YEARBOOK OF THE ALAMIRE FOUNDATION

DRINKING MOTETS IN MEDIEVAL ARTOIS AND FLANDERS 13
cians, who were the wealthiest inhabitants of Ghent. 10 At the same time, the motetus
A la cheminee describes those pleasures that help ward off the cold of January. 11 The
French tenor uses the melody of the first two words of the gradual Propter veritatem,
which was sung at Mass in many medieval churches at the Assumption and other
feasts of Mary and virgin saints. It translates the first two words of the Latin chant
Propter veritatem as Par verité and continues with a testimonial to the superiority of
Rhine wines over those from France and Auxerre. There was a strong connection
between Ghent and Rhine wine, for Ghent merchants went to Rhine cities to exchange
their cloth for wine. 12 Therefore, it seems natural for the motet poet to praise Rhine
wine. By French wines would have been understood those from the Ile-de-France,
including not only Paris, but territory extending from Beauvais and Laon in the north
to Melun, Orléans and Sens in the south. 13 Auxerre was renowned for its wine during
the Middle Ages, although it has lost most of its viniculture since then. 14
As Edward Roesner has argued convincingly, the Wolfenbüttel manuscript preserves
this motet in its earliest known form. 15 In a later version, that of the manuscript
Montpellier, Bibliothèque Interuniversitaire de Médecine, H196, the chauvinism is
reversed as the tenor extolls French wines over those from the Rhône (roinnas) and
Auxerre. 16 The triplum poem about the those of Ghent (Mout sont vallant) is replaced
by one expressing courtly love (Ainc voir d’amors) and a fourth voice (Chanconnete
va t’en) having a pastoral theme is added above. The manuscript Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek,
Lit. 115 (olim Ed.IV.6) presents an even later and unbiased three-voice
version with the tenor singing only the Latin word Veritatem. 17
10 MS W2, fols. 212v–213r. This hypothesis is advanced in D. LIEVOIS and M. WOLINSKI, Mout sont
vallant cil de Gant – Een motet ter ere van de Gentse erfachtige lieden in het midden van de 13de eeuw,
in Handelingen der Maatschappij voor Geschiedenis en Oudheidkunde te Gent, nieuwe reeks, 56 (2002),
pp. 35-51.
11 The text is edited in STIMMING, Die altfranzösischen Motette, pp. 81–82. The music is transcribed
in TISCHLER, The Earliest Motets, 2, pp. 977–979. For a new edition and detailed study see LIEVOIS
and WOLINSKI, Mout sont vallant cil de Gant.
12 H. NOWÉ, La Bataille des Eperons d’or, Brussels, 1945, p. 12.
13 G. GARRIER, Histoire sociale et culturelle du vin, suivie de Les mots de la vigne et du vin, Paris, 1998,
p. 59.
14 GARRIER, Histoire sociale et culturelle du vin, pp. 697-698.
15 E.H. ROESNER, Review of H. Tischler, The Earliest Motets (to circa 1270): A Complete Comparative
Edition, in Early Music History, 4 (1984), pp. 362-375.
16 See the edition in: H. TISCHLER, The Montpellier Codex, vol. 1, Madison, 1978, pp. 50–51; and vol.
4, transl. S. STAKEL and J.C. RELIHAN, Madison, 1985, p. 6. For a complete facsimile of the manuscript,
together with musical edition and commentary see Y. ROKSETH, Polyphonies du XIIIe siècle:
Le Manuscrit H 196 de la Faculté de Médecine de Montpellier, Paris, 1935–1939.
17 See the edition in G.A. ANDERSON, Compositions of the Bamberg Manuscript, Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek,
Lit. 115 (olim Ed.IV.6), (Corpus mensurabilis musicae, 75), Neuhausen – Stuttgart, 1977,
p. 16, and the translation by R.E. SMITH, p. lxxx. For a complete facsimile and edition of the manuscript
see P. AUBRY, Cent motets du XIIIe siècle, publiés d’après le manuscript Ed.IV.6 de Bamberg,
Paris, 1908.