (‘Sermo in festo reliquiarum’).

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The antiphon Vitalem Christi sanguinem Vitalem Christi sanguinem, cathenam et harundinem; devote veneremur sacram colentes spongiam ab ipso nobis gratiam collatam meditemur.

Let us devotedly venerate the living blood of Christ, the chain, and the reed; let us venerate the sacred sponge we gathered, conferred by him for our grace.

Vexilla regis is a rhymed office, and the melodies of most of its chants are contrafacts of Franciscus vir, the office for St Francis composed by Julian of

Speyer. It is perhaps no coincidence that Brussels IV.472, the only source to transmit a notated version of Vexilla regis, concludes with nine lessons for the feast of St Francis. Julian had written a Vita of St Francis in the mid-1230s, and prior to that he was a ‘master of song’ in the royal court, coinciding with the early years of Louis IX’s reign.30 His office for St Francis became a model for other offices, which, to varying degrees, imitate the poetic metre, vocabulary, assonances, and of course the music of the original. Five of those form a particularly homogeneous group, and aside from the relics, they comprise only offices for saints ‘intimately connected with the Franciscan Order’: Clare, Anthony the Hermit, Five Protomartyrs of the Franciscan Order, and Bonaventure.31 Mass Propers for the relics are extant in just eight Parisian/SainteChapelle sources, including the miscellany of the Sainte-Chapelle liturgy that is Brussels IV.472, fols 54v–57v (from which their text is transcribed and translated in Table 16 below), and seven missals (one of which is notated) are examined in more detail in Appendix 1: 1. BnF lat. 1113, fol. 253r–v, a Parisian missal copied in the second half of the fourteenth century. 2. Toulouse 102, fols 324–25, copied in the fifteenth century, and as the Temporale states, it conforms to the Use of Paris.32 Louis d’Anjou, nephew of Louis IX, was bishop of Toulouse in 1296–97. Might this explain the presence in Toulouse of Sainte-Chapelle liturgy?  30 Gaposchkin, The Making of Saint Louis, p. 160. As Gaposchkin has already demonstrated, the Franciscan office for St Louis, Francorum rex magnificus, recalls in themes and tone that of St Francis, Franciscus vir (pp. 161–68). Six chants from the relics office, including the concluding responsory Baptiste calvaria Symeonis, are apparently new compositions, and not taken from the St Francis office (see Taylor, ‘Rhymed Offices at the Sainte-Chapelle’, pp. 72–73). On the history and composition of the St Francis office, see Scandaletti, ‘Una ricognizione sull’ufficio ritmico per S. Francesco’; Lebigue, ‘Julien de Spire’. For an edition of the office and mass for St Francis (text and music), see Bruning, Officium ac missa de festo S. P. N. Francisci.  31 Taylor, ‘Rhymed Offices at the Sainte-Chapelle’, p. 68.  32 See the manuscript entry at . Leroquais dated the manuscript to the second half of the fourteenth century (Leroquais, Les Sacramentaires, ii, 345).

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3. Mazarine 406, fol. 316, copied in the first quarter of the fifteenth century for a member of the French royal family, most probably for Louis, Duke of Guyenne, for whom Châteauroux 2 was copied. Mazarine 406 is said to be from either the Capella regis or the Sainte-Chapelle. 4. Arsenal 608, fols 424–26v, copied in the first decade of the fourteenth century. It is a notated Parisian missal with a supplement that makes sense only for those following the liturgy of the Sainte-Chapelle. 5. BL Harley 2891, fols 380–85v, a Parisian missal adapted for the SainteChapelle and copied in 1317–18. 6. Lyon 5122, fols 405v–407v, copied in the fourth decade of the fourteenth century. A Parisian missal with additions that rendered it appropriate for following the liturgy of the Sainte-Chapelle. 7. BnF lat. 8890, fols 65v–69, an early sixteenth-century missal from the Sainte-Chapelle. Three of the eight manuscripts, BL Harley 2891, Arsenal 608, and Lyon 5122, have much in common: copied in the fourteenth century and originally conceived as Parisian missals, they were eventually supplemented with liturgy whose celebration could only be justified by a strong association with the Sainte-Chapelle. Moreover, as far as the relics liturgy is concerned, they share one aspect peculiar to them only; in addition to the Alleluia O plebs ditata, they also transmit the Tract Christi coronam spinea, followed by two verses: Marie lac nectareum and Iohannes Christi previus (in Table 16 below the Tract is transcribed from BL Harley 2891). Tracts were sung only during penitential seasons, instead of the Alleluia that was deemed too joyful. The three manuscripts, however, provide an Alleluia as well as a Tract, as if the Reception of Relics was a movable feast, and not fixed to 30 September. The five other manuscripts transmitting a mass for 30 September do not feature a Tract. Four additional sources transmit the text (or just the incipit) of a relics sequence without the mass Propers to go with it; their provenance enlarges the geo­graphical reach of this celebration, suggesting that on occasion the relics liturgy was also celebrated outside of Paris.33 Two ordinals bearing witness to the unfolding of ceremonies at the Sainte-Chapelle indicate that Nos ad laudes, the relics sequence examined in detail below, was to be performed during mass. The earliest of the two is BnF lat. 1435 (a textual and musical incipit of Nos ad laudes is found on fol. 45), an ordinal from the Capella regis, copied in the mid-fourteenth century, and certainly testifying to liturgical practices at the Sainte-Chapelle.34 As we would expect from a manuscript  33 For a full list of manuscripts, see Appendix 4.  34 The first line of the manuscript reads ‘Ordinarium tenendum in capella regis’. See Palazzo, ‘La Liturgie de la Sainte-Chapelle’. BnF lat. 1435 is a slim volume of forty-eight folios, succinctly documenting the celebration of mass and office during the important feasts of the liturgical year. It indexes feasts of the Temporale (fols 1–25v), continues with the Sanctorale

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Table 16. The Relics mass Propers.

 

Text

Translation

Introit

Gaudeamus omnes in Domino laudes Christo decantantes qui pro nobis se morti tradidit et sue passionis signa fidelibus reservanda commendavit.

Let us all rejoice in the Lord singing the praises to Christ who gave himself over to death for us and commended the signs of his passion to the keeping of the faithful.

Verse Misericordias Domini in eternum cantabo. Gradual

Verse [Ps. 88. 2] The mercies of the Lord I will sing for ever.

Gaudeat in celis cum Christo turba fidelis que colit obsequiis signa verenda piis.

May the multitude of faithful that looks after the fearful signs with pious obedience rejoice in heaven with Christ.

Verse Cedant signorum virtute maligna sacrorum ne populis noceant quos signa sacra beant.

Verse Let malicious things yield to the virtue of sacred signs, lest they harm people that the sacred signs make happy.

Alleluia

O plebs ditata lancea, cruore, cruce, spongia, sceptro, corona spinea et vestimentis Christi da graciarum munia ex animo altissimo quo hec recepisti.

O people, enriched by the lance, the blood, the cross, the sponge, the sceptre, the Crown of Thorns, and the garments of Christ, give dutiful thanks from the depths of your soul where you received all this.

Tract (Alleluya vacante)

Christi coronam spineam, crucem, cruorem, lanceam, sceptrum, vestes et alia veneremur insignia.

Let us venerate the Crown of Thorns of Christ, the cross, the blood, the lance, the sceptre, the clothes, and the other insignia.

[Verse 1] Marie lac nectareum dulcorem vincens melleum atque pepli particula digna sunt laude sedula.

[Verse 1] The nectar-like milk of Mary, which exceeds the sweetness of honey, and the fragment of the veil are worthy of constant praise.

[Verse 2] John, Precursor of Christ, [Verse 2] Iohannes Christi previus, Simeon, Clement, Blaise, may they by their Symeon, Clemens, Blasius holy merits help us, who venerate their per sancta iuvent merita heads. sua colentes capita. Offertory

Munera conserva populo que Christe dedisti per que mortiferis nos casibus eripuisti ut tua signa iuvent quos passio sancta redemit vitaque sita nobis cuius mors fata peremit. Alleluya.

Communion Nos signis pie Christe tuis fac vincereb mundum et nostre quecumque patent adversa saluti ut nobis sit pax hic [et] postc vita perhennis.

Christ, keep safe the presents that you gave to the people, by which you tore us from the hazards of death so that your signs comfort those whom your holy Passion has redeemed, and that you may be life for us, you whose death has killed death. Make us, loving Christ, defeat the world and all things manifest that are hostile to our salvation, to have peace here, [and] afterwards eternal life.

Notes: a Both Brussels IV.472 and BL Harley 2891 have sis, where the context clearly indicates it must be sit; b Both Brussels IV.472 and BL Harley 2891 have vivere, whereas all other manuscripts have vincere; c Brussels IV.472 omits et, which is provided in BL Harley 2891.

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describing the unfolding of feasts in the Capella regis or the Sainte-Chapelle, in addition to the feast of St Louis (fol. 34v) we also find brief references to the Crown of Thorns on fol. 33r–v and to the relics on fol. 36.35 The ordinal of the Sainte-Chapelle mentioned above, Arsenal 114, also indicates that Nos ad laudes found its place in the relics mass (the incipit is found on fol. 251v). We have, then, concordant witnesses (some complete and some partial) to the relics liturgy of the Sainte-Chapelle extending from the decades immediately following its inauguration to the mid-fifteenth century. The mass Propers seem to be new compositions, except for Gaudeamus omnes, the one-size-fits-all Introit used in numerous other liturgical contexts, including in the Crown and St Francis masses. As already noted above, the relative ubiquity of this Introit stems from its congratulatory and jubilant tone, particularly appropriate as the first chanted item during mass. One only had to replace one or two words in order to make it a Proper chant. In the context of the mass of the Sainte-Chapelle relics, however, there is a more extensive contrafacture at play, with most of the text being entirely new, as we can see in Table 16. Although both the Crown and relics masses celebrate triumph over death, the former does so through the prism of a single relic — the Crown of Thorns — while the latter does so by celebrating all Sainte-Chapelle relics, including the Crown. Most of the chant Propers make reference to the signs of Christ’s Passion (‘passionis signa’, ‘signa verenda’, ‘signa sacra’, ‘alia […] insignia’, ‘signis […] tuis’) paving the road to salvation and eternal life. Both Alleluia and Tract are conspicuous for calling attention not only to specific relics of the passion, including the cross and the lance, but also to the milk of the Virgin and the heads of John the Baptist, Simeon, Clement, and Blaise.

Sequences for 30 September and its Octave The ten rhymed sequences for relics (see Table 17) are fairly standardized chants; mostly composed in D or G modes (like much of the sequence repertory), they predictably open by insisting on the need to venerate the relics, continuing by either listing them or expounding on their relative merit, before concluding with a petition for safeguarding and salvation, all while making use of different rhyme schemes and accentual metres. All but one sequence, Cursor levis arcte, are contrafacts, with the original models found in the Sainte-Chapelle Proser and in other Parisian sources as well. Seven of (fols 26–38v), and concludes with a proser (fols 39–48). The entire manuscript is dotted with musical and textual cues that must have necessitated recourse to a more complete cursus of the liturgy found in other available sources.  35 Rubricated plainly and simply as ‘sanctarum reliquiarum’. Nothing in the short description that follows suggests that this is the Sainte-Chapelle relics feast, and not Notre-Dame’s. Its relative position in the ordinal, however, leaves no doubt that this is the 30 September celebration. There is no Dedication feast in BnF lat. 1435.

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Plate 3. Nos ad laudes. Bari 5, fol. 268v. The rubric De sacrosanctis reliquiis appears on fol. 268r. Reproduced with permission of the Archivio della Basilica di San Nicola, Bari.

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the ten sequences include literal enumerations of the Sainte-Chapelle relics, but only three of them do so mechanically, without offering further insights into the salvific value of the relics or situating them in a wider historical or theo­logical context. The latter are distributed in what seems to be a calculated way, one opening and one closing the cycle, and one in the middle (Nos ad laudes, Letabundus decantet fidelis, and Vergente mundi vespere, crucis respectively); they function as straightforward catalogues, presenting and then reminding the audience of the myriad relics honoured during the 30 September celebration and the days leading up to its octave, ‘lest the sign lack the thing signified’ (Et ne signum signato deesset), echoing the concern expressed in lesson 2 of the relics office. Without exception, all other sequences, whether they itemize relics or not, are suffused with theo­logical streaks, offering a sophisticated prose rife with scriptural allusions and brimming with moralistic attributes; they are contemplative homilies kept within the generic bounds of the sequence. In between the three sequences functioning as commemorative pillars are two types of sequences, those that are purely theo­logical, making no reference to any particular relic (Solemnes in hac die, Cum tremore exulta, and Sexta passus feria), and those that recite the relics and imbue them with specific meaning and qualities. Table 17. Rubrication of relics sequences in Bari 5.

 

Sequence incipit

Rubric

Folio(s)

1

Nos ad laudes

De sacrosanctis reliquiis

268v–269

2

Solemnes in hac die

Alia prosa

269v–270

3

Gaude, Syon […] qua vexilla

Alia de eisdem prosa

270–71v

4

Nos oportet gloriari

[no rubric]

271v–273

5

Cum tremore exulta

De reliquiis

273v–274v

6

Vergente mundi vespere, crucis

Feria IV

274v–275

7

Res est venerabilis

Item de reliquiis prosa

275–76

8

Sexta passus feria

Alia prosa

276–77

9

Cursor levis arcte

Feria III prosa

277–78

10

Letabundus decantet fidelis

In octabas reliquiarum

278–79

The group of ten relics sequences is accorded a special place in Bari 5, with the opening sequence, Nos ad laudes, announced by a rubric De sacrosanctis reliquiis and highlighted by a large painted initial stretching over two staves, an emphasis given to just three other feasts in the Sainte-Chapelle Proser: the opening of the Sanctorale as a whole coinciding with a sequence for St Stephen, and two Marian feasts, Purification and the Assumption (see Plate 3).36

 36 Gould, ‘The Sequences De Sanctis Reliquiis’, p. 324.

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The excessive number of relics sequences — three more than actually needed for the most rigorous celebration of the feast in die and throughout the octave — is in keeping with the role of Bari 5 as a repository for Sainte-Chapelle sequences. Clearly, it testifies to the outpouring of musical and poetic creativity in response to the addition of the new feast, and one can imagine the list of sequences changing from year to year, or even the occasional singing of two sequences per day. In addition to the first sequence introduced by the rubric De sacrosanctis reliquiis, the last one too is aptly designated In octabas reliquiarum. As we can see in Table 17, only two of the intervening sequences are rubricated according to the supposed day during the octave in which they were to be sung, on feria IV and on feria III, neither of which is copied according to the numerical order suggested by the rubrics, with the latter coming just before the octave and the former coming before feria III, from which it is separated by three days. Notwithstanding the modularity of the sequence repertory for relics, if sources transmit any relics sequence at all, it is almost always — with one exception — the one that launches the series in Bari 5, to which we now turn our attention. Nos ad laudes

The sequence Nos ad laudes is to the relics feast what Regis et pontificis and Si vis vere are to the Crown of Thorns. That is, if a medieval manuscript transmits a sequence for relics at all — text and/or music, or just incipit — it is invariably Nos ad laudes, whether that manuscript includes related mass Propers or not. The sequence opens with what were undoubtedly the most prized SainteChapelle relics, the Crown and the piece of the True Cross (see Table 18). It reunites the crown put on Christ’s head with the cross on which he was crucified, producing a harmony rife with militant overtones. The vexillum crucis harks back to military victories during various crusading campaigns, at once a reference to the cross displayed on crusaders’ clothing and to the True Cross itself, as it was sometimes called after the capture of Jerusalem (Gérard’s text likewise conflates the vexillo crucis with the magnum crucis dominice).37 As we have seen above, the Crown sequences developed an image of the Crown as a pugnacious helmet in which Christ ‘fought, when he defeated the old enemy, triumphing on the cross’ (Si vis vere). The Crown, a helmet of victory (Gens Gallorum), and the cross leading the army into battle thus afford material and spiritual protection comparable to the ‘whole armour of God’ central to the theo­logy of Vexilla regis. Verses 2–4 progress in a similar manner, with each versicle introducing a verb in the subjunctive heaping praise on the relics. Verse 5 alone names seven additional relics, including those of two saints not mentioned by their name but by their claim to fame: John the Baptist being the ‘herald and announcer of Christ’ and St Simeon  37 Gaposchkin, Invisible Weapons, pp. 101–02.

t h e r ec e p t i o n o f re li cs ( 3 0 se pt e mb e r) Table 18. Nos ad laudes: text and translation.

1a. Nos ad laudes preclara corona monet alleluia. 1b. Et pro crucis vexillo corona sonet armonia.

The remarkable Crown invites us in praise, Alleluia. And may the Crown ring with harmony for the standard of the cross.

2a. Veneremur sanguinem et sacram harundinem salvatoris. 2b. Pro panni sudario sonet et pro pallio laus in choris.

Let us venerate the blood and the sacred reed [sceptre] of the Saviour. May the praise in the choir resonate for the shroud and for the [scarlet] cloak.

3a. Adoremus lanceam et cathenam ferream redemptoris. 3b. Lintheum et spongiam colamus ad gloriam conditoris.

Let us honour the lance and the iron chain of the redeemer. Let us cherish the linen cloth and the sponge for the glory of the creator.

4a. Pars de Christi tumulo presentata populo adoretur. 4b. Consecrata tabula cum Moysi virgula honoretur.

May that part of Christ’s sepulchre presented to the people be venerated. May the holy plank [Holy Mandylion]a be honoured with the rod of Moses.

5a. Lac et peplum virginis et thesaurus sanguinis percusse ymaginis nos ditarunt. 5b. Sacra Clemens, Blasius preco Christi previus et senex eximius presentarunt.

The milk and veil of the Virgin and the treasure of blood of the struck image have enriched us. Clement and Blaise, herald and announcer of Christ [ John the Baptist], and [Simeon the] admirable old man have presented these sacred objects.

6a. Per hec magnalia repelle vicia nos Christe firmans in gratia. 6b. Ut post presentia vite preconia tecum letemur in patria. Amen.

By these marvels, repel [our] vices while confirming us, O Christ, in your grace, that after the praises of the present life, we shall rejoice with you in the homeland. Amen.

Note: a See note 8 above for the identification of the ‘tabula’ with the Holy Mandylion.

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an ‘admirable old man’, a reference to the Gospel of Luke 2. 26, where the Holy Spirit promises Simeon that he shall not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ, and just before Simeon praises the Lord by what would later be called in Latin the Nunc dimittis. Nos ad laudes manages to compress into just six verses (it is the second shortest relics sequence) all twenty-three Sainte-Chapelle relics in rapid succession.38 It celebrates them as ‘marvels’ or ‘wonders’ (magnalia) by which the faithful will be delivered from evil, resonating with two chants from Vexilla regis. The First Vespers hymn, Creatoris recensentes, concludes by saying that ‘Tres personas confitentes in una substantia supplicemus ut colentes tot Christi magnalia post hanc vitam resurgentes coronemur gloria’ (By confessing the three persons in one substance, we beg that by venerating so many wonders of Christ, we will be crowned with glory rising again after this life), essentially a paraphrase of the concluding verse of Nos ad laudes. The antiphon to the Magnificat in Second Vespers, O Iesu fidelium, similarly emphasizes the great number of marvels (tot magnalia) venerated on that day, an unmistakable reference to the great number of relics testifying to them: ‘O Iesu, fidelium spes et gloriatio per quem tot magnalia plebs tua deposito digne gloriatur firma fidem mentium crescat et dilectio da speratum gaudium quo pro vite merito te dante fruatur’ (O Jesus, hope and glory of the faithful, you, through whom your people glorify with the dignity of so many marvels, strengthen the faith of our spirits, so that love grows too; give the hoped for joy, so that we delight in it thanks to your gift, in exchange for a deserving life). Immediately following Nos ad laudes, and in fact following each of the relics sequences throughout the octave, comes the reading from the Gospel assigned to Gaudeamus omnes, which is Matthew 20. 17–19: And Jesus going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples apart, and said unto them: Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall be betrayed to the chief priests and the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death. And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to be mocked, and scourged, and crucified, and the third day he shall rise again. If the Epistle from Ephesians 6 read after the Introit stressed the virtue of relics in combat, the Gospel reading harked back to the prehistory of the event that made such a theo­logy possible: Jesus predicting his own Passion. In a continuous counterpoint that underlines the mysterium of opposites, Nos ad laudes and the Gospel reading each illustrated a complementary facet of ‘these marvels’: Jesus defeated and glorified, mocked and exalted, crucified and triumphant. Nos ad laudes is attested in a greater number of sources than just the mass Propers, with five additional sources providing its textual incipit. Only

 38 This, if we understand the reference to the cross to stand for the three cross relics and that for the blood to the two blood relics in the Sainte-Chapelle treasury.

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Example 12. Nos ad laudes, from Bari 5, fols 268v–269.

three manuscripts transmit a notated Nos ad laudes: Bari 5 (see Ex. 12) and Brussels IV.472 copied in the mid-thirteenth century, and Arsenal 608, copied ‘before 1316’. The trio of sources also transmits Regis et pontificis and/or Si vis vere, with Bari 5 being the only source featuring all three sequences together. Nos ad laudes is a contrafact of the ubiquitous Letabundus exsultet fidelis, a sequence proper for the Assumption and Christmas. The versicles in each of its six verses conclude with four-syllable words/phrases, which confer a certain sense of uniformity on a sequence that is otherwise quite varied in

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terms of metre. These four-syllable words are emphasized not only by their relative position — ending all versicles — but also by being set to repeating cadential formulae: they are set to the same melody in verses 1–3, and to a different melody in verses 4–5, with the final verse 6 ending with a different and more simple cadence. Nos ad laudes is in mode 6 (transposed) with all verses having a final on c, and with the melody that sets all but the fifth verse lying in the plagal portion of the mode. The metre and rhyme scheme of Nos ad laudes are anything but regular. The popular pattern of 7+7+4 is maintained in verses 2–4, whereas verses 1, 5, and 6 have 4+8+4, 7+7+7+4, and 6+6+5+4 respectively. This remarkable metrical variety in a relatively short sequence is matched by an equally impressive variety of rhyme schemes. Practically each of the six verses has a different rhyme scheme; only verses 2, 3, and 4 share the same AABCCB scheme. The technical virtuosity contrasts with the routine rhetorical unfolding of the sequence, opening with the habitual exhortation to offer praise and honour a relic/saint, concluding with a plea for eternal life, while the intervening verses deliver a blow-by-blow account of various relics. Solemnes in hac die

In both Solemnes in hac die and Nos ad laudes, line lengths, accentual metres, and rhyme schemes change practically from one verse to the other, yet in contrast to Nos ad laudes, which restlessly catalogues virtually all the SainteChapelle relics one by one, Solemnes in hac die alludes to none specifically, instead contemplating their salvific merits as a group (see Table 19). It does so in a more restrained musical style, with the mode-8 melody unfolding in a strict syllabic manner, unlike in any other relics sequence. The reference to the Crown in versicle 8a is not qua relic, but as an attribute of Christ who is ‘our glory, hope, [and] crown’ (see Ex. 13). Similarly, although the ‘vexillis victorie’ in verse 3 are surely evocative of the main theo­logical-militant thrust of Vexilla regis of the relics feast, they are not mentioned as a specific group of cross relics that ought to be venerated, but inscribed in the context of salvation history, which stands at the centre of Solemnes in hac die as a whole. The celebration of the vital gifts of life (‘vitalia vie dona’ in verse 8), that is, the Sainte-Chapelle relics, is set in motion by acknowledging that it is through ‘these ceremonies’ that remission of sin is possible. After the typical appeal for prayers to be heard and answered in the opening two verses, the rest of the sequence revolves around the triumph of life over death, expressed in a pugnacious vocabulary — with words such as conqueror, destroy, eliminate, shattered — resulting in eternal life and salvation once the gate of heaven is open. Notwithstanding its ubiquity, the latter theme may well have been inspired by the tenth-century Marian sequence for the Assumption, Hac clara die, of which Solemnes in hac die is a contrafact.39 Both sequences serve as a  39 The sequence is analysed in Fassler, The Virgin of Chartres, pp. 51–52.

t h e r ec e p t i o n o f re li cs ( 3 0 se pt e mb e r) Table 19. Solemnes in hac die: text and translation.

1a. Solemnes in hac die laudes sonent ecclesie. 1b. Attende, Christe pie, vota tue familie.

May the churches resound solemn praises on this day! Sweet Christ, pay attention to the vows of your family.

2a. Patris sophya, vite via, supplicia sume preconia. 2b. Virgo Maria, mater pia, nos expia per hac obsequia.

Wisdom of the Father, way of life, receive the praises full of supplication! Virgin Mary, sweet mother, forgive us by these ceremonies!

3a. Ave, Ihesu, rex glorie, mortis victor egregie. 3b. Pro vexillis victorie tue letamur hodie.

Hail, Jesus, King of glory, illustrious conqueror of death! We rejoice this day in these standards of your victory.

4a. Cuncta discrimina, virtus divina, per hec extermina. 4b. Hostes elimina, vires propina, contra temptamina.

Divine virtue, destroy all difficulties thanks to [these standards]. Eliminate the enemies, give us strength against temptations.

5a. Homo, consideraa que sunt hec munera, 5b. Que curant vetera peccati vulnera.

Man, consider what are these presents that heal the old injuries of sin.

6a. Mors est his absorta in victoria. 6b. Celi patet porta prius invia.

By them, death is suppressed in victory. The gate of heaven, previously inaccessible, opens.

7a. Predam, per hec fracta, reddunt inferna. 7b. Estque mundo facta salus eterna.

By them, the shattered [gates of] hell give back their prey. And eternal salvation has come to the world.

8a. Ihesu, nostra gloria, spes, corona, patri nos concilia. 8b. Ut per hec vitalia vie dona, letemur in patria.

Jesus, our glory, hope, crown, unite us with the Father so that by these vital gifts of life we shall rejoice in the homeland.

9. Gaudia nobis concede celestia. Amen.

Grant us heavenly joys, Amen.

Note: a ‘Homo, considera’ are the opening words of a song by Philip the Chancellor;

the music and text are edited in Notre-Dame and Related Conductus, ed. by Ander­ son, x/6, p.  80. The melody that sets these two words in both sequence and song is practically identical. I thank Rebecca Baltzer for drawing my attention to this song.

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Example 13. Solemnes in hac die, from Bari 5, fols 269v–270.

theo­logical hinge connecting heaven and earth; in Hac clara die it is Mary who is likened to the door of life (vite porta in versicle 2b), with an analogous figurative language also used in verse 6 of Solemnes in hac die, where the gifts/ offerings (the relics) open the gates of heaven (porta celi).

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Gaude, Syon, que diem recolis qua vexilla

The sequence is framed by the usual rhetorical ploy of exhorting Christians to celebrate all the Sainte-Chapelle relics, implied by vexilla in versicle 1a, and clearly expressed by the listing of no fewer than nineteen relics in versicle 1b and verse 2; this in the hope of eternal life in heaven (versicle 8b) (see Table 20). The sequence as a whole revolves around several allusions to the Passion narrative and to the moral exhortation associated with it. Verses 3–5 place the relics mentioned in verse 1 in the context of the Passion and centre on the Crown of Thorns as an emblem of Christ’s crucifixion and humility in the face of shame, derision, and mockery. Verse 5 uses the flower (flos) imagery used in three of the ten Crown sequences examined above (Regis et pontificis Text B, Florem spina coronavit, and the Dominican Dyadema salutare) to recast the thorn from death-dealing to life-giving, freeing believers from sin. The flower imagery is particularly central to the Dominican liturgy of the Crown of Thorns, above all in the office Gaude felix, where it is used in three responsories, including the first one, which resonates with verse 5 of Gaude, Syon […] qua vexilla: Spina carens flos spina pungitur, per quem culpe spina confringitur, spina mortis spinis retunditur, dum vita moritur. Per hoc ludibrium hostis deluditur, mortis dominium per mortem tollitur.40 [The thornless flower is pierced by the thorn, through it the thorn of sin is broken, the thorn of death is repulsed by the thorns, when life dies. (Verse) By this derision the enemy is deceived; the supremacy of death is removed by death.] The thorn is cast as an image of sin: in accepting to receive the thorn of sin which Christ himself did not bear (since he is perfect), Christ frees the faithful from the thorn of sin. Verse 5 concludes by stating that the crowning of patience is penance: Christ has accepted to suffer on the wood of the cross until death. The focus on Christ during his Passion is extended in verse 6 to include earlier events leading up to his crucifixion, especially centring around the curative properties of saliva. Members of the Sanhedrin may have spat on the face of Jesus during his trial (Matt. 26. 67), showing their contempt, yet Jesus used his saliva to work miracles and cure a blind man in Bethsaida (Mark 8. 22–26). The latter comes on the heels of an earlier episode in that same chapter of Mark, where Christ asks his disciples: ‘Having eyes, see you not?’ (Mark 8. 18). It is the spiritually blind, then, who are addressed in this and the next verse, the ‘Gens misera’ (verse 6), the Pharisees and doctors of the Mosaic law, those who shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven, those who had Pontius Pilate (the ‘preses’ in verse 7) ‘on their side’, a figure characterized

 40 BnF lat. 1023, fol. 389v.

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pa rt i i Table 20. Gaude, Syon […] qua vexilla: text and translation.

1a. Gaude, Syon, que diem recolis, qua vexilla hec a christicolis veneranda et a celicolis celebrantur. 1b. Se crux, mucro, sertumque spineum, vestimentum Christi coccineum, sanguis, sceptrumque harundineum comitantur.

Rejoice, Zion, you who honour this day when Christians and the inhabitants of heaven celebrate the standards that are to be venerated. The procession includes [a large part of] the cross, the iron lance, the Crown of Thorns, the scarlet cloak of Christ, the reed sceptre.

2a. Sudarium, vinculum ferreum, mappa, panni, spongia, linteum pars sepulchri, velum virgineum, lac sequuntur. 2b. Virga legis, capita obvii Symeonis, Clementis, Blasii, calvaria, Baptiste previi his adduntur.

Following are the shroud, the iron chain, the Holy Mandylion,a the swaddling clothes, the sponge, the linen cloth, part of Christ’s sepulchre, the virginal veil, the milk. The rod of Moses, the heads of Simeon, Clement, Blaise, the skull of the Baptist the precursor add to all this.

3a. Que condecet tanto sublimius honorari, quanto humilius, in his gerens se, Dei filius cruciatur. 3b. O odio plena illusio! coronatur, non ut imperio sit serenus, sed ut opprobrio repleatur.

It is fitting to honour them with as much loftiness as with humility; in bearing them, the Son of God was crucified. O illusion full of hatred! He is crowned not so that he may be serene with his empire, but so that he is filled with shame.

4a. Honerosus honor est hoc decus, dehonestans intus, extrinsecus, et referre dedecet … dedecore. 4b. Non ornatur habitu regio, redimitus serti ludibrio, imperio pro improperio, non honore.

This glory is a heavy honour that brings interior dishonour; it is shameful to talk about it outside. He is not adorned with a royal robe, he is girded with a crown of derision for an empire of mockery, not of honour.

5a. Flos de spina sit quem non punxerat spina, pungi se spina tolerat, solvens quod non tulerat, liberat nos a spina. 5b. Ecce veri Iob patientia, cuius finis in penitentia, non descendit de cruce mors pia super ligna.

May he be the flower of the thorn, he whom the thorn had not pierced; he bears being pierced by the thorn; by releasing what he had not worn, he frees us from the thorn. Here is the patience of the true Job, whose end is in penance. Death, in its goodness, did not come down from the cross on the wood.

t h e r ec e p t i o n o f re li cs ( 3 0 se pt e mb e r)

6a. Generosa gena non respuit sputum sputoque ceco profuit, conspuenti venenum obfuit, non consputo. 6b. Gens misera, tibi dum supplicat hec ignosci nec sua replicat, contra probra nescis quid implicat ore muto.

The generous cheek did not refuse the spit, and spit helped the blind. The poison harmed the one who spits, not the one on whom one spits. Miserable people, while he begs for your forgiveness without turning back on your shame, you do not know what he implies with his silent mouth.

7a. Legislator non habet socios ut doctores sibi contrarios, qui non intrant nec sinunt alios subintrare. 7b. Contra mentem his preses placuit, nichil sciens qui posse noluit, nil potens qui velle non potuit refrenare.

The lawmaker has no allies among the doctors [of the Law, i.e. the Jews], who oppose him; they who do not enter [the Kingdom of Heaven] and do not let others enter. Against his own mind, the chief was on their side, knowing nothing, he who refused to act, unable to do anything, he could not restrain his will.

8a. Si hec fiunt in ligno viridi, que spes esse poterit aridi? non poterit me mons, si cecidi, operire. 8b. Per hac pia memorialia, mirabilia testimonia, valeamus ad celi gaudia pervenire. Amen.

If this happens in the green wood, what will be the hope for the arid wood? If I have fallen, the mountain can not cover me over. Thanks to these memorials of goodness, these remarkable testimonies, may we reach the joys of heaven. Amen.

Note: a For the identification of ‘mappa’ with the Holy Mandylion, see Gould, ‘The Sequences De Sanctis Reliquiis’, p. 332.

here as completely impotent. The sequence, then, and especially verses 6 and 7, holds the Jews in contempt, suggesting they are irredeemable, likened to an arid wood and contrasted to the green wood, an allusion to Christ and perhaps also to the Crown of Thorns, often described as being forever green and fresh, as we have seen above. As shown earlier, Gaude, Syon, […] qua vexilla for relics is closely modelled after the Martinian sequence starting with the same words. It is an exact contrafact, moreover, of Gaude, Syon for the Crown of Thorns, but because it has eight verses compared to the latter’s seven, there is an extra verse (number 6), whose melody finds no correspondence in the Crown Gaude, Syon. The shared opening textual incipit and, more importantly, the identical melody to which both Crown and relics Gaude, Syon sequences are set draw a clear audible connection between the two feasts, an interrelationship that is of course explicit in the liturgies themselves. In marked contrast to the two previous relics sequences, Gaude, Syon […] qua vexilla is regular

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Example 14. Gaude, Syon […] qua vexilla, from Bari 5, fol. 270r–271v.

throughout, comprising eight pairs of versicles each made of four lines of 10+10+10+4 syllables, with a rhyme scheme of AAAB/CCCB (see Ex. 14). The four-syllable word(s) ending each versicle, save those in verse 5, are interconnected by changing musical rhymes: verse 1 with verse 2, verse 3 with verse 4 (where the musical rhyme encompasses the third line as well as the fourth), and verses 6 through 8. The scribe omitted the last word of line 3 in versicle 4a; it must have been a three-syllable word ending with -ecus, to match the syllable count and rhyme scheme. As Hesbert already observed, someone later corrected the lacuna in a cursive hand, a correction which is no longer legible.41 Nos oportet gloriari

Nos oportet gloriari comprises two main parts. The first (verses 1–8) is a narrative rife with intricate scriptural allusions that centre on the significance of the events leading to the Crucifixion in the plan of salvation and offer a

 41 Le Prosaire de la Sainte-Chapelle, ed. by Hesbert, p. 67.

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frame of reference for a handful of relics. The second (verses 9–13) comprises a straightforward series of hortatory statements in relation to specific relics (see Table 21). The opening verse centres on the cross and the wood of the cross as a source of life, a ‘celestial symbol of Christ’; by dying on the cross, Christ conquered death and brought salvation to humankind through the cross. The wood of the cross on which Christ died is the tree of life (lignum vite), and the tree of knowledge of good and evil (usually depicted as an apple tree in Christian art) is a metaphor for Christ himself, who is the Tree of Life and the fruit of the Virgin. Christ endured mockery and humiliation on the cross by being hailed as ‘King of the Jews’, for which purpose he was accoutred with a scarlet cloak, a reed sceptre, and a Crown of Thorns (Matthew 27. 28–29). The Crown of Thorns, the reed sceptre, and the scarlet cloak (verse 2) together signify that Christ is the true pontiff, the royal priest, the new Melchizedek that everyone should ‘go out’ and behold, as the allusion to Song of Songs 3. 11 in the opening of verse 3 makes clear: ‘Go forth, ye daughters of Sion, and see king Solomon in the diadem, wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals’, the passage read during the Crown mass and office. Christ is not only the new royal priest, he is also ‘verus pacificus’, that is, the true Solomon.42 Whereas the Crown, sceptre, and scarlet cloak were used to mock Christ during the crucifixion, the lance was used subsequently to pierce his side after he was already dead on the cross. The lance stands at the centre of the next two verses, with versicle 7a alluding to the prophecy Simeon made to the Virgin at the Temple, predicting that ‘thy own soul a sword shall pierce’ (Luke 2. 35), probably in reference to the agony she will suffer by seeing her own son crucified, and versicle 7b prophesying that the Jews (described as descendants of a people of vipers) will kill Christ with the tip of a lance. The prophecies in verse 7 materialize in verse 8, which takes as a point of departure John 19. 31–37, alluding both to the lance and to the blood and water that came out of Christ ( John 19. 34). It is interesting that exactly when the sequence moves to the discursive mode of sermonizing and appears to be quoting from Scripture (cf. ‘Ut scriptum est’ in verse 8), it utilizes a different vocabulary than in the Vulgate to refer to two relics; it is the only sequence in which the iron lance is referred to as ‘sword’ (gladius) and not a derivative of lancea, and the only instance where the blood of Christ (one of the relics celebrated during the relics feast) is called cruor, and not a derivative of sanguis. The hortatory second part of the sequence starts with verse 9 offering praise not to a specific relic venerated at the Sainte-Chapelle, but more generally to the passing from Old to New Testament time. It has its roots

 42 The image of King Solomon as ‘rex pacificus’ (an expression not used in the Bible) is developed in ii Chron. 9. 22–23: ‘Magnificatus est igitur Salomon super omnes reges terrae prae divitiis et gloria; omnesque reges terrarum desiderabant videre faciem Salomonis’.

t h e r ec e p t i o n o f re li cs ( 3 0 se pt e mb e r) Table 21. Nos oportet gloriari: text and translation.

1a. Nos oportet gloriari nunc in cruce salutari lignoque dominico, 1b. Ligno vite et vitali pomo, cruce triumphali signo Christi celico.

It is now proper for us to glorify in the cross of salvation and in the Lord’s wood [of the Holy Cross], in the wood of life and in the life-giving apple tree, in the triumphal cross, the celestial symbol of Christ.

2a. Signant sertum spineum, sceptrum harundineum, purpuraque Domini, 2b. Esse Dei filium sacerdotem regium ergo egredimini.

The Crown of Thorns, the sceptre made of reed, the scarlet cloak of the Lord, testify that he is the Son of God, the royal priest, therefore let us go out.

3a. Et videte filie Syon, regem glorie in hoc dyademate, 3b. Quo mater hunc in die coronat leticie et carnis desponsate.a

And see, daughters of Zion, the king of glory in this diadem with which his mother crowns him on this day of joy and of espoused flesh.

4a. Dyadema nobilis et insuspicabilis fert verus pacificus. 4b. Duo, culpam, penam demens, simpla morte duplam premens, carnis, mentis medicus.

It is a noble and unexpected diadem that the true Peace Maker carries, two things, the sin and the punishment, crushing with his simple death, the doctor of the flesh and the spirit.

5a. Ecce munda cidaris quam Ihesus fert hilaris, acharis quam capparis dissipata contulit. 5b. Assunt mutatoria, rubra vestis talia, virgo Syon filia suo patri protulit.

This is the pure Crown that Jesus, cheerful, bears the thorn without grace that bestowed what was lost. These are the clothes, the red robe that the virgin daughter of Zion showed to her Father.

6a. Militare pallium, panni et sudarium, quod divini nominis 6b. Faciem opertuit, in quo et refloruit caro Dei hominis.

The soldier’s cloak, the cloths, and the shroud, which covered the face of the divine name, where the flesh of the human God has flourished again [i.e. was resuscitated].

7a. Adest ille gladius de quo tuam ipsius animam pertransiet. 7b. Dum muchrone lancee styrps gentis viperee in mortuum seviet.

Here is the sword that pierced your soul, when the descendants of a venomous people rage on you in death with the point of a spear.

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8a. Ut scriptum est: tunc viderunt in illo quem transfixerunt cruorem cum latice. 8b. Celum clavis reseratur, ex latere reformatur ecclesia mistice.

As it is written, then they saw in him whom they pierced, blood and water. The key of the heavens is opened; from its side the Church is reformed mystically.

9a. Caritatis vinculum cathenam funiculum Adam veneremur. 9b. Discipline federis, livoris et vulneris pie recordemur.

Let us venerate the bond of charity, the chain and rope of Adam. Let us remember with piety the discipline of the covenant, the pallor, and the wound.

10a. Testamenti sanguinem, et quem per ymaginem fudit adoremus. 10b. Lintheum et tabulam, spongiam et virgulam Moysi laudemus.

Let us adore the blood of the covenant and, through the image, the one who shed it. Let us praise the linen cloth, the Holy Mandylionb and the sponge and the rod of Moses.

11a. Peplum et lac virginis, lac pie dulcedinis, lac saporans filium. 11b. Lac saporis intimi, lac oris altissimi dent nobis auxilium.

May the veil and milk of the Virgin, a milk of great sweetness, a milk having the flavour of the Son, a milk of intimate flavour, milk from the mouth of the Most High, come to our aid!

12a. Gloriosi tumulum pars, capita Baiuli Christi, et Clementis, 12b. Blasii, calvaria Baptiste, hec omnia sint in archa mentis.

May the part of the sepulchre of this glorious man, the heads of him who took Christ in his arms, and of Clement, of Blaise, and the skull of the Baptist, may all these things be in the ark of our soul.

13. Muniatur Gallia tantis monimentis ac per hec insignia careat tormentis. Amen.

May Gaul be protected by such great signs, and that by these emblems she escapes torment. Amen.

Notes: a Bari 5 has desponsata, which does not rhyme with dyademate above, and which

makes less sense in the context of stanza 3.

b See note 8 above for the identification of the ‘tabula’ with the Holy Mandylion.

in the words of the prophet Hosea, who expresses the relationship between God and the people of Israel in allegorical terms of a father’s relationship with his child, Ephraim. According to Hosea 11. 4, God brought the people of Israel into his covenant, ‘In funiculis Adam traham eos, in vinculis caritatis’ (I will draw them with the cords of Adam, with the bands of love), but they failed to acknowledge God and worshipped idols. The Pauline Epistle to the

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Colossians, moreover, also informs verse 9 and subsequent verses as well; after establishing the supremacy of Christ, the author offers a new set of rules of holy living for the new Christian men and women; as we are told in Colossians 3. 14, ‘Super omnia autem haec caritatem habete, quod est vinculum perfectionis’ (But above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection), conjured up in verse 9 by the use of the words ‘Caritatis vinculum’, echoing those of Hosea. It is thanks to Christ, who with his own blood sealed a new covenant (verse 10, alluding to Hebrews 9. 20), that a remission of sins was made possible for humanity. Thereafter, the sequence offers praise of twelve additional relics, before concluding with a single versicle (verse 13), a supplication for the safeguarding of France on account of all the relics venerated that day at the Sainte-Chapelle. Hesbert was the first to note that Nos oportet gloriari was a contrafact of Lux iucunda, lux insignis for the octave of Pentecost (see Ex. 15). The text of the Pentecost sequence, probably written by Adam of Saint-Victor, was set to two different melodies, one known from the abbey of Saint-Victor and Sainte-Geneviève, where it is a contrafact of Laudes crucis, and a Parisian one, found in Notre-Dame Cathedral and other churches (including the Sainte-Chapelle); it is the latter melody that Nos oportet gloriari is largely modelled upon.43 Up until the end of verse 9, Nos oportet gloriari, which has three more verses compared to Lux iucunda, is a straightforward contrafact of the Parisian sequence, with the exception of verse 6, whose melody is new and finds no correspondence in Lux iucunda. Verses 10–13 are likewise set to new melodies; for unknown reasons, the melodies of two verses from Lux iucunda were left out during the contrafacture process.44 Composed in mode 7, Nos oportet gloriari comprises twelve double versicles exhibiting a variety of accentual metres; they are mostly made of three lines each (verse 5 has four-line versicles), with the concluding verse 13 having just one versicle, likewise with four lines. Just as Lux iucunda, lux insignis contrasts the giving of the Ten Commandments on Shavuot with the Law of the New Testament, Nos oportet gloriari juxtaposes the Old with the New Testament, but whereas the Pentecost sequence does so ‘concentrating upon the coming together and harmonizing of both [Laws]’, the one for relics unleashes a virulent attack on the Jews.45

 43 Fassler, Gothic Song, pp. 162–64.  44 As is evident from Ex. 15, the first half of the melody that sets versicle 2a is notated a third lower, surely owing to a scribal error.  45 Quotation from Fassler, Gothic Song, p. 273.

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Example 15. Nos oportet gloriari, from Bari 5, fols 271v–273.

Cum tremore exulta

Cum tremore exulta offers a concise overview of salvation history, starting with Judas’s betrayal of Jesus and concluding in the triumph of the New Testament, encapsulated in the opening two verses (see Table 22). References to the ‘daughter of Zion’, the ‘chain of love’, and ‘the cord of Adam’ hark back to Nos oportet gloriari, revealing an exegetical expansion at play. That each versicle ends with a verb in the third-person passive voice ending with ‑atur adds a certain tenaciousness to the narrative. The sequence gains momentum when all but one of the lines in verses 3–4 end with a passive verb of action in the indicative, corresponding to an accelerated pace of events, described in increasing grammatical regularity; after his trial, Christ is sent by Pilate to Herod, he is mocked, humiliated, put a cloak on, disciplined. Pilate and Herod, civil rulers, are contrasted at the end of verse 4 with Christ’s divine rule; the words of Christ to Pilate, ‘My kingdom is not of this world’ ( John 18. 36) draw a distinction between human and divine authority, echoing his reply to Jews asking whether they should pay taxes to the Romans: ‘Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s’ (Matt. 22. 21).

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1a. Cum tremore exulta, filia Syon, mortis memor memoria qua venia, gratia, gloria, tibi datur. 1b. Pavet, tedet Christus, certaminis prelo pressus, sudore sanguinis est respersusa veritas hominis hic monstratur.

Trembling, exult, daughter of Zion, while mindful of the death by which you are given pardon, grace, and glory. Christ, overwhelmed by the battle press, is terrified, is weary. He is covered with a sweat of blood; it is here that the truth of man is shown.

2a. Imminente mortis articulo, venundatus est a discipulo venenoso lupus hunc osculo osculatur. 2b. Vinctus nobis amoris vinculo et pro nobis Adam funiculo synagoge ferreo vinculo nunc ligatur.

Near death, he is sold by a venomous disciple; the wolf kisses him by his lips. Chained to us by the chain of love, he is now bound for us by the cord of Adam, that iron chain of the Synagogue.

3a. Vinctus, probris,b sputis afficitur, alapis et colaphis ceditur, generosa gena divellitur, os velatur. 3b. In erumpna sua convertitur, spina dorsi cuius confringitur supra dorsum dum sic percutitur, fabricatur.

Fettered, he is overwhelmed with shame; he is hit with spittle, blows, and slaps, his generous cheek is injured, his mouth covered. His spinal column is crushed and becomes a burden to him when they hit his back.

4a. A Pylato Herodi mittitur, alba veste septus remittitur, disciplina gravi corrigitur, qua pax datur. 4b. Peregrina veste induitur, dum purpura regali tegitur, cuius regnum non esse dicitur de hoc mundo.c

He is sent by Pilate to Herod, he is put back in a white cloak, he is reprimanded by harsh discipline, by which peace is given. He is wearing a foreign cloak while being covered with royal scarlet, he who says that his kingdom is not of this world [ John 18. 36].

5a. Agitata vento vertiginis et spiritu maligni turbinis in verticem Dei et hominis est harundo. 5b. Miseriam et improperium sustinuit his et opprobrium, inter spinas dum spinis lilium coronatur.

The reed is agitated by the wind of trouble and by the breath of a spiteful whirlwind against the back of the neck of the man-God. He put up with misery, shame, and dishonour, when the lily is crowned with thorns among the thorns.

6a. Cum iniquis cruci affigitur, parum quod a Deo percutitur, ad dolorem vulnerum additur blasphematur.

He is affixed to the cross with unjust men, the little that strikes God adds to the pain of his wounds; he is blasphemed.

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6b. Acetosa potatur spongia, de torrente qui bibit in via, inclinatum caput in gloria exaltatur.

He is showered with a sponge of vinegar, he who ‘shall drink of the torrent in the way’ [Ps. 109. 7]; his inclined head is exalted in glory.

7a. Mutuum filii suspirium in matrem et matris in filium ad compassionis nos cremium exortatur. 7b. Dum leonis sub agni vellere latet virtus, addentis vipere inquitas vulnus in latere prolongatur.

The mutual sigh of the Son to the Mother, and of the Mother to the Son, exhorts us to compassion. As the lion’s strength hides under the skin of a lamb, the wickedness of the serpent extends to the wound of the side [of Christ].

8a. Testamenti novi et gratie sanguis fusus traxit miserie nos de lacu, verbo Zacharie hoc notatur. 8b. Depositus hinc de patibulo, glorioso loquatur tumulo, a mortuis surgens diluculo consummatur. Amen.

The blood shed from the New Testament and the grace drew us from the lake of misery, as recorded by the words of Zechariah. Taken down from the gallows, he speaks from his glorious tomb, arising from the dead at dawn, he is finished off. Amen.

Notes: a Bari 5 has represus. Modification suggested by Hesbert in Le Prosaire de la Sainte-Chapelle, p. 69 b Bari 5 has probis c As Hesbert notes, it is odd that verses 4b and 5a should end with a rhyme scheme (-undo) different than the rest of this sequence (-atur).

The Passion relics in verses 4–7 are not invoked as a checklist of objects worthy of veneration — as they often are in other sequences — but they are framed in the figurative language of a sermon: the sceptre reed is ‘agitated by the wind of trouble’ in verse 5, and ‘the wickedness of the serpent extends to the wound of the side’, a reference to the lance in verse 7. The Crown, moreover, is mentioned as an attribute of the lily (an allusion to the purity of Christ), which is ‘crowned with thorns among the thorns’ (verse 5).46 The counterpoint of allusions extends to the imagery found in the Crown office Gaude felix, where the sixth responsory, Coronat regem, reads as follows: Coronat regem omnium Iudea serto spineo, stat inter spinas lilium, vernans cruore roseo. Spinarum culpe nescium, spine punctum aculeo. Ver. Sub decore fulget purpureo, corpus nitens candore niveo.47 [ Judaea crowns the king of all things with a Crown of Thorns. The lily stands among the thorns, blooming with a dew of blood. He who does

 46 See Mercuri, ‘Stat inter spinas lilium’, pp. 511–12.  47 BnF lat. 1023, fol. 390v.

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Example 16. Cum tremore exulta, from Bari 5, fols 273v–274v.

not know the fault of the thorns is pierced by the thorn. (Verse) The body, shining with a whiteness of snow, shines with a burst of purple.] The homiletic character of Cum tremore exulta is further evident in the use of figurative expressions (the lion, the lamb, the serpent) and in intensifying the Passion narrative by adding even more details of Christ’s suffering on the cross (his sweat, the blows and slaps he was given, his crushed spinal column). The latter details presented in verse 3 are also found in the Matins lectiones of the Crown of Thorns and expounded upon in similar fashion. Thus, in lesson 6 of the Parisian Adest nova we read that

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Dabunt autem alapas deo manibus incestis et impurato ore expuent venenatos sputos, dabit vero ad verbera simpliciter sanctum dorsum et colaphos accipiens tacebit, ne quis cognoscat quod verbum vel unde venit quod inferis loquatur, et spinea corona coronetur.48 [Moreover, they will give blows to God and they will spit poisonous spit from their impure mouth. He will present his holy back to the blows and he will be silent while receiving the blows lest anyone know that the ‘word’ nor whence it comes that he speaks to those below, and he will be crowned with a Crown of Thorns.] Lesson 1 of the Dominican Gaude felix office, moreover, concludes with entreating the faithful to ‘Alapas videlicet et colaphos sputa et vulnera diligenter distinguamus sicut auctoritas exponit’ (perceive carefully the slaps, blows, spitting, and wounds, as the authority explains). As a whole, Cum tremore exulta is devoid of the typical exhortations associated with the genre; it is actually a sermon cast in the mould of a rhymed sequence. It concludes with allusions to son and mother (verse 7), the latter being both the Virgin and the Church as a whole, of whom Christ is the bridegroom setting her free from her former misery (verse 8). The reference to the mother and to the blood of the New Testament evokes both Zachariah 9. 11 and verse 2 of Ierusalem et Syon, a Dedication sequence at Notre-Dame Cathedral (not found in Bari 5, incidentally), where verse 2 affirms that ‘Christus enim desponsat hodie | Matrem nostram, norma iustitiae | Quam de lacu traxit miseriae | Ecclesiam’ (For Christ, a model of righteousness, today marries our mother [Church], she whom he drew from the lake of misery). Cum tremore exulta is the last of the trio of sequences modelled after the Martinian Gaude, Syon and performed during the two proper Sainte-Chapelle feasts (see Ex. 16). It is closer to Gaude, Syon […] qua vexilla for relics than it is to Gaude, Syon […] qua corona for the Crown. Both relics sequences share the same number of verses (eight), one more than the one for the Crown, and two more than the one for St Martin. In the three Sainte-Chapelle sequences, the melody is that of the Parisian version of the Martinian sequence, which has six verses and is set to a different melody than the eight-verse one found in Victorine sources. As we have seen, Gaude, Syon […] qua corona is an exact contrafact of the Martinian Gaude, Syon, with the former having one extra verse set to a new melody (verse 7). The two relics sequences likewise share the melody of all six Martinian verses but have two extra verses for which new music was composed: verse 6 and verse 8. Be that as it may, all of the above-mentioned sequences share more than melody, and they stand out for having four-line versicles with the same syllable count (10+10+10+4) and rhyme scheme (AAAB/AAAB), against a backdrop of sequences mostly with three-line versicles, often exhibiting a dazzling metrical variety.  48 BnF lat. 15182, fol. 294v.

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Vergente mundi vespere, crucis

Just like Nos ad laudes and Gaude, Syon […] qua vexilla, Vergente mundi vespere, crucis, considers in quick succession nineteen relics, and yet it differs from preceding sequences in a significant way (see Table 23). As we have seen, Nos ad laudes is primarily concerned with reminding the faithful of the breadth of the Sainte-Chapelle group of relics and of the duty to sing their praises, and Gaude, Syon […] qua vexilla compresses an exhaustive list of relics into just two verses before continuing to address various aspects of the Passion narrative. If the latter magnanimously suggested that all of Zion rejoices on account of the relics, the opening versicle of Vergente mundi vespere, crucis brings attention to Gaul, towering above all of Table 23. Vergente mundi vespere, crucis: text and translation.

1a. Vergente mundi vespere, crucis coronae munere nostra choruscat Gallia. 1b. Que sceptri harundinei, vestimenti coccinei, redimita est gloria.

As evening falls on the world, with the gift of the cross and the Crown, our Gaul is shining. It is encircled by the glory of the reed sceptre and the scarlet cloak.

2a. Pannos Christi, sudarium, spongiam, sacrum gladium, cathenam, sacram mappulam, 2b. Sanguinem eius, lintheum, peplum et lac virgineum, Moysi habet virgulam.

It [Gaul] possesses the swaddling clothes of Christ, the shroud, the sponge, the holy lance, the [iron] chain, the Holy Mandylion,a his blood, the linen cloth and milk of the Virgin, and the rod of Moses.

3a. Et sepulchri gloriosi partem; pars est preciosi thesauri sibi credita. 3b. Symeonis et Clementis et Blasii tam clementis sacra conservat capita.

[Gaul] also has a part of the glorious sepulchre; a part of the precious treasure was entrusted to it. It keeps safe the holy heads of Simeon, Clement, and of the merciful Blaise,

4a. Calvariam precursoris, hec ad laudem salvatoris, per eorumdem merita, 4b. Venerentur, exaltentur, predicentur, didicentur in ede Deo dedita.

the skull of the forerunner [ John the Baptist], and this for the glory of the Saviour through their merits, so that they may be venerated, exalted, preached, celebrated in the temple dedicated to God.

5. Ipsorum iuvent merita nos quos premunt illicita. Amen.

May their merits help us, we whom sins overwhelm. Amen.

Note: a For the identification of ‘mappula’ with the Holy Mandylion, see Gould, ‘The Sequences De Sanctis Reliquiis’, p. 332.

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Example 17. Vergente mundi vespere, crucis, from Bari 5, fols 274v–275.

Christendom.49 After itemizing the relics, the sequence concludes by declaring their salvific merits, yet it does so clearly as a matter of form, for their actual importance is insofar as they illuminate Gaul ‘as evening falls’. Gaul is the subject (or reflexive pronoun) upon which all but the concluding two-line verse are predicated, and in its midst is the ‘temple dedicated to God’, an allusion both to the Sainte-Chapelle that possesses a ‘precious treasure’, and perhaps also to the Virgin, often described in Latin poetry as a temple, a citadel of virginity, and in the case of Vergente mundi vespere, crucis also a musical foundation. Vergente mundi vespere, crucis is solely extant in Bari 5, fols 274v–275 (see Ex. 17). It is a contrafact of the Parisian sequence for the Virgin’s Assumption, Vergente mundi vespere, sereno; both Vergente sequences are assigned to the octave of their respective host feasts (the Marian Vergente probably originated at Notre-Dame Cathedral, and it is also found at the Sainte-Chapelle).50 The two sequences comprise four double versicles of three lines each (8+8+8  49 Baltzer suggests that the ‘falling evening’ in the opening line of the sequence ‘is that of the Old Testament’ (Baltzer, ‘Notre-Dame and the Challenge of the Sainte-Chapelle’, p. 517).  50 For the cathedral, see, for instance, the notated missal copied c. 1220, BnF lat. 1112, fol. 294r–v, and for the Sainte-Chapelle, Bari 5, fol. 248v.

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syllables) and share the same opening line and melody, although the one for relics includes a short conclusion — a fifth, two-line verse — not found in the Marian one. Res est venerabilis

Like several previous relics sequences, Res est venerabilis too lists most of the Sainte-Chapelle relics, but in a more deliberate pace, addressing the various relics in all verses (and not just in the first ones) except the concluding versicle, which petitions for their intercession and the absolution of sins (see Table 24). Table 24. Res est venerabilis: text and translation.

1a. Res est venerabilis quod crux admirabilis coronaque spinea, 1b. In presenti stadio se iuge consortio iungunt et coccinea.

It is a venerable thing that the remarkable Cross and the Crown of Thorns, in the present stadium unite with the scarlet [cloak] in an eternal alliance:

2a. Vestis, sceptrum, lancea cathenaque ferrea, spongia cum mapula. 2b. Panni et sudarium, sanguinis profluvium et Moysi virgula

The cloak, the sceptre, the lance, the iron chain, the sponge with the Holy Mandylion, the swaddling clothes and the shroud, the blood, and the rod of Moses,

3a. Peplum et lac virginis sanguisque ymaginis tumulique portio. 3b. Crux est penitentia, corona pro gratia, gloria in premio.

The veil and milk of the Virgin, the blood from the image [Holy Mandy­ lion], and a part of the sepulchre. The Cross is penance, Crown is for grace, glory in reward.

4a. Vestis conversatio, sceptrum est directio, lancea perpessio. 4b. Cathena compassio, spongia compressio, mapula discretio.

The cloak is comportment, the sceptre is direction, the lance is courage and patience. The chain is compassion, the sponge compression, the Holy Mandylion discernment.

5a. Panni, sanguis caritas, sudarium claritas, peplum et lac puritas. 5b. Tumulus pro requie, sanctorum reliquie, plena nondum equitas.

The linen, the blood are charity, the shroud clarity, the veil and the milk purity. The tomb is for resting, the relics of the saints are justice not yet complete.

6. Excuset intercessio nos accusat quos actio. Amen.

May the intercession absolve us, we whose actions impugn. Amen.

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Example 18. Res est venerabilis, from Bari 5, fols 275–76.

The sequence displays a subtle counterpoint between various relics and their respective merit, a reflection on the perpetual struggle between vices and virtues after the Fall of Humanity, which only divine grace can remedy. In a tropo­logical vein characteristic of biblical exegesis, the sequence names several such virtues, which, although not necessarily all belonging to the cardinal or capital virtues found in medieval treatises, are clearly presented as consistent with their spirit and quality: penitentia, perpessio, compassio, discretio, caritas, claritas, puritas. ‘The Cross is penance’, the Crown means grace, glory is the reward that awaits the faithful in the afterlife. Three additional relics provide useful orientation along the road to salvation: ‘The cloak is comportment, the sceptre is direction, the lance is courage and patience’. ‘The chain is compassion’, the sponge is akin to being squeezed or crushed by suffering, the Holy Mandylion is discernment, while ‘The linen, the blood are charity, the shroud clarity, the veil and the milk purity’. Finally, the sepulchre means rest, and the relics of saints, justice that has yet to be completed.51  51 The motetus of Cruci Domini/Crux, forma penitentie/PORTARE, a mid-thirteenth-century motet from Notre-Dame, shares much of the figurative language with Res est venerabilis,

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In contrast to most other relics sequences, which are unica, Res est venerabilis has a single concordance in Mazarine 406, fol. 408 (text only), without enlarging the liturgical reach of the feast: as we have seen, the manuscript was used in the Capella regis or the Sainte-Chapelle. Just like Vergente mundi vespere, crucis, however, this sequence too is a contrafact of a five-verse Marian sequence to which an additional versicle is added, opening with practically the same words, Res est admirabilis; in mode 1, both comprise versicles of three lines each, with 7+7+7 syllable count52 (see Ex. 18). The latter is a widespread sequence, whose origin may well be Parisian, as it is part of the early sequence repertory of Notre-Dame (BnF lat. 1112, fol. 297). Both Notre-Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle assign the Marian sequence to the Saturday during the octave of the Virgin’s Nativity. Res est admirabilis is itself a contrafact of the popular Easter nine-verse sequence honouring Mary Magdalene, Mane prima sabbati, ‘used for many sequence texts in Paris’.53 Res est venerabilis, however, is more closely modelled on Res est admirabilis. Sexta passus feria

The sequence revolves around two main themes: bearing witness to Christ’s Passion and resurrection, and doing penance (see Table 25). The sequence opens with a verse that encompasses Christ’s crucifixion and the day of his resurrection, fulfilling prophecies. The allusion to the broiled fish is taken from Luke 24 and recalls the encounter in Emmaus between Simon and Cleopas and the resurrected Christ. Having eaten the broiled fish offered to him by the two disciples, Christ tells them that ‘These are the words which I spoke to you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me’ (Luke 24. 44). Just as Simon and Cleopas were witnesses to Christ’s resurrection, the Passion relics celebrated that day — only the cross is explicitly mentioned in Sexta passus feria — are ‘true examples’, which, ‘like his trace […] never disappears’. Towards the end of the sequence, versicle 8b stipulates that the faithful should ‘let [their] eye see him who hangs on the cross’, a paraphrase on Lamentations 2. 18: ‘Their heart cried to the Lord upon the walls of the daughter of Sion: Let tears run down like a torrent day and night: give thyself no rest; and let not the apple of thy eye cease’.

directed at the cross. It opens with the following words: ‘Cross, form of penitence, key of grace, staff of sin, vein of kindness, root of the wood of justice, way of life, standard of glory’ (Crux, forma penitencie, gracie clavis, clava peccati, venie vena, radix ligni iusticie, via vite, vexillum glorie). The motet is found in the Bamberg Codex (Staatsbibliothek, MS Lit 115), and is edited in Compositions of the Bamberg Manuscript, ed. by Anderson, pp. 24–25.  52 Observation first made by Hesbert in Le Prosaire de la Sainte-Chapelle, p. 92. For the text of Res est admirabilis, see AH 54: 253.  53 Fassler, Gothic Song, p. 173. Both Mane prima sabbati and Res est admirabilis are in Bari 5.

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pa rt i i Table 25. Sexta passus feria: text and translation.

1a. Sexta passus feria, piscis assus regia vexilla reliquit. 1b. Vera exemplaria, ut eius vestigia, qui numquam deliquit.

Having suffered on Friday, the broiled fish has left its royal standards, true examples, like his trace, which never disappears.

2a. Flectemur, animemur, armemur, si temptemur, adversus peccata. 2b. Si consustinebimus, leti congregabimus, morte triumphata.

If we are tempted, let us go down on our knees, cheer up, and arm ourselves against sin. If we stand together, we shall be reassembled happy, having triumphed over death.

3a. Si contritionibus veri Ioseph omnibus compassi fuerimus, 3b. Si thau in frontibus, sanguinem in edibus mentis habuerimus.

If in true Joseph we have compassion for all sufferings, if we have the tau on our foreheads, the blood in our interior houses [our minds].

4a. Transeuntes lugeant, attendant et videant si dolor ut iste. 4b. Quam felices anime, quarum genis lacrime fluunt pro te, Christe.

May the men who go across crying notice and see if there exists such sorrow as this one [cf. Lam. 1. 12]. How happy are the souls whose tears flow for you, Christ.

5a. Quarum multi gemitus, cor merens et spiritus est contribulatus. 5b. Que se spargunt cinere, que sciunt attingere ciliciiis latus.

They [the souls], whose laments are numerous, the heart is in mourning and the spirit is afflicted, who cover themselves with ashes, who know how to touch their side with the tunic [sackcloth].

6a. Hunc, Syon, considera conturbentur viscera nimio dolore. 6b. Livores et vulnera recolat et funera ovis pro pastore.

Look at him, Zion; may the entrails be upset with excessive pain. May the sheep remind itself, for the sake of its Shepherd, the blows and the wounds, the funeral preparations.

7a. Quis tuo det capiti aquam unigeniti, luctum tibi facias. 7b. Extra castra exiens, actorem aspiciens salutis, salva fias.

Who shall give to your head the water of the only begotten Son? [cf. Jer. 1. 9] Grieve over yourself! Leaving the camp, seeing the author of salvation, be saved!

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8a. Per noctem et per diem non des tibi requiem, in umbra vel luce. 8b. Pupilla non taceat, oculusque videat pendentem in cruce.

Night and day, do not give yourself rest, in shade or in light. Do not let your pupil be silent; let your eye see him who hangs on the cross.

9a. Sit tua contritio velut inundatio maris eo more. 9b. Ut torrentem lacrimas deduc, fundens animas tuorum merore.

May your contrition be a flood like that of the sea. Make your tears flow like a torrent, scattering your souls with sorrow [cf. Lam. 2. 18].

10a. Memor improperii, fellis es absintii anima tabescat. 10b. Memor sit memoria, recolens, hec omnia intus incalescat. Amen.

Mindful of shame, you are bitter as absinth; may your soul evaporate. May your memory, while reminding itself of all of this, grow hot from within. Amen.

The pronouncement in Res est venerabilis that ‘The cross is penance’ is further developed in Sexta passus feria. The reference in verse 3 to a ‘tau on our foreheads’ is in allusion to Ezekiel 9. 4, where a man clothed in linen is ordered to go through Jerusalem putting a protective mark (tau, the last letter in the Hebrew alphabet) on the foreheads of ‘the men that sigh, and mourn for all the abominations that are committed in the midst thereof ’, that is, the men who put on sackcloth as a sign of repentance for their sins (verses 3–5 of the sequence).54 Only the elect ones, those bearing the tau, will be spared from the destruction of Jerusalem, and only those who arm themselves against sin with the armour of God, that is, the Passion relics, will triumph over death and ‘be saved’ (verse 7). If the melody of the preceding sequence echoes Easter more distantly, via a Marian sequence, that of Sexta passus feria is a direct contrafact of Sexta passus die for Easter (see Ex. 19). Appropriately for a sequence whose opening words are ‘Having suffered on the sixth day’, Sexta passus die was assigned at both Notre-Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle to feria vi of the octave of Easter, where it had the exact same melody (the Victorines sang the sequence text to a different melody, that of O Maria stella maris). Sexta passus feria is one verse longer than Sexta passus die (the melody that sets verse 9 in the former sequence is new), and most of its verses comprise double versicles with three lines of 7+7+6 syllables each (verses 3 and 7 have 7+7+7 syllable lines), in contrast to Sexta passus die, in which all versicles end in four-syllable lines.

 54 The effectiveness of the sign of the tau is also mentioned in Alte vox canat, a late tenthcentury sequence for feasts of the cross. It is discussed in Fassler, Gothic Song, pp. 54–55.

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Example 19. Sexta passus feria, from Bari 5, fols 276–77.

The latter explains why the melodic units concluding the versicles in Sexta passus feria are quite different from in the original sequence. Both sequences, moreover, share a melodic peculiarity uncommon in this repertory in general: the melody that sets versicles 3a and 4a is identical, and so is that of versicles 3b and 4b. Yet, both the rhyme scheme and the meaning of the text suggest that this is the right order of things. Cursor levis arcte

Cursor levis arcte is an unicum, found only in Bari 5. It lists most of the SainteChapelle relics, and similarly to Res est venerabilis, it adopts the homiletic tone of biblical exegesis, not comparing the relics in verses 3–6 to virtues this time, but likening them to broader, more abstract concepts (see Table 26). Thus, the wood of the cross is fraternal love, the swaddling clothes of Christ represent a new life, ‘the milk of the blessed Virgin is the lyre of the mournful’, and the sponge is love. The figurative language imbues the relics with salvific qualities, a suit of armour which provides the faithful — likened in the first and final verses to a ‘light runner’ (cursor levis) — not with a material crown ‘of a brief life’, but with the crown of eternal glory.55 The concluding words of the sequence, ‘come, you shall be crowned’, evoke Isaiah 62. 3, where the restored Jerusalem is said to become a crown of glory (‘And thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord’), a biblical verse found in both mass and office liturgies for the Crown of Thorns (as part of the offertory in the Gaudeamus omnes mass, and as a versiculus in both Gaude felix and Adest nova offices). If Sexta passus feria is concerned with witnessing Christ immediately after his resurrection, Cursor levis arcte opens with those who bore witness to the last miracle before his Passion and resurrection, according to the Gospel of John. The opening two stanzas of the sequence revolve around the example

 55 The ‘light runner’ with which the sequence opens and ends is perhaps in reference to Jeremiah 2. 23: ‘How canst thou say: I am not polluted, I have not walked after Baalim? See thy ways in the valley, know what thou hast done: as a swift runner pursuing his course’ (Quomodo dicis: Non sum polluta, post Baalim non ambulavi? Vide vias tuas in convalle, scito quid feceris: cursor levis explicans vias suas).

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pa rt i i Table 26. Cursor levis arcte: text and translation.

1a. Cursor levis arcte vie, Marthe cursum et Marie spe coronam sequitur. 1b. In figura crux sequatur, ut coronam bis sequatur qui bis crucifigitur.

Light runner of a narrow life, he follows the course of Martha and the crown of Mary in hope. May he follow the Cross in figure in order to receive the crown twice, he who is crucified twice.

2a. Prima maior crux est Marthe, sine Martha sine Marte baiulatur altera. 2b. Luctum eius tergit illa, cuius eius sunt vexilla, tot beata munera.

The first and largest cross is Martha’s, the second one is carried without Martha and without [Mary]. It effaces the mourning of the one whose standards are the following: so many happy gifts.

3a. Lex est sacra tabula, panni vite novitas, sed cathene vincula, vie, vite, veritas. 3b. Lac beate virginis cithara gementium, sanguinis est ymaginis spes et robur mentium.

The law is a sacred tablet, the swaddling clothes — the newness of life, but the [iron] chains — the links are the truth of road and of life. The milk of the blessed Virgin is the lyre of the mournful; the image of blood is the hope and the strength of the mind.

4a. Lignum datum fraterna caritas, pars sepulchri vite penalitas, sanguis est martyrum. 4b. Symeonis, Clementis, Blasicum Baptiste dono dant gladii capita presagium.

The given wood is fraternal love, the piece of the sepulchre is the sorrow of life, the blood is that of the martyrs. The heads of Simeon, Clemens, Blaise with the gift of the Baptist herald the sword.

5a. Hinc Maria peplum gerit, dum placere Deo querit casta verecundia. 5b. Qui tot audit et auditur, que tot haurit et hauritur, est amoris spongia.

Hence Mary wears the veil while her chaste modesty seeks to please God. Whoever listens to so many things and is heard, who absorbs so many things and is absorbed, is the sponge of love.

6a. Virge vel harundinis plage sponse lacrime, lintheo solaminis tergit sponsus anime. 6b. Vestis est purpurea, spirite incendium, mors amoris lancea, gloria sudarium.

The bridegroom of the soul dries with the linen cloth of consolation the tears of the bride because of the blow of the stick or the reed. The scarlet cloak is the spiritual fire, the lance is the death of love, the shroud is the glory.

7a. Hiis ornatus, cursor levis, ad coronam vite brevis, pro coronis superis. 7b. Fide curras, voles alis, ut sequatur vox finalis, veni, coronaberis. Amen.

Adorned with them, light runner, run with faith towards the crown of a brief life which substitutes for celestial crowns, fly with your wings in order to listen to the final word: ‘come, you shall be crowned’. Amen.

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set by two sisters, Martha and Mary. According to Luke 10. 38–42, when Jesus was visiting a certain village (most probably Bethany, as we learn from John 11), he was invited to the house of Martha and her sister Mary. The two sisters, who will witness the raising from the dead of their brother Lazarus by Jesus ( John 11), made Jesus welcome in markedly different ways, the former busying herself with preparing food for the guest, the latter sitting at Jesus’s feet, listening to his teachings. This leads Martha, who is overburdened with preparations, to complain to Jesus about the idleness of her sister, asking him: ‘Lord, hast thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Speak to her therefore, that she help me’ (Luke 10. 40). The answer that Jesus gave her can be interpreted as an allegory to the two kinds of lives the sisters lead, the active, material life (Martha) and the contemplative life (Mary), the latter clearly favoured by Jesus: ‘And the Lord answering, said to her: Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and troubled about many things. But one thing is necessary. Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her’ (Luke 10. 41–42). It is the contemplative Mary, her ability to listen and to absorb so many things, like a sponge, who is praised in verse 5. The two crosses in verse 2, therefore, probably refer to the two types of lives led by each of the sisters.56 The seven-verse sequence comprises double versicles mainly of three lines each; four of the verses are trochaic with 8+8+7 syllables in each versicle, and the middle verse 4 has the 10+10+6 scheme. Verses 3 and 6 have versicles of four lines and share the same metrical pattern of 7+7+7+7. Cursor levis arcte seems to be a new composition of the thirteenth century; it is the only relics sequence that is not a contrafact of a sequence found in Bari 5, nor is it a contrafact of any sequence known at Notre-Dame. The melody that sets its opening line recalls that of Sexta passus feria (a fourth lower), but a much more substantial part of it — verses 1, 3, 4, and parts of 7 — is concordant with Salve stella mundi, a Marian sequence from the abbey of Saint-Denis that seems to be an unicum57 (see Ex. 20).

 56 The second line of versicle 2a ends with the two-syllable Marte, where one expects, because of the context examined above, to read the three-syllable Marie. And yet, the metrical scheme of this verse (8+8+7) leaves no doubt that a two-syllable word is needed here; Marie would make line 2 of versicle 2a a nine-syllable line.  57 The sequence is found in a notated missal from the abbey of Saint-Denis copied between 1259 and 1275 (BnF lat. 1107, fols 368v–369v). For the dating, see Robertson, ‘The Reconstruction of the Abbey Church at St-Denis’, p. 194. The relationship between the two sequences is difficult to determine; they share much melodic material, but they are far from being identical. It may be that the two have a common melodic ancestor, but given that they may have been copied at around the same time, it is impossible to determine with any certainty their exact relationship.

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Example 20. Cursor levis arcte, from Bari 5, fols 277–78.

Letabundus decantet fidelis

The relics sequence cycle comes to a close with Letabundus decantet fidelis, set to the same melody as the opening sequence of the cycle, Nos ad laudes; both are contrafacts of the ubiquitous sequence for the Assumption and Christmas, Letabundus exsultet fidelis, which inspired numerous contrafacts in different languages58 (see Ex. 21). It has a certain valedictorian quality to it: it opens by recalling the arrival (adventum) of the relics, and sings the praises of a number of them, which, as we read in verse 5, were already mentioned (‘hec predicta’) in previous sequences (see Table 27). In both Letabundus sequences, all versicles end with four-syllable word(s) with -a assonance, with the central verses (2–5) being the most regular, with lines of 7 syllables each (verse 5 has 4 lines, whereas the others have 3). The opening and closing verses have different metrical schemes, 4+8+4 and

 58 Stevens, Words and Music in the Middle Ages, p. 91.

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pa rt i i Table 27. Letabundus decantet fidelis: text and translation.

1a. Letabundus decantet fidelis mundus solemnia, 1b. In sanctarum adventum reliquiarum celebria.

May the faithful rejoicing universe sing the solemn liturgy that celebrates the arrival of the sacred relics.

2a. Crux coronam sequitur, quam salvator patitur, carne sumpta. 2b. Sanguis Christi preminet, fructum crucis culminet mens assumpta.

The cross follows the Crown, which the saviour endured, taking up flesh. The blood of Christ prevails, divinity reaches its height in the fruit of the cross [salvation].

3a. Panni Ihesu parvuli, tabula, pars tumuli, res amanda. 3b. Lac beate virginis et sanguis ymaginis, res miranda.

The swaddling clothes of the baby Jesus, the Holy Mandylion, part of the sepulchre, a pleasant thing. The milk of the blessed Virgin and the blood of the image, an admirable thing.

4a. Symeon eximius, Clemens atque Blasius cum Baptiste, 4b. Capita cum vertice tria dant mirifice die ista.

The remarkable Simeon, Clement with Blaise and with the Baptist wonderfully give this day their three heads with their crowns.

5a. Virgam et sudarium, lanceam et pallium fert minor ad bravium crux invicta. 5b. Sceptrum harundineum, spongiam et lintheum, velumque virgineum hec predicta.

The rod [of Moses], the cloak, the lance, the shroud and the smaller [cross], the invincible cross leads to the prize. The sceptre of reed, the sponge and the linen cloth and the veil of the Virgin the aforesaid [cross also leads].

6a. O Christe, propera,a depelle vetera, per que perditur gens misera. 6b. Per tanta munera trahi ad supera nobis impetret puerpera. Amen.

O Christ, make haste, drive off the old things by which the wretched people is destroyed. May the Childbearer obtain by prayer for us to be drawn by such great gifts to things above [heaven]. Amen.

Note: a Bari 5 in fact has prospera, which makes little sense here and is probably a scribal error. Moreover, Letabundus exsultet fidelis likewise has propera at the same respective place.

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Example 21. Letabundus decantet fidelis, from Bari 5, fols 278–79.

6+6+5+4 respectively. The association between Letabundus decantet and the original sequence is maintained not only through musical and formal structural features, but also through use of identical words at key places; the opening versicles are practically identical, and five versicles end with the same word(s), namely carne sumpta, res miranda, hec predicta, gens misera, and puerpera. The concluding verse of Letabundus decantet fidelis, moreover, paraphrases that of Letabundus exsultet fidelis using the same vocabulary: both refer to the Jews (gens misera) and their ancient writings (vetera, a reference to the Old Testament) that ought to be banished, and both refer to the Virgin as a childbearer, a word more pertinent in the Christmas sequence, which

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centres on the birth of Christ. If Letabundus exsultet fidelis expands on the meaning of Christ’s birth as a fulfilment of prophesies, giving prominence to the relationship between mother and son without once mentioning the words Virgin or Mary — womb and ‘king of kings’, sun and star — the relics sequence mentions the Virgin both on account of her veil (‘velumque virgineum’), now at the Sainte-Chapelle, as well as a childbearer (‘puerpera’) and intercessor — together with Christ — for salvation in the afterlife.59 The music that undergirds the relics sequence, then, recalls the role of the Virgin in giving birth to the ‘king of kings’ (regem regum, line 1), while its text addresses the fruit of her womb and his Passion, culminating in a double exhortation to both mother and son, the only relics sequence to do so.

* * * Overall, the ten rhymed sequences for relics validate the relics as various signs (insignia, memorialia, vexilla, dona, munera): symbols of the victory of life over death, of the passing from Old to New Testament time and from the old to the new covenant, of human commands giving way to divine ones, of sin remitted through sacrifice. These ideas were in close counterpoint not only with both mass and office liturgies for relics examined above, but also with the lessons read during Matins each day during the octave. These supplementary lessons are found in Brussels IV.472 and comprise four sets of nine readings, probably carved out of a sermon, in which the relics are likened to memorials divided into five groups, with each group associated with different morals and significance. According to Cecilia Gaposchkin, the lessons call attention to memorials of the Lord’s Nativity, in which the Virgin’s milk and Christ’s swaddling clothes are signs of simplicity and joy, to memorials of his comportment, in which the linen cloth and the iron chain are examples of poverty and humility,60 and to memorials of the instruments of his mocking (the scarlet cloak, the Crown of Thorns, and the reed sceptre), useful to resist temptation. The fourth group of memorials concerns the Crucifixion and comprises four relics: the cross, the sponge, the lance, and the blood of Christ. As Gaposchkin argues, this group ‘constitutes the centerpiece of the sermon’ from which the octave readings are fashioned, with each relic lauded for its potential to redeem an aspect of the original sin.61 The fifth group of  59 Bonnie Blackburn suggests that the mention of the Virgin here is perhaps a nod to the Sainte-Chapelle, which encloses all the relics as if a childbearer (personal communication).  60 The octave readings use the term conversatio, found also in versicle 4a of Res est venerabilis, where it is the scarlet cloak, not the linen cloth, which is likened to a ‘way of life’, or comportment. The termino­logy used in reference to the Sainte-Chapelle relics, however, is notoriously inconsistent, as can be gleaned from the tabular comparison in Gould, ‘The Sequences De Sanctis Reliquiis’, pp. 336–41. The vestis in Res est venerabilis could possibly also refer to the linen cloth. Incidentally, in Gestat coronam, the First Vespers antiphon of Adest nova sollempnitas, the scarlet cloak is referred to as vestem purpuream.  61 Gaposchkin, Vexilla Regis Glorie, p. 121.

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memorials is that related to Christ’s death, and it includes three relics, namely the Holy Mandylion, a part of the Holy Sepulchre, and the shroud; they offer hope, consolation, and mercy. The set of ten relics sequences more than met the demands of a passionate veneration that called for eight consecutive days of worship (30 September followed by the seven days of the octave), with sequences perhaps also performed as an alternative for Vespers hymns.62 As we have seen, the set opens and closes with sequences that are not only digests of relics — Nos ad laudes and Letabundus decantet fidelis — but are also contrafacts of the same Marian sequence, Letabundus exsultet fidelis. Significantly, the two relics sequences conjured up another liturgical context celebrating the Reception of Relics, one that originated at Notre-Dame Cathedral and was observed also at the Sainte-Chapelle, for the Marian sequence, Letabundus exsultet fidelis, was also proper to the cathedral’s own relics feast. A short walking distance from the Sainte-Chapelle, the cathedral stood not only at the very heart of Paris; it was the liturgical pillar of the Sainte-Chapelle, with just three feasts — Dedication of the Church, relics, and the Crown of Thorns — drawing the main liturgical distinction between them. Each year on 4 December, the cathedral celebrated its own relics feast, marking the Reception of Relics that were placed in another church while the building campaign of the new Gothic edifice began c. 1160, during the bishopric of Maurice de Sully.63 Some time in the 1180s, perhaps in conjunction with the consecration of the choir in 1182 — it would take some fifty more years for the building of the church to be completed — Philip Augustus returned the relics to the treasury of Notre-Dame, an event that from the early thirteenth century onwards was inscribed in the church’s service books as Susceptio reliquiarum. Although the cathedral had a significant trove of relics, the ones whose Reception was celebrated on 4 December included just a select few: ‘a lock of hair of the Virgin, three teeth of St John the Baptist, some stones from the lapidation of St Stephen, the cranium of St Denis, and an arm of St Andrew’.64 As a faithful follower of the Parisian Use, the Sainte-Chapelle too celebrated the cathedral’s Susceptio reliquiarum, which it thoroughly imported, together with the sequence Letabundus exsultet fidelis.65 Encompassing the chain of sequences celebrating the Sainte-Chapelle relics on 30 September were chants whose

 62 Rubrics in the Sainte-Chapelle Proser indicate that on three occasions the Marian sequence Hac clara was to be performed ad Vesperas.  63 Information about the construction of Notre-Dame, the feast of the Reception of Relics, and the events leading to its institution has been gleaned from Baltzer, ‘Notre-Dame and the Challenge of the Sainte-Chapelle’; Wright, ‘The Feast of the Reception of Relics’; and Bruzelius, ‘The Construction of Notre-Dame in Paris’.  64 Wright, ‘The Feast of the Reception of Relics’, p. 4.  65 For a list of sources transmitting the liturgy of Susceptio reliquiarum at Notre-Dame, see Baltzer, ‘Another Look at a Composite Office and its History’, p. 27. As for the SainteChapelle, it appears, for instance, in Bari 5.

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melodies harked back to the cathedral’s own relics feast, further reinforcing the connection between the two feasts that, less than two months apart, celebrated the Reception of a group of relics that included, in both cases, a Marian relic and one belonging to John the Baptist. The context offered by the celebration of relics warranted an immediate association across and within churches, yet the polyphony of allusions afforded by the melody of Letabundus exsultet fidelis produced another significant layer of meaning at the Sainte-Chapelle, and it had to do with the Virgin’s Assumption, to which the sequence was also assigned in both churches. The feast of the Assumption of the Virgin was of utmost importance at Notre-Dame of Paris: the church itself was dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin, and the feast ranked the highest in the Parisian calendar, that of annuale. It was one of just four such feasts at Notre-Dame — together with Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost — and the only one from the Sanctorale. The feast was crowned with an octave, and the days within it likewise ranked very high in the church’s calendar (duplex), testifying to the devotional fervour towards this celebration. Cathedral missals, moreover, feature seven Alleluias for the feast day and the days during the octave, four of which were set to polyphony in the Magnus Liber Organi.66 At Notre-Dame, moreover, the liturgy of the Assumption emphasized not so much the usual themes of the Virgin as the throne of wisdom, her ascent to heaven, or to sweeping forms of praise; it gave preference to the theme of the Virgin as Theotokos, or bearer of God, underlining her role in the idea of Incarnation and salvation. The theme is further reinforced in great detail at Notre-Dame, whose western façade is dedicated to the Virgin’s role in salvation. Polyphonic music too played a major role in bringing the Virgin’s role in salvation history to the fore in Notre-Dame. As Rebecca Baltzer has shown, the most striking feature of nineteen early thirteenth-century Latin motets that survive in the Magnus Liber Organi is ‘the pervasiveness of the idea of Mary as the Mother of God — the Marian aspect of the Incarnation’.67 A very similar understanding of the Assumption is also evident at the Sainte-Chapelle, whose own Marian fervour was on a par with that of the cathedral, and whose lower chapel was dedicated to the Virgin.68 Exactly half of the relics sequences at the Sainte-Chapelle are contrafacts of Marian sequences, four for the Assumption and one for the octave of her Nativity. Three relics sequences, including one which is not a Marian contrafact (Cum tremor exulta), incorporate a supplication to Mary in her capacity as mother of God, bringing to six the number of relics sequences that evoke the

 66 Wright, Music and Ceremony at Notre Dame, pp. 74, 253.  67 Baltzer, ‘Aspects of Trope in the Earliest Motets’, p. 23 and table 2.  68 The original appearance of the Sainte-Chapelle’s lower chapel has changed considerably, and very little is known about its artistic programme as it relates to the Virgin. See Cohen, The Sainte-Chapelle and the Construction of Sacral Monarchy, p. 158.

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Virgin in a manner that transcends the relatively small number (‘just’ two) of her relics honoured during the feast. The dominance of the Virgin in the relics feast, undergirding half of the sequences and conspicuous in an even greater number of instances, certainly reflects the great Marian devotion at the Sainte-Chapelle, attested also in Bari 5, transmitting twenty-six Marian sequences that were sung on thirty different occasions, with some sequences assigned to more than one feast. In fact, the Sainte-Chapelle Proser comprises more sequences in honour of Mary than any other single saint or feast from the Temporale,69 with the next substantial group of sequences being that for relics and the Crown of Thorns, comprising ‘just’ twenty. There are eight sequences for the Virgin’s Nativity, six for her Annunciation, two for Purification, eleven for the Assumption, and one that is not assigned to a particular feast and is unique to Bari 5, Lignum vite querito.70 The latter is one of four Marian sequences copied out of liturgical order, immediately preceding the sequence concluding the Sainte-Chapelle Proser, Gens Gallorum for the Crown, and preceded by the rubric De sancta Maria.71

 69 Oddly, a single Marian sequence, Virgo mater salvatoris, appears out of place in the Temporale, whereas all other Marian sequences appear in the Sanctorale. See Le Prosaire de la Sainte-Chapelle, ed. by Hesbert, p. 38, n. 2.  70 It is one of three Marian sequences that are unica in the Sainte-Chapelle Proser, the others being one for the Annunciation (Laus, honor sit virgini) and one for Nativity (Ave, plena gratia).  71 The three other Marian sequences are Marie preconio serviat, Veneremur virginem genitricem, and Gaude virgo mater.

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Conclusions Before the Crown of Thorns and twenty-two other relics were acquired by Louis IX, the city of Paris lacked the spiritual aura of other cities. It was the French capital city, the seat of royal power, an intellectual and ecclesiastical centre attracting some of the best clergymen, teachers, and students from all over France. At the University of Paris and at Notre-Dame Cathedral, theo­ logians, philosophers, and musicians gave rise to monuments of erudition and creativity. As is well known, moreover, Notre-Dame Cathedral was home to fine composers of monophonic and polyphonic music, including Leoninus and Perotinus. Yet Paris lacked the prestige conferred on other cities, such as Jerusalem, Constantinople, Rome, Tours, and Santiago de Compostela, by the presence of important relics. To a large extent, this changed with the building of the Sainte-Chapelle, which turned Paris into a sacred city, a reality reflected also by the granting of a number of episcopal and papal bulls between 1244 and 1248, bolstering the reputation of Paris as a destination for pilgrims by promising indulgences to the faithful coming to pray at the Sainte-Chapelle on specific dates, including the three chief feasts proper to the Sainte-Chapelle and their octaves.1 We may take the final verse of Letabundus decantet fidelis, the last relics sequence in Bari 5 (‘May the Childbearer obtain by prayer for us to be drawn by such great gifts to things above [heaven]’), as a starting point to draw some broader conclusions about the celebration of the ‘mother of God’ during the Virgin’s Assumption and Nativity in the Crown and relics sequences. As we have seen, three relics sequences are purposefully positioned in the opening, middle, and closing points of the cycle (Nos ad laudes, Vergente mundi vespere, crucis, and Letabundus decantet fidelis). They comprise a complete list of relics, but they are also contrafacts of sequences for the Assumption. Nos ad laudes and Letabundus decantet fidelis are contrafacts of Letabundus exsultet fidelis for the Assumption, and as we have seen, the two Letabundus sequences share not only an identical musical setting, but also key words and concepts that draw attention to the Virgin as childbearer. The middle sequence, Vergente mundi vespere, crucis, is a contrafact of a sequence for the octave of the Assumption starting with the same words. Just like Nos ad laudes and the relics sequence Vergente mundi vespere, crucis, moreover, Res est venerabilis too is a contrafact of a Marian sequence — Res est admirabilis — which although for her Nativity, nonetheless shares the principal theme expounded in her Assumption liturgy

 1 Cohen, The Sainte-Chapelle and the Construction of Sacral Monarchy, pp. 151–52; Cohen, ‘An Indulgence for the Visitor’. The Latin texts of these indulgences, along with their English translation, are provided in Cohen, The Sainte-Chapelle and the Construction of Sacral Monarchy, appendix 3.

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at Notre-Dame, presenting ‘a meditation upon the theo­logical paradox of Incarnation and Mary’s role in it’.2 Although most of the Marian Res est admirabilis expounds on that ‘admirable thing’ that is Mary’s giving birth while remaining a virgin (intacta), it concludes by acknowledging the Virgin as the one who conceived and begot ‘the author of salvation’ (‘Que virum non noverat, concipit et generat auctorem salutis’). Whereas Nos ad laudes and Letabundus decantet fidelis evoke the Virgin by means of both words and music, the other two do so only musically. Another relics sequence, Cursor levis arcte, may well be associated with that particular understanding of the Assumption, albeit in a more oblique way. Although it does not seem to be a contrafact at all, it too can be connected to the Virgin’s Assumption; as we have seen, it opens with the example set by Mary and Martha during the visit Christ paid to their house (Luke 10. 38–42). Exactly the same passage is also featured in the Gospel reading for the mass of the Assumption at Notre-Dame Cathedral.3 It is through contrafacture that the Assumption is prominently present in the Crown set of sequences as well. The melodies of three Crown sequences are borrowed from sequences for the Assumption, namely Quasi stella matutina, Verbum bonum et iocundum, and Florem spina coronavit. The text of the latter sequence alone, however, makes an explicit reference to Christ (likened to a flower) being ‘the son of Mary’. If the disposition of the Crown sequences in Bari 5 is any indication of the order in which they were performed — see Table 3 above — then the fifth Crown sequence, Quasi stella matutina, inaugurating the above-mentioned trio of sequences and assigned to the fourth day of the octave of the Crown, would have coincided with the feast day of the Assumption (15 August), undoubtedly prompting the association between the two. Indeed, the Sainte-Chapelle Proser assigns the sequence Hodierne lux diei for the day of the Assumption, of which Quasi stella matutina is a contrafact. On 15 August, then, there were two sequences performed at the Sainte-Chapelle that recalled the Assumption, and for three consecutive days the Assumption reverberated in the upper chapel of the Sainte-Chapelle twice as much, with both Crown and Assumption sequences paying tribute to it. The Assumption also resonated with the imagery of the Virgin at NotreDame, ‘the first Gothic cathedral to devote the whole west front to the Virgin Mary’s role in salvation’.4 The west façade of Notre-Dame Cathedral comprises three portals: the right one (the so-called St Anne portal), closest to the Seine River, is dedicated to the Incarnation, the middle one to the Last Judgement, and the left portal presents the Assumption of the Virgin and her heavenly coronation. Rebecca Baltzer makes a strong case for considering the entire façade as a visual

 2 Baltzer, ‘Notre-Dame and the Challenge of the Sainte-Chapelle’, p. 514.  3 Baltzer, ‘Aspects of Trope in the Earliest Motets’, p. 20.  4 Baltzer, ‘Notre-Dame and the Challenge of the Sainte-Chapelle’, p. 492.

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statement about the Virgin’s role in the Incarnation. According to her analysis, the right portal embraces not only the Incarnation, but more specifically the Marian aspect of it, namely, the image of Mary the God-bearer. The Last Judgement portal too includes a veiled reference to Mary, with the statue of Ecclesia understood to be standing for her according to medieval typo­logy. This central portal, then, is flanked by the two dimensions of the Virgin, as Queen of Heaven and as Mother of God,5 aspects that permeate a number of relics and Crown sequences as well, whether by musical contrafacture or by textual references. If we take into account the two different melodic settings of Regis et pontificis, there were in fact twenty-one sequences for the Crown of Thorns and the Reception of Relics known at the Sainte-Chapelle (nineteen are transmitted in Bari 5, and two in other Sainte-Chapelle sources), most of them contrafacts, with only five having original melodies (four for the Crown, one for relics). Almost all contrafacture models are taken from the Sanctorale, with only two sequences modelled after feasts of the Temporale, one from Pentecost (Nos oportet gloriari) and one from Easter (Sexta passus feria). Most SainteChapelle sequences are contrafacts of sequences found in the Sainte-Chapelle Proser, and this is especially true for relics (nine of out of ten sequences), more so than it is for Crown (just three out of eleven melodies), which has a higher number of original melodies. Two of the Sanctorale contrafacts are of chants that were then relatively new (for St Quentin and St Francis), and that have no concordance in Parisian sources before the mid-thirteenth century; most contrafacts, however, were of sequences that by the eleventh or twelfth centuries were by and large the staple repertory in churches far and wide. Among the Sainte-Chapelle sequences modelled after Sanctorale melodies, the sequences for the Virgin’s Assumption are the primary source of inspiration (three for the Crown, and five for relics), with the Martinian Gaude, Syon being the single most contrafacted sequence, serving a model for three sequences, one for the Crown and two for relics. The sequence in honour of St Martin was a favourite model of contrafacture in the Middle Ages, including at the Sainte-Chapelle, where it served to link musically not only the Crown and relics feasts, but also two other related feasts, that of St Blaise (3 February) and that of the Exaltation of the Cross. The Sainte-Chapelle of course had in its possession the head of Blaise, and paid tribute to him with the sequence Gaude, Syon que diem recolis, qua Blasius, apparently found only in Bari 5. As we have already seen, moreover, the second instalment of relics was received on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross in 1241, and the Sainte-Chapelle owned three cross relics all in all. One of the five sequences for the Exaltation of the Cross in Bari 5, Gaude, Syon que diem recolis, qua per crucem, is a contrafact of the said Martinian sequence.6

 5 Baltzer, ‘Notre-Dame and the Challenge of the Sainte-Chapelle’, pp. 493–97.  6 Gaposchkin argues that the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross should be considered as

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The nineteen sequences honouring the Sainte-Chapelle relics that are transmitted in Bari 5 equal the number of relics celebrated at the Sainte-Chapelle, providing we understand the number nineteen to stand for the totality of twenty-three actual relics. No sequence takes account of more than nineteen relics, with one cross and one blood relic (there were six of them in total) standing for the other related ones. Whether a coincidence or not, the sheer number of sequences composed for just two newly instituted feasts seems unprecedented, as is the extensive liturgical undertaking that resulted in a number of mass and office complexes, especially for the Crown. For both feasts, moreover, considerable efforts went into producing elaborate narratives that served as Matins readings during the feast days and their respective octaves. These were feasts that gave rise not only to new liturgical observances, but also to an entirely new church building, embodying a variety of architectural, artistic, and spiritual ambitions. And yet, no other feasts added to the church calendar in the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries that engendered such a large number of sequences come to mind, be it Corpus Christi, William of Bourges (patron saint of the University of Paris), or even the feast of St Louis (25 August) after his canonization in 1297. The inordinate number of sequences reflects the material and conceptual centrality of the twenty-three relics for the Sainte-Chapelle, creating a broad, daily cantus firmus which vindicated the potential for spiritual efficacy of the relics on the one hand, and affirmed the apotheosis of the Incarnation and the triumph over death on the other. Across the street from the Sainte-Chapelle, composers at Notre-Dame Cathedral wrote hundreds of motets, clausulae, and conducti (the latter both monophonic and polyphonic), but as far as we know, no polyphony was composed for the Sainte-Chapelle during the thirteenth century. As Baltzer concludes, the Sainte-Chapelle ‘focused its liturgical individualism upon the sequence and the rhymed office’, not polyphony.7 Although not all the Sainte-Chapelle relics are related to the Passion (the various heads of saints, for instance), the latter is the single most important event addressed by most of the Crown and relics sequences, especially as it is inscribed in the history of salvation. Except for a single sequence for relics (Cum tremore exulta), the Sainte-Chapelle sequences do not dwell on, or revel in, the ghastly details related to the Crucifixion and events leading up to it. Numerous sequences refer to the humiliation, suffering, and mockery of Christ on the cross, but only insofar as they draw attention to the fruits of the Passion, to the theo­logy of reversals. The most prominent theme of the Sainte-Chapelle sequences, developed practically in all of them and in a variety of means, is the redemptive power of Christ’s victory over death; his sacrifice not only opens the door to salvation, it also ‘heal[s] the old

another, fourth feast giving the Sainte-Chapelle its unique liturgical flavour. See Gaposchkin, Vexilla Regis Glorie, p. 29.  7 Baltzer, ‘Notre-Dame and the Challenge of the Sainte-Chapelle’, pp. 489–90.

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injuries of sin’ (Solemnes in hac die). The central notion of victory over death is expressed in different ways and formulations. The Crown, ‘this helmet of victory’ (Gens Gallorum) and ‘the helmet of salvation’ (Gaude, Syon […] qua corona), is the symbol of that triumph, and so are the other relics. If in Quasi stella matutina Christ is asked ‘Why do you think you can bring life to death?’, in Sexta passus feria we have already ‘triumphed over death’; Regis et pontificis announces that ‘the round ring of the Crown is victory over death’, while Solemnes in hac die encapsulates this core tenet in one brief statement, declaring that ‘death is suppressed in victory. The gate of heaven […] opens, […] the shattered [gates of] hell give back their prey. And eternal salvation has come to the world’. Perhaps most succinct of all is Dyadema salutare, which declares ‘life returns, death dies’. The sequences often draw a parallel between ‘the victory which [Christ’s] death completed over death’ (Liberalis manus Dei) and remission of sin for those ‘whom sins overwhelm’ (Vergente mundi vespere, crucis). Nos oportet gloriari states that Christ crushes ‘the sin and the punishment […] with his simple death’. His torture on the cross was for the sake of liberating humanity from sin; the ‘apple tree’ under which the forbidden fruit was consumed — the original sin — is contrasted in Nos oportet gloriari with the tree of the cross, through which life is restored and sin is remitted. Similar formulations abound in other sequences as well: ‘sin was removed’ in Si vis vere, and ‘is removed’ in Gaude, Syon […] qua corona. In Sexta passus feria, the relics are necessary to ‘arm ourselves against sin’, and they are ‘presents that heal the old injuries of sin’ in Solemnes in hac die. These and other aspects of salvation theo­logy often crystallize into concrete pleas for redemption, typically reserved for the concluding versicle; they are at times quite straightforward, such as in Verbum bonum et iocundum (‘carry us to the eternal joys of the heavens’); in other instances they are more embellished, such as in Letetur felix Gallia: ‘We deserve to receive, after the weight of the flesh dissolves, the crown in heaven’. If most sequences draw a vertical line between Christ’s death on the cross and its salvific merits, still others broaden the logic of its historical significance horizontally. A dominant theme underlining the sequences as a whole is the passing from Old to New Testament time, a motif underscored by the stained-glass cycle of the upper chapel of the Sainte-Chapelle, starting with Genesis and concluding with the Apocalypse. The Crown of Thorns is likened to the new Law in Florem spina coronavit and is said to supersede the Ten Commandments. Dyadema salutare, moreover, analogizes the Old Testament to ‘the field of old Adam’, which yields to the New Testament once the Crown of Thorns is put on the head of Christ (‘the blessing returns at the moment when the thorn pricks’). The triumph of the New over the Old Testament is even more pervasive in the relics sequences than it is in the Crown ones. Nos oportet gloriari instructs the faithful to worship the ‘blood of the covenant’, adding that Christ is the true pontiff, ‘the royal priest’, the new Melchizedek, while Cum tremore exulta declares that ‘the blood shed from the New Testament and the grace drew us from the lake of misery’, that is, from Old Testament time. The concluding

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relics sequence, Letabundus decantet fidelis, gives further prominence to this theme by proclaiming that although ‘smaller [than the rod of Moses], the invincible cross leads to the prize’, and urges Christ to ‘make haste, [and] drive off the old’ writings of the Old Testament. Finally, two sequences (one for relics and one for the Crown) expound on the virtues of the Crown and cross in relation to their role in the incarnation. Gaude, Syon […] qua corona situates the Crown as a pivot around which turn Christ’s Nativity, Passion, and Incarnation: ‘This is the Crown with which the king of justice is crowned on the first day of the union with his flesh and of the joy of his heart. This Crown is then prepared for Christ on the first (day) for the suffering of the flesh, on the third (day) for mercy, justice, and glory’. In Letabundus decantet fidelis ‘the cross follows the Crown, which the saviour endured, taking up flesh’. Given the predominance of Passion relics celebrated at the Sainte-Chapelle, it is not surprising that events related to the Crucifixion (before, during, and immediately thereafter) should feature prominently in most of the SainteChapelle sequences examined in this volume. As we have seen, however, the sequences carefully construct a parallel narrative to the one locating the relics in salvation history and insert, indeed thrust, the Franks, the French monarchy, Paris, and ultimately the Sainte-Chapelle itself into that narrative, echoing the narrative depicted in the stained-glass cycle surrounding the celebrants performing the liturgy at the Sainte-Chapelle.8 The Crown sequences are the principal building blocks of this aggrandizing spectacle, with all but two (Quasi stella matutina and Dyadema salutare, the latter adopted by the SainteChapelle from the Dominicans) working to enhance the stature of France on account of the relocation of the Crown to Paris. The relics sequences are far less consumed with this agenda, with only two, Nos oportet gloriari and Vergente mundi vespere, crucis, including references to France. Nos oportet gloriari enumerates all Sainte-Chapelle relics before concluding with a petition that Gaul be ‘protected by such great signs’, whereas Vergente mundi vespere, crucis establishes that it is Gaul that is in possession of the relics, on account of which ‘our Gaul is shining’. If the association between Gaul and the relics (including the Crown) seems effortless and already an accomplished fact in the relics sequences, meriting only a fleeting, matter-of-fact reference, it is merely because that connection has already been extensively elaborated and firmly established in the Crown sequences. This is mainly realized by stressing that the Crown reached France rightfully, by God’s own will, not by happenstance. Accordingly, it is Christ who ‘confers this crown upon his France’ (Regis et pontificis), he ‘finds in France a place for the beauty of its house, and for the crown of its triumphs’ (Liberalis manus Dei), and he

 8 As Donna Sadler concluded, ‘The prolongation of the rule of this scriptural lineage [in the Sainte-Chapelle windows] through the translation of the relics led to a coalescence of the past and the present: the moment that the New Jerusalem descended on Gaul was perpetually re-enacted in the palace chapel’; Sadler, Reading the Reverse Façade of Reims Cathedral, p. 202.

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‘distinguished France’ with the Crown (Letetur felix Gallia). The ‘crown of Christ is brought to the Franks’ (Gaude, Syon […] qua corona), ‘France is openly crowned today’ (Si vis vere), and is consequently ‘the vineyard of God’ (Gens Gallorum); it is ‘enriched’ by the Crown (Florem spina coronavit) and ‘great is [its] fortune’ (Letetur felix Gallia). ‘The unique gift of God’ to the Franks, ‘a people of unique grace’ (Gens Gallorum), was the ultimate symbol of God’s love for France, who ‘gave the Franks the glory and the empire’ (Verbum bonum et iocundum) and who turned the country into ‘a land worthy of adoration’ (Gens Gallorum). The Crown is tantamount to the ‘protection of the Franks’ (Verbum bonum et iocundum), thanks to which ‘the invincible kingdom of France is exalted’ (Gaude, Syon […] qua corona). God chose the French over all other nations, and a special role was reserved for Paris, its capital city, in the master plan of salvation. To Paris, ‘the school of France’ (Regis et pontificis), ‘renowned city, gifted with all praise, mother of learning, the Crown is entrusted, and in [it] it is stored’ (Si vis vere). More specifically, the sequences elevate the Sainte-Chapelle to a locus sanctus, a depository for the most important relic in Christendom that will play a crucial role at the end of time — the rose window, taking up the entire western façade of the Sainte-Chapelle, and comprising almost one hundred panels, is entirely dedicated to the Apocalypse — when the Crown ‘will be carried from its custody […] before the court of the Judge’ (Letetur felix Gallia). The upper part of the so-called ‘Relics’ or ‘Royal’ window (‘Bay A’) in the south-western part of the upper chapel of the Sainte-Chapelle shows Louis and Blanche of Castile carrying the Crown in procession upon its arrival in France. Directly facing it on the northern wall is the window dedicated to Genesis, opening the stained-glass Christo­logical cycle that is devoted above all to the Old Testament and which culminates in the Apocalypse. Facing one another, the two windows draw attention to two ‘beginnings’ of salvation history, the one in Genesis pointing to the origins of the universal part of that history, and the ‘Royal’ one marking the beginning of its French chapter.9 With the restoration of the Sainte-Chapelle in the mid-nineteenth century, the ‘Royal’ window, which originally showed Louis and Blanche of Castile carrying the Crown in procession, received a substantial addition when its lower half became dedicated to the Exaltation of the Cross. The new window composition juxtaposes the arrival of the Crown of Thorns in France with two figures that some have identified — albeit with no concrete evidence — as Helena and Heraclius, the two royals who, although having lived some three centuries apart, were often portrayed as a pair, especially in the context of the liturgy for the Exaltation of the Cross.10 Empress Helena,

 9 This point is made in Brenk, ‘The Sainte-Chapelle as a Capetian Political Program’, pp. 197–98.  10 Owing to substantial damage during the French Revolution, the Sainte-Chapelle underwent a thorough renovation in the mid-nineteenth century, including the windows. The ‘Relics’ window in particular has been restored and reorganized to fit the priorities of the French

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mother of Constantine I, was responsible for having excavated the cross and for having the Church of the Holy Sepulchre built on the site of its discovery; Heraclius, emperor of the Byzantine Empire (r. 610–41), returned the cross from the hands of the Persians to Jerusalem in 629. The ‘imperial couple’ also appears in a now-lost mosaic in the Golgotha chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, a chapel that is considered to be a major source of inspiration for the architects of the Sainte-Chapelle itself.11 Although the juxtaposition of Helena and Heraclius with King Louis in the ‘Royal’ window is entirely a modern invention, Louis was indeed compared to Heraclius already in the 1250s, and as Cecilia Gaposchkin demonstrates in a forthcoming article, the two were also linked in the octave of the Exaltation of the Cross as celebrated at the Sainte-Chapelle.12 This served not only to legitimize Louis as being on a par with magnificent Christian rulers (just as he had been compared to Old Testament kings), but also to establish him as a crucial link in an ongoing translatio imperii: Helena found the cross in Jerusalem, Heraclius restored it to Jerusalem, and Louis transferred it to Paris.13 If Notre-Dame Cathedral gave priority to the cult of the Virgin and above all to her Assumption, the Sainte-Chapelle ‘effectively refocused the message of salvation to Christ and the rex christianissimus — the most Christian king — in the person of Louis IX’.14 The Crown of Thorns protected the kings and queens of France (Verbum bonum et iocundum), on the one hand, and was safeguarded by King Louis, under whose reign ‘the diadems of ancient kings will unite’ (Regis et pontificis), on the other. These ‘ancient kings’ include biblical figures (David and Solomon), Byzantine emperors, and also Philip Augustus, with Gens Gallorum evoking Louis as ‘the third king since Philip’.15

 11

 12  13  14  15

monarchy in the nineteenth century, and reconstituted ‘as a history of the True Cross [u]sing Jacobus da Voragine’s Golden Legend as [a] primary textual source’. See Jordan, ‘NineteenthCentury Restoration Politics’, p. 201. As Jordan claims, ‘not one authentic panel [of the ‘Royal window’] can be definitively tied either to the discovery of the True Cross by Helena or to its subsequent theft and recovery’ ( Jordan, Visualizing Kingship in the Windows of the Sainte-Chapelle, p. 59). Additional details are provided in Christe, ‘Un autoportrait moral et politique de Louis IX’, p. 265. The legend of the True Cross was widely popular in the Middle Ages, and as Jordan notes, ‘the True Cross stories also harmonized historically with the Sainte-Chapelle’s liturgical emphasis on the translation of the Crown of Thorns, True Cross, and other Passion relics’ (Visualizing Kingship in the Windows of the Sainte-Chapelle, p. 202). On the architectural characteristics of the Sainte-Chapelle in relation to the Golgotha chapel, see Müller, ‘Paris, das neue Jerusalem?’. At the Golgotha chapel, the mosaic was at the ‘west end of the north aisle’ and featured ‘the likenesses of the “imperial couple” because of their special connection with Golgotha and Jerusalem’. Quoted from Baert, A Heritage of Holy Wood, p. 164. Gaposchkin, ‘Louis IX, Heraclius, and the True Cross’. Gaposchkin also argues that Louis probably ‘believed the relic of the True Cross (or one of them) that he had acquired in 1241 to be the very relic that Heraclius himself had retrieved from the Persians’. See Brenk, ‘The Sainte-Chapelle as a Capetian Political Program’, p. 207. Baltzer, ‘Notre-Dame and the Challenge of the Sainte-Chapelle’, p. 508. By our reckoning, Louis IX is the second king since Philip II (after Louis VIII), not the

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Other sequences further perceive the importance of the Crown to the extent that it evinces its significance to the French monarchy: ‘The king of France rejoices’ on account of the Crown (Liberalis manus Dei), which ‘is now honoured by the Christian kings’ (Gaude, Syon […] qua corona). The Sainte-Chapelle liturgy in general, and the sequences in particular, indicate that Louis believed that ownership of the Crown — and some twenty other relics — guaranteed him and France a place in that ‘kingdom [which] is not of this world’ ( John 18. 36, quoted in Cum tremore exulta); but once the building of the Sainte-Chapelle was complete, he was ready to extend the logic of spiritual salvation to an earthly endeavour that he surely believed would complement it, embarking on his first crusade. Divine governance was nurtured and obtained through liturgy hinging on relics, ‘the links [that] are the truth of road and of life’ (Cursor levis arcte). After affirming in music and words the spiritual affinity between Paris and Jerusalem, Louis was determined to add one more link in the chain that connected the Franks with the Byzantines and figures from the Old Testament in one continuous narrative. In that sense, we may understand the Crown and relics liturgy as laying the foundations for a physical trajectory, extending from the new Holy Land to the old, from Paris to Jerusalem, and back. The Crown sequences followed the Alleluia A corona spinea, a contrafact of the Alleluia Dulce lignum from the liturgies of the Exaltation of the Cross and the Invention of the Cross, thus tying the finding of the cross in Jerusalem and subsequent crusading ideals with salvaging the Crown from Jerusalem via Constantinople. In 1297, less than three decades after his death, Louis was canonized, and his own remains became relics that were distributed as a way to promote his burgeoning cult, efforts that were led by his grandson, Philip IV ‘the Fair’ (r. 1285–1314). In 1306 Louis’s head was solemnly transferred from the abbey of Saint-Denis to the Sainte-Chapelle, where it was displayed in a lavish reliquary alongside a variety of Passion relics, together with four other heads — those of John the Baptist, Blaise, Clement, and Simeon. Chapels in honour of Louis were founded at the Sainte-Chapelle in 1301 and 1313.16 Of the various liturgies composed in honour of St Louis, the one produced by the royal court in particular, Ludovicus decus regnantium, advanced Louis’s sacral kingship; it ingrained and intertwined his image with biblical kings (David and Solomon) and the image of France with the Land of Israel. The Sainte-Chapelle thus became as much a monument to the Passion of Christ as it was to the legacy of Louis, a memorial to Christ’s kingship as much as to the sanctity of King Louis.17 The association between St Louis and the Sainte-Chapelle was not third. But the counting in Gens Gallorum is inclusive, just as it is in church calendars: quinquagesima is 49 days (not 50) before Easter Sunday.  16 Morand, Histoire de la Sainte-Chapelle, pp. 86–87.  17 Gaposchkin, ‘Louis IX and Liturgical Memory’, p. 272. The definitive study of Louis’s sacral kingship is Gaposchkin, The Making of Saint Louis. Chapter 3 of her book is especially pertinent to this para­graph.

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only historical and sacral; it was also aided by the musical underpinnings of liturgy. As Marcy Epstein has demonstrated, for instance, there are textual and musical links between Ludovicus decus regnantium and the Dominican liturgy for the Crown of Thorns, Gaude felix, celebrated at the Sainte-Chapelle.18 Two sequences for the mass in honour of St Louis (25 August), Ludovico pangamus corde and Letabunda psallat plebs, moreover, are contrafacts of the Marian Letabundus exsultet fidelis, upon which, as we have seen, the sequences opening and closing the relics cycle were also based.19 From Jerusalem to Paris, the Crown of Thorns together with Passion and other relics found their lasting place at the Sainte-Chapelle, a melting pot of the biblical past in the Holy Land and the historical present in France. Founded by Louis to safeguard and display relics that were ostensibly universal in concept but venerated out of the public eye, the Sainte-Chapelle, a private palace chapel, ultimately upheld the memory of the person who more than anyone else made it all possible.

 18 Epstein, ‘Ludovicus decus regnantium’, p. 298.  19 See AH 37: 211–12. Ludovico pangamus corde is found in relatively late sources from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. For Letabunda psallat plebs, see Baltzer, ‘Notre-Dame and the Challenge of the Sainte-Chapelle’, pp. 521–22. Another sequence for St Louis — Gaude prole Francia — was composed at Saint-Denis, his place of burial. It is a contrafact of Gaude prole Grecia, in honour of St Denis; its text alone was added to BnF lat. 1107, a notated missal copied in the second half of the thirteenth century. The sequence is first found fully notated in a missal from the mid-fourteenth century (London, Victoria & Albert Museum, MS 1346–1891, fols 410v–411v). Information taken from Choate, ‘The Liturgical Faces of Saint Denis’, p. 409.

Appendix 1

The Main Sources for the Sainte-Chapelle Liturgy For over a century, scholars have been grappling with the question of what constitutes a Sainte-Chapelle source. Given that most of its liturgy is modelled on that of Notre-Dame, there are only a few distinguishing factors that set it apart from nearby churches, making an unfailing identification more complicated. What is more, churches from all over Paris, and also from as far as Clermont-Ferrand, Pisa, and Trondheim, occasionally feature one of the trio of Sainte-Chapelle feasts, more often than not the one for the Crown. For Robert Branner, the eminent art historian, ‘bona-fide Sainte-Chapelle books’ were only those transmitting all three Sainte-Chapelle feasts and their octaves. He identified only four such sources — two evangeliaries, one ordinal, and one breviary — all of which neither are notated nor comprise any chanted materials for mass.1 Branner set out to establish ‘foolproof ’ (his word) criteria to distinguish sources from the Capella regis from those originally made for the Sainte-Chapelle, with the aim, it seems, of settling issues of attribution.2 Scholars, including the present author, have since been using a variety of propositions to indicate some kind of relation to the Sainte-Chapelle, cautious not to designate any volume as ‘a Sainte-Chapelle source’. Thus we find manuscripts that were copied for, at, belonging to the orbit of the Sainte-Chapelle, classified as family books, capella books, belonging to someone related to the French monarchy, copied for someone following the liturgy of the Sainte-Chapelle, and so forth. The liturgy of the Sainte-Chapelle, however, can be recovered and examined from a far greater number of sources than hitherto envisioned, ranging from a more exclusive group of manuscripts bearing witness to the nascent liturgical practices of the Sainte-Chapelle to manuscripts reflecting that liturgy as it was adopted in churches far and wide and for a variety of reasons. Taken as a whole, this diverse group of sources transmitting one or more of the Sainte-Chapelle’s distinctive feasts is crucial to understanding the dynamics of change and adjustments along chrono­logical and institutional axes. When it comes to the earliest stages of liturgical formation at the SainteChapelle, in the mid-thirteenth century, we are particularly well informed about the office, and to a lesser degree about the complex of chants for the mass as well. Most of our knowledge about the mass celebrated in conjunction with  1 Branner, ‘The Sainte-Chapelle and the Capella Regis’, p. 21. The four sources include two evangeliaries (BnF lat. 9455 and lat. 8892), a late fifteenth-century ordinal (Arsenal 114), and a fifteenth-century breviary (BnF lat. 13238).  2 On that topic, see the illuminating remarks in Palazzo, ‘La Liturgie de la Sainte-Chapelle’, pp. 101–02 and 111.

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the three Sainte-Chapelle feasts comes from the early and mid-fourteenth century. The three earliest extant sources bearing witness to the nascent rituals of the Sainte-Chapelle abound in mass and office cycles, and one of them, as we have seen throughout this volume, is the richest source for Sainte-Chapelle sequences. In what follows, these sources are briefly described.

Brussels, KBR, MS IV.472 As we have seen above, the manuscript Brussels IV.472 is believed to have been copied ‘between 1248 and 1270’. The opening eighty-one folios comprise an inordinate number of chants and readings for two Sainte-Chapelle feasts, a hoard of liturgical materials that could satisfy the most enthusiastic worshipper at the French royal court. That the manuscript is a compendium is evident from the small number of feasts it incorporates and their seeming randomness. In fact, they all have something in common: they were either newly introduced to the Parisian calendar in the second quarter of the thirteenth century, or else their solemnity was elevated.3 The connection is most evident, moreover, in the presence of both mass and office cycles for the two Sainte-Chapelle feasts, the only ones that were truly new; hence the need for a comprehensive compendium. Although Brussels IV.472 may not be a deluxe volume worthy of royal patronage, there can be no doubt it was copied specifically for the nascent Sainte-Chapelle at a time when new liturgies for the Crown and relic feasts were needed for celebration, but when none was yet seamlessly integrated and copied into new service books. Given that the liturgy of the Sainte-Chapelle was essentially Parisian, with just two feasts distinguishing it from neighbouring institutions, Brussels IV.472 served a very practical purpose that would have made no sense in any other church. Although palaeo­graphical considerations suggest it was copied between 1248 and 1270, Brussels IV.472 would have been most needed precisely in 1248 and may therefore be the earliest notated source for the Sainte-Chapelle. The following is a précis of Brussels IV.472: The Crown of Thorns (11 August), fols 1–31v

• Canonical Hours stretching from First to Second Vespers, with nine-lesson Matins and notated chants throughout (fols 1–17v) • Mass, with notated Propers, including a sequence (fols 18–21) • A total of twenty-one lesson texts distributed along three occasions: (1) three for the following day (in crastino), (2) nine for the Sunday after, and (3) nine for the octave (fols 21–31v)

 3 Gaposchkin, Vexilla Regis Glorie, pp. 40–43. For the additions made to the Parisian calendar in the thirteenth century, see Baltzer, ‘The Sources and the Sanctorale’.

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The Reception of Relics (30 September), fols 31v–81

• Canonical Hours stretching from First to Second Vespers, with nine-lesson Matins and notated chants throughout (fols 31v–54v). After Matins and before Lauds, a group of four notated and optional (si placet) responsories is provided for use either during the octave or for the feast day itself. • Mass, with notated Propers, including a sequence (fols 54v–57v) • A sermon partitioned into four nine-lesson units (fols 57v–81) St Elizabeth of Hungary (19 November), fols 81–90v

• Nine lessons St William of Bourges (10 January), fols 90v–111v

• Nineteen lessons mainly recounting miracles attributed to the saint Eleven Thousand Virgins (21 October), fols 111v–125

• Canonical Hours stretching from First to Second Vespers, with nine-lesson Matins and notated chants throughout St Anne (28 July), fols 125–28v

• Canonical Hours stretching from First to Second Vespers, with nine-lesson Matins. Only a handful of chants are notated (mostly antiphons, but also a single responsory); many chants are indicated only by a textual cue. The Reception of the True Cross in Paris (First Sunday in August), fols 128v–132v

• Nine lessons St Basil the Great (14 June), fols 132v–136v

• Nine lessons St Francis (4 October), fols 136v–142v

• Nine lessons

Bari, Archivio della Basilica di San Nicola, MS 3 (81) The only Sainte-Chapelle outside of France was founded by Charles I of Anjou in Bari, in the south of Italy. The younger brother of Louis IX, Charles adopted the liturgy of the Sainte-Chapelle for the collegiate church of San Nicola in Bari, and in 1296 his son, Charles II (1254–1309), endowed it with twenty-three manuscripts that followed the usage of Paris.4 Bari 3 was copied between 1253  4 On the liturgy and manuscript tradition of the Sainte-Chapelle of Bari, see De Luca, ‘I

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and 1263. It is a summer breviary, comprising a calendar which is that of the Sainte-Chapelle, whereas the bulk of the manuscript reflects the liturgy of the Use of Paris, probably that of Notre-Dame. As Cecilia Gaposchkin has demonstrated, the second section of Bari 3 (fols 336v–366) can be considered a Sainte-Chapelle supplement, corresponding almost entirely to the materials found in Brussels IV.472 (as a breviary, Bari 3 obviously does not contain mass items).5 Moreover, Elsa De Luca has already pointed to the parallels between the relics liturgies in the two manuscripts, which essentially transmit the same office. Their relics liturgy is essentially identical except that Brussels has four optional responsories after Matins, absent from Bari 3.6 As for the Crown liturgy, Bari 3 and Brussels are identical, apart from the octave, which is not present in Bari 3.7 Importantly, Bari 3 does not transmit the music for either festivity; although musical notation was clearly envisioned during the mise-en-page, staff lines nonetheless remain empty. Together with Bari 5, examined in detail throughout, the three above-mentioned manuscripts were copied more or less within two decades after the consecration of the Sainte-Chapelle. As a group, they supply an all-encompassing mass and office liturgy for the Crown of Thorns and Reception of Relics (and, to a lesser degree, also for the Dedication of a Church), complete with sequences and materials for their octaves. In the context of the present study, they are best understood as Sainte-Chapelle supplements. Ironically, the sources hovering closest to the orbit of the Sainte-Chapelle are not housed in French libraries. A subsequent group of manuscripts relevant to the study of the Sainte-Chapelle liturgy comes down to us from the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, and is mostly housed in French libraries. These sources also testify to the dissemination of the core Sainte-Chapelle liturgy well beyond Paris, permitting us to extend the contour lines of this liturgy after the thirteenth century through the prism of institutions that had but a tangential affinity with the Sainte-Chapelle. Let us begin with the earliest extant missals that transmit both relics and Crown liturgies in its original layer, just like the three sources examined above.

manoscritti musicali dell’archivio di San Nicola a Bari’; Gurrado, ‘La Sainte-Chapelle de Bari’; Gurrado, ‘La Liturgie de Notre-Dame dans le royaume de Naples’.  5 Gaposchkin, Vexilla Regis Glorie, pp. 44–47.  6 De Luca, ‘I manoscritti musicali dell’archivio di San Nicola a Bari’, pp. 256–57.  7 The readings for Matins, however, are taken from the feast’s octave celebrated at the Sainte-Chapelle.

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Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 1113 This Parisian missal was copied in the second half of the fourteenth century, and its calendar includes not only all three Sainte-Chapelle feasts but also Notre-Dame’s own relics feast, as well as two entries indicating the prominence of St Louis in that church: the Translation of his head to the Sainte-Chapelle on 17 May, and his principal feast on 25 August.8 Significantly, the Sanctorale includes the mass clusters for the Reception of the Sainte-Chapelle relics and for the Crown, both belonging to the original layer of the missal, and identical to the ones in the above-mentioned manuscripts. The manuscript is heavily damaged, with multiple lacunas throughout, but especially, it seems, in the Sanctorale. The Crown liturgy, for instance, is missing the Introit and the ensuing lectio, starting only with the Gradual (materials are missing between folios 248 and 249). BnF lat. 1113, then, transmits all three Sainte-Chapelle feasts in the original hand, albeit the Dedication feast is found only in the calendar (with so many folios missing, it is impossible to know if liturgy for it was originally included). The manuscript was certainly copied for a Parisian church, but there is nothing to suggest it was associated with the Sainte-Chapelle. The calendars of several Parisian churches include reference to the Dedication of the Sainte-Chapelle (in wording similar to that of BnF lat. 1113, ‘Dedicatio sacrosanccte capelle palacii regalis’), without being remotely connected to it.9

Toulouse, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 102 This missal dates to the fifteenth century, and as the Temporale states, it conforms to the Use of Paris.10 The calendar is a hybrid, with some elements pointing perhaps to Notre-Dame, including the 4 December relics feast (accorded the rank of duplex), and the Crown of Thorns accorded ‘only’ a semiduplex. It also includes, however, the Sainte-Chapelle’s own relics feast, to

 8 The manuscript can be consulted online: . For a description, see Leroquais, Les Sacramentaires, ii, 342–43.  9 For instance, BnF lat. 1291 (a fifteenth-century breviary) and Brussels 9125 (a notated Parisian missal from the second half of the fourteenth century; see Van den Gheyn, Catalogue des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, i, 271–72). There is nothing to suggest that BnF lat. 1113 was associated with the Sainte-Chapelle (see Haggh, ‘An Ordinal of Ockeghem’s Time’, p. 68, n. 6). Finally, the calendar of BnF lat. 1113 does not record any octaves for the three Sainte-Chapelle celebrations (but see, for instance, BnF lat. 13238, the Sainte-Chapelle breviary copied after 1459).  10 In its current state, the manuscript is mutilated, with illuminated initials cut out from it. When Leroquais was consulting it, it was apparently still in pristine condition, for he reports that fol. 7 opens with the following formulation; ‘incipit missale secundum usum Parisiensis ecclesie’ (Leroquais, Les Sacramentaires, ii, 345). The manuscript is available online: .

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which it accords the rank of duplex, and the Translation of the head of St Louis on 17 May. These feasts are also found in the Sanctorale (Crown: fol. 298r–v; relics: fols 324–25), where they were copied by the same hand and belong to the original layer of this missal. There is no allusion to a Dedication feast in the calendar; the Temporale concludes with the customary liturgy for this feast (fols 222–23v), but it has no distinguishing elements that would allow us to determine whether a certain Parisian church or the Sainte-Chapelle was intended. As we have seen, Louis d’Anjou, nephew of Louis IX, was bishop of Toulouse in 1296–97. Might this explain the presence in Toulouse of Sainte-Chapelle liturgy?

Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, MS 406 This Parisian missal (without music) was copied in the first quarter of the fifteenth century for a member of the French royal family, most probably for Louis de Guyenne, son of Charles VI. The Temporale starts on fol. 7 with a very large image depicting a group of clerics and lay dignitaries during the Elevation of the Host. Most of them are kneeling in front of the high altar in what seems to be the Sainte-Chapelle.11 Immediately below the image we read the usual formulation announcing that the missal follows the Use of Paris.12 Mazarine 406 is said to be either from the Capella regis or the Sainte-Chapelle.13 The calendar features the Crown of Thorns (accorded the rank of duplex) together with two relics feasts, the one for the Sainte-Chapelle (without specifying its rank) and the one for Notre-Dame (duplex). The Sanctorale transmits liturgy for both Sainte-Chapelle feasts in the original layer: for the Crown on fols 291–92, and for the relics on fol. 316. In contrast to the above-mentioned manuscripts, the following three missals comprising Sainte-Chapelle liturgies feature the Crown liturgy in the original layer of copying, but with the relics (and other feasts as well) added later on.

Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, MS 608 This notated Parisian missal must have been copied in the first decade of the fourteenth century. A later hand added in the calendar (on 2 April) an obit for Queen Joan I of Navarre, who died in 1305. The feast of St Louis of Anjou,  11 The decoration work on this manuscript was never finished. Like all the images in this manuscript, the opening image is a sketch, as it was never completed and never coloured. All decorated initials were cut out of the manuscript.  12 ‘Incipit missale secundum usum Parisiensis’.  13 For the former attribution, see Gaposchkin, ‘From Pilgrimage to Crusade’, p. 62, n. 83. For an association with the Sainte-Chapelle, see Haggh, ‘An Ordinal of Ockeghem’s Time’, p. 68, n. 6; Leroquais, Les Sacramentaires, iii, 9; Bernard, Répertoire de manuscrits médiévaux, ii, 105.

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canonized in 1317, was also added to the calendar by a different hand.14 Nephew of Louis IX, Louis d’Anjou was bishop of Toulouse during the last year of his short life; he died in 1297 when he was just twenty-four years old. Arsenal 608 encapsulates the delicate undertaking entailed in identifying sources from the Sainte-Chapelle. On the one hand, the calendar is typically Parisian, and the missal as a whole transmits, both in calendar and Sanctorale, Notre-Dame’s relics feast on 4 December (in susceptione reliquiarum, fol. 238v), as well as the Crown of Thorns on 11 August (fols 275v–277).15 By the fourteenth century, it was customary for Parisian service books for the office and mass to embrace the Crown liturgy. The calendar accords the Crown of Thorns only the rank of semiduplex, but accords the 4 December feast the rank of duplex, just as other sources from Notre-Dame (the Crown was annuale at the Sainte-Chapelle). Although the calendar of Arsenal 608 does not include a reference to the Reception of the Sainte-Chapelle relics, it does include a fully notated mass for the feast (fols 424–26v), seamlessly copied in what seems to be the same hand as the original layer of the manuscript. And yet there can be no doubt that the relics liturgy was not originally envisioned when the manuscript was initially sketched out. It is one of three feasts — from the Temporale as well as from the Sanctorale — making up an appendix that follows the proser (fols 347–424); following relics are masses for the Translation of Louis’s head (fols 426v–429) and for Corpus Christi (fols 429–31v). All three masses appear to have been copied without break from the previous section and by the same hand. Arsenal 608, then, is a Parisian missal with a supplement that makes sense only for those following the liturgy of the Sainte-Chapelle. After Brussels IV.472, it is the earliest extant manuscript to have both Crown and relics mass liturgies — and what is more, with musical notation — copied in the original hand (albeit out of place). Sources that can reliably be said to have been copied and used at the Sainte-Chapelle will continue to feature both the Crown of Thorns and the relics liturgies in the centuries to come, including the Sainte-Chapelle Ordinal, Arsenal 114, copied in 1471.16 Arsenal 608 was later used at Saint-Louis of Poissy, a Dominican abbey for nuns of so-called noble blood founded in 1304 in honour of St Louis by his grandson, Philip ‘the Fair’. Perhaps the missal belonged to a member of the royal family who followed the liturgy of the Sainte-Chapelle? Three later additions to the calendar may lend support to this supposition. In addition to the obit

 14 The manuscript can be consulted online: . For more information, see Bernard, Répertoire de manuscrits médiévaux, iii, 80; Leroquais, Les Sacramentaires, ii, 246–48.  15 See, for instance, the Sanctorale of BnF lat. 8885, a missal from Notre-Dame copied c. 1290, and later on owned by Duke Jean de Berry (described in Leroquais, Les Sacramentaires, ii, 247). For the dating, see Baltzer, ‘The Sources and the Sanctorale’, p. 128. The calendar of Arsenal 608 mentions no Dedication feast.  16 For the rank of the Crown of Thorns, see Arsenal 114, fol. 5. The ordinal is discussed in Haggh, ‘An Ordinal of Ockeghem’s Time’.

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for Queen Joan I, there is also one for Philip, ‘obitus Philippi, regis francie, fundatoris ecclesiae Pissiaci’ (King of France, founder of the church of Poissy) on 29 November. Another royal obit was added on 16 December, commemorating the death of Charles of Valois (1284–1325), father of King Philip VI (‘obitus nobilis viri domini Caroli comitis Valesii et patris regis Philippi’).

London, British Library, MS Harley 2891 The online catalogue of the British Library dates the original layer of the manuscript to 1317–18, making it slightly later than Arsenal 608. It includes two later additions: (1) immediately preceding the calendar (miscellany copied in the beginning and end of the fourteenth century, fols 1–14), and (2) following the proser ending on fol. 379v, comprising the same trio of masses as in the Arsenal 608 appendix: Corpus Christi, the Translation of the head of St Louis, and Translation of relics to Sainte-Chapelle (fols 380–85v). Apart from the relics mass bringing the manuscript to an end, all other references to feasts of the Sainte-Chapelle belong to the original layer of BL Harley 2891.17 Contrary to Arsenal 608, the calendar of BL Harley 2891 mentions all three Sainte-Chapelle feasts in the original hand,18 to which we should add feasts that, taken together with the three above-mentioned ones, reinforce a connection to the Sainte-Chapelle, namely the Translation of the head of St Louis to the Sainte-Chapelle in 1306 (17 May) and the feast celebrating St Louis himself on 25 August. Except for the Crown feast, assigned the rank of semiduplex (à la Notre-Dame of Paris), all the other feasts are of the rank of annuum festum, the highest possible rank in the Church calendar. In the Parisian calendar, only four feasts were assigned this high rank: Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and the Assumption of the Virgin.19 The Sanctorale of BL Harley 2891 includes a mass for the Crown of Thorns (fols 277v–278) and one for the Dedication feast (fols 237v–239v), and the proser adds a sequence each for both Crown and relics feasts, and three for the Dedication. The addendum of three masses (fols 380–85v) must have been copied after 1317 and by a single hand. It opens with the mass for Corpus Christi. Although already added to the Church calendar in 1264, the feast was made truly universal only in 1317, right around the time BL Harley 2891 was

 17 The first to suggest that BL Harley 2891 was associated with the Sainte-Chapelle was Dom Hesbert. News about the relevance of this manuscript to the study of the Sainte-Chapelle liturgy reached Hesbert just as his volume was in press. He consequently wrote an addendum at the very end of the book, without having examined the manuscript in person, I believe. See Le Prosaire de la Sainte-Chapelle, ed. by Hesbert, p. 110. The manuscript can be consulted online: .  18 The rubric for the Dedication of the Church (26 April) is in gold and reads ‘dedicatio sancte capelle regis Parisiensis’.  19 Baltzer, ‘The Sources and the Sanctorale’, p. 116.

th e m ai n s o u rc e s fo r t h e s aint e -chape lle li t u rgy

apparently copied. In that year, Pope John XXII promulgated the feast anew, added an octave, and prescribed that a solemn procession should take place on that day. The presence of masses for the two subsequent feasts — the relics and the Translation of the head of St Louis — suggests that just as Arsenal 608, BL Harley 2891 too was updated in ways that enabled its users to honour the three constituent feasts of the Sainte-Chapelle. As Hesbert astutely remarked, a good number of manuscripts from Paris include this or that Sainte-Chapelle feast, or the feast commemorating the Translation of the head of St Louis into the Sainte-Chapelle. It does not mean that they are witnesses to the Sainte-Chapelle liturgy.20 The evidence in BL Harley 2891, however, overwhelmingly suggests that the missal could be considered as a testament to the liturgy carried out at the Sainte-Chapelle a little over half a century after Brussels IV.472 was copied. Be that as it may, as far as the mass is concerned, there is only one other fourteenth-century source, in addition to Arsenal 608, which transmits both relics and Crown liturgies, albeit in a later hand: Lyon 5122.21

Lyon, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 5122 The missal was copied in the fourth decade of the fourteenth century, between 1345 and 1350.22 Initially, it was clearly meant to be used in a Parisian church, perhaps at Notre-Dame: it features the church’s own relics feast on 4 December (fol. 214r–v), and according to Leroquais, the ordo missae is also typically Parisian.23 Further belonging to the original layer of the Sanctorale of Lyon 5122 is the liturgy for the Crown of Thorns (fols 280v–281v), found in numerous other churches. Just as in BL Harley 2891, however, additions were made to Lyon 5122 that rendered it appropriate for following the liturgy of the Sainte-Chapelle. Originally concluding with various votive masses, a new, short section copied by a different hand, perhaps contemporaneous, starts on fol. 404 (new pagination in Arabic numerals). It comprises just two feasts: the Translation of the head of St Louis to the Sainte-Chapelle (fols 404–05v), and the Reception of Sainte-Chapelle relics on fols 405v–407v. As Leroquais has already concluded, Lyon 5122 was probably used at the Sainte-Chapelle, and certainly copied from one of its missals.24

 20 Le Prosaire de la Sainte-Chapelle, ed. by Hesbert, p. 14, n. 1.  21 Another manuscript that can be taken into consideration is BnF lat. 8890, a sixteenthcentury festive missal from the Sainte-Chapelle with some musical notation.  22 See . Unfortunately, the lack of a calendar precludes us from knowing the rank assigned to various feasts contained therein.  23 Leroquais, Les Sacramentaires, ii, 250. Similarly to many churches in and around Paris, Lyon 5122 also features liturgy for St Louis (fols 285–87) in the original hand. Page numbers refer to the original pagination.  24 See Leroquais, Les Sacramentaires, ii, 251.

17 9

1 80

a p p e n di x  1

Regardless of their genre, provenance, and date of copying, all of the above sources transmit the two feasts that were at the heart of the idea of the SainteChapelle — the Crown of Thorns and the Reception of Relics — whether integrated in the original copying phase or subsequently added. When it comes to the Crown mass liturgy, however, the evidence is more complicated. If we accept that Brussels IV.472 and Bari 5 are Sainte-Chapelle sources, then we must come to terms with the fact that the Crown liturgy at the Sainte-Chapelle was changed shortly after it was instituted. As far as the mass is concerned, this is owing to the view afforded by three ordinals from the Capella regis and Sainte-Chapelle: BnF lat. 1435 and Arsenal 114, already mentioned above, and Dijon  1166, an Ordo Capituli from the Sainte-Chapelle of Dijon, copied in the fifteenth century. By the time these ordinals were copied, the Dominican Crown liturgy was already firmly established at the Sainte-Chapelle.25 While it is impossible to know the exact period of time in which the Dominican Crown liturgy for the mass was adopted at the SainteChapelle, it must have coincided with the adoption of the Dominican Crown liturgy for the office — Gaude felix — copied into two royal books by 1296. The first is BnF lat. 1023, the so-called Breviary of Philip the Fair (r. 1285–1314). It must have been copied before 1296, for the feast of St Louis is added at the end of the manuscript, clearly indicating that at the time of its copying, liturgy for this feast had not yet been envisioned. In use at the Capella regis, the Dominican Crown office (fols 388v–391v) is followed by three lessons in crastino (fols 391v–392), nine for the Sunday during the octave (fols 392–93v), and nine for the octave (fols 393v–395).26 The second is the so-called Breviary of Charles V, BnF lat. 13233, which transmits the Dominican Crown office on folios 650–63v, belonging to the original layer of the manuscript, copied c. 1295.27 It is only through recourse to ordinals and breviaries that we can be relatively certain that the earliest and most central witnesses to the development of liturgy at the Sainte-Chapelle capture a short-lived period in which the mass for the Crown of Thorns was the one that other Parisian churches would continue to keep alive for centuries to come. This parallels a similar trend with the Crown office, which at the Sainte-Chapelle differed substantially from the one celebrated in nearby Parisian churches and also in Sens. I have thus far considered sources that were either expressly copied for the Sainte-Chapelle

 25 BnF lat. 1435 does not provide mass Propers for the Crown of Thorns at all, but judging from the sequence it assigns to the feast, Dyadema salutare (the incipit is found on fol. 44v), the mass Propers were probably Dominican as well. See Liverpool F.4.13, an antiphoner copied c. 1330 in Pisa. In addition to the Pisan antiphoner and BnF lat. 1435, the sequence Dyadema salutare is extant in a single other source, Dijon  1166 (fol. 78v; text incipit only).  26 Contrary to Branner’s assertion, the octave for the Crown of Thorns did not ‘vanish’ from BnF lat. 1023 (Branner, ‘The Sainte-Chapelle and the Capella Regis’, p. 21).  27 Later additions belong to a layer copied after 1386. See Brown, ‘Le Mécénat et la reine’, pp. 88–90.

th e m ai n s o u rc e s fo r t h e s aint e -chape lle li t u rgy

or that reflect their strong ideo­logical association with the Sainte-Chapelle by adopting its most distinguishing characteristics, whether in a later adaptation or already in the original copying layer. To conclude this survey of manuscripts that can be pertinent to the study of the mass liturgy of the Sainte-Chapelle and its propagation, we may take as example a manuscript that although not displaying the same kind of high-level adoption of Sainte-Chapelle feasts, is nonetheless a testimony to the different ways in which churches and communities were mindful of what the Sainte-Chapelle could mean.

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fonds latin 8884 BnF lat. 8884 was originally a Dominican missal (without musical notation). Containing several temporal layers, the bulk of the missal (fols 8–296v) was copied sometime between 1233 and 1239, predating the reforms of Humbert of Romans.28 Sometime during the early fourteenth century, it was adapted to reflect the Use of Paris, and in 1306 it came to be used in the chapel of St Louis of Marseilles at Notre-Dame of Paris, a chapel that had just been founded.29 The feast of the Crown of Thorns, instituted shortly after the missal was copied, was added in the lower margins of fols 228v–229v by the same hand that adapted the entire missal to the Use of Paris, corresponding to a celebration date of 11 August, that is, according to the Parisian calendar, not the Dominican one, where the feast landed on 4 May (see Plate 4).30 Following the revised Dominican layer of the missal is a new section (fols 297–332v) copied by different hands in the fourteenth century, comprising a non-Dominican supplement. Folios 319v–320v, for instance, feature liturgies for two feasts celebrating St Louis, namely a mass for his principal feast (including two sequences) and one for the Translation of his head, congruent with a copying date after 1306, when the translation into the Sainte-Chapelle took place. Immediately thereafter, folios 321–32v consist of a proser copied by a single hand (it also has a separate, continuous foliation: I–XII).31 Among the texts it transmits are two Crown sequences, analysed above: (1) Gaude, Syon […] qua corona (fol. 328v) and (2) Si vis vere (fol. 328v–329). Whereas the latter

 28 The current pagination is consecutive, running from 1 to 336. For an analysis of this source, see Leroquais, Les Sacramentaires, ii, 104–06; Gleeson, ‘Dominican Liturgical Manuscripts’, pp. 99–102. For the dating, see Haller, ‘Early Dominican Mass Chants’, pp. 49–50; UrfelsCapot, Le Sanctoral du lectionnaire de l’office dominicain, p. 39.  29 A note in cursive hand on fol. 335 reads as follows: ‘cest messel est de la cappelle saint Loys fondee en l’eglise de Paris’.  30 Gleeson, ‘Dominican Liturgical Manuscripts’, p. 100. This is borne out also in the analysis in Bonniwell, A History of the Dominican Liturgy, pp. 29–35.  31 The proser of the original layer of the Dominican missal (fols 293v–296v) transmits no sequence for the Crown of Thorns feast.

181

1 82

a p p e n di x  1

Plate 4. The feast of the Crown of Thorns added in the lower margins of BnF lat. 8884, fol. 228v. Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France.

th e m ai n s o u rc e s fo r t h e s aint e -chape lle li t u rgy

is ubiquitous, the former is extant with notation only in Bari 5, whose proser is one of the earliest liturgical sources securely attributed to the Sainte-Chapelle. The proser appended to BnF lat. 8884, then, must point to some connection to or familiarity with the liturgy of the nearby Sainte-Chapelle, although the manuscript itself is not a Sainte-Chapelle source; in fact, it transmits the liturgy neither of the relics nor of the Dedication. Whereas the additions to BnF lat. 8884 have up to folio 332v diluted the Dominican character of this missal, the folios bringing it to a close (fols 333–36v) serve exactly the opposite purpose, being quintessentially Dominican. They consist of a mass for St Peter Martyr (whose feast was adopted by the Order in 1254), masses for the two St Dominic feasts, and lastly, a mass for the Crown of Thorns (fol. 334v), identical to Humbert’s prototype, and characteristic of most Dominican missals post-dating Humbert’s reform. Celebrated on 4 May, the Crown mass has not one but two Alleluias, one which is proper to the feast in the Dominican Order (Dyadema spineum), the other to Easter (Surrexit Christe). The pair of Alleluias is occasionally followed by a third, Ascendens Christus, for Ascension.32 The introduction of these two or three Alleluias is undoubtedly related to the fact that 4 May, where the Crown of Thorns was placed in the Dominican calendar, is also the earliest date (if it falls on a Thursday) on which Ascension Day can take place, and without fail takes place during the paschal season.33

 32 For instance, in Clermont-Ferrand 62 and 64, Toulouse 98, 103, and 105, and Bordeaux 89. André Gignac has already pointed to the influence of the Tolosan liturgy on the early Dominican sources. See Gignac, ‘Le Sanctoral dominicain’, pp. 114–15. St Dominic began his missionary work in the Languedoc region, specifically in the dioceses of Carcassonne and Toulouse, and it was in Toulouse that he established his first community of friars at Saint-Romain, a church dependent on Toulouse Cathedral, from which came into existence the Dominican monastery of Toulouse (the so-called Couvent des Jacobins). See Prin, L’Ensemble conventuel des Jacobins de Toulouse, pp. 41–44. In two sources (BnF lat. 8884 and Chambéry  9), the rubric announcing the Alleluia Ascendens Christus specifically assigns it ‘post Ascensionem Domini’. A rubric in Arsenal 602, fol. 436 (a Dominican breviary from Saint-Louis of Poissy copied between 1336 and 1348), provides a further pertinent insight: ‘si festum sancte crucis in die ascensionis evenerit, in sexta feria celebretur, et festum corone in sabbatum transfferatur’. Just as many Dominican missals transmit the typical Dominican Crown liturgy with only the Alleluia Dyadema spineum, as in, for instance, BnF lat. 1104, BnF lat. 871, and BnF n.a.l. 2356.  33 A detail already mentioned in Blezzard, Ryle, and Alexander, ‘New Perspectives on the Feast of the Crown of Thorns’, p. 43, n. 64.

183

Appendix 2

Manuscript Sources of the Crown Mass Propers MS

Provenance

Date

Arsenal 110, fols 133 –134

Notre-Dame of Paris

1280s

Arsenal 203, fols 42v–43v

Paris

late 1270s

Arsenal 607, fols 204–05

Notre-Dame of Paris

1st half of 14th c.

Arsenal 608, fols 275 –277

Paris

before 1316

Avallon 1, fol. 250v

Langres

1419

BL Harley 2891, fols 277 –278

Sainte-Chapelle

1317–18

BnF lat. 830, fol. 367

Notre-Dame of Paris

c. 1270

BnF lat. 831, fols 270–71

Paris

15th c.

BnF lat. 857, fols 194–95

Paris

2nd half of 15th c.

BnF lat. 859, fols 318 –320

Paris

15th c.

BnF lat. 861, fols 269–70

v

v

v

v

Notre-Dame of Paris

1318–20

BnF lat. 864B, fols 152–53

Sens

early 15th c.

BnF lat. 865A, fols 551–53

Troyes

15th c.

BnF lat. 1028, fols 286–92

Sens

mid-13th c.

v

v

BnF lat. 1113, fol. 249

Paris

2nd half of 14th c.

BnF lat. 1337, fols 255v–257

Paris

early 14th c.

BnF lat. 8884, fols 228v–229v

Paris

1233–39

BnF lat. 8885, fols 443v–446v

Paris

c. 1290

BnF lat. 8890, fols 34v–37v

Sainte-Chapelle

after 1503

Paris

mid-13th c.

BnF lat. 14448, fol. 172v

Saint-Victor

15th c.

BnF lat. 15615, fols 282–83

Paris

mid-13th c.

BnF lat. 17310, fols 274–75

Chartres

late 13th c.

BnF lat. 17315, fols 281 –282

Paris

1481

BnF lat. 9441, fols 165 –166 v

v

v

man u s c r i p t s o u rc e s o f t h e crow n mass pro pe rs

185

Citation

Remarks

Bernard, Répertoire, iii, 46; Baltzer, ‘Sources’, p. 127

 

Bernard, Répertoire, iii, 53–54; Baltzer, ‘Sources’, p. 127

The MS has four foliations. The mass appears in the third foliation.

Leroquais, Sacra­men­taires, ii, 249

 

Bernard, Répertoire, iii, 80–81; Baltzer, ‘Sources’, p. 128

Later used at Saint-Louis of Poissy

Meyer, Catalogue, iii, 100–104

Incipit of Introit and full Alleluia chant only

Baltzer, ‘Sources’, p. 128

Parisian missal adapted for Sainte-Chapelle

Leroquais, Sacramen­taires, ii, 137; Baltzer, ‘Sources’, p. 129

Crown liturgy in 15th-c. additions

Leroquais, Sacramen­taires, iii, 25–26

 

Leroquais, Sacramen­taires, iii, 38

 

Leroquais, Sacramen­taires, iii, 151

 

Leroquais, Sacramen­taires, ii, 248

Belonged to the con­fra­ternity of Sainte-Madeleine

Leroquais, Sacramen­taires, iii, 27–28

 

Leroquais, Sacramen­taires, iii, 46–49

 

Leroquais, Bréviaires, iii, 3–5

Crown liturgy added c. 1280

Leroquais, Sacramen­taires, ii, 342–43

MS is heavily damaged; Introit missing

Baltzer, ‘Sources’, p. 128

 

Leroquais, Sacramen­taires, ii, 104–06

Dominican, later adapted to Paris Use. Crown liturgy added in margins (14th c.)

Leroquais, Sacramen­taires, ii, 247; Baltzer, ‘Sources’, p. 128

The MS was part of the library of the SainteChapelle of Bourges

Leroquais, Sacramen­taires, iii, 262–63

 

Leroquais, Sacramen­taires, ii, 114; Baltzer, ‘Sources’, p. 127

 

Leroquais, Sacramen­taires, iii, 222–23

 

Leroquais, Sacramen­taires, ii, 112–13; Baltzer, ‘Sources’, p. 127

 

Leroquais, Sacramen­taires, ii, 193–96

 

Leroquais, Sacramen­taires, iii, 221–22

 

1 86

a p p e n di x  2

MS Brussels IV.472, fols 18–21 Brussels 9125, fols 388 –391 v

v

Provenance

Date

Sainte-Chapelle

1248–70

Paris

2nd half of 14th c.

Sens

c. 1264

v

Paris

1345–50

Mazarine 406, fols 291–92

Paris

early 15th c.

Mazarine 410, fols 311v–312v

Paris

15th c.

Mazarine 411, fols 192v–193v

Notre-Dame of Paris

14th c.

Mazarine 412, fols 320–21

Paris

15th c.

Paris

2nd half of 14th c.

Paris

2nd half of 13th c.

Sens

end of 14th c.

Paris

14th c.

Lisbon 84, fols 193–95v Lyon 5122, fols 280 –281 v

Mazarine 413, fols 222 –223 v

v

Mazarine 422, fols 206v–207 Montpellier H71, fol. 195r–v Paris Rés. 146, fols 231 –232 v

v

Provins 227, fols 39–40v

Saint-Quiriace de Provins mid-13th c.

Reims  233, fols 263–65

Notre-Dame of Paris

15th c.

Sens 17, fols 82 –84

Sens

mid-13th c.

Paris

15th c.

Paris

15th c.

v

Toulouse 102, fol. 298

r–v

Tours 199, fols 248–49

man u s c r i p t s o u rc e s o f t h e crow n mass pro pe rs

187

Citation

Remarks

‘Quinze années d’acqui­sition’, pp. 19–20

 

Van den Gheyn, Cata­logue, i, 271–72; Baltzer, ‘Sources’, p. 128

 

 

Folios 251–67 were copied after 1297.

Leroquais, Sacramen­taires, ii, 250–51

Additions at end of MS suggest use at Sainte-Chapelle.

Bernard, Répertoire, ii, 105; Leroquais, Sacra­men­taires, iii, 9

Copied for a member of the French royal family

Bernard, Répertoire, ii, 111–12; Leroquais, Sacramentaires, iii, 147

 

Bernard, Répertoire, ii, 113–15; Leroquais, Sac­ra­mentaires, ii, 343–44

The Sanctorale has a new foliation. Later belonged to the Collège de Navarre

Leroquais, Sacramen­taires, iii, 149–50

 

Bernard, Répertoire, ii, 119; Leroquais, Sacra­men­taires, ii, 344–45

Acquired by the Sainte-Chapelle in 1403

Bernard, Répertoire, ii, 79–81; Leroquais, Sacra­mentaires, ii, 124–25

Proser in different, later hand

Leroquais, Sacramen­taires, ii, 368

 

Leroquais, Sacramen­taires, ii, 367

 

Leroquais, Sacramen­taires, ii, 83

 

Leroquais, Sacramen­taires, iii, 152

 

Meyer, Catalogue, iii, 196–97

Crown liturgy added in 17th c.

Leroquais, Sacramen­taires, ii, 345–46

 

Leroquais, Sacramen­taires, iii, 36–37

 

Appendix 3

Manuscript Sources of the Crown Sequences  = text incipit only; n = notated; in = text and music incipits

i

Si vis

Regisa

Gaude […] corona

Liberalis

Arsenal 110

222–23v

 

 

 

Arsenal 114

249

 

 

 

Arsenal 197

 

223 –224

 

 

Arsenal 203

43

 

 

 

Arsenal 607

204v

 

 

 

Arsenal 608

399 –400

 

 

 

Arsenal 620

342–46

 

 

MS

v

i

v

n

 

Autun 10

296

Avallon 1 Bari 5

vn

 

v

 

239–240

vn

 

236 –238 v

n

235 –236

238–39n

349–52n

BL 16905

276

 

 

 

BL 30058

 

119v

 

 

BL 38723

 

187vn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

365

v

r–v

 

vn

Beaune 32

BL Harley 2891

 

 

v

BnF lat. 830

 

367

BnF lat. 831

270r–v

 

BnF lat. 864B

 

152 –153

BnF lat. 865A BnF lat. 1028 BnF lat. 1337

d

 

 

 

 

730

r–v

 

 

 

292r–vn

 

 

422–24

 

 

 

BnF lat. 1435

 

v

 

 

BnF lat. 8884

328 –329

c

 

328

BnF lat. 8885

444v–446

 

 

 

BnF lat. 8890

36–37

 

 

 

BnF lat. 9441

436 –437

 

 

 

BnF lat. 14448

 

242

 

 

BnF lat. 14452b

 

236–37vn

 

 

BnF lat. 14506

 

313

 

 

v

v

vi

  v, c

 

m an u s c r i p t s o u rc e s o f the crow n seq u e nce s

Quasi

Verbum

Florem

Letetur

Gens

Dyadema

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  240 –241 v

  n

241

r–vn

206v–207n

 

241 –242

242 –244

v

vn

v

vn

 

 

v

302 –304

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

731

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

44vin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

189

1 90

a p p e n di x  3

MS

Si vis

Regisa

BnF lat. 15615

 

389

BnF lat. 17315

387 –388

 

BnF lat. 17316

 

297

Brussels 9125

389v–392

 

Brussels IV.472

 

19

Chaumont  266

 

97 –99

Dijon  1166

 

 

Limoges 2

 

 

Lisbon 84

 

193 –195

v

Liverpool F.4.13

r–vn

r–v

n

v

n

v

n

Gaude […] corona

Liberalis

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mazarine 406

401v–402

 

 

 

Mazarine 410

312

 

 

 

Mazarine 411

192 –193

 

 

 

Mazarine 412

320 –321

 

 

 

Mazarine 413

222v–223

 

 

 

Mazarine 422

 

260 , 262

 

 

Montpellier H71

 

264

 

 

Paris Rés. 146 Paris Sorbonne 705 Reims  233

v

vn

v

304

v

r–v

n

 

 

 

281–83

 

 

 

264v

 

 

 

 

 

 

Santa Sabina XIV L 3

 

Sens 17 Soissons 85

r–v

 

83

r–vn, e

 

 

 

54–55n

 

 

Toulouse 102

444r–v

 

 

 

Tours 199

345

 

 

 

r–v

Notes: a No distinction is made here between the various recensions of Regis et pontificis. See the discussion on pp. 45–61 above. b In sixteenth-century addition c In Parisian supplement to an originally Dominican missal d Later addition e Seventeenth-century addition

m an u s c r i p t s o u rc e s o f the crow n seq u e nce s

Quasi

Verbum

Florem

Letetur

Gens

Dyadema

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

78vi

 

 

296v–297vn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

37 –40vn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

155–57vn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

v

191

Appendix 4

Manuscript Sources of the Relics Sequences i

= text incipit only; n = notated Nos ad

Solemnes

Gaude […] vexilla

Nos oportet

251vi

 

 

 

268v–269n

269v–270n

270–71vn

271v–273n

BL Harley 2891

385

 

 

 

BnF lat. 1113

263

vi

 

 

 

BnF lat. 1435

45

i

 

 

 

BnF lat. 8890

66 –67

 

 

 

Brussels IV.472

55v–56vn

 

 

 

Lyon 5122

406v

 

 

 

Mazarine 406

408

 

 

 

Montpellier H71

270

Toulouse 102

433r–v

MS Arsenal 114 Arsenal 608 Bari 5

425

r–vn

v

v

 

 

 

 

 

 

m an u s c r i p t s o u rc e s o f t he re li cs seq u e nce s

Cum tremore

Vergente

Res est

Sexta

Cursor

Letabundus

 

 

 

 

 

 

273v–274vn

274v–275n

275–76n

276–77n

277–78n

278–79n

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

408

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

193

Appendix 5

Synopsis of the Crown Sequences Sequence

Hesberta

AH

Si vis vere

—

8: 21–22

Regis et pontificis (Text A, melody 1)

—

Regis et pontificis (Texts A & B, melody 2)

—

8: 22–23

Gaude […] corona

57–58

Liberalis manus

Quasi stella

Verbum bonum

Spiritual theme

Mode

Triumph of Christ on the cross, thanks to which ‘sin was removed’

7

54: 204–05 Victory over death; inscribing the Crown in salvation history

7

Victory over death; inscribing the Crown in salvation history

1

—

Associating the Passion with the Incarnation through the Crown; the Crown worn on first day of Passion and first day of Incarnation

7

58–59

—

Sins expiated by sacrifice; the conquering of death; redemption by blood; ‘Christ won over death’; ‘Death and fault [...] fall defeated’

7

59

—

Salvation (bringing life to death); redemption through the death of Christ

1

59–60

—

The Crown is the intercessor between the praying community and Christ

8

Florem spina

—

Letetur felix

60–61

54: 205–06 Theo­logy of reversals (an instrument of mockery becomes ‘more precious than gold’); NT replacing OT (Crown replaces Ten Commandments) —

1

History of salvation, with Paris as site of the Last Judgement

7

Gens Gallorum

—

34: 25–26 The Crown is the ‘helmet of victory’, recalling the Passion and localizing the Last Judgement: Christ will come to Paris to re-collect his Crown in latter days

7

Dyadema salutare

—

54: 207–08 Contrasting life with death; expounding on the virtues of the Crown. Once a source of pain and agony, now a source of healing, the ‘Crown of salvation’ mitigates punishment; ‘our pains are alleviated and our vices cleansed’; ‘death dies’

6

Note: a Page numbers refer to Le Prosaire de la Sainte-Chapelle, ed. by Hesbert.

trans­ posed

sy n o p s i s o f t he crow n seq u e nce s

Contrafact source (sequence/saint)

References to Paris/France

195

Dissemination

Original melody

‘France is openly crowned today’; ‘To you, O renowned Numerous city, gifted with all praise, mother of learning, the Crown manuscripts is entrusted, and in you it is stored, city of Paris’

Original melody

Christ ‘confers this Crown upon our France’

Brussels IV.472 unicum

Per unius casum (St Quentin)

Christ ‘confers this Crown upon his France’; Paris is ‘the school of France’; ‘O Louis, King of the Franks, the diadems of ancient kings unite under your reign’

Numerous manuscripts

Gaude, Syon (St Martin)

The Crown ‘is brought to the Franks’ and ‘is now honoured by the Christian kings’; ‘the invincible kingdom of France is exalted’

Bari 5, BnF lat. 8884

In superna civitate (St Francis)

‘God finds in France a place for the beauty of its house, and for the Crown of its triumphs’; ‘The king of France rejoices’

Bari 5 unicum

Hodierne lux diei (the Assumption of the Virgin)

None

Bari 5 unicum

Verbum bonum et suave (Annunciation / the Assumption of the Virgin)

The Crown protects ‘the Franks’; Christ ‘gave the Franks Bari 5 unicum the glory and the empire’; pleas for the Crown to protect ‘the kings and queens’ of France, and that Christ ‘protect and govern our kingdom’

Hodierne lux diei (the Assumption of the Virgin)

‘France is enriched’ by the Crown

Avallon 1, Bari 5, BnF lat. 865A, Limoges 2

Original melody

God ‘distinguished France’ with the Crown; ‘How great is the fortune of this kingdom’; ‘The city of Paris preserves’ the Crown; the Crown brings ‘the glory of this city’

Bari 5 unicum

Original melody

Addressed to the ‘People of France’, likened to ‘the vine­ Bari 5 unicum yard of God’; the Crown ‘brought to Paris’; ‘France, a land proper for adoration’; France, a country with a ‘daring people’; ‘The city, once called after Lutetia, was subsequently called Paris’; the French are ‘a people of unique grace’

In celesti ierarchia (St Dominic)

None

BnF lat. 1435, Dijon 1166, Liver­ pool F.4.13, Santa Sabina XIV L 3

Appendix 6

Synopsis of the Relics Sequences Sequence

Hesberta

AH

Mode

Contrafact source (sequence/saint)

Nos ad laudes

—

8: 90

6 trans­ posed

Letabundus exsultet fidelis (the Assumption of the Virgin)

Solemnes in hac die

65

—

8

Hac clara die (the Assumption of the Virgin)

Gaude, […] vexilla

66–67

—

7

Gaude, Syon (St Martin)

Nos oportet gloriari

67–69

 —

7

Lux iucunda, lux insignis (octave of Pentecost)

Cum tremore exulta

69–70

—

7

Gaude, Syon (St Martin)

70

—

1

Vergente mundi vespere, sereno (the Assumption of the Virgin)

Res est venerabilis

70–71

—

1

Res est admirabilis (octave of the Virgin’s Nativity)

Sexta passus feria

71–72

—

7

Sexta passus die (Easter)

Cursor levis arcte

72–73

—

1

Original (dependent on the Marian Salve stella mundi?)

73

—

6 trans­ posed

Vergente mundi vespere, crucis

Letabundus decantet fidelis

Letabundus exsultet fidelis (the Assumption of the Virgin)

Note: a Page numbers refer to Le Prosaire de la Sainte-Chapelle, ed. by Hesbert.

sy n o p s i s o f t he re li cs seq u e nce s

197

Spiritual theme

References to Paris/France

Dissemination

All Sainte-Chapelle relics are enumerated and celebrate ‘marvels’ or ‘wonders’ by which the faithful will be delivered from evil. They afford material and spiritual protection.

None

Numerous manuscripts

Contemplating the relics’ salvific merits; the triumph of life over death

None

Bari 5 unicum

Allusions to the Passion narrative and to the moral exhortation associated with it; the Jews are irredeemable, likened to an arid wood, and contrasted to the green wood.

None

Bari 5 unicum

Triumph over sin and death; ‘the Church is reformed in the spiritual sense’; Christ is the true pontiff, the royal priest, the new Melchizedek.

‘May Gaul be protected by such great signs’

Bari 5 unicum

A concise overview of salvation history, starting with Judas’s betrayal of Jesus and concluding in the triumph of the New Testament.

None

Bari 5 unicum

The salvific merits of the relics

‘Gaul is shining’ and is in possession of the relics venerated in ‘the temple dedicated to God’ (the Sainte-Chapelle); they illuminate Gaul ‘as evening falls’

Bari 5 unicum

A subtle counterpoint between relics and their respective merit; a reflection on the perpetual struggle between vices and virtues after the Fall of Humanity

None

Bari 5, Mazarine 406

Bearing witness to Christ’s Passion and resurrection, and doing penance

None

Bari 5 unicum

A figurative language imbues the relics with salv- None ific qualities, a suit of armour which provides the faithful with the crown of eternal glory

Bari 5 unicum

The Virgin as childbearer and intercessor for None salvation in the afterlife, recalling her role in giving birth to the ‘king of kings’, addressing the fruit of her womb and his Passion

Bari 5 unicum

Appendix 7

The Historia susceptionis coronae spinae: Edition and Translation The text attributed to Gautier Cornut, referred to as his Historia throughout this volume, must have been written shortly before his death in 1241 (the Crown arrived in France in 1239). It was only from 1877–78, however, that the text came to be known as Historia susceptionis coronae spinae, following its publication by Paul Edouard Didier Riant.34 The text has been studied by historians in the light of two seventeenth-century copies: one published in 1649 in André Du Chesne’s Historiae Francorum Scriptores, where it received the title Historia Susceptionis Coronae Spineae Jesu Christi quam Ludovicus rex a Balduino Imperii Constantinopolitani haerede obtinuit, ac Parisiis reportavit anno MCCXXXIX,35 and a copy made by Jacques Taveau (1548–1624), a lawyer and historian from Sens, which is found in what is now BnF lat. 3282, fols 1–4v. The heading, now partially cut off, reads De translatione Coronae Spineae.36 We cannot know with certainty when the Historia acquired a liturgical function, but starting in the last quarter of the thirteenth century it became the backbone of the Sens liturgy for the Crown of Thorns office, Adest nova solempnitas. There it has been carved into a series of nine Matins readings, paired with a set of nine corresponding responsories. Although Adest nova solempnitas is also the Crown office in Paris and the Sainte-Chapelle, it is important to note that only the Sens recension has Cornut’s historical narrative embedded in its canonical hour of Matins; offices take their name after the opening words of their First Vespers antiphon, irrespective of the Matins readings that ensue.37

 34 Exuviae sacrae Constantinopolitanae, ed. by Riant, i, 45–56.  35 Historiae Francorum scriptores, ed. by Du Chesne, pp. 407–11.  36 In all that concerns the origins and history of Cornut’s Historia, I am indebted to Guerry, ‘Crowning Paris’; Mercuri, Saint Louis et la couronne d’épines; and Gaposchkin, ‘Between Historical Narration and Liturgical Celebrations’. For further conclusions and insights regarding Cornut’s text, and reaching back to its history c. 1270, well before the seventeenthcentury copies, see Gaposchkin, ‘Between Historical Narration and Liturgical Celebrations’. I am extremely grateful to Guerry and Gaposchkin for sharing with me their work prior to publication.  37 In her recent article (‘Between Historical Narration and Liturgical Celebrations’, pp. 30–51), Gaposchkin untangles the various strands of this office and provides an edition, translation, and collation of the readings from Paris, the Sainte-Chapelle, and Sens as well.

T h e H i sto ri a s u s c e pt i on i s coron ae spi n ae

Our first witness to the Sens office is BnF lat. 1028, fols 286–92v, upon which the translation below is based.1 BnF lat. 1028 is a mid-thirteenth-century breviary from Sens Cathedral, with the Crown liturgy added c. 1280. The Sens liturgy, then, was probably written after the Sainte-Chapelle sequences for the Crown and relics were composed, and what is more, it is different from the Crown liturgies known at the Sainte-Chapelle. Nevertheless I have drawn on Cornut’s narrative as found in the Sens office for the Crown of Thorns because it serves as a framing narrative for the translation of the Crown to France, events that were obviously known to King Louis and his retinue, to which Cornut bore witness and chronicled. The Historia provides a near-contemporaneous historical context for examining the sequences of the Sainte-Chapelle. The Crown office in BnF lat. 1028 is introduced by the rubric De translatione sancta corone (fol. 286), and Cornut’s Historia unfolds as a series of nine readings, indicated by Roman numerals on the following pages.

 1 L’Office de la Couronne d’épines à Sens, ed. by Arnaud and Dennery. Unlike some other Crown offices, the one in BnF lat. 1028 in fact does not open with the five antiphons for First Vespers but with Eterne rex, the hymn concluding First Vespers. Adest nova sollempnitas and the four antiphons that ensue are assigned in BnF lat. 1028 to Second Vespers. Materials for First and Second Vespers were usually identical, with a single chant normally distinguishing them, most often the hymn.

199

200

a p p e n di x  7

Cornut’s Historia I [fol. 286v] Hodierne festivitatis gaudia fratres karissimi sub annue celebritatis obsequio devotissime celebrantes, in primis summo huius nostre sollempnitatis auctori patri luminum, a quo omne datum optimum, et omne donum perfectum, sursum cordibus elevatis, gratias referamus et laudes eius toto cordis affectu et vocis misterio personemus. Letetur in hiis sacris sollempniis ecclesia Gallicana et tota gens Francorum sine differencia sexum dignitatum ac graduum, pari causa resultet, quia sufficiens est omnibus causa leticie. Commune sit igitur gaudium, quia causa communis est gaudiorum. II Qualiter autem huius preciose gemme thesaurus ad nos usque pervenit, cum nobis et sciencia pectoris et facundia lingue non supetant minime enarrare. Verum quia regis ad hoc accessit imperium, cui tamquam precellenti secundum apostolum oportet obedire de materia presentis pro ut se habet veritas quantum Dominus promiserit presentibus et posteris, et si verbis rudibus, fideliter tamen conabimur aperire. Sub tractis rebus humanis Petro prius comite Nivernensi, post modum imperatore Constantinopolitano et imperatrice Yodolende uxore sua, ad quam de morte Henrici fratris sui imperatoris clarissimi devenerat idem imperium, superfuit ex eis eximie indolis adolescens Balduinus, quem eadem imperatrix in urbe Constantinopolitana dimisit. III [fol. 287r] Videntes igitur latini principes Grecie miserabile discrimen imperii, quod a scismatica Grecorum gente violenter fuerat occupatum, multa deliberant1 vigilancia, quod eis2 post Deum impl[or]andum sit auxilium, vel unde sperari valeat angustiis suis solatium adhibendum. Tandem ex communi consilio tam nobilium quam minorum, per auctoritatem sancti nominis Gregorii pape, Iohannes de Brena vir approbate virtutis, qui propter egregie probitatis industriam, nec non et devote christianitatis nostrum p[r] ius regnum Iherosolimitamum adeptus fuerat ad imperciendum huic tanti doloris plage remedium, electus est et concorditer advocatus. Desponsata enim Maria predicti Iohanis filia eidem heredi Balduino, ipse Iohannes imperii Constantinopolitani, nec non et ipsius heredis amministrationem accepit et curam. Non solum autem amministrator generalis Romanie factus est, sed coronatus sollempniter, et ad vitam suam imperator vocatus servata eidem Balduino genero suo cum ad etatem venerit legitima, imperii dignitate.

 1 The MS has the singular verb deliberavit.  2 The MS has the singular ei.

T h e H i sto ri a s u s c e pt i on i s coron ae spi n ae

English Translation I Celebrating most piously, my dear brethren, the joys of today’s feast, observed annually, we must, first, give grace with uplifted hearts, to him who is the very cause of this solemnity which reunites us, the father of lights [life], from whom all that is offered is excellent and all gift is perfect, and we must ring out his praise with all the love of our hearts and in the mystery of our voice. Let the Church of France rejoice in these sacred solemnities, and all the people of France, regardless of gender, dignity, or rank, must rejoice for the same reason, for there is ample reason for joy. May the joy be shared by all, for the cause of this joy is common to all. II The knowledge of the heart and the eloquence of the language do not suffice to tell the manner in which the treasure of this precious stone came to us. But since the command of the king demands it, this king to whom, according to the apostle, one must obey as he rules, we shall try to explain this subject to people now and in the future, as much as God promised, even if we use undeveloped words, yet faithfully. When Peter, formerly the Count of Nevers, and later the Emperor of Constantinople, and the Empress Yolanda, his wife, to whom the empire came after the death of her illustrious brother, Henry, were forced out of earthly things, they were survived by a young man of remarkable character, Baudouin, whom the empress herself had sent off to the city of Constantinople. III Therefore, the Latin princes, seeing the wretched crisis of the empire of Greece, which had been violently occupied by the schismatic nation of the Greeks, deliberated with much vigilance as to what help might be available to them beyond imploring God, or from where relief to be applied to their dire straits might be able to be hoped for. Finally on the shared counsel of the nobles as well as the lesser class, through the authority of the holy name of Pope Gregory [IX], John of Brienne, a man of approved virtue, who on account of the diligence of his outstanding probity and also his devoted Christianity had already obtained our holy kingdom of Jerusalem for the purpose of imparting a remedy to this huge scourge of grief, was elected and endorsed unanimously. Maria, daughter of the aforementioned John, having been promised in marriage to that same Baldwin, heir [of the kingdom], John himself received the administration and the care both of the empire of Constantinople and also of the heir himself. But he not only was made general administrator of the Roman Empire [i.e. the Latin Empire of Constantinople], but also was solemnly crowned, and was named emperor for life, with the legitimate dignity of the empire having been preserved for that same Baldwin, his son-in-law, when he had come of age.

201

202

a p p e n di x  7

IV [fol. 287v] Post modum factis ami[ci]s duorum Grecorum maioribus satrapis Vastachio videlicet et Auxario qui prius discordes erant ad invicem, hostium crevit potentia statu latinorum plurimum imminuto. Videns itaque imperator Iohanes quod hostes suos et Gre[c]orum multitudinem a finibus suis non posset expellere, vel eorum resistere potestati, communicato cum prelatis et fidelibus imperii consilio, de communi consensu generum suum Balduinum ad partes Gallicanas transmisit. Duplex autem adventus eius causa dicitur extitisse, scilicet ut a rege Ludovico de cuius sanguine ex utraque parte, patris et matris, ortum habuerat, et a prudentissima matre eius Blancha cuius neptem duxerat in uxorem, a nobilibus etiam regni Francie baronibus consanguineis suis, in tante necessitatis articulo sibi et suis peteret subveniri. Alia insuper causa suberat, ut hereditatem fratrum suorum qui sine herede decesserent adiret, marchionatum videlicet et [sic] Narmurcensem cum pertinentiis suis, et Castellianiam Curteneti. Ingressus siquidem regnum Francie, ab ipso rege et matre sua, et baronibus regi susceptus est gratanter, honorifice et iocunde. Si quas etiam in adeunda hereditate difficultates repperit, per regis mandatum et potentiam penitus sunt amote. V Cumque in partibus Gallicanis moram faceret, hereditatis proprie detentur negociis et in petendo subsidio sollicitus plurimum et intentus de partibus Romanie suscepit nuntium qui aures eius et animum subitis rumoribus pertulit et turbavit. Nunciavit enim prout res erat virum illustrem Iohannem imperatorem socerum suum iuxta nature debitum substractum vite mortali. Statum etiam Constantinopolitane civitatis et terre alterius si quam extra muros euisdem urbis habebat ita per incursus hostium artatum penitus et oppressum, quod vix3 eis ad campos pateret aditus, intus etiam uxor sua et proceres et vulgus [fol. 288r] cotidianis egebant alimentis. Discurrebant etenim libere per regionem hostiles impetus non permitentes in urbe deferri victualia congregatis turmis hoc amimo ut ipsam Constantinapolim obsiderent. Ad hec maior rem vigebat desolationis cumulus, quia multi de populo de nobilibus aliqui presentibus devicti angustiis, et futura metuentes pericula, noctu vel alias furtive muros civitatis exibant, et per mare vel viarum discrimina fugientes, propter metum [se] cercioribus periculis exponebant, propter quod erat dubium ne si in urbem hostilis circuiret obsessio, non invenirent proceres quos ad munitionem murorum in propugnaculis collocarent.

 3 The MS has vis.

T h e H i sto ri a s u s c e pt i on i s coron ae spi n ae

IV Afterwards, with two of the greater governors of the Greeks having become allies, namely Vastachius and Auxarius, who formerly were at odds with one another, the power of the enemy increased, while the status of the Latins had greatly diminished. The emperor John, therefore, seeing that he would not be able to expel his enemies and the multitude of the Greeks from his borders, or to resist their power, with a plan having been shared with the prelates and the faithful of the empire, sent by common agreement his son-in-law Baldwin to the Gallican territories. It is said that a twofold reason for his coming existed: first, so that he could, in such a crisis of necessity, seek help for himself and his people from King Louis, from whose blood on both his mother’s and father’s side he had sprung, and from his very wise mother, Blanche, whose niece he had married, and from the noble barons of the kingdom of France, his blood relatives. Moreover, there was another underlying cause: to enter into the inheritance of his brothers, who died without heirs, namely the margravate of Namur with its possessions and Château de Curton. Having entered the kingdom of France he was received gladly, honorifically, and happily by the king himself and his mother and the barons of the kingdom. And if he encountered any difficulties in claiming the inheritance, these were entirely removed through the mandate and power of the king. V While waiting in the Gallican territories, he was detained by the business of his own inheritance and, much worried and intent on seeking aid from the Roman territories, he received a messenger who struck and upset his ears and his spirit with sudden rumours. For he announced that the situation was that the illustrious man John [of Brienne], the emperor, his father-in-law, in accordance with the debt owed to nature, had been removed from mortal life. That the status of the State of Constantinople and of other land, if he had any outside the walls of this same city, was squeezed so tightly and oppressed by incursions of the enemy that force was opening up to them [i.e. the enemy] approaches to the plains, while within the city his wife, the nobles, and the common people were in need of daily sustenance. For enemy attacks were ranging freely through the region, not allowing food to be brought into the city, while troops had congregated with the intention of besieging Constantinople itself. In addition to these things, a greater threat of desolation was exacerbating the situation, because many of the people and some of the nobles, conquered by the present difficulties and fearing future dangers, by night or at other times were secretly leaving the walls of the city, and fleeing by sea or through the areas between the roads; they were, on account of fear, exposing themselves to more certain dangers, because of the fact that it was uncertain whether an enemy siege might encircle the city, and they might not find nobles whom they could station on the ramparts for the fortification of the walls.

203

2 04

a p p e n di x  7

VI Verbis huiusmodi tristis effectus est adolescens heres imperii, unde frequentius regem Francorum matremque eius et amicos suos circuivit sollicitus, humiliter interpellens, miserabiliter obsecrans, ut sibi subveniant, et imperium Romanie quod per Francos potenter et gloriose fuerat acquisitum, non permittant rursus in Grecorum infidelium redigi servitutem. Litteras exhibet pape Gregorie, quibus eiusdem imperii necessitati succurentibus, eandem concedit indulgentiam, quam in subsidium terre sancte proficiscentibus, concesserat concilium generale. Ad hec moventur rex et regina de suis thesauris magnas ei conferunt peccunie quantitates. Stipendarios ipsi querunt et sociant milites, et alios quos noverant bellatores. Non nulli de consanguineis eius quos pietas et carnalis affectus induxerat, eidem se iuramento conferent pollicentes se ipsum pro viribus secuturos. Perpendens igitur Balduinus devotionem regis et matris ipsius, de sacrosancta spinea corona facit eisdem mencionem. Dicit itaque se novisse relatione veredica, proceres inclusos in urbe Constantinopolitana ad hanc calamitatis inediam devenisse, quod incomparabilem thesaurum illum corone Domini, que totius imperii titulus erat et gloria specialis, oportebat eis alienis vendere, vel ad minus titulo pignoris obligare. Unde ardenter habebat in votis quatinus ad regem consanguinuem dominum et beneficium suum, nec non et ad regnum Francie de quo parentes ipsius utrique processerant, huius speciose gemme honor inestimabilis et gloria pervenirent. Verum quia perceperat quod si tam preciosa res ei venderetur pecunie precio, regis consciencia lederetur, affectuosa [fol. 288v] prece eidem supplicat cum lacrimis, ut munus illud honorificum ab ipso recipere dono dignetur et gratis. VII Rex igitur referens grates uberrimas Balduino, gratanter annuit se munus illud inestimabile recepturum ab ipso, mittuntur citius a rege Constantinapolim pro complendo negocio Iacobus et Andreas fratres ordinis predicatorum, ubi coronam ipsam frequenter viderat, et ea que circa illam erant optime cognoscebat. Mittit etiam cum eis Balduinus nuntium specialem fide dignum cum patentibus litteris quibus mandat baronibus ut nunciis regalibus sancta corona tradatur. Post multos itaque anfractus, ingredientes Constantinapolim, inveniunt ad pium regis propositum viam a Domino preparatam. Tanta enim barones imperii necessitatis artatierat angustia, quod sacratissimam coronam pro ingenti summa pecunie, compulsi sunt Veneciis obligare. Cives autem Venecie qui thesaurum illum nobilem plurimum affectaverant hanc optinuerunt condicionem apponi, quod nisi sancta [fol. 289r] corona per heredem imperii vel barones, redimeretur infra terminum, videlicet sollempnitatem sanctorum martyrum Gervasii et Prothasii, ipsa caderet in commissum pro pecunia iam soluta. Apposuerunt itaque quod illud pignus inestimabile veneciam deferretur. Barones domini sui lectis litteris sancto proposito regis francorum et heredis imperii plenius intellecto devote adimplent mandatum domini gerentes in votis ut de Veneciorum manibus educta si posset fieri, in honore cederet ecclesie Gallicane.

T h e H i sto ri a s u s c e pt i on i s coron ae spi n ae

VI The young heir of the kingdom was saddened by words of this sort, whence, troubled, he circulated more frequently among the king of the Franks and his mother and his friends, begging humbly, beseeching pitifully that they help him, and that they not allow the Empire of the Latins, which had been acquired powerfully and gloriously by the Franks, to be forced back into servitude to the infidel Greeks. He shows the letter of Pope Gregory, by which, aiding the difficult situation of the same empire, he granted the same indulgence that the general council had granted to those setting out to help the Holy Land. Moved by this, the king and queen bestow from their treasures great quantities of money on him. They seek tributaries and ally soldiers and others whom they knew to be warriors. Some of his [Baldwin’s] blood relatives, whom loyalty and blood ties had induced, bind themselves by oath to him, promising that they would follow him with all their strength. Baldwin, therefore, weighing the devotion of the king and his mother, mentions to them the holy Crown of Thorns. He says, therefore, that he knew by accurate report that the nobles enclosed in the city of Constantinople had come to the calamity of starvation, that it became necessary to sell, or at least deposit as security the incomparable treasure of the Crown of our Lord, which was the special honour and glory of the whole empire, to foreigners. It was fitting for these foreigners to sell it, or at least pawn it. Whence he was ardently praying that the inestimable honour and glory of this beautiful gem should come to the king, a blood-related lord, and to his benefit, indeed to the kingdom of France from which his parents on either side had come. But because he had perceived that if such a precious thing were to be sold to him for the price of money, the conscience of the king would be aggrieved, with impassioned prayer he begs him [Louis IX] with tears that he deem himself worthy to receive this honoured gift from him as a gift and for free. VII The king, therefore, giving richest thanks to Baldwin, gladly agreed that he would receive that inestimable gift from him, and James and Andrew, brothers of the Order of Preachers, are quickly sent by the king to Constantinople to complete the transaction, [the] city where he had frequently seen that very crown, and he knew very well the things that were around it. Baldwin also sends with them a special messenger who was worthy of trust with letters patent by which he orders the barons that the holy Crown be handed over to the royal messengers. Therefore, after many twists and turns, entering Constantinople, they find a way prepared by the Lord for the holy proposition of the king. Such a great press of necessity was oppressing the barons of the empire that they were compelled to pawn the most holy Crown to the Venetians in return for a great sum of money. But the citizens of Venice, who had strenuously aimed at getting that noble treasure, managed for this condition to be added, that unless the holy Crown were redeemed through the inheritance of the empire or the barons within a specified deadline, namely by the feast of the holy martyrs Gervasius and Prothasius [19 June], it would fall into confiscation in return for the money already paid.

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Conveniunt ergo cum Veneciis nuncii regales, quorum vita et habitus religionem testabantur, ut illud sacrosanctum portarent Veneciam adiunctis sibi sollempnibus imperii nunciis, presentibus etiam civibus magnis Veneciorum. Signatus loculus sigilliis procerum, non sine lacrimarum fluviis et eiulatu publico defertur ad navem. Comites itaque tam sacri pignoris et de ipsius confisi presidio, media yeme, que solet esse nautis in via, circa nativitatem Domini maris fluctibus se committunt. Vastathius vero pessimus lezator imperii per exploratores rem noverat de transferenda corona. Anxius igitur et intendens qualiter eam nunciis possit eripere, per diversos sinus maris quibus transituri videbantur, copiam galearum dispergit. Sed nunciis venientibus in nomine Domini nichil contrarietatis obsistit. Ingrediuntur veneciam ovanter [recepti]4 beatissimam coronam cum vase signato in thesauraria capelle beati Marci evangeliste cum diligencia et devotione deponunt. Relicto ibidem fratre Andrea custode thesauri nobilis, frater Iacobus cum nunciis imperii festinanter ad regem accedit, rem gestam et statum negocii regi fideliter exprimat et regine. Gaudent ambo et omnes quibus id secretum communicant leticia inefabili, sperantes in Domino quod ipse qui ceperat, votum eorum, fideliter consummaret.

VIII Preparavit itaque nuncios sollempnes et discretos cum fratre Iacobo et nunciis imperii, mittentes Veneciam instructos plenius et munitos de pecunia ad redemptionem sacri pignoris obtinenda. Imperatori Federico scribitur, ut si opus sitm nunciis regalibus conductum consilium conferat et iuvamen. [fol. 289v] Expedite veniunt Veneciam, fratrem Andream inveniunt cum thesauro. Procurante divina clemencia, tunc temporis in partibus illis negociabantur nati de regno Francie mercatores. Exhibitis sibi litteriis regalibus de mutuo, exponunt pecuniam ad libitum nunciorum. Redimitur sanctum pignus dolentibus Veneciis, sed pro condicionibus initis non valentibus obviare. Agnitis sigillis procerum, vasculum sancta corone suscipiunt nuncii, se vie laboribus committentes. Conductus ubi decuit per imperatoris ministros habuerunt protectos insuper divini muneris presencia, nichil in via contrarium contristavit.

 4 The manuscript in fact has recepturi, which must be erroneous.

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Therefore, they added the condition that this inestimable pledge would be taken to Venice. The barons, with the letter of their lord having been read and the holy proposal of the king of the Franks and the heir of the empire having been comprehended more fully, they devotedly fulfil the command of their lord, bearing in prayers that if it is possible to happen that it be drawn away from the hands of the Venetians, it would proceed in honour to the Gallican church. Therefore, the royal messengers, whose life and habits bore witness to their religion, agree with the Venetians to carry that sacred thing to Venice, accompanied by solemn messengers of the empire, and also by the great citizens of Venice. The chest, sealed with the seals of the nobles, not without floods of tears and public wailing, is carried to the ship. Therefore, the counts, trusting in the protection of the sacred pawn [the Crown], in the middle of winter, around the time of the Nativity of the Lord, during which people are not accustomed to sail, commit themselves to the waves of the sea. But Vastachius, the worst zealot of the empire, knew through spies about the transferring of the Crown. Anxious, therefore, and intent on how he might be able to take it from the messengers, he dispersed a troop of armed soldiers through diverse bays of the sea by which they would seem to pass. But nothing contrary stood in the way of the messengers coming in the name of the Lord. They enter Venice having been welcomed triumphantly, and place the most blessed Crown with its inscribed container with diligence and devotion in the sacristy of the chapel of the blessed Mark the Evangelist. With Brother Andrew having been left in that place as a guard of the noble treasure, Brother James, with the messengers of the empire, hastens to the king to faithfully report the thing that had been done and the status of the negotiation to the king and queen. Both they and all to whom they communicate this secret rejoice with ineffable joy, hoping in the Lord that he who had taken their vow would faithfully fulfil it.

VIII He therefore prepared solemn and discreet messengers with Brother James and the messengers of the Empire, sending them to Venice more fully equipped and fortified with money for obtaining the redemption of the holy pawn. Emperor Frederick is written to, so that if there is need, he might bestow a counsel and safe passage on the royal messengers. They come without obstacle to Venice; they find Brother Andrew with the treasure. With divine clemency providing care, merchants born of the kingdom of France were doing business in those territories at that point in time. After the royal letters concerning the loan are shown to them, they provide money at the will of the messengers. The holy pawn is redeemed, with the Venetians grieving, but with the conditions met, they have no power to stand in the way. With the seals of the nobles recognized, the messengers take up the container of the holy Crown, committing themselves to the road with energy. They were protected, where it was fitting, through hired ministers of the emperor, and even more by presence of the divine gift; nothing contrary saddened them on the way.

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Nulla eis intemperies aeris nocuit, nec stilla pluvie cecidit super eos, licet ipsis susceptis in hospicio pluisset pluries habundantur. Premittunt nuncios qui iam usque Trecas munus sacratissimum nunciant advenisse. Exhilatatus rex cum matre sua et fratribus suis assumptis secum Galtero Senonensi archiepiscopo, Bernardo Aniciensi episcopo et aliis baronibus quos habere subito potuit, festinus occurrit in villa que per quinque leucas distat a Senonis, et villa nova archiepiscopi dicitur, thesaurum quem desideraverat cum nunciis invenit consignatum, vas ligneum reseratur. Apparent circa vas argenteum sigilla baronum. Attulerant autem prius prefati nuncii sigilla procerum, cum litteris patentibus ad regem et Balduinum. Facta igitur collatione ipsorum cum sigillis quibus erat sacre corone vas signatum, inveniunt vera esse fractis igitur sigillis huiusmodi, nec non et sigillo ducis Venecie quod ad maiorem certitudinem appositum fuerat, argenteum vas recludunt. Inveniunt de auro purissimo loculum pulcherrimum in quo sancta corona iacebat, sublato eius operculo visa est ab omnibus qui aderant inestimabilis margarita. Quanta itaque devocione quantis fletibus et suspiriis5 inspecta fuerit a rege et regina et aliis, vix posset perpendi. Commorantur in aspectu pre amoris desiderio, tam devotum sencientes fervorem mentium, quasi viderant coram se Dominum spinis presentibus coronatum. Post paululum includunt in vasculis, consignatur sigillo regio, quod in die festo beati Laurentii martyris est completum.

IX In crastino Senonis deportatur occurentibus populis universis, exultat omnis cetus hominum sine differencia sexuum et etatum. In primo civitatis ingressu, rex nudis pedibus, sola indutus [fol. 290r] tunica, cum fratre suo Roberto comite, humiliato similiter, sacrum honus humeris suis suscepit deportandum. Prosecuntur et precedunt milites rectis calceis, exit obviam iocunditas civitatis, clericorum conventus processionaliter, veniunt clerici matricis ecclesie sericis ornati, monachi cum religiosis ceteris sanctorum corpora deferunt et reliquias, ymaginatur hominum devocio tamquam sancti desiderent ocurrere Domino venienti. Certatim concrepant laudes Domini, tapetibus et paliis or[na]ta civitas res suas speciosas exibet, campanis et organis resonat et iocunditatis populi, cerei cum candelis tortibus per platheas et vicos singulos accenduntur. Defertur in ecclesia protomartyris Stephani, populis delegitur, et tante causa iocunditatis aperitur. In die crastina rex versus Parisius urbem regiam dirigit, iter suum insigne vasculum deferens. Omnium voce laudatur dicencium, benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini, cuius ministerio regnum Francie tanti presencia muneris exaltatur.

 5 The next word, inspectis, struck out in manuscript.

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No intemperate weather harmed them, nor did a drop of rain fall upon them, although when they had been taken into shelter it rained several times abundantly. They send in advance messengers who announce that the most sacred gift had arrived as far as Troyes. Exhilarated, the king with his mother and his brothers gathered up with him, hurries to meet Gautier, archbishop of Sens, Bernard, bishop of Le Puy-en-Velay, and other barons whom he was able to have there quickly, in a place which is five leagues away from Sens, and is called Villeneuve-l’Archevêque, and he finds with the messengers the treasure he had desired under seal; the wooden container is opened. The seals of the barons appear around the silver container. But the aforementioned messengers had earlier brought out the seals of the nobility. With, therefore, a comparison having been made between the open letters to the king and Baldwin with the seals by which the container of the sacred Crown had been sealed, they find them to be true; therefore, with the seals of this kind having been broken, and also the seal of the doge of Venice which had been affixed for greater certitude, they open the silver container. They find a very beautiful coffer of purest gold in which the holy Crown was lying; with its lid raised, the priceless pearl was seen by all who were present. It is hard to imagine with what great admiration, with what great weeping and sighing it was viewed by the king and queen and others. They remain viewing it with the desire of love, feeling so devout a fervour of mind, as if they had seen in person the Lord crowned with these present thorns. After a while, they place it in the containers; it is sealed with the royal seal, which thing was completed on the feast day of the blessed martyr Lawrence [10 August].

IX On the morrow, it is carried from Sens, with all the people coming out to meet it; every group of people, regardless of sex or age, rejoices. At the first entrance to the city, the king, with bare feet and dressed only in a tunic, with his brother Count Robert, a similarly humbled companion, took up on his shoulders the sacred burden to be carried. Knights precede and follow, in proper shoes; the joyful city, the assembly of clerics in procession go out to meet it; clerics of the mother Church come, dressed in silks; monks with the other religious carry the bodies and relics of the saints; the devotion of people is seen as though saints were desiring to meet the Lord as he comes. They vie in praises of the Lord; the city, decked out with tapestries and banners, exhibits its beautiful wares; it echoes with bells and instruments and with the joy of the people; wax candles with twisted holders are lit through the public squares and in each and every neighbourhood. [The Crown] is brought into the church of Stephen Protomartyr and is entrusted to the people, and the reason for such great joy is revealed. On the next day, the king guides the court towards the city of Paris, his retinue carrying with it the extraordinary vessel. It is praised by the cry of all saying, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, by whose ministry the kingdom of France is exalted by the presence of such a great gift’.

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Appendix 8

Lessons for the Reception of Relics The following edition is based on Brussels IV.472, fols 35r–49v. I [fol. 35r] Diem festum dilectissimi ob reverendam sanctarum reliquiarum memoriam divino cultui dedicatum et devocius et sollempnius celebrare debemus, quo per earum ministerium Salvatorem nostrum salutem nostram operatum esse et credimus et gaudemus. Sed et earum presentia et patrocinio adiuvari confidimus et deffendi, de quarum gratia et virtute propter earum nimiam excellentiam estimaremus tacendum pocius quam loquendum nisi ingratitudinis vitium incidisse timeremus, si receptis tantis beneficiis muti omnino essemus et potius in gratiarum [fol. 35v] actionem et vocem laudis, et si non ut voluimus prout tamen possumus conaremur. Utilius enim iudicamus in laudem aliqua de singulis vel saltem infantium more balbuciendo exprimere, quam penitus ut diximus reticere. Inter preclara igitur munera que divina disponere occidentalis nostra ab orientali suscepit ecclesia, primo delata est corona spinea quondam sacrilegorum manibus capiti Salvatoris insignum illusionis imposita que quantum virtutis et honoris in se habeat evangelista declarat, dum eam coronam non qualemcumque sed spineam demonstrat. Duplex siquidem beneficium ex ea nobis fore ostenditur, dum et coronam spina extitisse narratur. Et enim spinarum punctionibus peccati nostri spina confringitur, et in corona futuri [fol. 36r] regni gloria per eam danda fidelibus intimatur. Veneremur igitur fratres has spinas cruore Dominico cruentatas; et eiusdem cruoris aspersione sacratas quibus lilium inter spinas Iudeorum positum coronatur et pungitur, ut a peccati spina ipsarum1 obsequio expiemur, et in futuro gloria et honore coronemur. II [fol. 36v] Crux venerabilis et omnibus Christianis amabilis subsecuta est post cor[o]nam que in corpore Christi dedicata est, et ex membris eius tamquam margaritis ornata, in qua nos cum apostolo gloriari oportet eo quod in ea et per eam potestas inimici deprimitur et regnum ecclesie sublimatur. Postquam enim ‘factus est principatus super humerum eius, vocatum est nomen eius admirabilis’ ita ut exspoliaret in ea principatus et potestates, palam triumphans eos in semetipso, complens Ysaie vaticinium. Quam ‘iugum oneris2 eius et virgam humere eius, et sceptrum exactoris eius superasti, sicut in die Madian’. Benedictum igitur lignum per quod facta est iusticia, cuius ministerio pax est subsecuta. Suspenso Aman iniquo in proprio patibulo quod paraverat [fol. 37r] Mardocheo. Iam ex tunc virga moysi veros et invisibiles devorabat drachones.

 1 The noun to which ipsarum applies seems to be missing.  2 The MS has hominis.

l e s s o n s fo r t he rece pt i o n o f re li cs

English translation I We must celebrate, my beloved, this feast day dedicated to the divine veneration, in respectful memory of the holy relics with all the more devotion and solemnity because it is through them that we believe and we rejoice that our Saviour carried out our salvation. And we are confident that we are protected and defended by the presence and patronage of these relics, of which we would rather be obliged to say nothing than to speak about their grace and power because of their eminent excellence, lest we fear to bring on ourselves the vice of ingratitude, if we were utterly mute after receiving so many blessings, instead of striving — at least if not as we would wish, nevertheless as we can — to give them thanks and words of praise. Indeed, we find it more useful to express a few words to praise them even while stammering like children, rather than keeping silence entirely, as we have said. Among the remarkable divine gifts that our Western Church has received from the Eastern one, the first to arrive was the Crown of Thorns. It was once laid by sacrilegious hands in mockery on the Saviour’s head. The evangelist announces how much [the Crown] possesses in power and honour, when he shows that this Crown was not just any kind, but one made of thorns. It is shown that it gives us a double advantage when he says that the Crown was made of thorns. Indeed, the thorn of our sin is crushed by the pricking of thorns, and it is announced that the glory of the coming kingdom must be given by it to the faithful as a crown. Let us therefore venerate, my brethren, those thorns reddened with the blood of the Lord and consecrated by the sprinkling of the same blood, by which the lily placed between the thorns of the Jews is crowned and pierced, so that we may be purged of the thorn of sins, and that we may be crowned in the future with glory and honour. II The venerable and lovable cross to all Christians followed after the Crown which was dedicated on the body of Christ and was adorned by the members of his body like pearls. It is in it that we should glory with the Apostle [Gal. 6. 14] for it is in it and through it that the power of the enemy is crushed and the kingdom of the Church is exalted. Indeed, ‘after the government was placed upon his shoulder, his name was called Wonderful’ [Isa. 9. 6] so that he might strip down the princes and the [evil] powers, by openly triumphing over them by himself, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘For the yoke of their burden, and the rod of their shoulder, and the sceptre of their oppressor thou hast overcome, as in the day of Madian’ [Isa. 9. 4]. Blessed be therefore the wood through which justice was rendered, through which peace was obtained, once Haman was hung by his own gibbet that he had prepared for Mordecai! [cf. Esther 7. 10]. The rod of Moses had already devoured the real and invisible serpents.

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Iam revertentibus de Egypto peccati in veram promissionis terram viam per tribulationes varias quasi per maris medium preparabat. Iam de ipsa que Christus est petra, populo potum salutiferum educebat. Iam in ea, scalam ascendere volentibus erigebat. Et ne signum signato deesset, ipsam que hec secundum veritatem sacre hystorie operata est virgam cum signato spiritualiter operante divino munere possidemus. Quantum vero per eam sit regnum Christi et ecclesie exaltatum, manifeste ostenditur, per hoc quod in Iohanne Dominus attestatur. Cum exaltatus ‘fuero a terra, omnia traham ad me ipsum’, quod de exaltatione in cruce facta dictum fuisse minime dubitamus. Trahe igitur nos Domine per eam ad te, qui tam ingeniosum [fol. 37v] artificum invenisti; ut per eam duceremur ad te. Mitte lignum crucis in [a]quam populi, ut natet ferrum nature nostre quod in fundo p[r]imum ceciderat, et ad manubrium lignum scilicet vite salutiferum per probrosi ligni ministerium in statum pristinum licet contra naturam ascendat ex gratia que tam profunde descendit ex culpa.

III [fol. 38r] Que autem vox aut lingua digne poterit explicare donum illud magnum et donum ineffabile donum plane prorsus inestimabile quod habemus in Christi sanguine qui non solum de corpore sed etiam de ipsius percussa ymagine in confusionem iudaice perfidie. In eo premissum redemptionis nostre premium possidemus; apostolorum principe attestante. Quam ‘non in corruptibilibus auro aut argento redempti sumus de vana conversatione paterne traditionis sed precioso sanguine agni incontaminati Ihesu Christi’. In eo et per eum sordes criminum divina sapientia tamquam mater piissima abluit et abstersit; Iohanne testimonium perhibente: ‘Qui dilexit nos’ inquit ‘et lavit nos a peccatis nostris in sanguine suo’. Sed [fol. 38v] nec mirum. Si enim sanguis hyrcorum aut vitulorum inquinatos sanctificat ad emundationem carnis; quanto magis sanguis Christi qui per spiritum sanctum semet ipsum obtulit [im]maculatum Deo viventi, emundabit conscientiam nostram ab operibus mortuis ad servendum deo viventi. In eius virtute vinctus et captivis iustorum populus de lymbo educitur, dicente Zacharia propheta. Quam ‘in sanguine testamenti eduxisti vinctos de lacu ubi non erat aqua’. Hic est sanguis cuius patrocinio signate domus fidelium, ferientem non timent angelum. Hic est qui peregrinantes in hoc exilio ducit ad patriam per compendii viam, apostolo teste qui ait. ‘Habentes itaque, fratres, fiduciam in introitu sanctorum in sanguine Christi’ qui ‘initiavit nobis viam novam et viventem per velamen, id est carnem suam’. Immo ut [fol. 39r] aperiatur clamat precibus inportunis ad ostium prout idem ait apostolus, quod habemus pro nobis ‘sanguinis aspersionem melius loquentem quam sanguis Abel’. Illius enim vox celum aperuit ad vindictum; sed vox huius non solum aperuit impetrando veniam; sed etiam in misericordia solium preparavit.

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Already, he was preparing a path through various trials as in the middle of the sea for those who returned from sinful Egypt to the true promised land. He was already drawing from the rock that is Christ a salvific drink for the people. He was already setting up on it a ladder for those wishing to go up. And lest the sign lack its signified, we possess, through a divine gift, this rod which accomplishes these deeds according to the truth of sacred history, with the signified which acts spiritually. The extent to which the kingdom of Christ and the Church has been exalted by it is manifestly shown by what the Lord testifies in the Gospel of John: ‘If I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself ’ [ John 12. 32], without it being possible to have the slightest doubt that he is talking about his exaltation on the cross. Draw us, therefore, Lord, through it [the cross] to you, who have found such an ingenious way to lead us to you by it. Cast the wood of the cross into the water of the people, so that the iron of our nature, which was at first fallen to the bottom, can float and so that, by seizing this salvific wood, this nature ascends, through this shameful wood, up to its original state by grace and against nature, it who descended so deeply as a result of the fault.

III What voice or language could worthily explain this great gift, this ineffable gift, this absolutely priceless gift that we possess in the blood of Christ, which not only [flowed out] of his body but also from his image that was pierced, in order to shame Jewish perfidy. It is by this gift that we possess the premises of our redemption, as attested by the Prince of the Apostles [Peter]. ‘We were not redeemed with corruptible things as gold or silver from the vain conversation of the tradition of our fathers, but with the precious blood of the undefiled lamb, Jesus Christ’ [based on i Pet. 18–19]. In him and through him the divine wisdom has washed and cleaned our stains like a mother, according to the testimony of John. ‘He who loved us’, he said, ‘and washed us from our sins in his own blood’ [Rev. 1. 5]. But it is not surprising. Indeed, if the blood of goats and calves sanctifies the unclean to purify the flesh, how much more the blood of Christ, who offered himself through the Holy Spirit as an immaculate offering to the living God, will purify our conscience from dead works for serving the living God! [based on Heb. 9. 13–14] By his power, the righteous, chained and captive, comes out of limbo, as the prophet Zechariah says: ‘by the blood of thy testament hast thou sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit, wherein was no water’ [Zech. 9. 11]. It is the blood thanks to which the houses of the faithful do not fear the striking angel. It is he who leads those in exile through the road of profit, as attested by the Apostle who says: ‘Having therefore, brethren, a confidence in the entering into the holies by the blood of Christ’, who opened for us ‘a new and living way through the veil, that is to say, his flesh’ [Heb. 10. 19–20]. Nay more, this blood cries out at the door with persistent prayers to open, as the Apostle says, we have for us ‘the sprinkling of blood which speaketh better than that of Abel’ [Heb. 12. 24]. Indeed, his voice opens the sky for vengeance, but his voice opened [it] not only asking for forgiveness; he also prepared a throne of mercy.

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IV [fol. 40r] Post sanguinem purpura in qua Christus illuditur, merito vobis venerando proponitur, que et colorem sanguinis exhibit, et virtutem in figura ostendit. Colorem quia rubea, virtutem vero representat in eo quod sicut illa corpus Christi verum induitur, ita totum corpus ecclesie misticum virtute sanguinis decoratur. Quid enim aliud figurabat futurum in ecclesia illa, purpura rubea me[m]bris dominicis coaptata, nisi ruborem martirii primitiviam ecclesiam undique circumdatam, et vestitu regio adornatam. Ut quam laverat et mundaverat et innocencie veste induerat in baptismo coloraret et ornaret martyrio, sicut predictum fuerat Salmonis [sic] preconio. ‘Byssus’ ait ‘et purpura vestimentum eius’. Byssus quidem [fol. 40v] vestis est bap[tis] malis innocentie purpura vero perfecte paciencie exprimit indumentum. Hiis quidem vestibus sponsam adornari decebat, quibus ipse sponsus vestitus est, non ad ornatum sed potius ad ludibrium, ut eorum veritas sponse conveniret in premium. Manifestum est enim quod in alba veste illusus est dominus ab Herode. In Pylati vero pretorio; in clamide purpurea deridetur. Non solum autem minores in ecclesia, sed etiam maiores sunt ex ea indutis. Unde in Salomonis cantico; ‘purpura regis vincta canalibus’ perhibetur. Quid autem per canales per quas aqua in terram defluit; nisi doctorum vita exprimitur, per quos nobis de supernis aqua sapientie dirivatur. Quibus purpura iungitur, quia verbum veritatis martyrium comitatur. Clamide igitur coccinea [fol. 41r] corpus Christi circumdatur, et purpura iuncta canalibus perhibetur; quia et fideles minores professione fidei et doctores propter verbum testimonii ad palmam martyrii pervenerunt. Isti quidem pacientia prediti et illi dono sapientie et fortitudinis roborati; in utrisque velud aurum in igne probati; receptibiles in domo dei sunt inventi. V [fol. 41v] Quibus autem preconiis extollere poterimus sacrum ferrum lancee militis, quod Salvatoris latus aperuit. Facta siquidem fuerant per clavos in Christum petram foramina, sed iam per lanceam facta est caverna in maceria, ut sic amodo petra undique perforata refugium sit herinatiis. ‘Surge igitur amica mea, sponsa mea, columba mea, et veni in foraminibus petre, et in cavernis macerie’; ut in eis iniqui ancipitris impetum valeas declinare. Infer iam in latus Christi apertum non solum cum Thoma digitum sed animum; ut ibidem velut columba rediens de hoc mundi diluvio quietem et refrigerium assequaris. O quam beatum ferrum per quod ostium patuit illius templi sacratissimi quod in virginis aluo Sancti Spiritus operatione constructum, minibus [fol. 42r] autem impiorum solutum, set in triduo divina virtute est reparatum.

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IV After the blood comes the scarlet cloak with which Christ is mocked; it is deservedly presented to you as an object of veneration. This cloak shows the colour of the blood and shows its power in this figure. The red colour represents strength, for as the true body of Christ is clothed with this cloak, so is the whole mystical body of the Church adorned with the strength of blood. What else did the scarlet garment, made for the members of the Lord, represent for the future of the Church, if not the redness of the martyrdom surrounding the early Church on all sides and adorning it with a royal garment? So that he who had washed, purified, and clothed him with innocence at baptism, collared and adorned him with martyrdom, as Solomon had said: ‘His garment’, he said, ‘is fine linen and purple is his covering’ [Prov. 31. 22]. Linen is the garment of baptismal innocence, purple expresses the garment of perfect patience. It was fitting to decorate the Bride with these clothes. The Bridegroom was clothed not to adorn him but rather to make fun of him so that their truth would be acceptable to the Bride as a reward. It is indeed manifest that the Lord was mocked by Herod in a white garment. And in Pilate’s courtroom, he is mocked by the purple cloak. But it is not only the lesser ones in the Church, but also the greater ones who are clothed with it. This is why in the Song of Solomon it is said that ‘the purple of the king bound in the channels’ [Song of Songs 7. 5]. What does it mean to go through the channels through which water comes down on earth if not the life of the doctors, through whom the water of wisdom is poured on us from above? To them, the purple is united, [the purple] which accompanies the martyrdom of the truth with its word. The body of Christ is thus encircled by a purple cloak and it is said that purple is united with the channels because the smallest faithful, confessing the faith, and the doctors, because of their testimony, have reached the palm of martyrdom. The former, endowed with patience, and the latter, strengthened by the gift of wisdom and strength, experienced in both cases as gold in the fire, were found worthy to be received in the house of God. V With what praise can we extol the holy iron of the lance that opened the Saviour’s side? Holes were made by the nails in Christ, who is the rock [cf. Song of Songs 2. 14], but a cavern was opened by the lance so that the rock, opened on all sides, be a refuge for hedgehogs [cf. Ps. 103. 18]. ‘Arise, then, my love, my beautiful one, my dove, and come in the clefts of the rock and into the caverns of the wall’ [Song of Songs 2. 13–14], so that you can escape the assault of the vicious vulture. Therefore, put in the side of Christ not only your finger, like Thomas, but your spirit, so that you find there rest and refreshment, like the dove that returns [to Noah’s ark] from the flood of the world. O, what a blessed iron by which was opened the door of the most holy temple which was built in the womb of a virgin by the working of the Holy Spirit, destroyed by the hands of the wicked, but was repaired in three days by the power of God.

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Vere beatissimum ferrum, immo verius clavis nostre leticie, que ‘viscera misericordie Dei nostri’ nobis aperuit et exinde sanguinem in redemptionem et aquam in ablutionem nobis eduxit in quibus nos verus ‘oriens sua gratia visitavit’. Quid enim est apertura lateris facta lancea militis, nisi quod dudum per Zachariam fuerat prophetarum. ‘Erit fons patens domui David et habitantibus Iherusalem in ablutionem peccatoris et menstruate’. Hoc est in remissionem auctualium et originalium peccatorum. Quod enim dicit peccatoris auctualium, quod autem subiungit menstruate; originalium abolitionem ostendit. Que quidem ex carne corrupta naturaliter preter voluntatem eveniunt quorum omnium ablutionem in baptismo suscipimus.

VI [fol. 42v] Adest cum lancea ferri, cathenula que collo Salvatoris apposita, ligatum tenuit in flagellis. Hec est sane torques colli regis nostri non aurea prout solet ad colla regum et virorum sublimium adornatum apponi; sed rudis et ferrea in despectum. Per quam tamen adversarium alligavit [fol. 43r] ut interim vasa mortis diriperet et ea mirabiliter in vasa glorie transformaret. Quid honoris et reverentie exhibere poterimus sacre mense que verum panem angelorum celitus emissum et in clibano crucis excoccum suscepit ex ea depositum. Res est valde amabilis et omnium intuentium oculis admirabilis, quod eadem adhuc vestigia faciei impressa retinet et exibet omnibus veneranda mira novitas illius qui nova facit omnia, sicut per quemdam sapientem dei. ‘Innova signa et immuta mirabilia’. ‘In lapideis enim tabulis digito Dei scriptam’ legem mortis quondam ait apostolus, sed nunc tabula lignea, verbum vite nobis representat impressum. De lecto ligneo transfertur in lapideum; dum mensa qua ungitur involutus in lintheis, ponitur in sepulchrum. Lecti [fol. 43v] quidem mollicies renuens Redemptor monumenti lapidei acceptavit duriciam ut exemplo doceret mollia fugere et aspera affectare. Huius preciosi lecti in quo post labores intolerabiles requievit in sabbato partem eximiam quam ex dono eius accepimus veneramur. Nempe ipsum futurum gloriosum et venerabile propherav[erat] Ysaias. ‘Erit’ ait ‘sepulchrum eius gloriosum’. Expergiscimini nunc et surgite miseri qui iacetis in sepulchris concupi[scencie], sepulchrum lapideum mentibus visitatem, desiderantes saltem in fine vel modicam duriciam penitentie ut de eam cum Christo resurgere mereamini gloriose. Tu autem [Domine, miserere nobis]. VII [fol. 44v] In augmentum nostre leticie reverenter amplectimur pannos infantie nostri Emmanuel. Lintheum insuper quo precinctus in cena pedes discipulorum extersit. Sed et partem sudarii in quod sanctus Ioseph ipsum sepeliendum involuit. Letentur igitur pauperes in quibus paupertatem et humilitatem, quas mundo predicaturus advenerat, iam operibus nuntiabat.

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The truly very blessed iron, or more truthfully key to our joy, that has opened to us ‘the bowels of the mercy of our God’ [Luke 1. 78], and from there he has drawn for us the blood for redemption and the water for the ablution, by which the true ‘rising sun visited us by his grace’ [cf. Luke 1. 78]. What is the opening of the side, made by the spear of the soldier, if not what had already been prophesied by Zacharias? ‘There shall be a fountain open to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: for the washing of the sinner, and of the unclean woman’ [Zach. 13. 1]. This is the remission of present and original sins. When he says ‘sinner’ he means the destruction of the present sins, and when he adds ‘unclean woman’ he means the abolition of the original sins. The latter come naturally from the corrupt flesh without will and we receive the purification of all these sins in baptism.

VI With the lance comes the little chain of iron which, put on the neck of the Saviour, keeps him bound under the blows. This collar of our king is not made of gold, as is customarily worn by kings and powerful men, but it is rough and of iron in sign of contempt. Yet it was through [the chain] that he chained the Adversary to tear up the vessels of death and transform them admirably into a vessel of glory. How much honour and reverence can we show to this sacred table [Holy Mandylion] that bears the true bread of the angels that came from heaven and was baked in the oven of the cross from which it was removed? It is a truly loveable and admirable thing in the eyes of all who see it. [The Holy Mandylion] holds the imprints of his face and shows them to all to be venerated because of the news of him who makes all things new according to this word of a wise man of God: ‘renew thy signs and revive your miracles’ [Ecclus. 36. 6]. The Apostle once said that the law of death was ‘written with the finger of God on stone tablets’ [cf. Exod. 31. 18], but now the wooden tablet represents the imprint of the Word of our life. He goes from a bed of wood to a bed of stone, when, from the table on which he is anointed, being covered with a shroud, he is buried. Refusing the softness of a bed, the Saviour accepted the hardness of a stone monument in order to teach, by his example, how to flee softness and to seek hardness. We venerate the remarkable part of his precious bed, which we received from him as a gift, where he rested on Saturday after unbearable pain. Isaiah prophesied that this tomb would be glorious and venerable: ‘His sepulchre’, he says, ‘shall be glorious’ [Isa. 11. 10]. Wake up and rise up, miserable people who lie in the tombs of lust. Visit in spirit the tomb of stone, desiring, at least in the end, a little hardness of penance to gloriously deserve to rise with Christ. Lord, have mercy on us. VII To increase our joy, we embrace with respect the swaddling clothes of our Emmanuel as well as the linen cloth with which he was clothed when he dried the feet of the disciples during the Last Supper, but also a piece of the shroud with which Saint Joseph wrapped him for his burial. Therefore, may the poor rejoice, for it is through them that he announced, by his works, the poverty and the humility that he had come to preach to the world.

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Sic plane decebat patrem et regem pauperum, filios non solum verbis [fol. 45r] sed exemplis potius informare; ut prius inciperet facere quam docere, et vilitatis humilitatisque insignia etiam in cuius positum suis imitatoribus ostentatur, ut iam ex tunc et si non verbo facto diceret: ‘Discite a me quia mitis3 sum et humilis corde’. Confundantur nunc involuti argento videntes et legentes puerum Ihesum pannis vilibus involutum, et positum non in palatio sed presepio et exemplo illius novissima loca eligere, et sublimium gloriam declinare, scientes pro lege pronuntiantum ab ipso quam ‘qui se exaltat humiliabitur, et qui se humiliat exaltabitur’. Discipuli Christi gaudeant et gloriantur in lintheo quo eorum pedes inclinatus extersit, ut quos unda baptismatis prius mundaverat a culpa, per exer[t]sionem linthei ostenderet [fol. 45v] expiatos a pena. Lintheamen siquidem quo Dominus se precinxit significat corpus mundissimum quod de virgine traxit. Unde quod aliis verbis princeps apostolorum expressus dixerat quod ‘peccata nostra tulit in corpore suo super lignum’. Hoc est quod extersit lintheo pedes quo erat precinctus. Sicut enim lintheus sordes quas non habet ab hoc quod tergit detrahit, sic in assumpta humanitate penalitates nostra ex unione nostre carnis assumpsit, et sic penam quam ex se non habuit, ex alterius gradu assumptam exsolvit, ut essent speciose pedes annuntiantium et predicantium pacem. Ceterum in sudario quod a tergendis sudoribus nomen traxisse videtur, exultare debent qui in extremo fructuosorum operum fatigantur, scientes quam bonorum operum gloriosus est fructus. Et sicut solum [fol. 46r] sudarium mortuum comitatur, ita et eos eorum bona opera subsecuntur, ut sint eis in salutis testimonium ante tribunal iudicis metuendi. Ut ergo breviter perstringamus in hac veste triplici, triplex virtus nobis imitanda proponitur. Detestantur siquidem viles panni superbiam, in lintheo intelligite carnis mundiciam, ac in sudario usque ad mortem laborum tolerantiam indicavit.

VIII [fol. 46v] Ad cumulum exultationis et gaudii lac virginem nobis venerandum occurrit, in quo verissime patriarche Iacob vaticinium Ioseph filio suo benedictionem promittens uberum pro parte credimus adimpletum. Que est alia benedictio uberum quam lac de uberibus benedictis assumptum. Non autem legimus ante Marie tempora alicuius mulieris ubera benedicta quousque illa sancta mulier Spiritu Sancto inflammata exclamavit de turba dicens. ‘Beatus venter qui te portavit, et ubera que suxisti’.4 O vere beata ubera Marie virginis quorum lacte nutritus est filius hominis eorumque irriguo5 adhuc letificans filios adoptionis.

 3 The MS erroneously has mittis.  4 The MS has susxisti.  5 The MS has nugo.

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It was therefore fitting for a father and a poor king to form his children not only through words but also through examples so that he began by doing before teaching. He shows his imitators remarkable marks of humiliation and lowliness so that he speaks through deeds rather than by words. ‘Learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart’ [Matt. 11. 29]. Let those who are surrounded by silver be confounded when they see and read that the infant Jesus is wrapped in vile swaddling clothes and placed not in a palace but in a stable, and that they choose, at his example, the latter places and refuse the glory of the exalted, knowing that he proclaimed as a law that ‘everyone that exalteth himself, shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted’ [Luke 14. 11]. May the disciples of Christ rejoice and glorify in the linen cloth with which he wiped their feet while bending over, in order to show that those whom the water of baptism had previously purified from sin, had atoned for punishment by being dried by the linen cloth. For the linen cloth with which the Lord was girded signifies the very pure body which he drew from the Virgin. This is what the prince of the apostles [Peter] had said expressly in other words: ‘Who in his own self bore our sins in his body upon the tree [of the cross]’ [i Pet. 2. 24]. That is why he wiped their feet with the linen cloth in which he was wrapped. In fact, just as the linen cloth removes the stains that it does not possess for that which it cleans, so, in assuming humanity, Christ took our faults because of the union with our flesh, and so he acquitted the punishment that he did not possess himself by taking that of others, so that the feet of the orators and preachers might be pure. Moreover, it is in the shroud, which seems to take its name from the fact that it wipes off sweat, that those who are tired by the intensity of fruitful works must exult, knowing that the fruit of good works is glorious. And just as the shroud accompanies the dead, so do their good works follow them, so that they serve as salutary testimony before the tribunal of the formidable judge. So to summarize, in this garment a triple virtue is proposed for us to imitate. Cheap swaddling clothes reject pride; in the linen cloth one must understand the purity of the flesh; and in the shroud he indicated the endurance of suffering until death.

VIII To bring excitement and joy to a summit, the milk of the Virgin presents itself to be venerated. It is in it that we believe the prophecy of the patriarch Jacob, promising the blessing to his son Joseph in relation to the breasts, is fulfilled [cf. Gen. 49. 25]. Is there any other blessing of the breasts apart from the milk taken from blessed breasts? For we do not read about the breasts of another woman that were blessed before the time of Mary, until this holy woman, kindled by the Holy Spirit, exclaims in the middle of the crowd, saying, ‘blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that you have sucked’ [Luke 11. 27]. O, truly blessed are the breasts of the Virgin Mary from whose milk the son of man has been nourished and which still refreshes the adopted sons.

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Accedite igitur cum leticia parvuli [fol. 47r] quidem non sensu sed malicia, ‘quasimodo mundo geniti infantes, rationabiles, sine dolo, et lac’ istud ore cordis in intimis toto desiderio suggite, ut eius dulcedine confortati, in salutem crescatis anime. Hec est enim Maria, scilicet vera promissionis terra lacte manans et melle gratie et misericordie mater. Accedant ablactati ab uberibus voluptatum ad eam, cuius ‘ubera pulcriora sunt vino’, cuius ‘labia distillantia sunt favum’ et ‘sub lingua eius mel et lac’ commoratur, ut fluant spiritualiter et continue in nutrimentum et leticiam filiorum. Fugiatis obsecro qui dei6 dicimini filii, lac pessimum lac diabolicum quod exhibent suis [i]nfantibus nutrices demonum. Iam enim ubique mammas suas lamie nudaverunt et suos parvulos lactaverunt. Quid est demonum nisi diverse oblectationes viciorum. Fili ait [fol. 47v] Salomon si te lactaverunt peccatores, ne acquiescas eis. ‘Vir enim impius lactat amicum suum’, cum pertrahit scilicet ad peccatum, et sic ‘ducit eum ad viam non bonam’. Ad ubera pauli pocius currite; qui filiis suis lac simplicis doctrine asserit se dedisse. Ad Mariam plenam gratia properate, ut suggatis et repleamini ad uberibus consolationis eius. Cuius etiam capitis velamen, quod peplum dicitur cum reliquiis aliis nos7 excepisse gaudemus. Quod utique licet sit ab omnibus omni venerationi habendum; a feminis enim est specialius amplectendum ut intelligatur in velo quod caput operit virginalem verecundiam imitandam.

IX [fol. 48r] Ad extremum nomen Dei laudabile fidelium devotio universa laudet et glorietur in domino, que tam preci[o]sis decorata muneribus in Blasii, Symeonis, Clementisque capitibus, diem festum sollempnizet in iubilo. Iuste ergo necessarie est precibus assiduis tam inclitis amandisque patronis, ut quorum capitum [fol. 48v] venerantur presentiam delictorum sibi domini impetrent veniam. Adest et quartus precursor domini et lucerna Iohannes cuius verticem capi[ti]s cum prefatis reliquiis assecuta eiusdem adiuta patrocinio spiritualium hostium glorietur cum triumpho. Quibus autem laudibus efferre possum tam excellentes Christi testes et martyres. Sufficit Symeon[i] venerabili seni nom8 nostrum sed magis evangeliste preconium quod erat vir ‘iustus et timoratus expectans consolationem Israhel, et Spiritus Sanctus erat in eo’. Quo inspirante pariter et elucente venit in templum, ut quod diu desideraverat optineret. Quid autem auditu iocundius, quam quod in ulnas infantulum senex suscipiens, et dominum pro suscepto beneficio tanto benedicens, in pace se dimitti petebat, quia iam pacis auctorem in manibus tenebat [fol. 49r] cernens propriis oculis eum quem videre impetraverat multis suspiriis. Hic vir sanctus testis veritatis et preco, de morte domini ad Mariam matrem et virginem prophetavit quod ‘ipsius gladius, id est filii eius animam pertransiret’.

 6 The MS has det.  7 The MS has vox.  8 The MS has senium.

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So, little ones, come near with joy, not by intelligence, but by malice, as ‘newborn children coming to the world desire the rational milk without guile’ [i Pet. 2. 2], and suck this milk with the mouth of the heart of all your most intimate desire so that, comforted by its sweetness, you grow up for the salvation of your soul. Indeed, Mary is the true land of salvation that makes milk flow; she is a mother by the honey of grace and mercy. May those who are weaned from pleasure approach her, whose ‘breasts are more beautiful than wine’, and whose ‘lips drop as the honeycomb’ and ‘under whose tongue honey and milk are found’ [cf. Song of Songs 4. 10–11], so that they flow spiritually and incessantly to nourish and delight her children. May you flee, if you please, those who are called the sons of God, the diabolical milk that the nurses of the demons offer to their children. Indeed, already everywhere witches have stripped their breasts and breastfed their children. Why is it demonic, if only because of the pleasures taken in vices? Son, said Solomon, if sinners breastfeed you, do not accept it! Indeed, ‘an unjust man allureth his friend when he leadeth him into a way that is not good’ [Prov. 16. 29]. Run instead to the little breast, [he] who has given his sons the milk of pure doctrine. Hurry to Mary full of grace to suckle and satiate yourself in the breasts of her consolation. We also rejoice to have received, along with other relics, the veil of the virgin called ‘peplum’. Although it must be an object of veneration for all, women must especially cherish it in order to understand that, in the veil that covers the head, it is necessary to imitate the virginal modesty.

IX Finally, may all the devotion of the faithful praise the praiseworthy name of God and glorify him in the Lord, [the devotion] that, adorned with so many precious gifts, joyfully celebrates this feast day the heads of Blaise, Simeon, and Clement. It is just and necessary to resort to constant prayers to those patrons so remarkable and so beloved, so that those whose heads are venerated here might obtain [for us] remission of sins. There follows the fourth precursor and lantern of the Lord, John [the Baptist], the crown of whose head is present with the other relics; may we triumphantly glorify ourselves with that which protects us from spiritual enemies. With what praises can I extol such excellent soldiers, witnesses and martyrs of Christ? Suffice it to say of Simeon, a venerable old man, but especially the herald of the evangelist, that he was ‘just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Ghost was upon him’ [Luke 2. 25]. Under the inspiration and light of the [Holy] Spirit, he came to the temple to obtain what he had long awaited. What is more joyful to hear than that an old man who receives a baby in his arms, and who blesses the Lord for receiving such a grace? He asked to leave in peace [cf. Luke 2. 27–29], he who was already holding in his hands the author of peace, seeing with his own eyes the one he had asked to see with many sighs. This holy man, a witness to the truth and the herald of the death of the Lord, he prophesied to his mother, the Virgin Mary, that a ‘sword, that is to say, that of her Son, would pierce her soul’ [Luke 2. 35].

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Quid precursore Salvatoris sublimius, quo ‘inter natos mulierum nemo maior surrexit’; qui baptizando, predicando, moriendo, ante faciem domini preibat; parare viam eius ad corda populi credituri. Quid sancto Clemente clementius, qui proprie et veraciter ex re nomen accipiens, sua benignitate et mansuetudine non tantum Christianis sed et Iudeis et gentilibus complacebat sicut in gestis eius plenius continetur. Quid in certamine Blasio fortius, qui tormentis variis agitatus, velut aurum in furnace probatus, coronam vite certando legitime meruit [fol. 49v] adipisci. Horum igitur intercessionibus, quorum gaudemus et gloriamur muneribus ad illum pertingere credimus et speramus dominum ihesum Christum, cui est honor et gloria in secula seculorum, amen.

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What is more exalted than the precursor of the Saviour [ John the Baptist] ‘among them that are born of women’ [Matt. 11. 11], who, in baptizing, in preaching, in dying, prepared before the face of the Lord his way for the hearts of the people who had to believe? What could be more clement than St Clement, who, receiving his name properly and truthfully from reality, pleased by his kindness and gentleness not only Christians, but also Jews and pagans, as this is more widely contained in his life? What could be stronger in the battle than Blaise, who, tortured by many torments, tested like gold in the furnace, deserved to receive the crown of life while struggling? Through the intercession of those whose gifts are our joy and our glory, we believe and hope to reach the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

223

Biblio­graphy Manuscripts Assisi, Biblioteca del Sacro Convento, Fondo antico, MS 695. A troper-proser copied c. 1230. Autun, Bibliothèque Bussy-Rabutin, MS 10 (8*). A missal from Autun copied in the twelfth century, with fifteenth-century additions. Avallon, Médiathèque Gaston Chaissac, MS 1. A notated missal from Langres copied in 1419. Bari, Archivio della Basilica di San Nicola MS 3 (81). A notated summer breviary from Notre-Dame of Paris. It includes a Sainte-Chapelle supplement, copied 1253–63. MS 5 (85). A mid-thirteenth-century Parisian gradual (fols 1–152) and SainteChapelle Proser (fols 153–308) copied after 1257. MS 10 (39). A breviarium parvum from the Sainte-Chapelle of Bari copied in the fourteenth century. Beaune, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 32. A missal from Paris copied in the fourteenth century. Bordeaux, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 89. A Dominican missal copied in the fifteenth century, Bourges, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 34. Lectionary for the Sainte-Chapelle of Bourges copied c. 1400. Brussels, KBR (formerly Koninklijke Bibliotheek/Bibliothèque royale) MS 9125. A notated missal from Paris, copied in the second half of fourteenth century. MS IV.472. A notated miscellany copied for the Sainte-Chapelle, 1248–70. Cambrai, Bibliothèque municipale (Le Labo), MS 32 (36). Psalter-hymnary-proser from Cambrai, copied in the second third of the thirteenth century. Chambéry, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 9. A Dominican missal from Chambéry copied in the fifteenth century. Chantilly, Bibliothèque du château MS 51 (olim Musée Condé 1887). A Franciscan breviary copied for Queen Jeanne d’Évreux in the first half of the fourteenth century. MS 54 (olim Musée Condé 804). A Dominican breviary copied in the second half of the fourteenth century. Charleville-Mézières, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 0275. A miscellany from the abbey of Notre-Dame in Belval-Bois-des-Dames copied in the last quarter of the thirteenth century. Châteauroux, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 2. The so-called breviary of Louis, Duke of Guyenne and Dauphin of Viennois, copied c. 1414.

226

bibl i o­gr ap h y

Chaumont, Médiathèque municipale Les Silos, MS 266. A notated gradual from Saint-Jean Baptiste in Chaumont copied in the sixteenth century. Clermont-Ferrand, Bibliothèque municipale MS 62. A Dominican missal from Clermont-Ferrand copied in the second half of the thirteenth century. MS 64. A Dominican missal copied in the fourteenth century. Dijon, Archives départementales de la Côte d’Or, série G 1166. An ordinal from the Sainte-Chapelle of Dijon copied in the fifteenth century. Limoges, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 2 (17). A notated gradual from the abbey of Fontevraud copied between 1250 and 1260. Lisbon, Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, Iluminado 84. A notated gradual-proser from Sens, copied not much after 1264. Liverpool University, Sydney Jones Library, MS F.4.13. A notated antiphoner mostly dedicated to the Dominican liturgy for the Crown of Thorns, copied in Pisa c. 1330. London, British Library Additional MS 16905. A notated missal from Notre-Dame of Paris copied in the 1300s. Additional MS 30058. A notated missal from Sens copied in the fourteenth century. Additional MS 38723. A notated missal and Proser from Paris copied c. 1250. MS Harley 2891. A missal from the Sainte-Chapelle or Capella regis, copied 1317–18. Lyon, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 5122. A Paris missal copied 1345–50. Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, MS Gr. 2. The Synopsis of Histories by John Skylitzes copied in the twelfth century. Montpellier, Bibliothèque interuniversitaire, section Médecine, MS H71. A missal from Sens copied at the end of fourteenth century. Nancy, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 1480. A Franciscan breviary from the second half of the fifteenth century. Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal MS 110. A notated gradual-proser from Notre-Dame of Paris, copied in the 1280s. MS 114. Ordinal from the Sainte-Chapelle, copied in 1471. MS 197. A notated gradual from Saint-Victor, Paris, copied in the mid- to late thirteenth century. MS 203. A missal from Paris copied in the late 1270s. MS 602. A Dominican breviary from Saint-Louis of Poissy, copied 1336–48. MS 607. A missal from Notre-Dame of Paris copied in the first half of the fourteenth century. MS 608. A missal from Paris copied before 1316. MS 620. A notated missal from Paris copied in the fifteenth century. Paris, Bibliothèque historique de la Ville, Rés. 146 (olim 12). A missal from Paris copied in the fourteenth century. Paris, Bibliothèque interuniversitaire de la Sorbonne, MS 705. A missal from Paris (college of Laon) copied c. 1300.

b i b li o­g raphy

Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine MS 406. A missal from Paris copied in the first quarter of the fifteenth century. MS 410. A missal from Paris copied in the fifteenth century. MS 411. A missal from Notre-Dame of Paris copied in the fourteenth century. MS 412. A missal from Paris copied in the fifteenth century. MS 413. A missal from Paris copied in the second half of the fourteenth century. MS 422. A notated missal from Paris copied in the second half of the thirteenth century. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France MS fonds latin 830. A notated missal from Notre-Dame of Paris copied c. 1270. MS fonds latin 831. A missal from Paris copied in the fifteenth century. MS fonds latin 857. A missal from Paris copied in the second half of the fifteenth century. MS fonds latin 859. A missal from Paris copied in the fifteenth century. MS fonds latin 861. A notated missal from Notre-Dame of Paris, copied 1318–20. MS fonds latin 864B. A summer missal from Sens copied in the early fifteenth century. MS fonds latin 865A. A missal from Troyes copied in the fifteenth century. MS fonds latin 871. A missal from Bordeaux copied at the end of the fifteenth century. MS fonds latin 1023. The so-called Breviary of Philip the Fair copied by 1296. MS fonds latin 1028. A notated breviary from Sens Cathedral copied in the mid-thirteenth century. MS fonds latin 1104. A missal from Clermont-Ferrand copied in the fifteenth century. MS fonds latin 1107. A notated missal from Saint-Denis, copied 1259–75. MS fonds latin 1112. A notated missal from Notre-Dame of Paris copied c. 1220. MS fonds latin 1113. A missal from Paris copied in the second half of the fourteenth century. MS fonds latin 1291. A breviary from Paris copied in the fifteenth century. MS fonds latin 1337. A notated gradual from Paris copied in the early fourteenth century. MS fonds latin 1339. A notated Franciscan proser from Paris copied in the fourteenth century. MS fonds latin 1435. An ordinal from the Capella regis copied in the midfourteenth century. MS fonds latin 3282. A miscellany copied in the seventeenth century. MS fonds latin 8884. A Dominican missal adapted to the Use of Paris, copied 1233–39. MS fonds latin 8885. A notated missal from Paris, copied c. 1290. MS fonds latin 8890. A missal from the Sainte-Chapelle copied after 1503. MS fonds latin 8892. An evangeliary copied in 1230 and adapted to the use of the Sainte-Chapelle in the 1240s (the so-called First Evangeliary of the Sainte-Chapelle).

227

228

bibl i o­gr ap h y

MS fonds latin 9441. A notated missal from Paris copied in the mid-thirteenth century. MS fonds latin 9455. An evangeliary copied for the Sainte-Chapelle in the 1240s (the so-called Second Evangeliary of the Sainte-Chapelle). MS fonds latin 10502. A notated missal from Sens Cathedral copied in the first half of the thirteenth century. MS fonds latin 10525. The so-called Psalter of St Louis, copied in the 1270s. MS fonds latin 13233. A breviary used in the Capella regis and copied c. 1295. MS fonds latin 13238. A summer breviary from the Sainte-Chapelle copied in the second half of the fifteenth century. MS fonds latin 13239. A breviary from Saint-Germain-de-Prés copied in the fourteenth century. MS fonds latin 14363. A Victorine collection of saints’ lives copied in the twelfth century with additions c. 1270. MS fonds latin 14365. A Victorine collection of saint’s lives copied in the second quarter of the fourteenth century. MS fonds latin 14448. A missal from Saint-Victor copied in the fifteenth century. MS fonds latin 14452. A notated gradual (c. 1200) and proser (1225–50) from Saint-Victor, Paris. MS fonds latin 14506. An ordinal from Saint-Victor, Paris, copied in the early thirteenth century. MS fonds latin 14819. A fragment of a Victorine gradual and a proser, the latter dated to 1220–35. MS fonds latin 15139. A miscellany comprising treatises on music, literary works, and polyphonic music copied between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. MS fonds latin 15182. A notated breviary from Paris, copied in the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century. MS fonds latin 15615. A notated missal from Paris (‘Sorbonne Missal’) copied in the mid-thirteenth century. MS fonds latin 17310. A notated missal from Chartres copied in the late thirteenth century. MS fonds latin 17315. A missal from Paris copied in 1481. MS fonds latin 17316. A missal from Auxerre copied in the fourteenth century. MS fonds nouvelles acquisitions latines 1423. A collection of various historiae copied in the thirteenth century. MS fonds nouvelles acquisitions latines 2356. A missal from Clermont-Ferrand copied in the fifteenth century. Provins, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 227. A notated missal from Saint-Quiriace de Provins copied in the mid-thirteenth century. Reims, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 233. A missal from Notre-Dame of Paris copied in the fifteenth century. Rome, Santa Sabina, MS XIV L 3. A notated Dominican miscellany, copied between the mid-1250s and the early fourteenth century.

b i b li o­g raphy

Sens, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 17. A notated gradual (summer portion) from Sens Cathedral copied in the mid-thirteenth century. Soissons, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 85 (78). A notated gradual and proser from Notre-Dame de Dilo (diocese of Sens) copied in the second half of the thirteenth century. Toulouse, Bibliothèque municipale MS 98. A Dominican missal from Toulouse copied before 1336. MS 102. A missal from Paris copied in the fifteenth century. MS 103. A Dominican missal from Toulouse copied before 1297. MS 105. A Dominican missal from Toulouse copied in the first half of the fourteenth century. Tours, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 199. A missal from Paris copied in the fifteenth century.

Primary Sources Adam de Saint-Victor, The Liturgical Poetry of Adam of St Victor from the Text of Gautier, with Translations into English, Original Metres and Short Explanatory Notes, ed. by Digby S. Wrangham, 3 vols (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, 1881) —— , Les Proses d’Adam de Saint-Victor: Texte et musique précédées d’une étude critique, ed. by Eugène Misset and Pierre Aubry (Paris: H. Welter, 1900) Compositions of the Bamberg Manuscript: Bamberg Staatsbibliothek, Lit. 115 (olim Ed. IV. 6), ed. by Gordon A. Anderson, trans. of French texts by Robyn E. Smith, Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae, 75 (Neuhausen-Stuttgart: American Institute of Musico­logy, 1977) Durand, Guillaume, Rationale divinorum officiorum I–VIII, ed. by Anselme Davril and Timothy M. Thibodeau, 3 vols, Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaevalis, 140–140B (Turnhout: Brepols, 1996–2000) Exuviae sacrae Constantinopolitanae: La Croix de premiers croisés, la sainte lance – la sainte couronne, ed. by Fernand de Mély (Paris: E. Leroux, 1904) Exuviae sacrae Constantinopolitanae: Fasciculus documentorum minorum, ed. by Paul Éduard Didier Riant, 2 vols (Geneva, 1877–78; repr. Paris, Éditions du CTHS, 2004) Guillaume de Saint-Pathus, Vie de Saint Louis publiée d’après les ms par H.-François Delaborde, Collection de Textes pour Servir à l’Étude et à l’Enseignement de l’Histoire (Paris: A. Picard et fils, 1899) Historiae Francorum scriptores […] quorum plurimi nunc primum ex variis codicibus mss. in lucem prodeunt: Alii vero auctiores & emendatiores. Cum epistolis regum, reginarum, pontificum […] et aliis veteribus rerum Francicarum monumentis […], ed. by André Du Chesne, vol. v (Paris: Sebastian Cramoisy and Gabriel Cramoisy, 1649) Konstantinos Porphyrogennetos: The Book of Ceremonies in 2 Volumes, ed. by Ann Moffatt and Maxeme Tall, Byzantina Australiensia, 18 (Canberra: Australian Association for Byzantine Studies, 2012)

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Mansi, Giovan Domenico, Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, 53 vols (Paris: H. Welter, 1901–27) Notre-Dame and Related Conductus, ed. by Gordon Athol Anderson, Opera omnia, 10 (Henryville, PA: Institute of Mediaeval Music, 1979) L’Office de la Couronne d’épines à Sens, ed. by Brigitte Arnaud and Annie Dennery, Historiae, 65/19 (Lions Bay, Canada: Institute of Mediaeval Music, 2012) Le Prosaire de la Sainte-Chapelle: Manuscrit du chapitre de Saint-Nicolas de Bari (vers 1250), ed. by René-Jean Hesbert, Monumenta Musicae Sacrae, 1 (Mâcon: Protat Frères, 1952)

Secondary Studies Anheim, Étienne, and Ghislain Brunel, ‘La Sainte-Chapelle: Fondation et liturgie’, in Saint Louis, ed. by Pierre-Yves Le Pogam (Paris: Éditions du patrimoine, 2014), pp. 88–99 Arnaud, Brigitte, ‘L’Office de la Couronne d’épines dans l’archidiocèse de Sens d’après le ms Paris, BnF lat 1028, xiiie siècle’ (PhD diss., Université de Paris Sorbonne (Paris IV), 2008) Bacci, Michele, ‘Relics of the Pharos Chapel: A View from the Latin West’, in Восточнохристианские Реликвии/Eastern Christian Relics, ed. by M. Lidov (Moscow: Progress-Traditsija, 2003), pp. 234–48 Baert, Barbara, A Heritage of Holy Wood: The Legend of the True Cross in Text and Image, trans. by Lee Preedy, Cultures, Beliefs and Traditions: Medieval and Early Modern Peoples, 22 (Boston: Brill, 2004) Baltzer, Rebecca A., ‘Another Look at a Composite Office and its History: The Feast of Susceptio Reliquiarum in Medieval Paris’, Journal of the Royal Musical Association, 113 (1988), 1–27 —— , ‘Aspects of Trope in the Earliest Motets for the Assumption of the Virgin’, Current Musico­logy, 45–47 (1990), 5–42 —— , ‘Notre-Dame and the Challenge of the Sainte-Chapelle in ThirteenthCentury Paris’, in Chant, Liturgy, and the Inheritance of Rome: Essays in Honour of Joseph Dyer, ed. by Daniel J. DiCenso and Rebecca Maloy, Henry Bradshaw Society, 8 (London: Boydell and Brewer, 2017), pp. 489–523 —— , ‘The Sources and the Sanctorale: Dating by the Decade in ThirteenthCentury Paris’, in Music and Culture in the Middle Ages and Beyond: Liturgy, Sources, Symbolism, ed. by Benjamin Brand and David J. Rothenberg (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016), pp. 111–41 Bernard, Madeleine, Répertoire de manuscrits médiévaux contenant des notations musicales, sous la direction de Solange Corbin, vol. ii: Bibliothèque Mazarine (Paris: Éditions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1966) —— , Répertoire de manuscrits médiévaux contenant des notations musicales, sous la direction de Solange Corbin, vol. iii: Bibliothèques parisiennes (Paris: Éditions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1974)

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Billot, Claudine, ‘Le Message spirituel et politique de la Sainte-Chapelle de Paris’, Revue Mabillon, n.s., 2/63 (1991), 119–41 —— , ‘Les Saintes-Chapelles de Saint Louis: Conditions et significations de ces fondations’, in Vincennes: Aux origines de l’état moderne, Actes du Colloque scientifique sur les Capétiens et Vincennes au Moyen Age, organisé par Jean Chapelot et Elisabeth Lalou à Vincennes les 8, 9, et 10 Juin 1994 (Paris: Presses de l’École normale supérieure, 1996), pp. 171–75 —— , Les Saintes-Chapelles royales et princières (Paris: Éditions du patrimoine, 1998) Björkvall, Gunilla, and Ritva Jacobsson, ‘“Diadema salutare” and “Synagoga preparavit”: Two Sequences for the “Spinea Corona” in Sweden’, in Hortus Troporum: Florilegium in Honorem Gunillae Iversen. A Festschrift in Honour of Professor Gunilla Iversen on the Occasion of her Retirement as Chair of Latin at Stockholm University, ed. by Alexander Andrée and Erika Kihlman, Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis: Studia Latina Stockholmiensia, 54 (Stockholm, 2008), pp. 21–46 Blezzard, Judith, Stephan Ryle, and Jonathan Alexander, ‘New Perspectives on the Feast of the Crown of Thorns’, Journal of the Plainsong & Mediæval Society, 10 (1987), 23–47 Bonniwell, William R., A History of the Dominican Liturgy (New York: J. F. Wagner, 1944) Branner, Robert, Manuscript Painting in Paris during the Reign of Saint Louis: A Study of Styles (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977) —— , ‘The Painted Medallions in the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris’, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 58, no. 2 (1968), 1–42 —— , ‘The Sainte-Chapelle and the Capella Regis in the Thirteenth Century’, Gesta, 10, no. 1 (1971), 19–22 Brenet, Michel, Les Musiciens de la Sainte-Chapelle du Palais (Paris: A. Picard, 1910) Brenk, Beat, ‘The Sainte-Chapelle as a Capetian Political Program’, in Artistic Inte­ gra­tion in Gothic Buildings, ed. by Kathryn Brush, Peter Draper, and Virginia Chieffo Raguin (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016), pp. 195–213 Brown, Elizabeth A. R., ‘Le Mécénat et la reine: Jeanne d’Evreux (1308?–1371), la liturgie et le puzzle d’un bréviaire’, in ‘La Dame de cœur’: Patronage et mécénat religieux des femmes de pouvoir dans l’Europe des xive–xviie siècles, ed. by Murielle Gaude-Ferragu and Cécile Vincent-Cassy, Collection ‘Histoire’ (Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2016), pp. 83–107 Bruning, Eliseus, Officium ac missa de festo S. P. N. Francisci quibus accedunt cantus selecti in honorem eiusdem (Tournai: Desclée, 1926) Bruzelius, Caroline, ‘The Construction of Notre-Dame in Paris’, Art Bulletin, 69 (1987), 540–69 Cardelle de Hartmann, Carmen, Lateinische Dialoge, 1200–1400 (Leiden: Brill, 2007) Choate, Tova A. Leigh, ‘The Liturgical Faces of Saint Denis: Music, Power, and Identity in Medieval France’ (PhD diss., Yale University, 2009) Christe, Yves, ‘Un autoportrait moral et politique de Louis IX’, in La SainteChapelle de Paris: Royaume de France ou Jérusalem céleste? Actes du Colloque, Paris, Collège de France, 2001, ed. by Christine Hediger, Culture et société médiévales, 10 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2007), pp. 251–94

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Cohen, Meredith, ‘An Indulgence for the Visitor: The Public at the Sainte-Chapelle of Paris’, Speculum, 83 (2008), 840–83 —— , The Sainte-Chapelle and the Construction of Sacral Monarchy: Royal Architecture in Thirteenth-Century Paris (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014) De Luca, Elsa, ‘I manoscritti musicali dell’archivio di San Nicola a Bari: Elementi francesi nella musica e nella liturgia’ (PhD diss., University of Salento, 2010) —— , ‘A Notated Graduale-Prosarium from Sens in Lisbon’, Portuguese Journal of Musico­logy, n.s. 4, no. 2 (2018), 227–46 Délisle, Léopold, Manuscrits latins et français ajoutés aux fonds des nouvelles acquisitions pendant les années 1875–1891, vol. i (Paris: H. Champion, 1894) —— , Recherches sur la librairie de Charles V, 2 vols (Paris: H. Champion, 1907) Durand, Jannic, and Marie-Pierre Laffitte, Le Trésor de la Sainte-Chapelle [Exposition], Paris, Musée du Louvre, 31 mai 2001–27 août 2001 (Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 2001) Epstein, Marcy J., ‘Ludovicus decus regnantium: Perspectives on the Rhymed Office’, Speculum, 53 (1978), 283–334 Fassler, Margot, Gothic Song: Victorine Sequences and Augustinian Reform in TwelfthCentury Paris, 2nd edn (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011) —— , The Virgin of Chartres: Making History through Liturgy and the Arts (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010) Flusin, Bernard, ‘Construire une nouvelle Jérusalem: Constantinople et les reliques’, in L’Orient dans l’histoire religieuse de l’Europe: L’Invention des origines, ed. by Mohammed Ali Amir-Moezzi and John Scheid (Turnhout: Brepols, 2000), pp. 51–70 Frolow, Anatole, La Relique de la Vraie Croix: Recherches sur le développement d’un culte, Archives de l’orient Chrétien, 7 (Paris: Institut français d’études byzantines, 1961) Gaposchkin, M. Cecilia, ‘Between Historical Narration and Liturgical Celebrations: Gautier Cornut and the Reception of the Crown of Thorns in France’, Revue Mabillon, 30 (2019), 91–145 —— , ‘From Pilgrimage to Crusade: The Liturgy of Departure, 1095–1300’, Speculum, 88 (2013), 44–91 —— , Invisible Weapons: Liturgy and the Making of Crusade Ideo­logy (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2017) —— , ‘Louis IX and Liturgical Memory’, in Memory and Commemoration in Medieval Culture, ed. by Elma Brenner, Meredith Cohen, and Mary FranklinBrown (Farnham: Ashgate, 2013), pp. 261–78 —— , ‘Louis IX, Heraclius, and the True Cross at the Sainte Chapelle’, in Political Ritual and Practice in Capetian France: Essays in Honour of Elizabeth A. R. Brown, ed. by M. Cecilia Gaposchkin and Jay Rubenstein (Turnhout: Brepols, forthcoming) —— , The Making of Saint Louis: Kingship, Sanctity, and Crusade in the Later Middle Ages (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2008) —— , Vexilla Regis Glorie: Liturgy and Relics at the Sainte Chapelle in the Thirteenth Century, Sources d’Histoire Médiévale, 46 (Paris: CNRS éditions, 2021)

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Gignac, André L. M., ‘Le Sanctoral dominicain et les origines de la liturgie dominicaine’ (typescript) (Institut supérieur de Liturgie, 1959) Giraud, Eleanor Joyce, ‘The Production and Notation of Dominican Manuscripts in Thirteenth-Century Paris’ (PhD diss., University of Cambridge, 2013) Gleeson, Philip, ‘Dominican Liturgical Manuscripts before 1254’, Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum, 42 (1972), 81–135 Golubovich, Girolamo, Biblioteca bio-bibliografica della Terra Santa e dell’oriente franciscano, vol. ii (Florence: Quaracchi presso Collegio di s. Bonaventura, 1913) Gould, Karen, ‘The Sequences De Sanctis Reliquiis as Sainte-Chapelle Inventories’, Medieval Studies, 43 (1981), 315–41 Guerry, Emily, ‘Crowning Paris: King Louis IX, Archbishop Cornut, and the Translation of the Crown of Thorns’, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society (forthcoming) —— , ‘The Wall Paintings of the Sainte-Chapelle’ (PhD diss., Cambridge, 2013) Gurrado, Maria, ‘La Liturgie de Notre-Dame dans le royaume de Naples: Les Manuscrits de Saint-Nicolas de Bari’, in Notre-Dame de Paris, 1163–2013: Actes du Colloque scientifique tenu au Collège des Bernardins, à Paris, du 12 au 15 décembre 2012, ed. by Cédric Giraud (Turnhout: Brepols, 2013), pp. 301–18 —— , ‘La Sainte-Chapelle de Bari, iuxta ritum capelle nostre parisiensis: Recherches sur les manuscrits des archives de la basilique de Saint-Nicolas de Bari’ (PhD diss., École pratique des Hautes Études, 2004) Haggh, Barbara, ‘An Ordinal of Ockeghem’s Time from the Ste-Chapelle of Paris, Paris, Bibl. de l’Arsenal, Ms 114’, Tijdschrift van de Koninklijke Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiednis, 47 (1997), 33–71 Hahn, Cynthia, ‘“The Sting of Death Is the Thorn, but the Circle of the Crown Is Victory over Death”: The Making of the Crown of Thorns’, in Saints and Sacred Matter: The Cult of Relics in Byzantium and Beyond, ed. by Cynthia Hahn and Holger A. Klein (Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks, 2015), pp. 193–214 Haller, Robert B., ‘Early Dominican Mass Chants: A Witness to ThirteenthCentury Chant Style’ (PhD diss., Catholic University of America, 1986) Hamburger, Jeffrey, Eva Schlotheuber, Susan Marti, and Margot Fassler, Liturgical Life and Latin Learning at Paradies Bei Soest, 1300–1425: Inscription and Illumination in the Choir Books of a North German Dominican Convent (Münster: Aschendorff Verlag, 2016) Huglo, Michel, ‘Origine et diffusion de la séquence parisienne (ou séquence de la seconde époche)’, in Musico­logie médiévale: Notations et séquences. Actes de la table ronde du C.N.R.S. à l’Institut de Recherche et d’Histoire des Textes, 6–7 septembre 1982, ed. by Michel Huglo (Paris: Champion, 1987), pp. 209–12 Jordan, Alyce A., ‘Nineteenth-Century Restoration Politics: Recrafting Monarchy in the Stained Glass Windows of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris’, in Medieval Art and Architecture after the Middle Ages, ed. by Janet T. Marquardt and Alyce A. Jordan (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009), pp. 195–217

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Index

Adam, biblical patriarch cord of: 132, 135–36 and Crown of Thorns: 94, 165 Adam of St-Victor: 92, 133 Agatha, saint: 33 Alexius I Comnenus, Byzantine emperor: 24 Andrew de Longjumeau, prior of Dominican monastery of Constantinople: 96, 204–07 Andrew, saint, arm of: 157 Anthony the Hermit, saint: 112 Ark of the Covenant: 26, 63, 80, 99, 105 Autun: 45 Auxarius, Greek governor: 202–03 Auxerre: 45 Baldwin II, Latin Emperor of Constantinople: 200–01 and Crown of Thorns: 29–30, 91, 204–05, 208–09 and Louis IX: 26, 29–30, 101–02, 104, 202–05, 208–08 and relics, other: 26, 101–02, 104 Bari Sainte-Chapelle in: 21, 173–74 see also liturgy, Sainte-Chapelle Proser Bari 5 manuscript see liturgy, Sainte-Chapelle Proser Basil the Great, saint: 173 Benedict, saint, Rule of: 92 Bernard, Bishop of Le Puy-enVelay: 208–09

Blaise, saint Gaude, Syon que diem recolis, qua Blasius: 163 head of: 102–04, 111, 114–15, 119, 126, 132, 141, 150, 154, 163, 169, 220–23 Blanche of Castile, wife of Louis VIII of France: 26, 29–30, 167, 202–03, 208–09 Bonaventure, saint: 112 Cassian, companion of St Quentin: 23 Catherine, saint: 33 Charlemagne, Frankish king: 91 Charles I, Count of Anjou: 21, 173 Charles IV, King of France: 109 Charles V, King of France, Breviary of: 180 Charles of Valois: 178 Chaumont, St John the Baptist church: 45 Christ, relics of blood: 102, 111–12, 114, 119, 137, 141, 143–44, 150, 154, 156, 212–13 cloak, scarlet: 103–04, 119, 126, 130–31, 141, 143–44, 150, 154, 156, 214–15 Holy Mandylion (holy plank): 102–03, 119, 126, 132, 141, 143–44, 154, 157, 216–17 iron chain: 102, 119, 126, 141, 143–44, 150, 156, 216–17 lance, holy: 103, 106, 114, 131, 137, 141, 143–44, 150, 154, 156, 214–17

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linen cloth of Last Supper: 103–04, 119, 126, 132, 141, 143–44, 150, 154, 156, 216–19 reed/sceptre: 103–04, 114, 126, 130–31, 137, 141, 143–44, 150, 154, 156 sepulchre, stone from: 102–04, 119, 126, 132, 141, 143–44, 150, 154, 157, 216–17 shroud: 103–04, 119, 126, 131, 143–44, 150, 154, 157, 216–17 sponge: 103–04, 114, 119, 126, 132, 137, 141, 143–44, 149–51, 154, 156 swaddling clothes: 102, 104, 126, 141, 143, 149–50, 154, 156, 216–19 see also Crown of Thorns; Scysma mendacis Grecie; True Cross Cistercians, liturgy of: 33 Clare, saint: 112 Clement V, pope: 105 Clement, saint, head of: 102–04, 111, 114–15, 119, 126, 132, 141, 150, 154, 169, 220–23 Cleopas, saint, apostle: 145 Clermont-Ferrand: 171 Constantine, Roman emperor: 103 Constantinople: 101–03, 161, 169, 200–01 and Crown of Thorns: 15, 24–26, 30, 61, 96, 99, 107, 204–07 Hagia Sophia: 28 and rod of Moses: 105 siege of (Fourth Crusade): 26 Virgin of the Pharos, church of: 24–28 Cornut, Gautier, Archbishop of Sens: 27, 208–09 Historia susceptionis coronae spinae: 29–30, 40, 84, 96, 98, 107, 198–99

edition and translation of: 200–09 Cross, True see True Cross Crown of Thorns: 15–17, 107, 114–15, 156, 159, 164, 179 arrival in France: 16, 20, 24, 26–28, 29–30, 32, 83–85, 88, 91, 96–99, 105, 107, 161, 166–67, 170, 208–09, 210–11; see also Cornut, Gautier, archbishop of Sens, Historia susceptionis coronae spinae in Constantinople: 15, 24–26, 30, 61, 96, 99, 107, 204–07 feast/mass: 30–35, 44, 111, 177–78, 181, 182 liturgy for A corona spinea: 33–34, 41 Adest nova solempnitas: 31–32, 47, 98, 149, 198 Christi coronam spinea: 113–14 Cum tremor exulta: 136–37, 139–40, 165, 169 Cursor levis arcte: 149–50, 169 De coronis exodi: 31 Deus tuorum militum: 32 Dulce spina: 33 Dyadema salutare: 92–99, 93, 125, 165–66, 194–95 Dyadema spineum: 33, 95, 183, 189, 191 Florem spina coronavit: 72, 78–81, 79, 99, 105, 125, 162, 165, 189, 191, 194–95 Gaude felix: 47, 125, 137, 139–40, 149, 170, 180 Gaude, Syon […] qua corona: 61–66, 62, 97–99, 107, 127, 140, 163, 165–67, 169, 181, 188, 190, 194–95 Gaude, Syon, que diem recolis qua vexilla: 125–28, 141, 163

index

Gaudeamus omnes: 32–34, 41, 108, 114–15, 120, 149 Gens Gallorum: 36, 37, 87–92, 90–91, 98–99, 118, 159, 165, 167, 169, 189, 191, 194–95 Gestat coronam spineam: 31 Iudei viri sanguinum: 31 Laudes ad laudes: 31 Letabundus decantet fidelis: 154, 166 Letetur felix Gallia: 81–87, 86–87, 92, 99, 165, 167, 189, 191, 194–95 Liberalis manus Dei: 17, 53, 66–70, 68–69, 80, 97, 99, 165–66, 169, 188, 190, 194–95 Nos ad laudes: 118, 122 Nos oportet gloriari: 130–31, 163, 165 O rex clemencie: 31 Occidentem illustrat oriens: 31–32 Quasi stellu matutina: 70–74, 73, 78–80, 97, 162, 165–66, 189, 191, 194–95 Qui dat escam: 47 Regis et pontificis: 22–23, 33, 35, 40, 45–60, 54–60, 81, 83–84, 97–99, 118, 121, 125, 163, 165–66, 169, 188, 190, 194–95 Res est venerabilis: 143 Scysma mendacis Grecie: 105 Sens office for: 27, 32 Si vis vere: 33, 35, 37–46, 42–44, 48, 50, 53, 61, 66, 69–70, 81, 84, 97–98, 118, 121, 165, 167, 181, 188, 190, 194–95 Signum profert victorie: 31 Verbum bonum et iocundum: 74–77, 77, 98–99, 162, 165, 167, 169, 189, 191, 194–95 Vergente mundi vespere, crucis: 141, 165

manuscript sources: 172–83 Crown Mass Propers: 184–87 Crown sequences: 188–91 synopsis of sequences: 194–95 and Reception of Relics feast: 20–22, 24, 30–31, 34–35, 177, 179–80, 210–23 sale/pawning of: 26, 30, 101, 204–05 and stained glass of SainteChapelle: 167 swearing on: 24 Translation of: 41 see also under Sens crusades: 118 First: 24 Fourth: 26 Cucuphas, saint: 20 Dagobert, saint: 20 David, biblical king: 98–99, 168–69 Denis, saint, cranium of: 157 Dijon Ordo Capituli: 180 Sainte-Chapelle of: 95, 180 Dilo, Notre-Dame de: 45 Dominic, saint: 70, 183 In celesti ierarchia: 96–97, 195 Translation of: 96 Dominicans liturgy of: 33, 92, 95–99, 107, 109–10, 125, 140, 166, 170, 180–81, 183, 185; see also Crown of Thorns, Gaude felix relics: 101 see also Dominic, saint Durandus, Bishop of Mende: 104 Eligius, saint: 23 Elizabeth of Hungary, saint: 173

2 41

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Fontevraud: 80–81 Francis of Assisi, saint: 69, 163 and In superna civitate: 17, 70, 195 Office for: 112, 115, 173 Vita of: 112 Franciscans: 112, 117 relics: 101, 103, 107 see also Francis of Assisi, saint Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor: 206–07 Gautier, Archbishop of Sens see Cornut, Gautier, Archbishop of Sens Gérard de Saint-Quentin: 28, 61, 98, 101–05, 118 Gregory IX, pope: 105, 200–01 Gui, knight, obtainer of relics: 101–03 Guillaume de Saint-Pathus: 92, 107 Hector, Trojan warrior: 88, 91 Helena, saint: 103, 167–68 Henry of Flanders, Latin Emperor of Constantinople: 200–01 Henry the Lion, Duke of Bavaria: 25 Heraclius, Byzantine emperor: 167–68 Herod, biblical king: 135–36 Hippolytus of Rome, saint, Mirabilis Deus: 35 Humbert of the Romans: 181, 183 iconoclasm, second: 25 In translatione corone sancte Domini: 84 Jacob, biblical patriarch: 218–19 James, Brother, Dominican monk from Constantinople: 96, 204–07

Jeanne d’Évreux, wife of Charles IV of France: 109 Jerusalem: 161, 200–01 capture of: 118 Church of Holy Sepulchre: 168 and Crown of Thorns: 24, 61, 98, 149, 169–70 and True Cross; 168 Joan I, Queen of Navarre, wife of Philip IV of France: 176, 178 John XXII, pope: 179 John III Doukas Vatatzes, Emperor of Nicaea: 30 John of Brienne, King of Jerusalem, Latin Emperor of Constantinople: 200–03 John the Baptist, saint: 158 head of: 102–04, 111, 114–15, 118–19, 126, 132, 141, 150, 154, 169, 220–23 teeth of: 157 Joseph, biblical patriarch: 218–19 Joseph of Arimathea, saint: 216–17 Judas, apostle: 135, 197 Julian of Speyer: 112 Justinian I, Byzantine emperor: 110 Knights Templar: 101 Langres: 80–81, 184 Lawrence, saint, Prunis datum: 35 Lazarus, biblical figure: 151 liturgy All Saints: 33 Ascendens Christus: 183 Baptiste calvaria Symeonis: 111 Capella regis: 95, 109, 113, 115, 145, 171, 176, 180 Carnis indutus trabea: 111 Common of Apostles: 37 Common of Confessors: 20

index

Common of Saints: 35, 37 Creatoris recensentes: 120 Credo: 19 Cum tremore exulta: 117, 133–40, 138–39, 158, 164–65, 169, 193, 196 Cursor levis arcte: 115, 117, 149–53, 152–53, 162, 169, 193, 196 De sacrosanctis reliquiis: 118 Dedication of the Church feast, Sainte-Chapelle: 20–22 Eterne rex altissime: 81 Gaude, Syon, que diem recolis qua vexilla: 65, 85, 117, 125–29, 128–29, 141, 163, 192, 195–96 Heri mundus: 76 Hodierne lux diei: 72, 78, 80–81, 162, 195 Ierusalem et Syon: 140 In octabas reliquiarum: 118 In superna civitate: 17, 70, 195 Iubilemus omnes una: 85 Laudes crucis: 85 Letabundus decantet fidelis: 117, 153–57, 155, 161–62, 166, 170, 193, 196 Letabundus exsultet fidelis: 121, 155–58 Lux iucunda: 133, 196 Magnificat: 83, 120 Nos as laudes: 113, 115, 116, 117–22, 121, 141, 153, 157, 161–62, 192, 196 Nos oportet gloriari: 117, 129–35, 134–35, 163, 165–66, 192, 196 Nunc dimittis: 120 O Iesu fidelium: 120 O plebs ditata: 113–14 Organicis canemus: 85 Per unius casum grani: 22–23, 53, 70, 195 Res est venerabilis: 117, 143–45, 144, 147, 149, 161, 193, 196

Sainte-Chapelle Proser (Bari 5 manuscript): 21–24, 35, 36, 92, 115, 159, 161–64, 174, 180, 195, 197 and Cum tremore exulta: 138–39, 140 and Cursor levis arcte: 149, 151, 152–53 and Florem spina coronavit: 79, 80–81 and Gaude, Syon […] qua corona: 62, 63, 64–65, 65, 183 and Gaude, Syon, que diem recolis qua vexilla: 128–29 and Gens Gallorum: 87, 90–91 and Letetur felix Gallia: 83, 85, 86–87 and Liberalis manus Dei: 68–69, 69–70 and Nos ad laudes: 117, 121, 121 and Quasi stellu matutina: 71–73, 73, 80 and Reception of the Relics: 117–18, 121, 121, 124 and Regis et pontificis: 45, 47, 53, 54–60, 121 and Si vis vere: 37–45, 42–43, 53, 70, 121 and Solemnes in hac die: 124 and Verbum bonum et iocundum: 76, 77 and Vergente mundi vespere, crucis: 142, 142 Salve, crux arbor: 85 Salve dies dierum: 85 Sanctorale: 17, 20, 75–76, 85, 113, 158, 175–78, 187 of Lyon: 179 in Sainte-Chapelle Proser: 21–22, 35, 117, 163 Scysma mendacis Grecie: 105–07 Sexta passus die: 147

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Sexta passus feria: 117, 145–49, 148–49, 165, 193, 196 Solemnes in hac die: 117, 122–24, 124, 165, 192, 196 Surrexit Christe: 183 Temporale: 17, 20, 75, 85, 112, 175–77 in Sainte-Chapelle Proser: 21, 35, 159, 163 Use of Paris: 108, 112, 174–76, 181, 185 Vergente mundi vespere, crucis: 117, 141–43, 142, 145, 161, 165–66, 193, 196 Vexilla regis: 108–12, 118, 120, 122 Vitalem Christi sanguinem: 111–12 see also under Blaise, saint; Cistercians; Crown of Thorns; Dominic, saint; Francis of Assisi, saint; Lawrence, saint; Louis IX, King of France, saint; Luke, saint; Mary, Virgin; Mary Magdalene, saint; Paris, Notre-Dame Cathedral; Quentin, saint; Reception of Relics; Sylvester, saint; True Cross; Venantius Fortunatus Louis, Duke of Guyenne and Dauphin of Viennois: 109, 113, 176 Louis IX, King of France, saint: 16, 21, 110, 112, 173 and Baldwin II of Constantinople: 26, 29–30, 101–02, 104, 202–05, 208–08 canonization of: 169 coronation of: 41 and Crown of Thorns: 25–27, 29, 32–33, 50–52, 84, 92, 97–99, 105, 107, 161, 168–69, 199, 204–05, 208–09

feast of: 115, 164, 170, 175, 178, 180–81 head as relic: 169, 175–79, 181 humility of: 83 liturgy for Gaude, felix Francia: 41 Letabunda psallat plebs: 170 Ludovicus decus regnantium: 169–70 Ludovicus pangamus corde: 170 marriage of: 29 as rex christianissimus: 168 and rod of Moses: 105 and St Quentin’s relics: 23 in stained glass of SainteChapelle: 167–68 and True Cross: 101–02 Luke, saint, Psallat chorus corde: 85 Magnus Liber Organi: 158 Marguerite of Provence, wife of Louis IX of France: 29 Maria of Brienne, wife of Baldwin II of Constantinople: 200–01 Martha, biblical figure: 150–51, 162 Martin, saint: 65–66, 69–70, 127, 140, 163, 195–96 feasts of: 20 Mary, sister of Martha, biblical figure: 150–51, 162 Mary, Virgin: 70, 74–75, 78, 158 Annunciation: 74, 76, 159, 195 Assumption of the Virgin: 71, 74, 117, 121–22, 143, 153, 158–59, 161–63, 195–96 feasts/festivals of: 17, 20, 33, 35, 37, 117, 158–59 hair of: 157 humility of: 83 liturgy for Ave mundi spes: 85 Cum tremore exulta: 137, 140

index

Cursor levis arcte: 150 Hac clara die: 122, 124, 196 Letabundus decantet fidelis: 154–56, 162 Lignum vite querito: 159 Nos oportet gloriari: 130–31 O Maria stella maris: 85, 147 Orbis totus, unda lotus: 46 Res est admirabilis: 145, 162, 196 Salve stella mundi: 151, 196 Solemnes in hac die: 123 Verbum bonum et suave: 74–76, 195 milk of: 102–04, 114, 119, 126, 132, 141, 143–44, 149–50, 154, 156, 218–21 Nativity of the Virgin: 35, 159, 161, 196 Purification of: 117, 159 as Theotokos/God-bearer: 158, 163 veil of: 103–04, 114, 119, 126, 132, 143–44, 150, 154 Mary Magdalene, saint: 33 Mane prima sabbati: 145 Maurice de Sully, Bishop of Paris: 157 Melchizedek, biblical king: 130, 165, 197 Michael III, Byzantine emperor: 25 Moses, biblical patriarch and Ark of the Covenant: 105 rod of: 103–05, 119, 126, 132, 141, 143, 154, 166, 210–11 Nicholas, saint: 20 Nikoloas Mesarites, skevophylax of Pharos: 26

Paris as New Jerusalem: 105 Notre-Dame Cathedral: 28, 37, 66, 71, 140, 142, 147, 151, 161, 164, 171, 181, 184, 186 Assumption, liturgy of: 158, 162, 168 façade of: 162–63 Reception of Relics: 33–34, 133, 157, 175, 177, 179, 210–23 praise of, in liturgy: 40, 44, 50–52, 61, 82–83, 98–99, 105, 161, 167, 169, 195 Saint-Victory abbey: 46, 52, 133, 184 Sainte-Geneviève: 133 University of: 161 see also Sainte-Chapelle (general) Passion relics see Christ, relics of; Crown of Thorns; Scysma mendacis Grecie; Reception of Relics; True Cross; Vexilla regis Pepin the Short, Frankish king: 91 Peter, count of Nevers, Latin Emperor of Constantinople: 200–01 Peter Martyr, saint: 183 Philip II Augustus, King of France: 29, 91, 157, 168 Philip IV the Fair, King of France: 109–10, 169, 177–78 Breviary of: 180 Philip VI, King of France: 178 Pilate, Pontius: 104, 106, 125, 135–36, 214–15 Pisa: 171 Santa Maria della Spina: 95 Poissy, Saint-Louis of, convent: 109–10, 177–78, 185

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i n dex

Quentin, saint: 53, 69–70, 163 Per unius casum grani: 22–23, 195 Radegunda of Poitiers, saint, Frankish queen: 110 Raymond d’Aguilers: 24 Reception of Relics: 101–07, 156–59, 210–23 liturgy for: 107–15, 163, 174 sequences for 30 September and its Octave: 115–56 see also under Paris, Notre-Dame Cathedral relics (general): 15 activation of: 16 manuscript sources: 172–91 Relic sequences: 192–93 synopsis of sequences: 196–97 see under Andrew, saint, arm of; Blaise, saint; Christ, relics of; Clement, saint; Crown of Thorns; Franciscans; John the Baptist, saint; Louis IX, King of France, saint; Mary, Virgin; Paris, Notre-Dame Cathedral; Reception of Relics; Simeon, saint; Stephen, saint; True Cross Robert I, Count of Artois: 27, 29, 84, 208–09 Robert of Clari: 24 Saint-Denis: 151, 169 Sainte-Chapelle (general) consecration of: 27, 45 liturgy (introduction to): 15–21 liturgy, main sources for: 171–83 Crown Mass Propers: 184–87 Crown sequences: 188–90 Relic sequences: 192–92 synopsis of Crown sequences: 194–96

synopsis of Relic sequences: 197–98 relics, housing of (introduction to): 15–20, 27–28, 104 stained glass of: 18, 165–67 Sainte-Chapelle Proser see under liturgy Sens: 81 and Crown of Thorns: 26–27, 29, 32, 83–84, 97, 180, 184, 186, 198–99, 208–09 and Regis et pontificis: 45, 52, 54–60 Simeon, saint head of: 102–04, 111, 114–15, 118–20, 126, 132, 141, 150, 154, 169, 220–21 prophecy of: 130 Simon, saint, apostle: 145 Solomon, biblical king: 98, 130, 168–69 Stephen, saint (Protomartyr): 27, 117, 208–09 right arm as relic: 25 stones from lapidation of: 157 Sylvester, saint, Superne matris: 37 Toulouse: 112, 176 Trondheim: 171 Troyes: 80–81, 184, 209–10 True Cross: 24, 104, 114, 156, 212–13 discovery of: 168–69 Exaltation of the Cross: 27, 33, 85, 163, 167–69 and Gui, knight: 101–03 Invention of the Cross: 33, 110, 169 liturgy for Cursor levis arcte: 149–50 Dulce lignum: 33, 169 Gaude, Syon que diem recolis, qua per crucem: 163

index

Laudes crucis attollamus: 44, 75–76 Letabundus decantet fidelis: 154 Nos ad laudes: 118 Nos oportet gloriari: 130–31 Res est venerabilis: 143–44, 147 Scysma mendacis Grecie: 106 and rod of Moses: 105 and stained glass of SainteChapelle: 167 Vastachius, Greek governor: 202–03, 206–07 Venantius Fortunatus, Vexilla regis prodeunt: 110 Venice: 101 and Crown of Thorns: 30, 91, 204–09 vexillum crucis: 118 Victorice, companion of St Quentin: 23 Villeneuve-l’Archevesque: 26, 29, 208–09 Virgin Mary see Mary, Virgin William of Bourges, saint: 164, 173 Yolande, wife of Peter, Latin Emperor of Constantinople: 200–01

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Cultural Encounters in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages

All volumes in this series are evaluated by an Editorial Board, strictly on academic grounds, based on reports prepared by referees who have been commissioned by virtue of their specialism in the appropriate field. The Board ensures that the screening is done independently and without conflicts of interest. The definitive texts supplied by authors are also subject to review by the Board before being approved for publication. Further, the volumes are copyedited to conform to the publisher’s stylebook and to the best international academic standards in the field.

Titles in Series De Sion exibit lex et verbum domini de Hierusalem: Essays on Medieval Law, Liturgy, and Literature in Honour of Amnon Linder, ed. by Yitzhak Hen (2001) Amnon Linder, Raising Arms: Liturgy in the Struggle to Liberate Jerusalem in the Late Middle Ages (2003) Thomas Deswarte, De la destruction à la restauration: L’idéologie dans le royaume d’Oviedo-Léon (VIIIe-XIe siècles) (2004) The Jews of Europe in the Middle Ages (Tenth to Fifteenth Centuries): Proceedings of the Inter­national Symposium held at Speyer, 20-25 October 2002, ed. by Christoph Cluse (2004) Christians and Christianity in the Holy Land: From the Origins to the Latin Kingdoms, ed. by Ora Limor and Guy G. Stroumsa (2006) Carine van Rijn, Shepherds of the Lord: Priests and Episcopal Statutes in the Carolingian Period (2007) Avicenna and his Legacy: A Golden Age of Science and Philosophy, ed. by Y. Tzvi Langer­mann (2010) Writing ‘True Stories’: Historians and Hagiographers in the Late Antique and Medieval Near East, ed. by Arietta Papaconstantinou, Muriel Debié, and Hugh Kennedy (2010)

Carolingian Scholarship and Martianus Capella: Ninth-Century Commentary Traditions on ‘De nuptiis’ in Context, ed. by Mariken Teeuwen and Sinéad O’Sullivan (2011) John-Henry Clay, In the Shadow of Death: Saint Boniface and the Conversion of Hessia, 721–54 (2011) Ehud Krinis, God’s Chosen People: Judah Halevi’s ‘Kuzari’ and the Shī‘ī Imām Doctrine (2013) Strategies of Identification: Ethnicity and Religion in Early Medieval Europe, ed. by Walter Pohl and Gerda Heydemann (2013) Post-Roman Transitions: Christian and Barbarian Identities in the Early Medieval West, ed. by Walter Pohl and Gerda Heydemann (2013) Between Personal and Institutional Religion: Self, Doctrine, and Practice in Late Antique Eastern Christianity, ed. by Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony and Lorenzo Perrone (2013) D’Orient en Occident: Les recueils de fables enchâssées avant les Mille et une Nuits de Galland (Barlaam et Josaphat, Calila et Dimna, Disciplina clericalis, Roman des Sept Sages), ed. by Marion Uhlig and Yasmina Foehr-Janssens (2014) Conflict and Religious Conversation in Latin Christendom: Studies in Honour of Ora Limor, ed. by Israel Jacob Yuval and Ram Ben-Shalom (2014) Visual Constructs of Jerusalem, ed. by Bianca Kühnel, Galit Noga-Banai, and Hanna Vorholt (2014) The Introduction of Christianity into the Early Medieval Insular World: Converting the Isles I, ed. by Roy Flechner and Máire Ní Mhaonaigh (2016) Motions of Late Antiquity: Essays on Religion, Politics, and Society in Honour of Peter Brown, ed. by Jamie Kreiner and Helmut Reimitz (2016) The Prague Sacramentary: Culture, Religion, and Politics in Late Eighth-Century Bavaria, ed. by Maximilian Diesenberger, Rob Meens, and Els Rose (2016) The Capetian Century, 1214–1314, ed. by William Chester Jordan and Jenna Rebecca Phillips (2017) Transforming Landscapes of Belief in the Early Medieval Insular World and Beyond: Con­verting the Isles II, ed. by Nancy Edwards, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, and Roy Flechner (2017) Historiography and Identity I: Ancient and Early Christian Narratives of Community, ed. by Walter Pohl and Veronika Wieser (2019) Inclusion and Exclusion in Mediterranean Christianities, 400–800, ed. by Yaniv Fox and Erica Buchberger (2019) Leadership and Community in Late Antiquity: Essays in Honour of Raymond Van Dam, ed. by Young Richard Kim and A. E. T. McLaughlin (2020) Pnina Arad, Christian Maps of the Holy Land: Images and Meanings (2020) Minorities in Contact in the Medi­eval Mediterranean, ed. by Clara Almagro Vidal, Jessica Tearney-Pearce, and Luke Yarbrough (2020)

Historiography and Identity II: Post-Roman Multiplicity and New Political Identities, ed. by Gerda Heydemann and Helmut Reimitz (2020) Historiography and Identity III: Carolingian Approaches, ed. by Rutger Kramer, Helmut Reimitz, and Graeme Ward (2021) Historiography and Identity IV: Writing History Across Medieval Eurasia, ed. by Walter Pohl and Daniel Mahoney (2021) Historiography and Identity VI: Competing Narratives of the Past in Central and Eastern Europe, c. 1200–c. 1600, ed. by Pavlína Rychterová, with the assistance of David Kalhous (2021) Political Ritual and Practice in Capetian France: Essays in Honour of Elizabeth A. R. Brown, ed. by Jay Rubenstein and Cecilia Gaposchkin (2021)

In Preparation Historiography and Identity V: The Emergence of New Peoples and Polities in Europe, 1000–1300, ed. by Walter Pohl, Francesco Borri, and Veronika Wieser Les transferts culturels dans les mondes normands médiévaux (VIIIe–XIIe siècle): objets, acteurs et passeurs, ed. by Pierre Bauduin, Simon Lebouteiller, and Luc Bourgeois Civic Identity and Civic Participation in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, ed. by Cédric Brélaz and Els Rose Zsuzsanna Papp Reed, Matthew Paris on the Mongol Invasion in Europe