Medieval music - April 2010 Document of the Month
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April's document of the month is a rare example of medieval musical manuscript, which was discovered inside the wall of Netherbury church.
This document is a fragment of an early 13th century English service-book, containing pieces of medieval music. The poor condition of the document is hardly surprising, given both its age and the fact that it spent several centuries stuck in a cavity of a church wall! It was discovered in 1964 when workmen were clearing part of the church in order to overhaul the church clock. The original purpose of the cavity in which the document was found, and how the fragments ended up in there in the first place, remains a mystery to this day ...
The pieces of music are all religious verses ('polyphony' or 'plainsong'). Three are known pieces, but one is apparently unique to this document (though it is similar to another piece recorded on a manuscript held in Wolfenbüttel, Germany).
It is interesting to note that, in some places, whilst the actual manuscript has disintegrated, the ink has remained intact, so that there a few letters which seem to fall off the edge of the page and are left hanging in mid-air!
The document is part of the Netherbury parish collection (ref PE/NBY/MI 11).
