Tijdschrift van de Koninklijke Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis - Volume 73, Issue 1, 2023

The Pontifical of Saint Mary’s (Utrecht, ca. 1450) is seen as one of the northern Low Countries’ most important manuscripts due its lavish decoration scheme and the turbulent period of its creation: a bishop’s book made during the dramatic conflict over the Utrecht succession, the ‘Utrecht Schism’. Next to its manifold illuminations, the pontifical features a wide array of liturgical chants, not explored before. Amongst these chants is a considerable number of unique textual and melodic variants. Remarkable examples are analysed in closer detail and brought into comparison with sources from all over Europe. The exploration makes clear that the Pontifical’s melodic variations provide clues for the manuscript’s unknown origins, its relation to older and contemporaneous sources, its use, and its possible owner.