The Liturgical Use and Chant Tradition of Évora Cathedral from a Fragment of a Thirteenth-Century Antiphoner

Abstract

This article consists of a case study on a fragment of an antiphoner. In order to determine the fragment’s hypothetical dating, origin, and liturgical affiliation, its contents – including the type of notation, script and decoration, and choice of texts – are described and analysed. Furthermore, a brief summary of the current knowledge on the liturgical use of Évora Cathedral is provided as to clarify the context which emerges from the proposed analysis. Lastly, a first approach to the used melodic idiom and its possible origin is provided by means of a comparative transcription and study of a number of pieces in this fragment, as well as selected sources representing Aquitanian, Aquitanian-Iberian, and central- and north-eastern French chant traditions.