View source for Robertsbridge Codex

{{Short description|14th century music manuscript}}
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[[Image:Robertsbridgecodex fol44r.jpg|thumb|Folio No. 44 recto from the Robertsbridge Codex]]
The '''Robertsbridge Codex''' (1360) is a music manuscript of the 14th century.  It contains the earliest surviving music written specifically for keyboard.

The term codex is somewhat misleading: the musical section of the source comprises only two leaves, bound together with a larger manuscript from [[Robertsbridge]], [[East Sussex]], England.<ref>Caldwell, "Keyboard music: I.1."</ref>
It contains six pieces, three of them in the form of the ''[[estampie]]'', an Italian dance form of the [[Trecento]], as well as three arrangements of [[motet]]s.  Two of the motets are from the ''[[Roman de Fauvel]]''.  All of the music is anonymous, and all is written in [[tablature]].  Most of the music for the ''estampies'' is for two voices, often in parallel fifths, and also using [[hocket]] technique.  Most likely the instrument used to play the pieces in the Codex was the [[organ (music)|organ]].  Formerly the date of the Codex was presumed to be around 1330,<ref>Gilbert Reaney, ''Manuscripts of Polyphonic Music'' (c. 1320-1400), RISM B/IV/2 (Munich: Henle Verlag, 1969).</ref> but more recent research has suggested a later date, slightly after mid-century.<ref>E. H. Roesner: Introduction to ''Philippe de Vitry: Complete Works'' (Monaco, 1984)</ref>

The manuscript was considered Italian and connected to the main streams of the Italian [[Music of the Trecento|trecento]] in its contents and in its clear use of ''puncti divisionis'' (dots of division).  However, scholarly consensus now considers the source English.<ref>John Caldwell, "Sources of keyboard music to 1660: 2. Principal Individual Sources: (vi) British Isles", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed April 21, 2007), [http://www.grovemusic.com (subscription access)].</ref>

The Codex is in the [[British Library]] ([[Additional manuscripts|Add MS]] 28550) in London.

{{listen|filename=Estampie Retrove Robertsbridge.ogg|title=Estampie "Retrove"|description=From the Robertsbridge Codex, performed by Ulrich Metzner|format=[[Ogg]]}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [[John Gillespie (author)|John Gillespie]], ''Five Centuries of Keyboard Music.''  New York, Dover Publications, 1965/1972.  {{ISBN|0-486-22855-X}}

==External links==
* {{Commonscatinline}}
* [http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/MMDB/Mss/LOR.htm Medieval Music Database] (La Trobe University)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150324224237/http://www.kantoreiarchiv.de/archiv/organ/anonymus_engl/ Sheet music of Robertsbridge Codex estampies]
* [https://www.diamm.ac.uk/sources/386/#/ GB-Lbl Add. MS 28550], Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music, University of Oxford

{{Medieval music manuscript sources}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Medieval music manuscript sources]]
[[Category:British Library additional manuscripts]]
[[Category:Robertsbridge|Codex]]


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