YEARBOOK OF THE ALAMIRE FOUNDATION

DRINKING MOTETS
IN MEDIEVAL ARTOIS AND FLANDERS
Mary E. Wolinski
Western Kentucky University
Most French motets of the thirteenth century are about courtly love and pastoral
amorous adventures. However, a few of them deal with the pleasures of eating,
drinking, gambling and the company of women. These hedonistic motets have a special
historical importance because they describe life in the Middle Ages and particularly
the lives of those connected with their creation. Some motets, for example, make
chauvinistic statements, especially in regard to beverages. This can help to reveal the
identity of the poet or patron.
This article will demonstrate that such motets on the ‘good life’ also provide
hints about the origin of the manuscript Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek,
Codex Guelferbytanus 1099 Helmstadiensis (henceforth abbreviated as MS W2).
Dating roughly from the mid-thirteenth century, 1 W2 is a comprehensive collection of
polyphonic compositions, including liturgical organa, conductus, religious and moralistic
Latin motets, and entertaining French motets. Indeed, it is among the earliest
known anthologies of French motets. Much of its sacred Latin repertory comes from
the Magnus liber organi, which was composed by Leonin and Perotin and sung in
Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris since the late twelfth century. W2 is generally thought
to be French, however, its exact origin and destination have long remained unknown.
This study is one step in attempting to identify its patron. We will translate and interpret
certain motets whose meanings are crucial to this venture.
Of over one hundred French motets in the Wolfenbüttel manuscript, only four
concern food and drink. They are copied in the ninth fascicle, which contains French
three-voice motets in which each voice has a different text. It is probably not a coincidence
that the gustatory motets are organized in a way that distinguishes them from
the majority of pieces, which are about courtly love and pastoral adventures. The four
motets are ordered in two pairs. The first pair, on folios 197v–198v, appears near the
beginning of the ninth fascicle, while the second pair, on folios 212v–214r, was copied
later in the same fascicle.
1 For a discussion of its date and notation see T. PAYNE, Les Organa à deux voix du Manuscrit de
Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek, Cod. Guelf. 1099 Helmst., (Le Magnus liber organi de Notre-
Dame de Paris, 6A-B), Les Remparts – Monaco, 1996, pp. xxiii–xxiv, xxxvii–li, lxvii–lxviii, lxxx–xciii.
For a complete facsimile see L.A. DITTMER, Facsimile Reproduction of the Manuscript Wolfenbüttel
1099 (1206), (Publications of Mediaeval Musical Manuscripts, 2), Brooklyn, 1960.
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