The Chansonnier d'Arras is an

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, the ...

of the late 13th century containing a variety of religious and philosophical texts and songs in 220 folios. It is written in the

Picard dialect Picard (, also , ) is a ''langue d'oïl'' of the Romance language family spoken in the northernmost part of France and Hainaut province in Belgium. Administratively, this area is divided between the French Hauts-de-France region and the Belgian ...

of Old French. It is now manuscript 657 (formerly 139) in the municipal library of

Arras Arras ( , ; pcd, Aro; historical nl, Atrecht ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department, which forms part of the regions of France, region of Hauts-de-France; before the regions of France#Reform and mergers of ...

. In trouvère studies, it is known by the conventional '' siglum'' A.

Production and provenance

Two scribal hands are responsible for the text and one for the musical notation, which was added last. A scribe named Jehans d'Amiens li petis signed and dated the last work in August 1278. It is possible that the chansonnier section was only added in the early 14th century. The manuscript is a product of Artois, possibly Amiens. It belonged to the

Abbey of Saint-Vaast The Abbey of St Vaast (french: Abbaye de Saint-Vaast) was a Benedictine monastery situated in Arras, ''département'' of Pas-de-Calais, France. History The abbey was founded in 667. Saint Vedast, or Vaast (c. 453–540) was the first Bishop ...

by about 1625, but was seized by the government during the French Revolution in 1790. A facsimile of the manuscript was published in 1926 by Alfred Jeanroy, who detected that some pages were out of order. The manuscript was rebound by the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

in 1955.

Although the entire manuscript is commonly called a

chansonnier A chansonnier ( ca, cançoner, oc, cançonièr, Galician and pt, cancioneiro, it, canzoniere or ''canzoniéro'', es, cancionero) is a manuscript or printed book which contains a collection of chansons, or polyphonic and monophonic settings o ...

, only the middle section truly fits that description. The manuscript can be divided into three sections. The first 128 folios are devoted to religious, philosophical and ethical texts. A rubric on the first folio identifies the works which follow as philosophy and morality. These include the poem '. On folio 32, an explicit announces the end of the first part. It is followed by some

Marian Marian may refer to: People * Mari people, a Finno-Ugric ethnic group in Russia * Marian (given name), a list of people with the given name * Marian (surname), a list of people so named Places *Marian, Iran (disambiguation) * Marian, Queensla ...

texts (including a paraphrase of the '' Ave Maria''), a series of saint's legends and Richart de Fournival's ''Bestiaire d'Amour''. There are some lacunae in this section.. The saints with legends are Susanna,

Julian Julian may refer to: People * Julian (emperor) (331–363), Roman emperor from 361 to 363 * Julian (Rome), referring to the Roman gens Julia, with imperial dynasty offshoots * Saint Julian (disambiguation), several Christian saints * Julian (give ...

, Jerome, Eligius, Eustace, Patrick, Alexis and Bernard of Clairvaux. The second section, consisting of 32 folios, contains 42 '' chansons'' of

courtly love Courtly love ( oc, fin'amor ; french: amour courtois ) was a medieval European literary conception of love that emphasized nobility and chivalry. Medieval literature is filled with examples of knights setting out on adventures and performing vari ...

and 31 ''

jeux partis The ''jeu-parti'' (plural ''jeux-partis'', also known as ''parture'') is a genre of French lyric poetry composed between two ''trouvères''. It is a cognate of the Occitan partimen (also known as ''partia'' or ''joc partit''). In the classic type, ...

'' (debate songs). All have musical notation. Five trouvères with works in this section are drawn in miniature. These are the

Chastelain de Couci Le Chastelain de Couci (modern orthography Le Châtelain de Coucy) was a French trouvère of the 12th century. He may have been the Guy de Couci who was castellan of Château de Coucy from 1186 to 1203. Some twenty-six songs, written in langue d' ...

Gautier de Dargies Gautier de Dargies (ca. 1170 – ca. 1240) was a trouvère from Dargies. He was one of the most prolific of the early trouvères; possibly twenty-five of his lyrics survive, twenty-two with accompanying melodies, in sixteen separate ''chansonn ...

, Ugon de Bregi, Richart de Fournival and Adam de la Halle. In addition to these, four other trouvères are named but not illustrated: the Vidame de Chartres, Pierres de Molaine, Duke Henry III of Brabant and Guillaume li Vinier. Many of the songs and all of the ''jeux partis'' are anonymous in the Chansonnier d'Arras, but the authorship of most is known from other sources. The final section of 52 folios contains two

romances Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

, the '' Roman des sept sages'' and the ''

Roman de Marques de Rome The Old French Seven Sages cycle is a cycle of seven prose romances based on the legend of the Seven Sages of Rome The ''Seven Wise Masters'' (also called the ''Seven Sages'' or ''Seven Wise Men'') is a cycle of stories of Sanskrit, Persian or ...

''.

List of trouvères

The following trouvères have work in the Chansonnier d'Arras: *

Adam de Givenchi Adam de Givenchi (floruit, fl. 1230–1268) was a trouvère, probably from Givenchy and active in and around Arras. His surname is also spelled Givenci, Gevanche, or Gievenci. Adam appears in charters of May and July 1230 as a clerk (position), ...

* Adam de la Halle *the

Gilles le Vinier Gilles le Vinier (died 1252) was a trouvère from a middle-class family of Arras. He was the younger brother of fellow trouvère Guillaume le Vinier. He entered the church and served as a canon at Arras, where he was the church's legal representa ...

* Guillaume li Vinier * Henry III of Brabant *

Jehan Bretel Jehan Bretel (''c''.1210 – 1272) was a trouvère. Of his known oeuvre of probably 97 songs, 96 have survived. Judging by his contacts with other trouvères he was famous and popular. Seven works by other trouvères ( Jehan de Grieviler, Jehan Era ...

* Jehan le Cuvelier * Jehan de Grieviler * Jehan Simon * Lambert Ferri * Maroie * Margot * Pierres de Molaine * Pierot de Neele * Philippot Verdière *

Richard de Fournival Richard de Fournival or Richart de Fornival (1201 – ?1260) was a medieval philosopher and trouvère perhaps best known for the ''Bestiaire d'amour'' ("The Bestiary of Love"). Life Richard de Fournival was born in Amiens on October 10, 1201. ...

Robert de la Piere Robert de la Piere (died 1258) was a trouvère of the so-called "school" of Arras. In his time Robert's bourgeois family was prominent in Arras, though the earliest known member is only recorded in 1212. Robert served as a magistrate in 1255, as a ...

* Simon d'Autie * Theobald I of Navarre * Ugon de Bregi *the Vidame de Chartres

Notes

Bibliography

* * * {{refend

External links

Complete scan online
1278 works 13th-century illuminated manuscripts Medieval music manuscript sources Arras

Production and provenance

Contents

List of trouvères

Notes

Bibliography

External links