Lost Manuscript

GF 18

Only eight small pieces from this manuscript survive and all are exiguous. What does exist is tantalising as they provide music on five-line staves (so, polyphonic), and the text is that of the Stabat Mater in the variant popular in England.

Textual Information

Subject

Music

Title of work

Stabat Mater setting

Language

Latin

Palaeography

Type of script

Gothic

Script detail

cursive

Date of production

s. xv

Material Information

Material

Paper

Layout

Long lines with five-line staves

Dimensions

Page

mm (h) x mm (w)

History and further information

Information on dismantling

These scraps were reused in the binding of the accounts for 1560-77 of the church of St Saviour at the southwest of Guernsey. How they were placed is not clear but the presence of glue may suggest they were pasted to boards.

Number of folios represented

?1 (eight fragments in all, from stanzas 12-14 of the English variant of Stabat Mater

Notes

No full width is provided, and the placing of the text suggests they may have been quite long lines. The largest fragment of (b) is from the top of a leaf, and that of (a) has some of the lower margin. There are signs of the end of the stave on one fragment each of (a) and (b). The staves are 16mm high.

Author: David Rundle

Wednesday, September 9, 2026 - 09:53

Last Revised by David Rundle

Wednesday, September 9, 2026 - 10:05

Constituent Fragments