¹ For music at Antwerp, see du Saar, J., Het leven en de composities van Jacobus Barbireau (Utrecht, 1946), pp. 5–21Google Scholar; Van den Nieuwenhuizen, J., ‘De koralen, de zangers en de zangmeesters van de Antwerpse O.-L.-Vrouwekerk tijdens de 15e eeuw’, Gouden jubileum gedenkboek van de viering van 50 jaar heropgericht knapenkoor van de Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekatedraal te Antwerpen (Antwerp, 1978), pp. 29–72Google Scholar; Forney, K. K., ‘Music, Ritual and Patronage at the Church of Our Lady, Antwerp’, Early Music History, 7 (1987), pp. 1–57CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The pay records of the Illustrious Confraternity of Our Lady at 's-Hertogenbosch provide a wealth of information on music and musical life in this establishment, and were published in transcription by Oldewelt, W. F. H., Rekeningen van de Illustere Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap (1330–1375) ('s-Hertogenbosch, 1925)Google Scholar; Smijers, A., De Illustere Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap te 's-Hertogenbosch (Amsterdam, 1932)Google Scholar, covering the period 1330–1500; Smijers, A., ‘De Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap te 's-Hertogenbosch’, Tijdschrift van de Vereeniging voor Nederlandsche Muziekgeschiedenis, 15 (1935), pp. 1–105Google Scholar [covering the period 1500–25]; 16 (1946), pp. 63–106 [1525–35] and 216 [1460–1]; 17 (1955), pp. 195–230 [1535–41]; Vente, M. A., ‘De Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap te 's-Hertogenbosch’, Tijdschrift van de Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis, 19 (1960–1963), pp. 32–43 and 163–72CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For general discussions on music at the confraternity in 's-Hertogenbosch, see Smijers, A., ‘Meerstemmige muziek van de Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap te 's-Hertogenbosch, 1541–1615’, Tijdschrift van de Vereeniging voor Nederlandsche Muziekgeschiedenis, 16 (1946), pp. 1–30Google Scholar; van Dijck, G. C. M., De Bossche optimaten: Geschiedenis van de Illustre Lieve Vrouwebroederschap te 's-Hertogenbosch, 1318–1973, Bijdragen tot de Geschiedenis van het Zuiden van Nederland 27 (Tilburg, 1973), pp. 51–3, 106–12 and 146–62Google Scholar. For music at the Confraternity of Our Lady at Bergen op Zoom, see Piscaer, A., ‘De zangers van het Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gilde te Bergen op Zoom’, Land van mijn hart, ed. Verberne, L. G. J. and Weynen, A. (Tilburg, 1952), pp. 70–81Google Scholar; Slootmans, K. (C. J. F.), ‘De Hoge Lieve Vrouw van Bergen op Zoom’, [Jaarboek van de] Oudheidkundige kring ‘De Ghulden Roos’, Roosendaal, 24 (1964), pp. 20–48Google Scholar; 25 (1965), pp. 193–233; 26 (1966), pp. 161–84.

² For Jacob Obrecht, Johannes Ghiselin and Paulus de Roda, see below. For Jheronimus and Nicasius de Clibano, see Smijers, , De Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap, pp. 116–56Google Scholar; Woodley, R., ‘Iohannes Tinctoris: A Review of the Documentary Biographical Evidence’, Journal of the American Musicological Society, 34 (1981), p. 230CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Strohm, R., Music in Late Medieval Bruges (Oxford, 1985), pp. 50 and 183Google Scholar; Forney, ‘Music, Ritual and Patronage’, pp. 37–8. For Hermannus de Atrio, who worked in 's-Hertogenbosch from 1493–4 to 1513–14, see Loyan, R., ‘Hermannus de Atrio’, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Sadie, S., 20 vols. (London, 1980), viii, p. 509Google Scholar, and D'Accone, F. A., ‘The Singers of San Giovanni in Florence during the 15th Century’, Journal of the American Musicological Society, 14 (1961), pp. 343–5CrossRefGoogle Scholar (perhaps related to the singers Jaspar de Atrio of Bruges and Johannes de Atrio of Rheims: see Strohm, op. cit., p. 182Google Scholar, and Pirro, A., ‘Obrecht à Cambrai’, Tijdschrift van de Vereeniging voor Nederlandsche Muziekgeschiedenis, 12 (1927), p. 80Google Scholar). For Jacobus Barbireau, see du Saar, op. cit., Van den Nieuwenhuizen, op. cit., Forney, op. cit., and Kooiman, E., ‘The Biography of Jacob Barbireau (1455–1491) Reviewed’, Tijdschrift van de Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis, 38 (1988), pp. 36–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Pierre de la Rue worked in 's-Hertogenbosch 1489/90–1491/2; see Smijers, , De Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap, pp. 187–92Google Scholar (‘heer Peteren van Straten ons tenorist’). Matthaeus Pipelare worked in Antwerp and was sangmeester in 's-Hertogenbosch in 1498–1500 (see Smijers, , De Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap, pp. 206–14Google Scholar). The priest Symon Britonis who worked as a ‘bovensenger’ in 's-Hertogenbosch in 1482–3 and 1483–4 (ibid.) is not to be identified with the singer and composer Simon le Breton, since the latter died in 1473 (cf. Fallows, D., ‘Simon’, The New Grove Dictionary, xvii, pp. 323–4Google Scholar).

³ For Brussels, see Haggh, B., ‘Music, Liturgy, and Ceremony in Brussels, 1350–1500’ (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1988)Google Scholar. I am indebted to Prof. Haggh for sending me the portions of her thesis that are relevant to Bergen op Zoom. The payment records of 1498–9 of the confraternity at 's-Hertogenbosch mention ‘the choirmaster of Diest, two choristers and another priest, also a singer’ (‘[den] sangmeester van Diest, twee coralen ende enen anderen her, oic senger’) who had come from Diest; see Smijers, , De Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap, p. 209Google Scholar.

⁴ This was Ercole i d'Este of Ferrara in a letter of 1476, see Fallows, D., ‘The Contenance angloise: English Influence on Continental Composers of the Fifteenth Century’, Renaissance Studies, 1 (1987), p. 189CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁵ See, for instance, Wright, C., ‘Antoine Brumel and Patronage at Paris’, Music in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Patronage, Sources and Texts, ed. Fenlon, I. (Cambridge, 1981), pp. 55–6Google Scholar.

⁶ Slootmans, C. J. F., Paas- en Koudemarkten te Bergen op Zoom, 1365–1565, Bijdragen tot de Geschiedenis van het Zuiden van Nederland 64 (Tilburg, 1985), 3 volsGoogle Scholar.

⁷ It is interesting to note that Bergen op Zoom was also visited by William Caxton in the early 1470s. In the City Accounts of 1474–5 (BOZ SA 245.2), I have found a payment to ‘meester William Caxton, as delegate of the King of England’ (‘meester Willeme Kaxton als gecommitteirde vanden Coninge van Ingelant’; fol. 70^r, January or February 1475) and in the City Accounts of 1475–6 again to ‘William Caxton and other delegates of the King of England’ (‘Willeme Caxtone ende anderen gedeputeirden vanden coninge van Ingelant’; BOZ SA 245.3, fol. 123^v, 8 April 1475).

⁸ Slootmans, C. J. F., Jan metten Lippen, zijn familie en zijn stad: Een geschiedenis der Bergen-op-Zoomsche heeren van Glymes (Rotterdam, 1945), pp. 14–15, 87–9Google Scholar.

⁹ de Kind, R., ‘De plaats van de Sint-Gertrudiskerk in het werk van Evert Spoorwater’, Bergen op Zoom gebouwd en beschouwd (Alphen aan den Rijn, 1987), pp. 138–57Google Scholar.

¹⁰ Slootmans, ‘De Hoge Lieve Vrouw’ (1964), pp. 21 and 34 n. 9.

¹¹ See Vente, M. A., Bouwstoffen tot de geschiedenis van het Nederlandse orgel in de 16e eeuw (Amsterdam, 1942)Google Scholar.

¹² For what is left of the chapter accounts, see Vente, M. A. and Vlam, C., eds., Bouwstenen voor een geschiedenis der toonkunst in de Nederlanden, 4 vols., ii (Amsterdam, 1971), pp. 49–50Google Scholar (covering the periods 1510/11–1518/19 and 1560/1–1569/70).

¹³ ‘Preterea accidentia in choro pluris quam duabis libris grossis estimantur, neque aliquid onus cantus nisi gregoriani tibi dabitur, tametsi boeticus modulos nosti. Discantui et coklibus docendis alius preest qui chorum sua arte decorat. Statum autem et cerimonias ecclesie Bergensis tute miraberis. Locum per omnia amenum intus et foris sicut forte bene nosti offendes. Bine apud nos nundine sunt: une hiemales, altere paschalis, mercatorum confluxus non modicus. Multi multotiens Brugenses Bergis adveniunt et e contra. Facilis ultro citroque transitus est, navium copia non deest, si fortassis navigandum tibi foret vel navigio aliquid aut adducendum aut reducendum. Denique de annona aut penu quid scribam? Omnia parvo emuntur’.; Meersseman, G. G., ‘L'épistolaire de Jean van den Veren et le début de l'humanisme en Flandre’, Humanistica Lovaniensa, 19 (1970), pp. 179–80Google Scholar. (I am indebted to Reinhard Strohm for drawing my attention to this letter, and to Eddie Vetter for helping me with the interpretation of the Latin text.)

¹⁴ Slootmans, ‘De Hoge Lieve Vrouw’ (1965), p. 213 n. 7. The documents are: BOZ R 285 fol. 125^r (16 June 1467), R 285 fol. 165^r (18 February 1468), and R 214 fol. 57^v (2 March 1470).

¹⁵ Edited in: Gülke, P., ed., Johannes Pullois: opera omnia, Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae 41 (n.p., 1967), p. 43Google Scholar; Hanen, M. K., ed., The Chansonnier El Escorial iv. a. 24, 3 vols. (Henryville, Ottawa and Binningen, 1983), in, pp. 382–4 (see also 1, pp. 94–5)Google Scholar. The chanson is ascribed to Jean Pullois in Trent, Museo Provinciale d'Arte, MS 90, fol. 344^v (So lang si mir in meinem synn). For the identification of ‘Braxator[is]’ as ‘Brauwere’, see Strohm, , Music in Late Medieval Bruges, p. 137Google Scholar. See also the accounts for 1450 of the Burgundian chapel, where Johannes Brevere is called ‘dit Brassatoris’ (Marix, J., Histoire de la musique et des musiciens de la cour de Bourgogne sous le règne de Philippe le Bon (Strasbourg, 1939, p. 250)Google Scholar.

¹⁶ BOZ R 301, fol. 44^r (11 May 1486).

¹⁷ ‘Vander missen op sente anthonis dach te solempniseren met discante, welke misse in sente anthonis choir voer de hootmisse gedaen waert; betailt den priestere die de misse celebreerde: vj groten; meestere willeme den sanghmeester met sijnen choralen: xviij groten; den organist metten blaser vij½groten. Van luydene xviij groten mitgaders der stad pijpers voir sente anthonis spelen xij groten, maict tsamen v sc. j½ den.br.’; BOZ SA 244 (SR 1472–3), fol. 39^v.

¹⁸ Slootmans, ‘De Hoge Lieve Vrouw’ (1966), pp. 161–3.

¹⁹ Forney, ‘Music, Ritual and Patronage’, pp. 10 and 52–4.

²⁰ This was heer Mathijs van Bergen, apparently a native of Bergen op Zoom; see Smijers, , De Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap, p. 144Google Scholar (accounts of 1470–1).

²¹ One reference to the payment of singers, in 1472–3, is in the accounts of the steward of the territory of Bergen op Zoom (BOZ ARR 648.3, fol. 23^v): ‘Item at the command of my lord [to] the countess's son [?] for singing the Lof of Our Lady, paid for the loten he had earned, 114 groats; and to the other singers from elsewhere to whom my dear lord himself gives the loten, paid in the last year 33 groats’ (‘Item ten bevele mijns heeren gravinnen soen van onser liever vrouwen loeve te singene na tloet dat hij gewonnen hadde betaelt ix sc. vj den.br. / den anderen sangers van buytten dien mijn lief heer tloet selve doet geven ende betaelt bynnen desen jaer betaelt noch. betaelt ij sc. ix den.gr.br.’). Caland, F., ‘Bergen op Zoom van 1412 tot 1613 (plus 1716)’, Bouwsteenen: Jaarboek der Vereeniging voor Noord-Nederlands Muziekgeschiedenis, 2 (1872–1874), pp. 189–93Google Scholar, a collection of extracts from the Bergen op Zoom city accounts, includes one from the now lost accounts of 1471–2; ‘Paid to meester Willem the choirmaster with his choristers, 18 groats; to the organist with the bellows pumper, and Jan van Oudenhoven, the cantor, 7.5 groats’ (‘Bet. mr. Willem de sangmeestere met sijnen choralen xviij gr.; de orghaniste metten blasere ende Jan van Oudenhoven den cantoer, vij½ gr.’, p. 190). Jan van Oudenhoven was still active as a singer in 1474–5, when he was inscribed as a member of the Confraternity of Our Lady at 's-Hertogenbosch: ‘Item heer Jan van Andehoven, canonic ende senger te Bergen opten Zoeme’; Smijers, , De Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap, p. 155)Google Scholar.

²² Slootmans, , Paas- en Koudemarkten, i, pp. 272–3Google Scholar. The ordinance of 31 December 1474 is transcribed in Slootmans, ‘De Hoge Lieve Vrouw’ (1964), p. 43.

²³ BOZ SA, inv. nos. 861.1–861.89 (OLV, covering the period 1480/1–1575/6; accounts of 1484–5, 1497–8, 1508/9–1510/11, 1512–13, 1532–3, and 1545–6 are missing).

²⁴ Based on Spufford, P., with Wilkinson, W. and Tolley, S., eds., Handbook of Medieval Exchange, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks 13 (London, 1986), pp. 217–23Google Scholar, where the values of the Venetian ducat are given in Flemish groats for the period 1370–1500. After the unification of the coinages of the Burgundian Netherlands in 1433–5 the Brabant groat was tied to the Flemish groat in a fixed relationship of 3 Brabant groats=2 Flemish groats. Hence, in order to arrive at the values in Figure 3b, all values in the Handbook of Medieval Exchange, pp. 222–3, have been multiplied by 1.5. The expenditure on music in 's-Hertogenbosch (Figure 3b), which is recorded in the accounts in rheinguldens, has been converted into Brabant currency at the fixed rate of 1 rheingulden=60 Brabant groats. Although by 1467 the rheingulden had officially become worth 63 Brabant groats, and by 1488 135 Brabant groats, ‘gulden’ still remained in use, into the sixteenth century, as the name of the pound of 40 Flemish groats (=60 Brabant groats), and it was treated as such in the accounts of both Bergen op Zoom and 's-Hertogenbosch.

²⁵ In his ordinance of 1489, Maximilian ordered new groats, stivers etc. to be struck whose intrinsic value (silver content) was three times that of the old ones (which had greatly devalued mainly as a result of Maximilian's own debasements in the 1480s). The silver content of the Brabant groat at once nearly trebled, from c. 0.167 to 0.499 grammes (cf. Scholliers, E., Loonarbeid en honger: De levensstandaard in de xve en xvie eeuw te Antwerpen (Antwerp, 1960), pp. 221–2)Google Scholar and so did its value expressed in Venetian ducats (see Figure 3b).

²⁶ The accounts of 1489–90 of the Confraternity of Our Lady at 's-Hertogenbosch are also divided into two sections, corresponding to the different values of the coinage, cf. Smijers, , De Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap, pp. 187–9Google Scholar.

²⁷ The effects of inflation (and revaluation) were of course particularly felt in the prices of goods imported from countries with strong, stable currencies, especially Italy. However, the standard of living was also falling in general in Brabant after c. 1475 (cf. Scholliers, , Loonarbeid en honger, pp. 124–6)Google Scholar.

²⁸ See the graph in Slootmans, , Paas- en Koudemarkten, i, pp. 286–7Google Scholar, which indicates the revenues of the Bergen op Zoom fairs, and the numbers of merchants attending the fairs, for the period 1481–1543.

²⁹ See Appendix 3 below, which indicates the average value of the loten distributed each year.

³⁰ Van Dijck, , De Bossche optimaten, pp. 107–8Google Scholar.

³¹ ‘Den selven heeren metten welken is overcomen vanden statweghen dat zy den dienst van sente anthoenis vanden yersten vesperen totten tweeden toe inclux tot allen getiden houden zullen met orghelen ende discante geliic men doet in anderen triplicen feesten ende hoochtijden betailt nu als in anderen voirgaenden rekeningen – xxv sc.’; BOZ SA 250.1 (SR 1487–8), fol. 73^v.

³² Slootmans, ‘De Hoge Lieve Vrouw’ (1965), p. 218 n. 83.

³³ ‘On the same [procession] day, given to meestere Jacobe the choirmaster of Antwerp, six gelten Rhine wine [=c. 16.5 litres] at the same price as above [i.e. 12 groats per gelte] makes 72 groats’ (‘Opten selven [ommeganck] dach geschoncken meestere Jacobe den sangmeestere van Antwerpen zesse ghelten rjns wijns ten prijse als voerscreven, facit vj sc.’; BOZ SA 253 (SR 1 March 1497–1 March 1498), fol. 38^r).

³⁴ ‘Paid to the choirmaster his wage for this year, according to custom: 1080 groats’ (‘Betaelt den sangmeester van zijnen loen vander jare nader costumen iiij lb. x sc.’; Antwerp, Cathedral Archive, Rekeningen van het Gilde van bet Onze Lieve Vrouwelof, 1487–1527, fol. 89^r).

³⁵ See, for a study of voice distributions in fifteenth-century choirs, Fallows, D., ‘Specific Information on the Ensembles for Composed Polyphony, 1400–1474’, Studies in the Performance of Late Mediaeval Music, ed. Boorman, S. (Cambridge, 1983), pp. 109–59Google Scholar.

³⁶ ‘dat de selve Trudo voertaen in alle missen daer inne men gheen orghele en behoeft soe verre hij mede singhet ende anders nyet participeren zal ende loon hebben metten anderen sanghers’ (Slootmans, ‘De Hoge Lieve Vrouw’ (1965), p. 219).

³⁷ See, for instance, BOZ SA 248 (SR 1479–80), fol. 47^r: ‘Paid to the singers here with their bishop of Holy Innocents' Day, at the command of the borgemeesters and scepenen, 144 groats’ (‘Den sangers alhier met hueren bisscop van alre kinderen daghe betailt ten bevele van borgemeesters ende scepenen xij sc.br.’).

³⁸ ‘Item paid at the command [of the lord] to Thoenken de Backer, chorister of Bergen [op Zoom], when he went to Zwolle, 60 groats’ (‘Item thoenken de backer chorael te bergen gegeven ten bevele als hy te zwolle wairt toech v sc.br.’); BOZ ARR 1774.10, fol. 105^r (29 May 1479).

‘Paid at the command etc. to heer Janne van Pepingen for having lodged in his house a little chorister, 81 groats’ (‘Heer Janne van pepingen van te hebben ghehouwen een choraelken tot zijnen huyse gegeven ten bevele etc. vj sc. ix den.’); BOZ ARR 1774.10, fol. 106^r (28 June 1479).

‘Also on the same day [3 December 1479] paid at the command etc. to Ghyskene the chorister of Diest when he went ill to his [parental] home 120 groats’ (‘Noch eodem die gegeven ten bevele etc. ghyskene den chorael van dyste als hy sieck thuys toech x sc.br’.); BOZ ARR 1774.11, fol. 118^r.

‘On 12 January [1480], paid to the mother of Ghyskene the chorister when she brought this same [Ghyskene] back to Bergen [op Zoom] 26 groats’ (‘xij Januarij der moeder van ghyskene den chorael als zij den selven wederomme te bergen bracht gegeven ij sc. vj den’.); BOZ ARR 1774.11, fol. 119^r.

‘Paid to meester Rombout, surgeon at Bergen [op Zoom], at the command etc., for having lodged [and treated?] Ghyskene the chorister of Diest for six months, 480 groats’ (‘Meester Rombout cyrurgijn te Bergen ten bevele etc. van des de selve gehouwen heeft in zijner cost ghyskene den chorael van dyeste een half jair ende bat betaelt ij lb.br’.); BOZ ARR 1774.11, fol. 124^r (October 1480).

³⁹ ‘ende van pampier verbesicht voer eenen sangbouc voer onse vrouwen vj sc’. (BOZ SA 861.2 (OLV 1481–2), fol. 4^v).

⁴⁰ In Bergen op Zoom the price of one riem of paper was 69 groats in 1478–9 and 1479–80, and probably also in 1480–1 (BOZ ARR 1774.10, fol. 102^v, and ARR 1774.11, fol. 118^r; ARR 649.1, fol. 36^v). In April 1480 the price had fallen slightly, to 68.5 groats (BOZ ARR 1774.11, fol. 120^v). In 1486–7, however, it had risen to 89 groats per riem (BOZ ARR 649.4, fol. 39^r), probably because of the inflation, since paper was generally bought from French paper manufacturers and hence was paid in French currency (cf. n. 27 above). In 1489–90 the price of one riem of paper was 180 groats in devalued money and 60 groats in revalued money (ARR 649.5, fol. 39^v). In Antwerp the price of one riem of paper was 72 groats in 1485–6, and 66 groats in 1484–5 and 1486–7 (Verlinden, C. and Craeybeckx, J., eds., Dokumenten voor de geschiedenis van prijzen en lonen in Vlaanderen en Brabant (xve–xviiie eeuw) (Bruges, 1959), p. 361)Google Scholar.

⁴¹ ‘Meester Jacob the choirmaster for paper for his songbooks, paid 18 groats. And for compiling an index, 3 groats’ (‘Meester Jacobe de sangmeester om papier tot zijnen sangboecken betailt xviij gr. Noch van eenen register te besien iij gr’.); BOZ SA 861.4 (OLV 1483–4), fol. 6^r;. The price of one boek of paper was usually 4.5 groats.

⁴² ‘Item paid to meester Nanno for copying the Mass of the Name of Jesus in the book of Our Lady 12 groats’ (‘Item meester nanno vander missen vanden naem Jhesus in onser vrouwen boeck te scriven betaelt xij gr. br’.); BOZ SA 861.15 (OLV 1496–7), fol. 16^v. This mass may have been composed by Jacob Obrecht, who worked at the Guild of Our Lady from between 24 June and 3 July 1497 onwards. Perhaps this was the Missa In nomine Yhesu (based on the Introit In nomine Jesu omne genuflectatur of the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus:) mentioned in two letters or Ercole d'Este's Milanese agent Manfredus de Manfredis dated 9 and 12 June 1504. See Staehelin, M., ‘Obrechtiana’, Tijdschrift van de Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis, 25 (1975), p. 15CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The ‘Jacomo’ mentioned in the letter was not the composer of the mass, but the scribe Jacopo Dini; see Staehelin, M., ‘Berichtigung und Ergänzung zu “Obrechtiana”’, Tijdschrift van de Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis, 26 (1976), pp. 41–2CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁴³ BOZ R 302, fol. 32^r (10 April 1487). The mass was funded by a portion of the interest of four homesteads in Bergen op Zoom, of which Dierick de Clerck had been the proprietor. No polyphony was specified in the bequest, but the endowment was large enough for a regular polyphonic service.

⁴⁴ ‘item omme te doen haelen tot Bergen een misse in dietscante voir die sengeren 8 st.’ (Smijers, , De Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap, p. 209)Google Scholar.

⁴⁵ ‘betaelt ole jacobssone schildere van onser liever vrouwen sangboeck te Mechelen te doen halene iv sc.br.’ (BOZ SA 861.39 (OLV 1525–6), fol. 24^v).

⁴⁶ A comprehensive study of the expenditure on music at the various musical institutions in Europe in the fifteenth century is very much needed, and would considerably add to our understanding of musical life in general, and certain aspects (e.g. the mobility of musicians) in particular. See, for a pioneering attempt, Lockwood, L., Music in Renaissance Ferrara 1400–1505 (Oxford, 1984), pp. 173–95Google Scholar.

⁴⁷ Wright, ‘Antoine Brumel’, p. 56.

⁴⁸ For literature on Jacob Obrecht at Bergen op Zoom, see Asberg, J., ‘Obrecht te Bergen op Zoom’, Taxandria: Tijdschrift voor Noordbrabantsche Geschiedenis en Volkskunde, 35 (1928), pp. 71–5Google Scholar; Juten, E. H. G. C. A., ‘Jacob Obrecht’, Annales du Congrès d'Anvers 1930, ed. Rolland, P., 2 vols., Fédération Archéologique et Historique de Belgique, 7th ser., 77 (Antwerp, 1930–1931), ii, pp. 441–51Google Scholar; Piscaer, A., ‘Jacob Obrecht’, Sinte Geertruydtsbronne: Driemaandelijks Tijdschrift Gewijd aan de Geschiedenis en Volkskunde van West-Brabant en Omgeving, 15 (1938), pp. 1–15Google Scholar; Juten, A. J. L., ‘Nog eens over Jacob Obrecht, de “sangmeester”’, Taxandria: Tijdschrift voor Noordbrabantsche Geschiedenis en Volkskunde, 48 (1941), pp. 263–9Google Scholar; Piscaer, A., ‘Jacob Obrecht: Geboortedatum en andere bijzonderheden’, Mens en Melodie, 7 (1952), pp. 329–33Google Scholar; van Hoorn, L. G., Jacob Obrecht (The Hague, 1968), pp. 32–68Google Scholar.

⁴⁹ For Obrecht at The Hague, see: de Haan, A. M. J., comp., Inventaris van het archief van de Heilige Geest en het Heilige Geesthohfje te 's-Gravenhage (The Hague, 1969)Google Scholar, Regesten 5,6, 24,40, 43, 101, 143, 189, 225; Inventaris 786; Sanders, J. G. M., comp., Inventaris van het archief van het Karthuiserklooster Het Hollandse Huis bij Geertruidenberg, Inventarisreeks 34 ('s-Hertogenbosch, 1984)Google Scholar, Regesten 81, 298, 343, 395–6, 470, 681, 724, 799, 815, 816, 865, p. 81; Lingbeek-Schalekamp, C., Overheid en muziek in Holland tot 1672 (Poortugaal, 1984), p. 212Google Scholar. For Delft, see Oosterbaan, D. P., De Oude Kerk te Delft gedurende de Middeleeuwen (The Hague, 1973), pp. 52 and 98 n. 120Google Scholar. For Gouda, see Oosterbaan, , op. cit., p. 336 n. 2Google Scholar. For Bergen op Zoom, see Piscaer, ‘Jacob Obrecht’ (1938), pp. 14–15. For Ghent, see de Keyzer, B., ‘Jacob Obrecht en zijn vader Willem: De Gentse relaties’, Mens en Melodie, 8 (1953), p. 318Google Scholar. For Ostend, see van der Straeten, E., La musique aux Pays-Ben avant le xixe siècle, 8 vols., iii (Brussels, 1875), p. 182Google Scholar. For Louvain, see Slootmans, ‘De Hoge Lieve Vrouw’ (1965), pp. 197 and 213 n. 9; Houtman, E., Inventaris van het oud archief van de stad Aalst (Brussels, 1974), p. 202Google Scholar.

⁵⁰ Piscaer, ‘Jacob Obrecht: Geboortedatum en andere bijzonderheden’.

⁵¹ A Willem Obrecht lived in The Hague in 1367–87 (De Haan, op. cit., Regesten 24, 40 and 43; Sanders, , op. cit., p. 81 and Regest 298Google Scholar). Anny Piscaer has traced a Willem Obrecht in Bergen op Zoom in 1401 (Piscaer, ‘Jacob Obrecht’ (1938), p. 14). Another Willem Obrecht in Bergen op Zoom was traced by Korneel Slootmans in documents of 1458 and 1464 (Slootmans, ‘De Hoge Lieve Vrouw’ (1965), pp. 197 and 214 n. 11). A Willem Obrecht was commissioner for Holland of the Jubilee Indulgence of 1450, and was prior of the monastery of Sion, near Delft, in 1450–75 (Oosterbaan, , op. cit., pp. 52 and 98 n. 120Google Scholar). Another Willem Obrecht of Delft studied at the University of Bologna in 1507 (Juten, ‘Nog eens over Jacob Obrecht’, pp. 265–9; Smijers, A., ‘Het motet “Mille quingentis” van Jacob Hobrecht’, Tijdschrift van de Vereeniging voor Nederlandsche Muziekgeschiedenis, 16 (1941), pp. 213–14)Google Scholar. At Gouda, a Willem Obrecht was rector of the local convent in 1460 (Oosterbaan, , op. cit., pp. 321 and 336 n. 2)Google Scholar. In 's-Hertogenbosch, a Willem Hubrecht was singer at the Illustrious Confraternity of Our Lady in 1511/12–1513/14 (Smijers, ‘De Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap’ (1935), pp. 75–80). For Willem Obrecht of Ghent, the composer's father, seen. 52 below.

⁵² De Keyzer, , op. cit., pp. 317–19Google Scholar.

⁵³ Ibid., p. 318. It is true, as Reinhard Strohm has pointed out to me, that noblemen were occasionally accompanied by trumpeters on pilgrimages to the Holy Land (see, for instance, Harrison, F. LI., Music in Medieval Britain (London, 1958), p. 222)Google Scholar, but John of Glymes's retinue was very small and included only prominent citizens of Bergen op Zoom (Slootmans, , Jan metten Lippen, p. 20)Google Scholar.

⁵⁴ One may perhaps assume poetic licence in view of the pun ‘Cecilie ad festum que ceciliam peragravit’ in the motet text.

⁵⁵ This is the Jacob Obrecht who was enrolled at Louvain University in 1470, and who was formerly believed to be the composer (further documentation on him is provided by Slootmans, ‘De Hoge Lieve Vrouw’ (1965), pp. 213–14 n. 9).

⁵⁶ See the survey in Murray, B., ‘Jacob Obrecht's Connection with the Church of Our Lady in Antwerp’, Revue Belge de Musicologie, 11 (1957), pp. 130–3CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Phonological research has revealed that the prothesis of h in words beginning with vowels was a uniquely Flemish habit; it occurs sporadically in Brabant sources, but only when these come from centres bordering on Flanders (e.g. Antwerp). See Berteloot, A., Bijdrage tot een klankatlas van het dertiende-eeuwse middelnederlands (Lengerich, 1983), p. 96 and map 141Google Scholar; van Loey, A.. Middelnederlandse spraakkunst, 2 vols., ii (7th edn, Groningen, 1976), pp.108–9 and 124–5Google Scholar.

⁵⁷ One argument that could perhaps be advanced in favour of origin in the region around Bergen op Zoom, however, is that Obrecht said his first Mass – or at least was paid for it – in Oudenbosch (Seen. 63 below), since it seems to have been usual for priests to say their first Masses in the places where they were born (I thank Willem Elders for pointing out this to me).

⁵⁸ ‘Cecilie ad festum que ceciliam peragravit/[c]oram idem orphei cum musis Jacobum generavit’; since ‘coram’ governs the ablative, it would seem that it cannot be referring to the genitive of ‘Orpheus’. However, Eddie Vetter has drawn my attention to the fact that in late medieval Latin ‘coram’ governed both the genitive and the ablative (see Fuchs, J. W., Weijers, O. and Gumbert, M., Lexicon latinitatis neerlandicae medii aevii/Woordenboek van het Middeleeuws Latijn van de Noordelijke Nederlanden, ii (Leyden, 1981)Google Scholar, col. cl 191, where an example of ‘coram’ taking the genitive [Zwolle, 1491] is quoted).

⁵⁹ De Keyzer, , op. cit., p. 318Google Scholar.

⁶⁰ Pirro, ‘Obrecht à Cambrai’, p. 78. Bergen op Zoom in Latin was ‘Bergae (ad Somam)’; the Latin form of Bergen (Mons) in Hainaut was ‘Montes’. According to Reinhard Strohm, ‘Bergae’ may also apply to Bergues-St-Winnoc in French Flanders (Strohm, , Music in Late Medieval Bruges, p. 152 n. 28)Google Scholar. Other fifteenth-century musicians called ‘de Bergis’ were Rubertinus de Bergis (Strohm, , op. cit., p. 182)Google Scholar and the composer Cornelis Rigo de Bergis (Kessels, L., ‘The Brussels/Tournai-Partbooks: Structure, Illumination, and Flemish Repertory’, Tijdschrift van de Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis, 37 (1987), pp. 97–100)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁶¹ BOZ ARR 1774.1–1774.11 (covering the period 1461/2–1479/80). This manuscript was kept until 1949 in The Hague, Algemeen Rijksarchief, Eerste afdeling, Commissie van Breda (no. 473). See van Ham, W. A., Inventaris van de archieven van de road en rekenkamer van de markiezen van Bergen op Zoom, Inventarisreeks 25, 5 vols. ('s-Hertogenbosch, 1980), ii, p. 315Google Scholar.

⁶² Slootmans, , Jan metten Lippen, p. 68Google Scholar.

⁶³ ‘xxiij eqd. M. Jacop den sangmeestere gegeven op zijn yeeste misse ten bevele etc. xx sc.br.’ (BOZ ARR 1774.11, fol. 121^r).

⁶⁴ On 23 May 1479 heer Willeme van Nyspen received 156 groats on his first Mass (BOZ ARR 1774.10, fol. 105^r). Meester Anthoenis Peck received 87 groats on his first Mass on 16 April 1480, just one week before Obrecht received his 240 groats (BOZ ARR 1774.11, fol. 120^v).

⁶⁵ ‘Meester Jacop den sangmeestere van iiij missen te hebben gesongen inde sinxen daghe betaelt xij sc.br’. (BOZ ARR 1774.11, fol. 121^v).

⁶⁶ Compare, for instance, the following payment for the celebration of St Anthony's day in the city accounts of 1474–5, with the one of 1472–3 quoted in note 17 above: ‘Vander missen opten voirscreven sente anthonis dach te doen ende te solempniseren met discante welke misse in sente anthonis choir voer de hootmisse gedaen wordt betailt voir den priester die die [misse] gesongen heeft [in 1472/3: den priestere die de misse celebreerde], voer de sangeren choralen voer den organiste metten blaser tsamen iiij sc.j½ gr. Ende den tromper opten voirscreven dach van siinen arbeyde betailt xij gr. facit tsamen – v sc.j½ gr.br’. (my italics); BOZ SA 245.2 (SR 1474–5), fol. 93^r.

⁶⁷ See note 17 above; see also e.g. BOZ SA 248 (SR 1479–80), fol. 47^v (‘uutgenomen mijnen heren den deken ende den priestere de hoomisse zingende elken xij gr’.), and BOZ SA 250.2 (SR 1488–9), fol. 195^r (‘den priester die de misse zanck vj gr’.).

⁶⁸ This assumption goes back to the paper of 1930 of E. H. G. C. A. Juten (‘Jacob Obrecht’, p. 445), who stated that the various expenses for choirboys in BOZ ARR 1774.10 and 1774.11 (seen. 38 above) gave him reason to suspect the presence of a choirmaster (and hence of Obrecht) in Bergen op Zoom as early as 1479. Now that it is known that Willem de Brouwer was choirmaster of the guild before Obrecht, there is no longer a basis for Juten's assumption.

⁶⁹ ‘Meester Jacobe the choirmaster to whom loten are also granted, besides the 720 groats which he had [earned], which are separated from his earnings after [the feast of] St John, when the [new] payment started, each loot 3 groats, [together] makes 117 groats’ (‘Meester Jacobe den sangmeester die oic loot geconsenteert is voer de iij lb. die hij hadde die afgesneden zijn by hem verdient post Johannis dat zijn wedde verscheen elc loot iij gr. facit ix sc. ix den.br’.); BOZ SA 861.2 (OLV 1481–2), fol. 3^r.

⁷⁰ During his brief tenure at Cambrai (September 1484–October 1485), for instance, Obrecht had already written enough ‘books of music which he is said to have compiled’ (‘libris cantus quos composuisse asseritur’), for the chapter of the cathedral to accept them, faute de mieux, as a settlement of his debts (Pirro, ‘Obrecht à Cambrai’, p. 79). And in 1501–2, the Guild of Our Lady at Antwerp bought four quires of paper ‘which meester Jacob the choirmaster needs for writing masses in’ (Forney, ‘Music, Ritual and Patronage’, p. 39 n. 98). Since four quires contain 96 sheets (192 folios), Obrecht could have copied at least twelve (and probably copied more) masses in them. And one can only wonder of what size and importance the ‘sangboek in discante’ must have been for which the same guild paid him a sum equalling one annual salary (1440 groats), later in the same year (ibid.). In his Dodekachordon (Basel, 1542), Heinrich Glarean twice pointed to Obrecht's extraordinary productivity as a composer (my translation): ‘Which composer has not sometime attempted [to write] the Salutation of the Holy Virgin in the [Dorian] mode, and this frequently in competition with others? In this type of contest Jacob Obrecht gladly competed, for in productivity he surpassed all the singers of his generation – which he seems to have wanted to demonstrate in the Missa Hercules Dux Ferrarie [sic] – for whatever [material] he tried to set, it became a composition, as he said’ (p. 296); ‘Moreover, he is said to have possessed such quickness of invention and abundance of creativity, that he composed in one night an excellent mass, at which [feat] learned men were astonished’ (p.456).

⁷¹ Lockwood, , Music in Renaissance Ferrara, pp. 162–3Google Scholar.

⁷² Edited in Maas, C. J., gen. ed., New Obrecht Edition, vol. 2 (Utrecht, 1984), pp. 1–31Google Scholar. For the date of MS k.i.2, see D'Accone, F. A., ‘A Late 15th-Century Sienese Sacred Repertory: MS k.i.2 of the Biblioteca Comunale, Siena’, Musica Disciplina, 37 (1983), pp. 121–70, esp. p. 146Google Scholar.

⁷³ Cf. Pirro, ‘Obrecht à Cambrai’.

⁷⁴ The chapter accounts say that Obrecht resigned (‘recedat’), but do not indicate whether he was actually forced to resign. The composer had already accepted the post of succentor at St Donatian in Bruges by 23 June 1485 (when the chapter of that church asked Aliamus de Groote to fill the post until the arrival of Obrecht, who had promised to leave Cambrai soon; cf. E. H. G. C. A. Juten, ‘Jacob Obrecht’, p. 446; further details in Strohm, , Music in Late Medieval Bruges, pp. 38–9)Google Scholar. A month later, on 27 July 1485, the Cambrai accounts give evidence of discontent with Obrecht's work as magister puerorum: the choristers had contracted scabies, ‘which is not otherwise seen’, and the chapter instructed the composer to look after them better. Obrecht's resignation followed three months later; it was only after the discharge that the chapter found out that he had embezzled funds (Pirro, ‘Obrecht à Cambrai’, p. 79). Although the composer was clearly a disappointment as master of the choristers, it is difficult to conclude from the available evidence that he was actually dismissed.

⁷⁵ E. H. G. C. A. Juten, ‘Jacob Obrecht’, p. 446; Strohm, , Music in Late Medieval Bruges, pp. 38–41Google Scholar.

⁷⁶ For this and what follows, see Murray, B., ‘New Light on Jacob Obrecht's Development: A Biographical Study’, The Musical Quarterly, 43 (1957), pp. 500–16Google Scholar; Van Hoorn, , Jacob Obrecht, pp. 69–106Google Scholar; Lockwood, L., ‘Music at Ferrara in the Period of Ercole i d'Este’, Studi Musicali, 1 (1972), pp. 112–13 and 127–9Google Scholar; Lockwood, , Music in Renaissance Ferrara, pp. 163–4Google Scholar. Obrecht first met Duke Ercole i d'Este of Ferrara at Godÿ (almost certainly Goito, c. 15 km north-west of Mantua), from which place Ercole wrote the letter of 1 December 1487 to his wife (printed in Murray, ‘New Light’, p. 510). Obrecht and Ercole left Gody for Mantua on 2 December 1487 and planned to arrive in Ferrara on 5 December. From Mantua Ercole sent the first letter concerning Obrecht's benefices to his papal agent Bonfrancesco Arlotti (Lockwood, ‘Music at Ferrara’, p. 112). On the letters from Bergen op Zoom to Bruges and vice versa, see E. H. G. C. A. Juten, ‘Jacob Obrecht’, p. 447.

⁷⁷ Item meestere Jacop de sangmeestere die hier ghecomen was ghegeven bij borghemeersters ende scepenen sekere loet van. i. brasp. elck stuck facit vij sc. vj den.’; BOZ SA 861.6 (OLV 1487–8), fol. 5^r.

⁷⁸ Obrecht was forced by the chapter to resign, but the reasons are unclear; ‘it was decided that the succentor Jacobus Obrecht was to be given his leave if he would not ask his leave himself … And that Father de Hoya should persuade him that, for the sake of his honesty and honour, he had better come to the chapter to ask his leave, rather than being told so by the lords [of the chapter]’ (‘conclusum fuit quod succentor Jacobus Obrecht licentiaretur nisi de se ipso licentiam capiat et petat … Et quod pater de Hoya inducat magistrum Jacobum ut potius veniat in capitulo et licentiam capiat et petat propter honestatem et honorem suum quam quidem licentiaretur a dominis’); chapter acts of St Donatian, 26 May 1490. I am indebted to Reinhard Strohm for providing me with a transcription of the account.

⁷⁹ Murray, ‘Jacob Obrecht's Connection’; Forney, ‘Music, Ritual and Patronage’, pp. 42–4. Elly Kooiman assumes that there were two, possibly three, interim choirmasters between Barbireau and Obrecht in 1491–2 (‘The Biography of Jacob Barbireau’, pp. 39–41), but this seems unlikely. Barbireau died on 7 August 1491, more than six weeks after the beginning of the financial year 1491–2 (24 June 1491). Hence, unless poor health prevented him from working, he must have held the post during this six-week period (being the first of the three choirmasters for whom payment was recorded on 24 June 1492). Barbireau was apparently still in good health by 24 June 1491, when he received his full annual salary for the preceding financial year. Since he died relatively young (at the age of thirty-five or thirty-six) it seems likely that his death was due to an accident or a sudden disease. The third of the three choirmasters of 1491–2 was probably Obrecht, as Kooiman observes: on 24 June 1492 he was described as ‘the present choirmaster’ (‘de sanghmester dye nu is’; ibid., p. 41). This leaves only one interim choirmaster.

⁸⁰ ‘Ende uut bevele vanden heeren tsijnen aencomen hem gegeven eenen davits gulden facit vj sc. iij den.’; BOZ SA 861.15 (OLV 1496–7), fol. 12^v.

⁸¹ The city accounts of 1 March 1497–1 March 1498 record the payment of two amen Rhine wine (c. 275 litres) to ‘Eertshertoghe Philipse’ on 24 July 1497 (BOZ SA 253, fol. 39^r). Two days later the following payment was recorded: ‘On the same day [26 July 1497], given to the singers of Duke Philip's chapel nine gelten Rhine wine [c. 24.75 litres] at the same price as above, 108 groats’ (‘Opten selven dach geschoncken den sangeren van hertoghe philips capelle ix gelten ryns wyns ten prijse als voeren ix Sc.’); BOZ SA 253, fol. 39^v. The accounts of the Guild of Our Lady of 1496–7 contain the following entry: ‘And also at the [same] command as above [i.e. of the borgemeesters and scepenen], paid to the singers of Duke Philip because they helped sing the Lof, together 97.5 groats’ (‘Ende desgelijcx uut bevele als voeren hertoghe philips sangeren om dat sy dloff mede halpen singen geschonken tsamen viij sc.j½ den.’); BOZ SA 816.15 (OLV 1496–7), fol. 13^r. Philip the Fair also visited Bergen op Zoom on 26 October 1496, for a meeting of the Order of the Golden Fleece (Slootmans, , Jan metten Lippen, p. 115)Google Scholar.

⁸² There is, however, a curious payment to Obrecht in the city accounts of 1498–9, dating 3 May 1498, which on the face of it seems to suggest that the composer was absent for some time in 1498: ‘On the same day [3 May 1498], given to meestere Jacobe Obrechts with a certain singer from elsewhere six gelten Rhine wine [c. 16.5 litres], makes 72 groats’ (‘Opten zelven dach geschoncken meestere jacobe obrechts met sekeren sangheren van buyten zesse gelten ryns wyns facit vj sc.’); BOZ SA 254 ( SR 1498–9), fol. 36^v. If this payment was made in reward of services rendered on the Holy Cross procession, as seems likely, it is curious that Obrecht is mentioned separately in the chapter containing miscellaneous payments (and not, as are the regular participants, in the chapter ‘Vanden Cruyscosten’, which contains the expenses for the feast of the Holy Cross). Also, the fact that the payment was made to Obrecht together with a foreign singer suggests that the two musicians came from elsewhere.

⁸³ ‘Item meestere jacobe obrechts voer syn loot tot c xliiij looten toe elck loot vj gr. facit iij lb. xij sc.br.’; BOZ SA 861.16 (OLV 1498–9), fol. 12^r.

⁸⁴ See the entry of 31 December 1498 in the chapter acts of St Donatian, Van der Straeten, , op. cit., p. 185Google Scholar.

⁸⁵ Hence there is no reason to suppose that Obrecht suffered from poor health in 1497–8. The first concrete evidence of severe illness dates from September 1500, when the composer is described in the chapter acts of St Donatian as ‘gravi aegritudine laborante’ (Van der Straeten, , op. cit., pp. 185–7)Google Scholar. According to Piscaer, Obrecht also suffered from poor health in Antwerp in 1492–7 (‘Jacob Obrecht’ (1938), pp. 11–12), but the evidence she adduces is not conclusive.

⁸⁶ Seen. 74 above.

⁸⁷ Segovia, Archivo Capitular de la Catedral, MS s.s., fols. 78^v–81^r. See Smijers, A., ‘Twee onbekende Motetteksten van Jacob Hobrecht’, Tijdschrift van de Vereeniging voor Nederlandsche Muziekgeschiedenis, 16 (1941), pp. 130–3Google Scholar; Murray, ‘Jacob Obrecht's Connection’, p. 129; Dunning, A., Die Staatsmotette 1480–1555 (Utrecht, 1970), pp. 14–17Google Scholar; Nagle, M. E., ‘The Structural Role of the Cantus Firmus in the Motets of Jacob Obrecht’ (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1972), pp. 152–87Google Scholar. The character of a letter of application is especially marked in the second and third sections of the motet, which in Nagle's translation run as follows (op. cit., p. 155; emended here after the original text): ‘Well then, because of your fatherliness which is so great, I always sound forth [your] praises in my songs, jubilating, not as I should, but as I am able to. And I humbly offer this present page, put together in a crude style of harmony, for the praise of God and your comfort. For what else I can give you now as a service, I do not know. You have no need of money, and you are rich in insight and understanding. You enjoy prosperity and joy; you rejoice in tranquillity and peace; you are being praised among those who honour dignity. Be strong in your fight. Therefore accept this present musical song, and me, Jacob Obrecht, your very humble servant, benevolently and with good will. Command and rule happily and long’. I suggest that Obrecht wrote Inter praeclarissimas virtutes in 1487, after hearing of the reputation which he enjoyed with Duke Ercole i d'Este, and that he sent it to him in an attempt to obtain a position in Ferrara. The motet is immediately followed in Segovia s.s. by Mille quingentis of 1488.

⁸⁸ Lockwood, , Music in Renaissance Ferrara, pp. 207–10Google Scholar. Richard Sherr (private communication, 1 August 1989) has discovered that Obrecht died before 1 August 1505, the date of two supplications, preserved in the Vatican Archives, for benefices that had become vacant on the composer's death. Two other supplications, dated 30 September 1505, imply that Obrecht may have been a member of the chapel of Pope Julius n, probably between November 1503 and September 1504. I am indebted to Prof. Sherr for sharing this material with me in advance of its publication. A ‘Jacobus Obrechs’ is mentioned in an obituary of St Goedele, Brussels, in 1507 (Haggh, ‘Music, Liturgy, and Ceremony’, p. 640). In a private communication dated 25 February 1989, Prof. Haggh wrote to me: ‘It is always possible that the composer had some association with the church that is not mentioned by the documents and that he endowed an obit in Brussels, but I did see most of the documents from that period in the St Goedele archives and did not find any other mention of Obrechs.’ Possibly, as Prof. Haggh adds, his name will, in due course, turn up in one of the more than ten thousand Brussels charters from this period.

⁸⁹ ‘On the twenty-first day of September [1494], given to the singers of the church [of St Gertrude] for the Mass of the Holy Ghost, which they sang when my lord was to be inaugurated, 6 gelten, makes 90 groats’ (‘Opten xxien dach septembris gesconcken den zangers van der kerken van der missen van den heyligen gheest die zij zongen als men mijnen heer hulden soude vj gelten maict vij sc. vj den’.); BOZ SA 252 (SR 1494–5), fol. 186^r. At the meetings of the Order of the Golden Fleece polyphonic Masses of the Holy Ghost were also performed; see Prizer, W. F., ‘Music and Ceremonial in the Low Countries: Philip the Fair and the Order of the Golden Fleece’, Early Music History, 5 (1985), pp. 113–52CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁹⁰ See John iii's biography in Slootmans, , Jan metten Lippen, pp. 48–56 and 107–309Google Scholar.

⁹¹ ibid, p. 201.

⁹² Peeters, C. J. A. C., ‘Het Nieuwe Werk als het bijna mogelijke’, Bergen op Zoom gebouwd en beschouwd, pp. 157–69Google Scholar.

⁹³ See Piscaer, ‘De Zangers van het Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gilde’, pp. 74–5 and 149.

⁹⁴ Smijers, ‘De Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap’ (1935), pp. 66–73.

⁹⁵ Van der Straeten, , op. cit. vii (Brussels, 1885), pp. 107–8, 144–5, 151, 153, 156, 178, 268–9 and 496–7Google Scholar; Prizer, , op. cit., p. 126Google Scholar.

⁹⁶ Gottwald, C., Johannes Ghiselin – Johannes Verbonnet (Wiesbaden, 1962)Google Scholar.

⁹⁷ ‘Also to the same [choirmaster] for singing the Ave Maria with the choristers when the bell is ringing during the Lof, 360 groats’ (‘noch den selven voer ave maria metten coralen te singene als de clocke int loff clipt xxx sc.br’.); BOZ SA 861.13 (OLV 1494–5), fol. 10^r.

⁹⁸ ‘Ende opten generael processie avont als de sangeren organiste ende stadtpijpers sekere motetten inden nacht songen ende speelden met beyarden ende luyen sonder dat de kerke daertoe oic geeft betaelt iiij sc.br.’; BOZ fol. 13^r.

⁹⁹ Slootmans, , Paas- en Koudemarkten, i, p. 14Google Scholar.