| dc.description.abstract | If no copies had survived of ‘þe proporcions’, the assumption might have been that the audience for Boethian music theory in fifteenth-century England was scholarly, clerical, and Latinate. The discovery of a third copy of this Middle English translation of a Latin proportion treatise, in a miscellaneous collection of writings in Dublin, Trinity College MS 516, expands our understanding of the reach of Boethius' De institutione musica. Trinity MS 516 originally belonged to John Benet, vicar of Harlington in Bedfordshire, England. By examining the newly discovered version of the treatise in Benet's miscellany alongside the copies in London, British Library, Lansdowne MS 763 and in New York, Pierpont Morgan, MS B.12, a picture starts to emerge of music theory readers outside of elite institutions of learning, with variable kinds of literacy. This study provides the first comparative analysis of all three versions of ‘þe proporcions’ and an assessment of its circulation. As the earliest example of a treatise on Boethian proportions in Middle English, ‘þe proporcions’ offers an unparalleled opportunity to gain insight into the circulation of speculative music theory in late medieval England. Chapter One provides an intellectual context for ‘þe proporcions’, seeing it as a noteworthy offshoot from the dominant Latin transmission of ancient Greek music theory through the tradition of musica speculativa. It draws on recent 'cultural' approaches in translation studies to assess the unusual place ‘þe proporcions’ occupies within the Boethian tradition. Speculative music theory texts in Middle English have been little examined, partly because of the far wider circulation of Latin copies of Boethius' De institutione musica. But the survival of three copies of this vernacular treatise clearly challenges the monolingual narrative of the circulation of music theory and calls for a more diverse and inclusive understanding of the readership of medieval music theory. Chapters Two and Three approach each of the copies of ‘þe proporcions’ from the perspective of 'new philology'. The 'old' philological practices of codicology and palaeography are integrated with materialist and contextual approaches, which provide further insights into the treatise's readership. Chapter Four focuses on the parochial context in which John Benet compiled his miscellany, and explores possible avenues for music theory in that milieu. Chapter Five foregrounds the issues of vernacularisation and vulgarization as contributory factors in the treatise's broader circulation and expanded readership within textual and discourse communities. Building on this work, Chapter Six focuses on the role played by Chilston, the person to whom ‘þe proporcions’ is attributed in Lansdowne MS 763. It proposes the potential identification of Chilston with the compiler of a priest's manual and discusses this cleric's engagement with intended audiences. This study uses a microhistorical and decentred approach, following broader trends in musicology and other fields to include narratives outside of the central hegemonic tradition. By revealing a more extensive transmission of music theory in Middle English, and the circulation of musica speculativa beyond Latinate communities, this dissertation proposes the English rural parish as a new context in which music theory circulated in the late fifteenth century. This environment supported a new kind of reader—intellectually engaged, but with limited education in the traditional institutions of clerical learning. The survival of three copies of a Middle English treatise changes our view of the prevalence of music theory. Study of those involved in its transmission invites consideration of 'other' voices long overlooked in the history of theory. | en |
