The Ritson Manuscript (London, British Library, Add.5665) is a late fifteenth-century English choirbook, that is a major source for English carols. In addition to 44 carols, it includes three masses, 23 motets, several other sacred pieces, and secular works in English and French. [1] Among the composers represented in the book is Sir William Hawte.
Along with the Pepys Manuscript it is much less elaborate than the Eton, Lambeth and Caius Choirbooks; it contains shorter and simpler pieces which appear to have been written for smaller and less able choirs. [2]
The Ritson Manuscript appears, upon internal evidence, to have been the product of at least five distinct hands. It was compiled over a long period, beginning early in the second half of the fifteenth century and ending in 1510, and originated in the West Country. The Census-Catalogue of Manuscript Sources of Polyphonic Music 1400-1550 suggests it was likely to have been copied at a Franciscan monastery in Devon or possibly Exeter Cathedral. [1]
It was later owned by Joseph Ritson, who in 1795 gave it to the British Museum. [1]
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