Weird And Wonderful Illustrated Letters From A 16th Century Songbook

Visual highlights from a Bruges merchant's books of songs

The Songbook of Zeghere van Male contains local and international 500 year old songs and motets. Made in 1542, the 1200-page long book is rich in illuminations, depicting ornamental and historiated initials and interlinear drawings not necessarily related to its content.

Also known by its call number MS 125-128 in Cambrai’s Mediathèque Municipale, the late Medieval work consists of four complementary part-books: Superius, Altus, Tenor, & Bass. And each part features bizarre, amusing and scatological illustrated letters.

 

Chansonnier de Zeghere van Male

 

The word was owned and commissioned by Zeghere van Male (1504-1601), a Bruges merchant dealing in linen, yarns and dyes. Also a politician, writer and cultured member of the well-to-do bourgeoisie, he is credited with not only preserving an extensive music repertory – 229 compositions, including 13 masses, 2 mass fragments, 64 motets, 125 French secular pieces, 9 Flemish secular pieces, 3 Italian secular pieces, 12 textless pieces by the best composers of the time – but providing an extraordinary backdrop of illustrations.

 

Chansonnier de Zeghere van Male

Chansonnier de Zeghere van Male

Chansonnier de Zeghere van Male

Chansonnier de Zeghere van Male Chansonnier de Zeghere van Male

Medieval art

Medieval art
Medieval art Medieval art Medieval art

Via: BVMM and Bibliothèque Universitaire de Cambrai. Volume 1 / Volume 2 / Volume 3 Volume 4

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