Chansonnier De L Arsenal, Manuscript Analysis

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With special interest in medieval French secular repertory, this paper analyzes a page of manuscript selected from the manuscript Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, Manuscript 5198, (Trouvère V, or Chansonnier de l'Arsenal). The manuscript was made for the royal family of Navarre around sometime between 1301 and 1325. This manuscript has a physical dimension of 312x220mm, and a total of 420 pages bound in green leather with gold gilded letters . Each parchment has two columns of contents with text and notated music. The page number is not indicated in folio numbers followed by recto or verso, but rather in Arabic numbers. The manuscript overall is preserved in good condition, and contains an extraordinary number of songs classified by authors, whose name is written in the margin in red circles before each song.
Folio 1 of Chansonnier de l'Arsenal is “Amors me fet conmencier,” a trouvère composition by the king of Navarre. …show more content…

The chansonnier included over fifty pages of Thibaut’s songs, followed by almost forty of those of Gace, who was a knight. The list descends in social rank, ending with mostly bourgeois trouvères, followed by lesser-known figures with only one or two songs each. According to O'Neill, the order in which trouvères appear and the amount of pages devoted to each in many chansonniers clearly indicates their perceived importance .
It is not a surprise that Thibaut's music captivated people. Thibaut’s prominence suggests he was not a minor figure, and in fact had great power. He was also a character who generated gossip and fascination, which is why his music has potential interest for audiences . These legends added to his fame, and in turn, it seems that they created public interest in his

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