Ritson Manuscript

Last updated

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.

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. Unlike the Pepys Manuscript, 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 appears to originate in the West Country. It was later owned by Joseph Ritson, who in 1795 gave it to the British Museum.

Among the composers represented in the book is Sir William Hawte.

Modern studies

Related Research Articles

William Cornysh the Younger was an English composer, dramatist, actor, and poet.

Pepys Library

The Pepys Library of Magdalene College, Cambridge, is the personal library collected by Samuel Pepys which he bequeathed to the college following his death in 1703.

"The First Nowell", also known as "The First Noel ", is a traditional English Christmas carol with Cornish origins, most likely from the early modern period, although possibly earlier. It is listed as number 682 in the Roud Folk Song Index.

Eton Choirbook

The Eton Choirbook is a richly illuminated manuscript collection of English sacred music composed during the late 15th century. It was one of very few collections of Latin liturgical music to survive the Reformation, and hence is an important source. It originally contained music by 24 different composers; however, many of the pieces are damaged or incomplete. It is one of three large choirbooks surviving from early-Tudor England.

Old Hall Manuscript

The Old Hall Manuscript is the largest, most complete, and most significant source of English sacred music of the late 14th and early 15th centuries, and as such represents the best source for late Medieval English music. The manuscript somehow survived the Reformation, and formerly belonged to St. Edmund's College, a Roman Catholic school located at Old Hall Green in Hertfordshire. It was sold to the British Library after an auction at Sotheby's in 1973.

<i>Reliques of Ancient English Poetry</i>

The Reliques of Ancient English Poetry is a collection of ballads and popular songs collected by Bishop Thomas Percy and published in 1765.

Adam lay ybounden

"Adam lay ybounden", originally titled Adam lay i-bowndyn, is a 15th-century macaronic English Christian text of unknown authorship. It relates the Biblical events of Genesis, Chapter 3 on the Fall of Man.

Anthony Roll A record of ships of the English Tudor navy of the 1540s

The Anthony Roll is a written record of ships of the English Tudor navy of the 1540s, named after its creator, Anthony Anthony. It originally consisted of three rolls of vellum, depicting 58 naval vessels along with information on their size, crew, armament, and basic equipment. The rolls were presented to King Henry VIII in 1546, and were kept in the royal library. In 1680 King Charles II gave two of the rolls to Samuel Pepys, who had them cut up and bound as a single volume book, which is now in the Pepys Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge. The third roll remained in the royal collection until it was given by King William IV to his daughter Lady Mary Fox, who sold it to the British Museum in 1858; it is now owned by the British Library.

I syng of a mayden

"I syng of a mayden" is a Middle English lyric poem or carol of the 15th century celebrating the Annunciation and the Virgin Birth of Jesus. It has been described as one of the most admired short vernacular English poems of the late Middle Ages.

The South English Legendary is a Middle English hagiographic work, best preserved in Harley MS 2277 and CCCC 145, which contain 92 narrative lives, extremely varied in length, usually including one of two prologues and often including a life of Christ and/or temporal items. The collection also includes lives of "anti-saints" Judas and Pilate.

The Pilgrimage of the Soul or The Pylgremage of the Sowle was a late medieval work in English, combining prose and lyric verse, translated from Guillaume de Deguileville's Old French Le Pèlerinage de l'Âme. It circulated in manuscript in fifteenth-century England, and was among the works printed by William Caxton. One manuscript forms part of the Egerton Collection in the British Library.

Pepys Manuscript

The Pepys Manuscript is a late fifteenth-century English choirbook, in the library of Magdalene College, Cambridge, MS Pepys 1236. Along with the Ritson 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. The book received its name because it was part of the collection owned by Samuel Pepys. He described it as containing "monkish music of Edward IV's time, " but it appears on internal evidence to have been begun a year or two earlier. It was likely completed after 1465, as it contains music ascribed to Sir William Hawte – also referred to as a "Knight" – who was knighted in that year.

The Lambeth Choirbook – also known as the Arundel Choirbook – is an illuminated choirbook dating to the sixteenth century. It contains music for 7 Masses, 4 Magnificats, and 8 motets. Much of the music is by Tudor-period composers. The major contributors are Robert Fayrfax and Nicholas Ludford; between them they contributed at least ten of its nineteen pieces. Only three of Fayrfax's works have his name attached to them, but five other pieces are known as his; these, along with two by Ludford, are known from concordances in the Caius Choirbook and other manuscripts. Seven anonymous pieces exist in the book:

The Gyffard Partbooks are an important set of English Renaissance choral partbooks, containing pieces by composers such as Thomas Tallis and John Sheppard, as well as additional unnamed composers, which are not found in other sources.

Edmund Turges thought to be also Edmund Sturges was an English Renaissance era composer who came from Petworth, was ordained by Bishop Ridley in 155 0, and joined the Fraternity of St. Nicholas in 1522.

Ritson is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

<i>Leiden choirbooks</i>

The Leiden choirbooks are six volumes of polyphonic renaissance music of the Franco-Flemish school copied for the Pieterskerk, Leiden and now preserved at the Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken.

Trinity Carol Roll

The Trinity Carol Roll is a 15th-century manuscript of thirteen English carols held by the Wren Library at Trinity College, Cambridge. It is the earliest surviving example of polyphonic music written in English. Compiled after 1415, it contains the earliest of two manuscript sources for the Agincourt Carol which tells of Henry V's victory at the Battle of Agincourt, as well as several early Christmas carols. The majority of texts are in Middle English with some of the carols alternating between Latin and Middle English, a common form for carols of the period known as macaronic.

Music in Medieval England

Music in Medieval England, from the end of Roman rule in the fifth century until the Reformation in the sixteenth century, was a diverse and rich culture, including sacred and secular music and ranging from the popular to the elite.

Selden Carol Book

The Selden Carol Book is a medieval carol manuscript held by the Bodleian Library in Oxford. Along with the Trinity Carol Roll, with which it shares five contemporaneous carols and texts, it is one of the main sources for 15th century English carols, and like the Trinity Roll contains the music as the well as the texts. The inclusion of Deo Gracias Anglia referencing Henry V's victory at Agincourt in 1415 gives an indication of the date of composition of the carols.

References