©
Barbara Haggh, October 6, 2004
The Purchasing Power of Money and Credit
in Ghent and Brussels, 1450-1520
Barbara
Haggh
In
the last third of the fifteenth century, the Low Countries experienced
an
unprecedented density of new developments in music that would establish
the
Netherlandish style of polyphony as predominant in Europe, a model
serving even
through the time of Fux and Bach. The new developments included, first,
the
organization at the Burgundian-Habsburg courts of a 'chapelle' whose
principal
function would be the daily performance of polyphony as well as the
celebration
of masses and offices; second, the establishment at important churches
of an
instructor specialist in vocal polyphony and of groups of about a dozen
adult
singers, who would participate in a daily office and mass and in
founded
services; third, the foundation of groups of choirboys trained to sing
polyphony; fourth, the spectacular increase in foundations requesting
polyphony, mainly by Marian and other confraternities and secondarily
by
prominent wealthy individuals of the nobility and merchant class;
fifth, the
proliferation and transmission of didactic literature on a wide range
of topics
pertaining to polyphony; sixth, the secure establishment of wind bands
of four
or five musicians in all major cities; and seventh, the development of
a
carillon keyboard, which made possible the performance of short
melodies. The
consequence was the remarkable proliferation of sacred polyphony for
mass and
office and of chansons and motets for voices and instruments, a
phenomenon
which cannot be explained as an accident of survival.
Precisely
during this time, political and economic circumstances in the Low
Countries
could not have been worse. When Charles became Duke of Burgundy in
1467, his
father's neglect of his administration had brought weakness in need of
reform.
Charles the Bold's efforts were both superficial and short-lived, and
the Low
Countries plunged into economic crisis in the 1470s because of war and
circumstances
such as the economic boycott against the region by Louis XI of France.
Other
factors, such as poor harvests and grain shortages due to court
legislation,
caused rises in the prices of wheat and the beginning of a soaring
inflation,
which reached its peak under Maximilian. Charles the Bold's taxation to
finance
Burgundian military campaigns in Germany, Switzerland, and France
caused the
bankruptcy of numerous cities, including Brussels, Amsterdam,
Dordrecht,
Leiden, Haarlem, Louvain, Diest, Lier, Is-Hertogenbosch, Bruges,
Ninove, Aalst,
Ath and St Truiden. Thereafter, Charles borrowed additional sums from
his own
officers by forcing them to loan him money or postponing payment of
wages and
pensions. In 1475, Charles extorted more than 6800 pounds from his
officers.
The
stability of the Burgundian realm was further weakened after the death
of
Charles the Bold. Mary of Burgundy's marriage to Maximilian of the
Habsburg
house, a foreigner, was viewed with suspicion, and after the treaty of
Arras in
1482, many Burgundian nobles joined the opposition against Maximilian.
When the
regent left the Low Countries in 1485, leaving Philip the Fair in
Mechelen with
a provisional government, Maximilian's traitors pillaged and burned
many towns
just outside Brussels, enclaves of support for Maximilian and lands
which were
not restored until the early sixteenth century. A litany of disasters
coincided: a tempest ravaged the shores of Flanders in 1479, destroying
land
and causing famine, and the weaving industry suffered from 1485 to 1505
so that
some were forced to give up their profession. Between 1489 and 1496,
the plague
caused the population of Brussels to drop by one-fourth; at the height
of the
plague victims were buried at the rate of forty a day. As a result,
Brussels
had far fewer inhabitants in 1500 than in 1400.
Maximilian's
reign was also characterized by the most severe inflation of the
fifteenth
century, which was caused in part by the inferior coinage in
circulation: in
Bruges the price of wheat rose from 160 to 240 units. To combat
inflation,
Maximilian drew up an ordinance prescribing the emission of new moneys
of finer
grade, but this sharp reduction in the values in circulation brought
confusion.
Order was only restored in 1491 when Maximilian agreed to augment
slightly the
reduced value of the moneys. This move brought stability and prosperity
in the
sixteenth century.
How
can this paradox of economic and social misery coupled with a dramatic
and
documented rise in performances of polyphony be explained? Was music
free of
charge? Certainly, factors other than the economy must be considered.
In my
1988 dissertation, I argued that fear of purgatory drove the rise in
polyphony
in the later Middle Ages; now I would also add that the establishment
of choirs
of daily singers or ‘cotidianen’ in the Low Countries became a
desirable means
of representing heavenly choirs on earth, such as those in contemporary
paintings. The widely read Rationale divinorum officiorum of
Durandus
describes the choir area behind the rood screen as 'ecclesia
triumphans', that
is, the heavenly Jerusalem; in this context, earthly singing becomes
heavenly
song. To some extent, then, the need for salvation and the
corresponding will
to sing may have transcended concern for earthly well-being.
Nevertheless,
to sing musicians had to live. What instruments of exchange permitted
their
support and how much did music cost? Here, we examine money and credit
at work
in two very different cities: Brussels, one of the main residences of
the
courts of Burgundy and Habsburg, and Ghent, the largest city in the Low
Countries, one dominated by two powerful Benedictine abbeys but with
smaller
parishes.
The
institution with the greatest means available was evidently the court
of
Burgundy. Court musicians were paid in kind, with clothing, room and
board, and
horses, and with money, including daily distributions, periodic wages,
and
exceptional disbursements for a variety of purposes. (That musicians
were paid
for sacred music was nothing new - a decree of Angilramne of Metz from
768 to
791 survives which fixes the honoraria of singers.)
At
the Burgundian court, payments in kind and in money were grouped
together in
the accounts with their total value expressed in money of account, a
standard
of reference for the large variety of currency which circulated and for
the
changing values of that currency. The relationship between the money of
account
in the accounts and actual payments in coin or kind is more difficult
to
discern, because if financial backing was missing, money of account
could
operate as a system of credit.
To
see how the court actually paid its musicians, let us look more closely
at the
Burgundian receivers and their accounts. The diverse revenues of the
Burgundian
court were listed in toto in the accounts of the receiver general, the
main
receiver of the court. His accounts list receipts first, then expenses,
under a
series of headings: disbursements to other ducal accounting officials,
payments
for buildings and repayments of loans, payments of pensions and
salaries, wages
of persons absent on special missions, payments to ambassadors and
messengers,
gifts and compensations, and finally, miscellaneous minor expenses.
Exceptional
payments to individual musicians do appear in these accounts.
Wages
and daily distributions were received indirectly by the Burgundian
chapel from
the premier chapelain who received them from other receivers, who in
turn
received them from the receiver general. The subordinate other
receivers were
the master of the chambre aux deniers, the argentier, and the
audiencier. The
payments the receiver general made to them were controlled by an
advisory
committee, the commis sur le fait des finances. These officers
authorized the
distribution of revenues, supervised their collection and accounting,
making
sure that there was always a reserve, and who had the power to audit
accounts
and interrogate officials at any time.
The
master of the chambre aux deniers was responsible for paying the
members of the
hotel of the court, including the chapel musicians, but the payments
were
actually made and controlled by his subordinates, a senior accountant
of the
household expenses and two clerks, the latter responsible for the
well-known escroes
or daily lists of daily distributions, the etats journalieres
or lists
of expenses incurred daily, and the monthly contrerolles, used
to check
the balance. This three-person accounting team is highly significant to
my
mind, because one finds similar groups in operation throughout the Low
Countries, keeping books for ecclesiastical foundations,
confraternities,
cotidianen, and the mensae of churches.
The
argentier, who was responsible for the ducal treasury beginning under
Charles
the Bold, paid for legations and journeys as well as for gifts and the
wardrobe.
Thus, his accounts also record in moneys of account payments to
musicians.
Finally, the audiencier distributed incomes made from the tax on the
use of the
seal to a range of individuals at court, including the premier chappellain.
All
of the accounting officials named above had to submit their accounts to
the
Chambre des Comptes of the court, which existed to subject them to
thorough
audits, of which some took several years. Not surprisingly, the
archives of the
Chambre des Comptes reveal the reality behind the ideal represented by
the
moneys of account.
It
is extraordinary that the escroes, which provide a day to day
record of
the payments of court musicians, show a remarkable stability of wages
from 1467
to 1506. See your handout, page three. Yet a look behind the scenes
hints at a
different reality. On many occasions, Duke Charles the Bold borrowed
wages from
his servants, reimbursing them much later. For example, in 1469, Hayne
de
Ghizeghem, valet de chambre, received 21 pounds 12 sous for five weeks
of
service without pay; in 1470 two trumpeters were similarly treated, and
in
1469, three clercs of the oratory were paid 130 pounds 10 sous and 4
deniers
for 59 days service without pay. In 1480 such payments multiply and
increase,
and after the death of Mary of Burgundy in 1482, payments at court
became very
irregular. Indeed, an account of the receiver general Quarre survives
from
1491/2 listing wages owed to members of the hotel for service from June
1, 1483
to the last day of February 1487. Maximilian ceased to list his
household
officers in escroes after his arrest in Bruges in 1488 and they were
only paid
regularly again after 1495. A document dated December 10, 1496 mentions
wages
paid to chapel members who had not received anything between November
17, 1492
and September 30, 1495.
Forgotten
payments also resulted from bookkeeping errors. Thus, in March 1502 the
court
fool received 53 pounds and 2 sous to compensate for his accidental
omission
from the escroes of January and February 1502.
Sometimes,
even when the duke was willing to pay, other factors intervened. On his
departure for Germany from Antwerp in January 1489, Maximilian gave
every
member of his household a parting gift of two months wages, which they
were to
obtain by presenting a ducal mandate to the Malines mint for payment,
but the
mint's resources were inadequate to meet the demand and only a third
were paid.
We
conclude that the daily wages supposed by the escroes were an ideal
that was
not often achieved. Apparently the singers were kept at court by other
means -
promises of benefices, the occasional gift in kind, or vague promises
of a
better future.
Outside
the court, life was even less secure for a musician, although again the
archives paint a rosier picture than the corresponding daily reality.
In
Brussels, financial chaos reigned in the city especially in the 1480s,
but the
churches flourished, to judge from the accounts. Foundations and
donations
increased spectacularly, to the extent that one wealthy parish church,
the
church of St Nicholas favored by the merchant class, had to empower an
abbey
near Brussels to safeguard its incoming property. It is not surprising
that
such a rise in church incomes occurs precisely during the 1480s, when
the
plague decimated thousands in Brussels: many had promised property and
rents to
the church on their death. With the new income, in the 1480s, the
church of St
Nicholas installed a new organ and established a cotidiane and
choirboys. In
the early 1490s however, several singers in the cotidiane received
wages that
had been withheld for a year.
At
the nearby church of St Gudila, the picture is rather similar. In 1477
a
cotidiane was established with funds diverted from a number of
chaplaincies.
Members of the cotidiane, including the tenor singer, Abertijne
Malcourt, were
paid regularly, to judge from the odd accounts that survive, but they
supplemented their income with chaplaincies. Precisely during this
period, the
late 1470s to the end of the century, chaplaincies are exchanged in
unprecedented
number at St Gudila, the records filling most pages of the acta
capitularia
of the church. Malcourt's many chaplaincy permutations finally end in
1490. At
St Gudila evidently chaplaincies could augment incomes that were
considered
uncertain.
A
known composer's will provides a revealing look into the reality of
life in
Brussels in the 1480s. Janne du Sart, the probable composer of the
chanson Rose
Playsant, ended his career as singing master at St Gudila, where
he died
of the plague in 1485. The accounts made by the executors of his will
(see the
last page of your handout) reveal an individual who was fairly well
off,
because at his death, his brother owed him 100 pounds, he was paying a
stipend
to support an old woman in Cambrai, he had yearly rents coming in from
Brussels
and Valenciennes, and he was paying stipends for the education of three
young
boys. Interestingly enough, two singers at the Burgundian court, Jans
van Alun
alias Dordrecht and Eustace le Blanc, had taken out loans from him that
had not
yet been paid back - it was obviously preferable for them to borrow
from a
musician friend than from a cut-throat usurer. Indeed, according to
Guillaume
Fillastre's description of usury in his treatise from the early 1470s
on the
fleeces of the Burgundian Order, a not uncommon rate of interest in
Bruges was
30%. That members of the court chapel were borrowing from Du Sart
suggests that
court life may have been less secure than that of a singing master, who
was
unbeneficed but could augment his income by exchanging chaplaincies,
although
the wealthier Burgundian singers may have been secure enough to spend
beyond
their means regularly (after the model of their ruler).
The
economy and music of Ghent provide a striking but informative contrast
with Brussels.
The political and ecclesiastical allegiances of the two cities were
different:
Ghent belonged to the diocese of Tournai and to Flanders, Brussels to
the
diocese of Cambrai and to Brabant. Religious and hence musical life in
Ghent
was dominated by two powerful Benedictine abbeys and by the poor
collegiate
church of St Veerle whereas Brussels could boast the court, the
collegiate
church of St Gudila, and several wealthier parishes. Finally, the
documentation
surviving from the two cities is remarkably different. From Ghent, we
have the
immensely useful full run of schepenboeken van de keure, books kept by
the
aldermen governing transferrals of property, rents, debts, and
repayments, and
we have the largely complete city accounts; from Brussels we have more
church
accounts and wills than from Ghent, but the city archives of Brussels
including
schepenboeken and city accounts were destroyed in the seventeenth
century.
The
archives of Ghent and Brussels permit us to chronicle the foundation
history of
the local churches through different documents, even though the
economic
structure of the cities was similar. For Brussels, we have no city
archives but
numerous cartularies, rentbooks and accounts from the churches. For
Ghent, we
have these same documents, plus initial registrations of foundations
with the
city in the schepenboeken.
The
schepenboeken show that an increasing number of foundations were made
in the
many smaller parish churches of Ghent, of which more foundations
requested
polyphony at the end of the fifteenth century than at the beginning.
Requests
for polyphony were rare and were usually made by confraternities or by
the
aristocracy.
The
foundations supported polyphony by transferring rents on property, also
called
annuities by some scholars, to the church in question to pay for the
services.
The buying and selling of such rents was already well known by the
fourteenth
century and increased throughout the fifteenth, for it was an effective
way to
make money off of property. Rents purchased could be temporary,
lifelong or
hereditary: those assigned to foundations were usually hereditary. Such
rents
could be bought and sold and even used to borrow money, and their
values,
supported by mortgages on the land, fluctuated with the value of the
land and
its yields. The sale of rents was taxed by the city, and this became an
important means of providing the Burgundian rulers with incomes.
On
the surface, the rents appeared to provide a stable income: the
churches of
Ghent depended on rents and all incoming rents were registered in the
accounts
- the amounts vary little as expressed in moneys of account. Yet in
reality,
the value of the rents changed with damage or other devaluation of the
property, and with inflation. That this was the case is evident from
the
clauses in foundation charters in which provisions are made if the
incomes from
the assigned rents do not suffice. Provisions included assigning
secondary
rents or giving some extra money up front. In hard times, some family
members
did away with or reduced foundations made with the rents of their
ancestors to
ease their own circumstances.
The
churches of Ghent managed incoming rents and properties through
specific
internal accounting offices, which operated like small banks and were
called mensae:
the fabric, responsible for the church edifice; the Holy Ghost table,
responsible for providing alms to the poor; and the officers managing
the
cotidiane, or the daily singers. Accounts were kept by all to signal
incomes
and expenses - usually three officials are named in these accounts - a
senior
accountant and two clercs, just as at the Burgundian court. From these
accounts, it is clear that rents from foundations or donations were the
major
source of income for the activities of the churches, and for musical
performances.
In
the Benedictine abbeys of Ghent, where only simple organum-like
polyphony is
documented and then only in the late fifteenth century, the monks were
paid
from separate coffers than the abbots and never received distributions.
It is very
important to recognize that the vast property held by the abbeys in
Ghent, a
sizable part of Ghent, was not applied to foundations - this as well as
the
conservative aesthetic of music of the Benedictines kept Ghent from
becoming a
center for the performance of polyphony before the transformation of
the abbey
of St Bavo into a collegiate church and later cathedral in the
sixteenth
century.
When
Ghent and Brussels are compared we see similar processes at work. The
Ghent
accounts suggest that foundations were indeed introduced and the
requests of
founders carried out. Yet the schepenboeken show numerous instances
where all
did not proceed as it should have. The vast system of buying and
selling rents
also provided credit for music which might not be backed up in reality.
We
conclude that the rise of the singing of polyphony in the Low Countries
in the
second half of the fifteenth century was not stimulated by a
flourishing
economy, this is obvious, nor necessarily by economic innovations, but
probably
for the most part by changing tastes. The wishes of founders or of the
dukes
could be carried out even without actual financial support because of
the
existence of systems of credit - moneys of account and rents - and of
'minibanks' to receive and disburse them, such as the church fabric,
holy ghost
table, cotidiane, or accountants of the ducal hotel. Music was not
purchased by
money or kind but by the money of account which could be used as a kind
of
credit. Even the daily distributions in churches were made with tokens,
another
system of credit. The continuity of foundations and their music was
assured not
so much by financial stability as by the endowments, which people
believed
would operate in perpetuity.
Endowments
permitted moneys to be saved in good times and operations to continue
in bad
times. Nevertheless, in very bad times there were risks of default - in
this
case, incorporations were made which provided broader support for
credit and
debt. An indication of the slightly better financial position of Ghent
is the
smaller number of documented incorporations. In Brussels, their numbers
skyrocket in the last part of the fifteenth century.
In
sum, credit paid for music in the last half of the fifteenth century
and made
possible the flourishing of Netherlandish polyphony. With money as with
music,
it was the promise of fulfillment in the hereafter - 'la comptabilite
d'au
dela' - that was the driving force. Finally, it is a truism that art
often
flourishes in times of unrest, not prosperity.
Selected
bibliography
PLEASE
NOTE : An article answering the question I ask above in a different way
is
among the essays in John H.A. Munro, Textiles, Towns and Trade :
Essays in
the Economic History of Late-Medieval England and the Low Countries,
Variorum Collected Studies Series (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1994).
Andrieu,
Michel. 'Règlement d'Angilramne de Metz (768-791) fixant les honoraires de quelques fonctions
liturgiques.' Revue des sciences
reliqieuses de Strasbourg 10 (1930),
349-369.
Boone,
Marc. 'Stratégies fiscales et
financières des élites urbaines et de 1état bourguignon naissant dans
l'ancien comté de Flandre (XIVe-XVIe siècle).' L'Argent au Moyen Age,
Claude Gauvard et al. eds. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 1998,
235-253.
Braudel,
Fernand, trans. Siân
Reynolds, Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century, vol.
3:
The Perspective of the World, Berkeley: University of California Press,
1992
(first paperback ed. in English).
Degos,
Jean-Guy. Histoire de la
comptabilité, Que sais-je? 3398. Paris: Presses universitaires de
France, 1998.
De
Roover, Raymond. Money, Banking, and Credit in Medieval Bruges.
Cambridge, Mass.: Mediaeval Academy of America, 1948.
Derville,
Alain. 'Pots-de-vin, cadeaux, racket, patronage. Essai sur les mécanismes de décision dans
l'État bourguignon.' Revue du Nord
56 (1974), 341-364.
Dickstein-Bernard,
C. 'Les comptes
bruxellois comme source pour 1'histoire des finances urbaines avant le
XVIe
siècle.' Annales de la société royale d'archéologie de Bruxelles
51 (1962-1966), 219-229.
Génicot,
Léopold. Une source mal connue
de revenus paroissiaux: les rentes obituaires, l'exemple de
Frizet.
Louvain-la-Neuve, 1980.
Gilchrist,
John Thomas. The Church and Economic Activity in the Middle Ages.
London: Macmillan, 1969.
Haggh,
Barbara. Music, Liturgy, and Ceremony in Brussels, 1350-1500.
PhD diss., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1988, especially
chapter 5: 'Conclusions:
Purgatory and Music and the Migration to Italy'.
Haggh,
Barbara. The status of the musician at the Burgundian-Habsburg
courts, 1467- 1506.
M.Mus. thesis, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, 1980.
Le
Goff, Jacques. La bourse et la vie.
Économie et religion au Moyen Age. Paris: Hachette, 1986.
Lièvre,
Louis. La Monnaie et 1a change
en Bourgogne sous les ducs Valois. Dijon: Veuve P. Berthier, 1929.
Mols,
Roger. Introduction à la
démographie historique des villes d'Europe du XIVe au XVIIIe
siècle.
Gembloux: J. Duculot, 1954-1956.
Prevenier,
Walter. 'Financien en
boekhouding in de bourgondische periode. Nieuwe bronnen en resultaten.'
Tiidschrift
voor geschiedenis 82 (1969), 469-481.
Scholliers,
E. De levensstandaard in de
l5e en l6e eeuw te Antwerpen: Loonarbeid en honger.
Antwerp: De
Sikkel, 1960.
Spufford,
Peter. Monetary Problems
and Policies in the Burgundian Netherlands, 1433- 1496. Leiden: Brill, 1970.
Van
Houtte, J.A. An Economic History of the Low Countries, 800-1800.
New
York: St Martin's Press, 1977.
Van
Uytven, Raymond. 'Politiek en
economie: de crisis der late XVe eeuw in de Nederlanden.' Revue
belge de
philologie et d'histoire 53 (1975), 1097-1149.
Verlinden,
Charles, J. Craeybeckx, E. Scholliers, eds. Dokumenten voor de
geschiedenis van
prijzen en lonen in Vlaanderen en Brabant (XVe-XVIIIe eeuw). 5
vols. Bruges:
De Tempel, 1959-1973.
Other
writers on the economy of the Low Countries during the Middle Ages and
Renaissance are Michel Mollat and Herman Van der Wee.
Some useful terms:
money
of account - a standard of reference for circulating currency, which
could be
based on a fixed weight of fine metal or on a coin being issued
foundation
- the introduction and establishment of a religious service with an
endowment
endowment
- the establishment of a perpetual income, usually to pay for or to
augment a
foundation
cotidiane
- a foundation establishing c. 12-15 singers responsible for the
performance of
a daily mass and office
rent
- an income from property (land, a house, a vineyard, etc.) which could
be
bought and sold through a variety of receivers, and taxed (cijns,
tithe,
assise)
Daily Wages of Members of the Chappelle
and of other Musicians at the
Court of Burgundy
The
wages of the chappellain and clerc show less change:
chappellain
clerc
18
s. 1467(2)
12 s.
1467(2)
9
s. 1476(12)
13 s. 6 d. 1470(6)
12
s. 1477(14)
13 s.
1472(8)
9
s. 1481(22)
13 s. 6 d. 1473(9)
12
s. 1496(27)
9 s.
1477(14)
10 s.
1497(30)
The
wages for both of these positions did not rise to those given in 1467.
The
wages of the sommelier underwent a similar change, except that
here we
find the wages being raised to approximately the same amount they had
been
before:
11
s.
1467(2)
12
s. 4 d. 1 o. 1470(7)
7
s. 6 d. 1476(12)
10
s.
1497(30)
9
s.
1501(34)
12
s.
1501(35)
The
wages of the fourier, on the other hand, rose and fell again:
6
s.
1467(2)
9
s.
1470(5)
7
s. 1 d. 1476(12)
8
s.
1477(16)
6
s.
1497(30)
For
some positions the wages remained fairly stable:
trompettes
porteur d'orgues
12 s.
1470(6)
3 s. 1477(16)
12
s., 9 s.
1479(18)
4 s. 1497(30)
12s,10s,8s,6s. 1483(24)
3 s. 1500(33)
6
s.
1498(32)
12
s.
1501(34)
In
contrast to the others, the organist's wages were raised dramatically
as he
became a member of the musical chapel and advanced to the rank of the chappellain
6
s.
1473(9)
12
s.
1477(16) and
thereafter
Du
Sart
Barbara
Haggh, text prepared for the New Grove (rev. ed.)
DUSART, Johannes
(Janne de Sart, Petit
Jehan). (fl. Cambrai 1446; d. Brussels, 12 October 1485). Franco-Flemish
composer, choirmaster, and priest. He is not the same individual as the
composer Johannes de Sarto (see DE SARTO). Dusart was at Cambrai
Cathedral as a
petit vicaire on 21 November 1446 and on 20 August 1455, when he
received a benefice at the parish church in Marcq (near Enghien). He is
probably the alderman of the town of Génappe (near Brussels) serving
Duke
Philip the Good of Burgundy on 10 February and 22 and 27 March 1454
n.s. The
same alderman shared that post with Jean Zohier, possibly the composer
Fédé
alias Sohier (see FÉDÉ), according to two charters, both dated 15
February 1454
n.s. Dusart was master of the choirboys at Cambrai Cathedral
(intermittently)
from 1458 to 22 January 1466 n.s., when he was replaced. On 28 August
1466 a Johannes
de Sartis de Valencenis matriculated at the university of Louvain
in the
arts faculty of the Lily college. This was probably Dusart, who
resigned the
chaplaincy of St Anne at the Cathedral on 29 May 1467 for a canonry at
Notre
Dame de la Salle-le-Combe in Valenciennes, the latter which he
possessed by 7
August 1467 and which is mentioned in the account of the executors of
the will
of heeren Janne du Sart diemen hiet petit Jehan, the same
individual.
Janne du Sart was choirmaster (zangmeester) at the collegiate church of
St
Gudila in Brussels when he died of the plague in that city in 1485. His
obit,
celebrated on 12 October, is listed in an obituary of the minor canons
of the
church of St Gudila, as is the daily distribution that he founded for
the
duplex feast of the Apparition of St Michael (8 May). Dusart (Johannem
Dussart)
is named in Compère's Omnium bonorum plena of c1472, but a
reference to Domino
Johanne Dusart Presbitero in the 1483-1487 accounts of the
Ste-Chapelle in
Paris does not suggest that he was a musician.
The
chanson Rose plaisant, a 3vv refrain from what was probably a rondeau
cinquain, is ascribed to Jo. Dusart in I-Rc 2856 and to
Caron in
I-Fu B.R.229; a 4vv version is attributed to Philipon [Basiron?
OR
Caron?] in 15043. Obrecht later used the D,T,B of the song
in a
mass; his cantus firmus most resembles the I-Rc 2856 version,
which, as
the earliest and most accurate, is probably indeed by Dusart. etc.
TO
NOTE: Janne Dusart was followed as zangmeester at St Gudila by Philippe
Caron,
who, as I have argued in the Busnoys volume edited by Paula Higgins,
was the
son of the first sommelier at the Burgundian court, Jean Caron. There
is no
shred of evidence that this Philippe Caron is the Firminus Caron named
by
Tinctoris, but Philippe's career does suggest that he could have been a
composer, since he was zangmeester and, as such, was paid for teaching
the
choirboys established at St Gudila to sing polyphony. The conflicting
attribution of Rose Plaisant may suggest a song coming to Italy
from
Brussels whose precise origin (at St Gudila?) had been forgotten. A
'Jacobus
Obrechs' is listed in the obituary of St Gudila copied in 1507, next to
27
June, and Obrecht based a mass on 'Malheur me bat', a chanson I have
argued is
by Albertijne Malcourt, a tenor singer at St Gudila (Music and
Letters
August 1995).
Account of the Executors of
Du Sart's Will:
Excerpts
Brussels,
Algemeen Rijksarchief, Archief van Sint-Goedele, MS 280:
482r Rekeninghe
der Executeuren wylen heeren
Jans du Sart Sanckmeester tsinte Goedelen
483r Rekeninghe
ende Bewys meester Merten
Steenberchs deken Canonick heeren Thomaes van lyere ende Jacobs vander
kammen
priesteren ende capellanen der kerken van Sinte Goedelen te Bruessel
als
executeurs des testaments wylen heeren Janne du Sart diemen hiet petit
Jehan
canonick was van onser liever vrouwen kercke In tsgreven zale te
valenchijn ende
In zinen lesten tyde sangmeester Inder voirscreven kerken van sinte
Goedelen
die afluich waert hier te Bruessel haestelyck vander godsgaven oft
pestilencien
opten xijsten dach vander maent Octobris int Jaer ons heeren 1485 van
alsulken
administracien ende bewinde In ontfange: uuytgeven ende anders als de
voirgenoemde executeurs gehadt hebben vander haven ende goeden des
voirscreven
Jans testateurs na syn doot gebleven ende gevonden met behoirliken
Inventaris
by hen aenverdt soe verre zy tot haere kennesse gecomen zyn Welke
Rekeninge
gemaict es In ponden scellingen ende penningen groot Brabants Ende elc
pont
voer 20 schellingen den schellinck voer 12 d. ende den selven penninck
voir 24
s. payments gerekent.
Ende
yerst verclaert den Ontfanck In diversen gereden penningen naden
Inventaris
Primo In een borsse van witten leedre eenen hongerschen ducaet valent
10 s. 6
d.g.
3
other entries
483v 8
entries: money from Burgundy, Utrecht,
Germany, England
484r 8
entries
484v 1
entry
485v Ander
Ontfanck van zekeren obligacien nae
uuytwysen vanden Inventaris den selven testateur verobligeert byden
persoenen
hier na genoempt
Primo
ontfaen een cedulle In walsche gescreven by handen Jake Rochart dair
mede hy
bekint den selven testateur sculdich te zyne van geleende gelde de
somme van
hondert ponden paryse der munten van vlaenderen welke cedulle die
executeren
desselfs testateurs gelyc zy doen moegen nae uutwysen vanden testamente
overgegeven hebben om goidswille den armen cloester van marche les
dames In
gheen zyde namen daer brueder Jacop du Sart des voirscreven testateurs
brueder
begheven ende woenachtich es dair am hier daer aff ontfaen -- Niet
Item
een andere cedulle In duytsche gescreven by handen heeren Jans van
Alun
alias dordrecht daer mede dat blyct dat hy den voirgescreven
testateur
sculdich was van meerder summen Inde cedulle begrepen ter causen vander
selven
cedullen ontfaen ende dair mede al betaelt 3 R. gulden valent -- 15 s.
g.
Item
een cedulle In walsche gescreven by handen Eustace le blanck
dair mede
hy bekent den selven testateur sculdich te zyne die somme van 14 L 8 s.
henegouwe welke cedulle die voirgenoemden executeuren om gods wille
gegeven
hebben den voirgenoemden cloester van marche les dames Inder manieren
voirscreven dair am hier af ontfaen. -- niet
786r Ander
ontfanck van lijfrenten die de
voirgenoemde testateur hadde Jairlicx opde stad van valenchyn ende van
Bruessel
2
long entries
788r Ander
ontfanck van loenen ende hueren byden
voirs testateur verdient ten dage van zynder afluicheit
Primo
xix decembris Anno 85 van heeren Janne de thymo van wegen heeren
willems
goetkints In zynre tyt capittelmeyer hadde geweest ter causen vanden
choralen
voir zynen loen 12 Rinsche gulden byden selven heeren Janne betaelt In
vranc
Rycxsche vrancken ten pryse van 3 placken 9 miten tstuck valent -- 3
L.g.
Item
vanden cappellemeesters ten zacbruederen voir een weekemesse die de
voirscreven
testateur Inde voirscreven cappelle Suitert Sinte Jansmesse voir ledit
gecelebreert hadde ontfaen 14 1/2 stuivers valent -- 3 s. 7 1/2 d.g.
Item
van meester willeme coel alias van halle priester die Rentmeester hadde
geweest
vanden bonefanten ende choral en voir datmen van zynre officien wegen
den
voirgenoemden testateur tachter ende verlanck was vanden choralen wegen
tot
opden dach toe van zynre afluicheit als vore twee Rinschen guldene
valent -- 10
s.g.
488v Item
van heeren henricken zwanairt
priestere namaels ontfangen vanden bonefanten van drie messen die weeke
die de
voirgenoemde testateur aengenomen hadde te celebreren Inde cappelle
vanden
bonefanten van Sinte Jansmesse Anno 85 tot bamisse dair navolgende 2
peters
valent -- 9 s.g.
Item
van heeren lancelote capittelmeyere oic voirden loen van drie messen
die weeke
die de voirgenoemde testateur aengenomen hadde te celebrerene op Sinte
Joes
outair In Sinte Goedelen kercke van Sainte Jansmesse tot bamisse dair
naestvolgende 2 peters te 4 s. 6 d.g. den peeter valent -- 9 s.g.
493v Item
meester Janne van weert
onderscoelmeester, vander hoechscoelen tsinte goedelen voir drie
kinderen
taeffelieren die de voirs wylen heer Jan du Sart ter scoelen hadden
gesonden
ende houden gaende Inde hoechscoele voirs voer den eenen een Jair ende
voir
dandere twee elc een half Jaer soe de voirs meester Jan affirmeerde met
zynen eede
betaelt -- 9 s.g.
Item
Janne billart die tanderen tiden heer Jan du Sart doen hij leefde een
groot
plac Becken een lampet eenen dwaelier eenen hertshoeren ende meer
anderen
stucken huysraets vercocht hadde ende vele beteren coop gegeven dan dit
weert
waeren opde hope ende toeseggen dat hy hem bystaen soude in zynder noot
dwelc
hy niet gedaen en heeft want die selve Jan billart namaels in groter
siecten
gevallen zynde ende groot gebreck lydende claechde dat hy niet vol
betaelt en
hadde geweest van zynen huysrade voirscreven noch anders goetdoens
vanden
dooden testateur verwachtende en was hem om godswille In aelmoessen
ende ter
ontlastingen vander zielen betaelt -- 7 s. 6 d.g.
Item
Janne lievens barbier ende cirurgien de plach te woenende opden
loevenschen
wech die eenen Jongen des testateurs commensael doen zynde eenen quaden
voet
hadde genesen dair aff hy affirmeerde noch onbetaelt te zine hem
betaelt voer
synen loen van drie weeken dat hy den voirscreven Jongen gemeestert
hadde -- 4
s. 6 d.g.
494v Item
8 aprilis anno 86 betaelt byden
ordinantien vanden heeren vander capittele ten versueke van eender
vrouwen
geheeten gille brulose woenende te Cameryck voir tverloop van eender
Jairlyker
lyfrenten van 6 Rinsche guldenen tsiaers de heer Jan die testateur
voirgenoemd
geloeft hadde hair leven lanck Jairlicx hair te betalenen ende hem ende
zyn
goet dair Inne verbonden van welker lijfrenten die voirgenoemd gille
verlet was
van twee Jaeren gevallen voer zyn doot soe sij dat voer den heeren Int
capittel
heeft gethoent ende doen blycken dair voer hair betaelt de Reste
voirscreven
beloepen 12 Rinschegulden valent den guldenen te 5 s.g. -- 3 L.g.
Item
der selver van eenen Jaer te weten van kersmesse 86 verschenen betaelt
6
Rinschegulden valent 30 s.g.
©
Barbara Haggh, 6 October 2004