The 13th-Century ruins of Whitby Abbey, Yorkshire, England.
This Abbey was contemporaneous with The Fontevraud Gradual
(often known as The Gradual of Eleanor of Brittany).
Illustration: ENGLISH HERITAGE
The Gradual of Eleanor of Brittany.
“Kyrie”.
From The Mass: “Orbis Factor”.
Sung by: Ensemble Organum.
Available on YouTube at
unless stated otherwise.
The Fontevraud Gradual (often known as The Gradual of Eleanor of Brittany) is an Antiphonary or Gradual of the Mid-13th-Century, owned by Eleanor of Brittany (☩ 1342), Abbess of Fontevraud Abbey, and bequeathed to the Abbey on her death.[1] It contains Gregorian Chant as well as three early Polyphonic pieces. It is also noted for its Miniatures in the form of Historiated Initials.
The Manuscript is kept at the Limoges Municipal Library (Limoges MS 2) and is not publicly accessible. A digital version was made accessible On-Line in 2019.[2]
The Gradual was made in Paris in the 1250s, perhaps in the Studio of Nicolas Lombard. Richard and Mary Rouse attribute the Manuscript to one of the four artists who produced a glossy Bible commissioned by Guy de La Tour du Pin, Bishop of Clermont from 1250 to 1285.[3]
English: A Coloured Decorated Initial,
depicting The Nativity.
The Gradual of Eleanor of Brittany.
Français : Graduel d'Aliénor - Nativité.
Date: 15 November 2014.
Bibliothèque multimédia de Limoges.
Author: Anonymous.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Its Patrons may have been John II, Duke of Brittany and Beatrice of England, Eleanor's parents. It would have been entrusted to their daughter in 1290 when she arrived at the Abbey. Eleanor became an Abbess in 1304. The Coat-of-Arms of the Abbess appears on the edges, but is later than the Manuscript.[4] When she died in 1342, she left the Gradual to the Abbey.
In 1387, Pascal Hugonot, Abbot of Saint-Pierre de la Couture, in Le Mans, donated the Gradual to the Collegiate Church of Saint-Junien, in Haute-Vienne. Father Joseph Nadaud studied it there in the middle of the 18th-Century. During The French Revolution, and its seizure of Religious Property, the Gradual was deposited in Limoges.[5]
In 1387, Pascal Hugonot, Abbot of Saint-Pierre de la Couture, in Le Mans, donated the Gradual to the Collegiate Church of Saint-Junien, in Haute-Vienne. Father Joseph Nadaud studied it there in the middle of the 18th-Century. During The French Revolution, and its seizure of Religious Property, the Gradual was deposited in Limoges.[5]
The Gradual is unconventional, with a rich and original iconography. It consists of 301 Folia. Each page contains ten or eleven lines of Music and Text. The Music is noted in Black Square Notes on a Staff of four Red Lines. The Text is adorned with Golden and Coloured Decorated Initials.
English: Two pages of The Gradual of Eleanor of Brittany.
The Coloured Decorated Initial depicts The Nativity.
Français : Graduel d'Aliénor - Nativité.
Date: 15 November 2014.
Bibliothèque multimédia de Limoges.
Web-Site: graduel-bfm.limoges.fr
Author: Anonymous.
(Wikimedia Commons)
In 1993, an interpretation of parts of the Gradual was recorded by Ensemble Organum in the Refectory of Fontevraud Abbey.[6] Another interpretation was recorded by the Chœur Grégorien du Mans in 2000.[7]
Many Miniatures, in the form of large Historiated Initials, relate events of The Life of Christ, such as The Nativity, The Adoration of The Magi, and The Resurrection. They also include images of Saints, such as Saint Lawrence and Saint Radegund. These are large Initials that sometimes occupy almost half the page. The words that the Initials begin, are written in Golden Capitals, which span the width of the page.
English: Fontevraud Abbey, whose Liturgical Psalmody and Hymns
were used in the construction of the Gradual of Eleanor of Brittany (Graduel D'Alienor De Bretagne). It was here that Eleanor of Brittany took Vows.
Français: Abbatiale de Fontevraud.
Photo: 14 May 2010.
Source: http://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Discussion_Wikip%C3%A9dia:Journ%C3%A9es_
europ%C3%A9ennes_du_patrimoine&diff=59199367&oldid=59197783.
Author: Aurore Defferriere.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Gradual also contains several Farced Epistles. These are Readings from The Mass in which the Text of Scripture is provided, Verse after Verse, either with a Latin paraphrase or with a translation in the Vernacular.[8]
The paraphrase or translation constitutes the “Farce” of the Scriptural Text. The Farce usually takes a Versified and Musical Form. The Gradual contains five “Troped” Epistles, starting at Folios 29, 46v, 272, 274 and 278. The Epistle starting at Fol. 29 is a Farced Epistle of Saint Stephen (from 26 December).
Ensemble Organum is a group performing Early Music, co-founded in 1982 by Marcel Pérès and based in France. Its members have changed, but have included at one time or another, Josep Cabré, Josep Benet, Gérard Lesne , Antoine Sicot , Malcolm Bothwell. They have often collaborated with Lycourgos Angelopoulos and are influenced by Orthodox Music. [1] [2]
The group mainly focuses on the performance of Music from The Middle Ages, including Beneventan, Old Roman, Gallican, Carolingian, and Mozarabic Chants. However, the repertoire includes Renaissance polyphony, as well as more recent works.
The Ensemble was formerly based at Sénanque Abbey and Royaumont Abbey, France. Since 2001, it has shared facilities in the precinct of Moissac Abbey with the Itinerant Research Center on Ancient Music (Centre for Itinerant Research of Mediæval and Early Music).
In addition to musical performance, the Ensemble also works with musicologists and historians on musical research from this period.
The group mainly focuses on the performance of Music from The Middle Ages, including Beneventan, Old Roman, Gallican, Carolingian, and Mozarabic Chants. However, the repertoire includes Renaissance polyphony, as well as more recent works.
The Ensemble was formerly based at Sénanque Abbey and Royaumont Abbey, France. Since 2001, it has shared facilities in the precinct of Moissac Abbey with the Itinerant Research Center on Ancient Music (Centre for Itinerant Research of Mediæval and Early Music).
In addition to musical performance, the Ensemble also works with musicologists and historians on musical research from this period.
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