The Royal Abbey of Las Huelgas occupies a prominent place in the history of Western music: its monastic library preserves a famous collection of medieval polyphony that has attracted the attention of musicologists over the past century.1 The Las Huelgas music codex (Burgos, Biblioteca del Monasterio de Las Huelgas, MS 11, hereinafter Hu 11) contains a substantial collection of motets, conductus, and sequences compiled in the late 1330s or c.1340.2 The fact that Las Huelgas was a Cistercian nunnery, nonetheless, has long puzzled modern scholars. The Orderâs restrictions and promotion of austerity regarding music and art are well known, and thus various leading scholars in the field have expressed their skepticism that the music transmitted in Hu 11 was ever performed by the nuns themselves.3 In this essay, I shall argue that the performance context in the Royal Abbey of Las Huelgas cannot be understood without taking a closer look at its political background.4 Founded in the 1180s by King Alfonso VIII of Castile and his queen Leonor of Plantagenet, Las Huelgas was regularly chosen by the Castilian monarchy to perform the most extravagant royal ceremonies. As a major setting for the exhibition of power and for political propaganda, the royal abbey was placed among the wealthiest
The recently re-discovered monastic customary, or ceremonial, of Las Huelgas offers us invaluable insights into the self-regulation of the conventual liturgy held at the royal abbey.5 Written in the vernacular Castilian, this ceremonial was compiled around 1400 with a view to ensuring the continuity of the communityâs special customs. The manuscript thus showcases the communityâs effort to preserve its autonomy by keeping control of their own liturgical practice and uncovers the extent to which the nuns assumed active roles in the performance of conventual liturgy. Before delving into the ceremonialâs text, it is worth taking a closer look at the nunsâ role in the communication of royal power and their relationship with the Cistercian order.
1 A Problematic Affiliation to Cîteaux
Although the convent of Las Huelgas, like many other female communities, began to adopt Cistercian practices independently of any menâs house, its symbolic designation as a âspecial daughterâ of Cîteaux in 1199 deeply influenced the Orderâs relationship with womenâs religious communities.6 In the decades and centuries to come, however, relations between Las Huelgas and the Cistercian Order went through particularly conflictive periods. The convent and its abbess were not under episcopal authority, but rather, reported directly to the Pope, and it is precisely in the intensive diplomacy with the Holy See that one most clearly observes the perseverance of the community in maintaining its autonomy. The documentation preserved in the monastic archives includes a significant number of papal bulls that confirm the privileges and particular
Not surprisingly, this fiercely desired institutional independence was also reflected in the abbeyâs daily liturgical and ritual customs. The practice of polyphonic music must have been a relatively minor issue compared to other controversies in which the community was involved. A letter from the Holy See, addressed to the bishop of Burgos in 1210, shows what irritated the ecclesiastical authorities the most: the letter denounced the Las Huelgas abbessesâ custom of preaching âpublically,â hearing confession and giving blessing to their own nunsâaccording to canon law, these were all duties that belonged to the cura monialium and were therefore to be entrusted to chaplains.9 In 1235, however, Pope Gregory IX resolved in favor of the abbess when he allowed her to be blessed by the bishop at the monastery, instead of the cathedral, as was the general custom in other female houses.10 The privileges bestowed by the popes also involved the concession of comforts that were in accordance with the communityâs noble status. In 1259, for example, Pope Alexander IV officially granted the nuns of Las Huelgas the privilegeâcontrary to the Rule of St Benedict, as the pope himself acknowledgedâof using layers of clothes to keep warm and mattresses and pillows to sleep comfortably.11
the very noble King Alfonso [VIII] [â¦] at the plea and insistence of the very noble Queen Leonor, his wife, began to build near Burgos a monastery for ladies of the Cistercian Order; and he did it with rich works and very fine carvings of the highest and noblest quality; and he exalted it greatly and enriched it with many very good inheritances and donations and much rent from many towns and many businesses, so that the holy consecrated virgins who praised and sang to God day and night there lacked nothing they needed, but rather [â¦] were very well looked after; and they had servants who prepared everything and served them so that they had no task but to serve and praise God, and they are well cared for there, enjoying themselves daily singing to God and praising Him [â¦] [Alfonso VIII] made that monastery for those ladies in Burgos more noble than all the other monasteries in Spain, and rich, as is said, for that monastery has more infantas daughters of kings and rich women and maidens and other ladies of the highest lineage, more than any other
monastery in Spain; and everything, also houses, and offices and officials, as well as the ladies and their servants.15
Extant physical and documentary evidence give full credibility to these descriptions. The princesses who co-governed Las Huelgas along with the abbess built their own palaces inside the monastic complex, and their entourages included not only clerics and chaplains, but also Muslim officials who lived in the monasteryâs secular area.16 These privileges also extended to the nuns of the higher hierarchy. The cantrix of Las Huelgas, for example, had several male servants.17
2 The Nunsâ Public Visibility
The social structure of Las Huelgas consisted of 100 nuns and 40 girls (exclusively noblewomen), 40 freyras at the service of the nuns, and over 50 clerics, chaplains, and officials who lived in the secular area of the monastic complex. The choir of the nuns was located in the central nave of the abbey church, while that of the clerics was in the chancel (see Figure 3.1).18 The founder monarchs had conceived the abbey church of Las Huelgas as both a dynastic mausoleum and a stage for the performance of royal ceremonial. The royal tombs were placed in the choir of the nuns, while the churchâs chancel exhibited battle trophies and military banners, thus providing the ideal setting for cavalry investitures and coronation ceremonies. Since the dynastic memory was an element central to the royal ceremonial, the articulation of the churchâs spaces was designed to favor visual communication between the funerary and ceremonial areas. The choir screen that separated the choir of the nuns from the transept was provided with a wide door that gave full visibility to the tombs as well as to the entire choir of nuns. The faithful could enter the church through
Ground plan of the Las Huelgas Abbey Church (eastern half). reconstruction of the state c.1300. © David Catalunya
The royal chronicles, on the other hand, offer us a few glimpses into the nunsâ presence at court and their involvement in the royal ceremonial. In 1219, after overcoming a succession crisis, the recently proclaimed King Fernando III of Castile was knighted at Las Huelgas in a legitimation ritual analogous to a coronation ceremony. The investiture formed part of a ceremonial triptych, which included the kingâs wedding and a meeting of the curia regis. The bride, Princess Beatriz, was accompanied from Swabia to Castile by Bishop Mauricio of Burgos, and was received in Vitoria by Fernando IIIâs mother, Queen Berenguela, and a large entourage of âprelates, noblewomen, abbesses and nunsâ who accompanied her to Burgos.24
the king himself, taking the sword that was on the altar, knighted himself with his own hand, and his mother, the noble queen, unbuckled the sword baldric.25
Whereas the self-investiture transmitted the image of an adult monarch taking full possession of his reign, the active participation of Queen Berenguela in this military ceremony symbolized the constant cooperation of mother and son in the execution of the royal power represented by the sword.26 In fact, the role of the person who unbuckles the sword baldric in a chivalric ceremony is precisely codified in the Partidas of Alfonso X.27 He who unbuckles the sword is called padrino (godfather) and, according to the traditional custom that informed Alfonsine legislation, in no case could it be a womanâthe text explicitly mentions this point. While such a transgression of the chivalry code by a woman was silenced in other royal chronicles, the event must have contributed to generating a climate of female empowerment at Las Huelgas. In his Chronica latina, the royal chancellor Juan of Osma highlights the presence of nuns in the meeting of the curia regis that followed Fernandoâs investiture.28
And after the Gloria in excelsis deo and the Kyrie, and the prayer, and the epistle and the Alleluya are said, let maidens highly trained in singing come and sing a cantiga and do their playing. And then let the king rise and, with his noblemen, go to the altar of Santiago to be knighted. Here is painted and depicted how the maidens sing and how the others play musical instruments [see Figure 3.2].33
Libro de la coronación, fol. 29v, maidens singing a cantiga inside the church. © Patrimonio Nacional
The use of Las Huelgasâ sacred space as a setting for public military ceremonies is further attested to in the chronicles. A few days after the coronation, Alfonso XI knighted over one hundred and twenty noblemen in the church
Besides the regular battle commemorations, funerary rituals, and anniversary celebrations, the church of Las Huelgas continued to be the stage for coronation ceremonies throughout the fourteenth century, hosting those of Enrique II (1366), Juan I (1379), and Enrique III (1393). One could argue that polyphonic music was an important element in the solemnization of these royal ceremonies, and this alone would explain the very existence of the Las Huelgas music codex. But what about the daily liturgical practice of the monastic community? How did the abbeyâs role in the exhibition of royal power affect the development of conventual liturgy? The monastic ceremonial of Las Huelgas allows us to situate Hu 11 within a complex framework of conventual liturgy.
3 The Las Huelgas Ceremonial
MS 6 of the Biblioteca del Monasterio de Las Huelgas (hereinafter Hu 6) is a codex that is relatively large in size (370 Ã 270 mm) written in the vernacular Castilian, of which 79 folios have survived until the present time.35 The codex contains the monastic customary of Las Huelgas, identified by a scribe as a âceremonial.â According to references made in the text to members of the royalty, the compilation date of the manuscript can be established between 1390 and 1406.36 The main body of the manuscript was copied by one principal scribe and one rubricator, who wrote the chapter headings in red ink. The fact that many later hands contributed with corrections throughout the
In terms of material quality, Hu 6 offers a great contrast to the richly illuminated codices that filled the armarium of the royal abbey.37 The parchment is of relatively poor quality, the ruling of the pages appears at times to have been done carelessly, and the principal scribal hand is similarly irregular, with noticeable variations in size and changes in pen and ink. The script is particularly inelegant and clearly pertains to a non-professional scribe. The manuscript generally lacks decoration, yet the very few initials that include pen-work decoration look like the trials of an inexperienced hand. At the textual level, the manuscript contains scribal errors that are most certainly due to a lack of attention, such as consecutive repetitions of sentences (homeoteleuton errors), omission of words, and misspellings. Furthermore, the ceremonialâs prose is generally chaotic, as is characterized by frequent digressions and the mixing of topics.
In general terms, the Las Huelgas ceremonial is based on an official text of the Cistercian Order composed in the twelfth century and known as Ecclesiastica officia.38 Hu 6, however, shows the great extent to which this official text was adapted to the particular needs and customs of the Castilian abbey. Not all chapters of the Ecclesiastica officia are represented in the Las Huelgas ceremonial, and some chapters in Hu 6 have no concordance in the Ecclesiastica officia. Still, even those chapters that can be considered concordant with the official text show a great deal of variants, interpolations, omissions, and adaptation. Obviously, most of the variants and omissions found in the Las Huelgas ceremonial resulted from a process whereby the official statutes of the Cistercian Order were adapted to the monastic structure and liturgical practice of a female community. Yet not all variants and omissions are merely gender-related. To cite one example, the chapter that regulates the blessing of the nuns that leave on a trip omits the Cistercian statutesâ initial statement that âno one should be sent on a trip, except for the usefulness
4 Female-Voice Liturgical Regulations
Este es el deubdo que auemos [present tense] a conplir: â¦
(This is the duty we have to fulfilâ¦)
De las cosas que somos tenudas [feminine participle] a desirâ¦42
(On the things we have to sayâ¦)
And leaving the chapterhouse, they say the Mass of the Vigil. And after the Mass they strike the table and preach, and thereafter they ring the bells for Terce and say the Mass of the Octave [â¦] At the Mass held in the presence of the body, she who officiates the Mass must begin the Kyrie.44
And if any other Mass is to be said after a conventual Mass has been celebrated, the cantora shall begin the the Kyrie in both Masses.45
If the abbess is on the way and comes back before Terce [â¦] she can either hear or say Mass between Terce and None.46
If any nun is to take communion in the abbessâ house, they should bring the Body of God through the bedroom door.47
A priest can celebrate Mass with a sacrifice, and one dry Mass. A dry Mass is said when the priest cannot consecrate because he has already celebrated (or for some other reason), but he can put on the stole, read the Epistle and the Gospel, recite the Lordâs Prayer and give the final blessing; and, if out of devotion and not superstition, he wants to celebrate the entire Mass without a sacrifice, he puts on all of the priestly vestments and follows the order of the Mass up to the end of the Offertory, omitting the Canon which belong to the sacrifice.48
What Durand does not mention is that dry Masses were also performed by nuns. A group of Italian and French manuscripts from the eleventh and twelfth centuries bear witness to communion services led by female celebrants.49 Most remarkably, in one of these manuscripts (Auxerre, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 25), the singular pronouns for these orders are all in the feminine. The liturgy prescribed in these sources basically consists of introductory psalms, a Kyrie, a Pater noster, and a Credo, all of which were to be chanted; a penitential rite with a statement of general confession and a prayer to obtain pardon from
The celebration of Eucharistic services by women appears to have been a more extended phenomenon than the surviving monastic ordinals would suggest. Most of the time, female communities used regular (male-voice) ordinals by introducing unwritten adaptations.50 Katie Ann-Marie Bugyis has gathered references to various cantrices in central medieval England, whose liturgical activities extended beyond those prescribed for their office in monastic rules and customaries; one of them prepared the spiritual food and placed the bread in the pilgrimâs mouth, just as she would have done had she been administering the Eucharist.51 At Las Huelgas, conventual Masses provided the liturgical frame for the abbessâ preaching and blessingâpractices which motivated the abovementioned complaint letter by Pope Innocent III to the bishop of Burgos.
If there is a Mass with one minister [e.g. a bishop] on a Saturday, it is to be said by the clerics.55
If there is a commemoration with an Office in the presbitery, it is to be said by the clerics.56
On the Vigil of Quinquagesima [â¦] they go to hear Mass, and the clerics must say the Lady Mass, and the convent must stay in the choir until [the Mass] is finished.57
Whereas, as a general rule, âthe feast Mass is said by the clerics, and that of the Sunday is said by the convent,â58 the nuns also held festal Masses such as that of Saint John the Baptist.59 Furthermore, the nuns could celebrate âsolemnâ
Another example of the extent to which the Las Huelgas ceremonial was drafted from the nunsâ perspective is the description of the Ash Wednesday liturgy in Chapter 86.63 The text describes in great detail the liturgy performed by the cantrix and the convent of nuns. Only the parts of the ceremony that the Cistercian Ecclesiastica Officia situates in the presbytery, that is, the Blessing of Ashes on the high altar and the Imposition of Ashes on the altar step, are left out of the Las Huelgas ceremonial. This suggests that the clerics of the monastery followed their own ordinal and, therefore, the compiler of Hu 6 did not find it necessary to include a comprehensive account of the parts of the liturgy performed by the clerics.64
And on the first Sunday of Advent they sing in three parts [cantan en tres boses], and they do not say the kingâs prayer, nor do they pray for the Good King [i.e. Alfonso VIII], nor do they talk in the chapterhouse, and they all [todas] take holy water and burn four lamps.65
The writer did unfortunately not specify the size of the group involved in polyphonic performance. While one could easily imagine that only a small group out of the hundred nuns that formed the Las Huelgas community had specialized training in polyphony, cathedral customaries from around the same period reveal that three-part polyphony was occasionally performed by large groups: the customary of Gerona Cathedral, dated in 1360, prescribes polyphonic performances âab omnibus pueris cum triploâ or even âcum triplo a toto choro.â66 Whatever the size of the group, the Las Huelgas ceremonial definitely suggests polyphonic performances were not limited solely to the most lavish royal ceremonies, but also formed part of the nunsâ conventual liturgy, even during Lent.
5 Hu 11 in Light of Hu 6
The evidence presented above shows that at least some of the nuns at Las Huelgas were able to compile manuscripts and perform polyphonic music. Accordingly, there is nothing to prevent us from assuming that Hu 11 was compiled by a nun, especially taking into account the scribal and codicological proximity between Hu 11 and Hu 6. Although Las Huelgas had a collection of extremely refined and richly illuminated books that were acquired from elsewhere, everything indicates that the monastic scriptorium had only limited
Be that as it may, the communityâs cultivation of polyphonic music is to be viewed within the broader context of liberties and liturgical enjoyment held by the nuns of Las Huelgas. Physical and documentary evidence discussed in this essay clearly shows that the princesses and noblewomen who for med the community of Las Huelgas managed to continue enjoying some of the visual, musical, and other sensorial pleasures and comforts that were customary at court. Furthermore, the monastic ceremonial reflects the communityâs strong determination to keep full control of its own conventual liturgy. This is most clearly seen in the nunsâ assumption of liturgical duties that were otherwise generally assigned to priests and chaplains in the context of the cura monialium. In this respect, the âfemale-voice ceremonialâ of the Royal Abbey of Las Huelgas offers a great contrast to the customaries and constitutions of other female communities on the Iberian Peninsula, which were drafted by members of the episcopal clergy making considerable effort to impose the severity of the Rule.69 Although it remains difficult to assess whether the Las Huelgas ceremonial can be taken as a representative witness to the liturgical liberties enjoyed by Castilian nuns in general, it proves of critical importance to our
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The production of this article was supported by the MALMECC project (Music in Late Medieval Courtly Culture). This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Unionâs Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant No. 669190).
Throughout the last century, the codex has been the object of three complete musical editions, two facsimile editions, several monographs, numerous articles, concert performances and CD recordings. For a selected bibliography, see Higini Anglès, El Còdex Musical de Las Huelgas, 3 vols. (Barcelona, 1931); Juan Carlos Asensio Palacios, ed., El Códice de Las Huelgas (Madrid, 2001); Nicolas Bell, The Las Huelgas Music Codex. A Companion Study to the Facsimile (Madrid, 2004); David Catalunya, Music, Space and Ritual in Medieval Castile, 1221â1350, Ph.D. diss., Universität Würzburg, 2016.
See Asensio Palacios, ed., El Códice de Las Huelgas, pp. 18â20; Bell, The Las Huelgas Music Codex, p. 35; Maricarmen Gómez Muntané, La música medieval en España (Kassel, 2001), pp. 133â34.
For an overview of Alfonso VIIIâs political intention regarding the foundation of Las Huelgas, see Peter Linehan, History and the Historians of Medieval Spain (Oxford, 1993), pp. 289 and 303; Ghislain Baury, Les religieuses de Castille. Patronage aristocratique et ordre ciestercien. XIIeâXIIIe siècles (Rennes, 2012), pp. 137â89.
Burgos, Biblioteca del Monasterio de Las Huelgas, MS 6. Although this ceremonial was briefly mentioned by Anglès in a footnote in his 1931 study of the Las Huelgas music codex (p. 110), the manuscript remained unpublished and unexplored by subsequent scholarship. I had the opportunity to examine the original document at the archives of Las Huelgas, and am currently preparing a critical edition of the complete ceremonial. For a preliminary study of the manuscript and a selection of chapters, see David Catalunya, âThe Customary of the Royal Convent of Las Huelgas: Female Liturgy, Female Scribes,â Medievalia 20/1 (2017), 91â160.
See Constance Hoffman Berman, âWere There Twelfth-Century Cistercian Nuns?,â Church History 68/4 (1999), 824â64; Constance Hoffman Berman, The Cistercian Evolution: The Invention of a Religious Order in Twelfth-Century Europe (Philadelphia, 2000), pp. 39â45; Baury, Les religieuses de Castille, pp. 115â89.
See José Manuel Lizoain Garrido, ed., Documentación del monasterio de Las Huelgas de Burgos (1231â1262), Fuentes medievales castellano-leonesas 31 (Burgos, 1985), pp. xivâxv.
Lizoain Garrido, ed., Documentación⦠(1231â1262), docs. 301, 387, 388, 513, 519.
Letter by Innocent III, reproduced in Gregorio IXâs Decretales (1234). See JosemarÃa Escrivá de Balaguer, La Abadesa de Las Huelgas (Madrid, 1944), pp. 150â51.
This papal resolution is to be viewed in the context of the power conflicts between the abbess of Las Huelgas and the bishop of Burgos. Lizoain Garrido, ed., Documentación⦠(1231â1262), doc. 283.
Lizoain Garrido, ed., Documentación⦠(1231â1262), doc. 509. The petition had been addressed to the pope by Infanta Berenguela, the sister of King Alfonso X.
See Patricia Blessing, âWeaving on the Wall: Architecture and Textiles at the Monastery of Las Huelgas in Burgos,â Studies in Iconography 40 (2019), 137â82.
âCurtains with gold, silver, precious stones and silk, of surprising beautyâ (âHoc monasterium multis prediis ditauit et mire pulcritudinis auri, argenti, preciosorum lapidum et olossericarum cortinarum decorauitâ). Lucae Tudensis, Chronicon Mundi, ed. Emma Falque Rey, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis 74 (Turnhout, 2003), 4.84, p. 324, lines 43â49.
Roderici Ximenii de Rada, Historia de rebus Hispanie sive Historia gothica, ed. Juan Fernández Valverde, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis 72 (Turnhout, 1987), 7. 23, p. 255; Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, Historia de los hechos de España, trans. Juan Fernández Valverde (Madrid, 1989), p. 303.
Alfonso X, Estoria de Espanna, ed. Ramón Menéndez Pidal as Primera Crónica General (Madrid, 1906), 1, p. 685 (translation by author).
José Manuel Lizoain Garrido and Araceli Castro Garrido, eds., Documentación del monasterio de Las Huelgas de Burgos (1284â1306), Fuentes medievales castellano-leonesas 33 (Burgos, 1987), doc. 168; Araceli Castro Garrido, ed., Documentación del monasterio de Las Huelgas de Burgos (1307â1321), Fuentes medievales castellano-leonesas 34 (Burgos, 1987), doc. 309.
In 1338, these were referred to as âcriados de donna Costança de Villalobosâ and âomme de Costança de Villalobos, moina de las dichas Huelgas.â F. Javier Peña Pérez, ed., Documentación del monasterio de Las Huelgas de Burgos (1329â1348), Fuentes medievales castellano-leonesas 36 (Burgos, 1990), docs. 52 and 59.
The choir of the nuns hosted the altars of the Holy Cross and All Saints; the High Altar was at the churchâs chancel.
As report by an âold nunâ in 1624 as a witness in the canonization process of King Alfonso VII. Madrid, Archivo Histórico Nacional, Códices, sign. 771 (Compendio de las informaciones), cuaderno 3, fol. 11. See Olga Pérez Monzón, âQuando rey perdemos nunq[u]a bien nos fallamos⦠La Muerte del Rey en la Castilla del Siglo XIII,â Archivo español de arte 80/320 (2007), 379â94 at 383.
Caesar Baronius, ed., Annales ecclesiastici 21, 1229â1256 (Paris, 1870), p. 408, no. 27. See also Miriam Shadis, Berenguela of Castile (1180â1246) and Political Women in the High Middle Ages (New York, 2009), p. 163; H. Salvador MartÃnez, Berenguela la Grande y su época (Madrid, 2012), p. 759.
Lizoain Garrido ed., Documentación⦠(1231â1262), doc. 439.
Castro Garrido, ed., Documentación⦠(1307â1321), doc. 364, at p. 332.
Lizoain Garrido, ed., Documentación⦠(1231â1262), doc. 440.
âmuy acompannada de nobles compannas: de religiosos uarones et maestros de las ordenes, et de abbadessas et diennas de orden, et de otras duennas suyas, rycas hembras et inffançonas, assaç dellas et companna muy apuesta.â Alfonso X, Estoria de Espanna, ed. Menéndez Pidal, p. 718.
âin regali monasterio prope Burgis celebrata missa a uenerabili Mauricio Burgensi episcopo et armis militaribus benedictis, ipse rex suscepto gladio ab altari manu propria se accinxit cingulo militari et mater sua regina nobilis ensis cingulum deaccinxit.â Roderici Ximenii de Rada, Historia de rebus Hispanie, 9.10, p. 291. The chancellor Juan of Osma, however, omitted the participation of the queen in his Chronica latina regum Castellae; see ed. Luis Charlo Brea, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Medievalis 73 (Turnhout, 1997), Chapter 40, pp. 82â83; Crónica latina de los reyes de Castilla, trans. Luis Charlo Brea (Madrid, 1999), p. 72. Juan of Osma is most likely also the composer/redactor of the 1219 document in which Fernando III refers to his knighting ceremony at Las Huelgas, José Manuel Lizoain Garrido, ed., Documentación del monasterio de Las Huelgas de Burgos (1116â1230), Fuentes medievales castellano-leonesas 30 (Burgos, 1985), doc. 147. Juan of Osma shows an interest in highlighting the legitimization of Fernando III while detracting from that of her mother.
On the role of Queen Berenguela in this ceremony, see Shadis, Berenguela of Castile, p. 106. On the tradition, legislation, and controversy surrounding royal self-investiture, see Linehan, History and the Historians, pp. 593 and following; Peter Linehan, âThe Politics of Piety: Aspects of the Castilian Monarchy from Alfonso X to Alfonso XI,â Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos 9/3 (1985), 385â404, at pp. 388â38.
Alfonso X, Las siete partidas, ed. Real Academia de la Historia (Madrid, 1807), 2.21.11, p. 205; see also 2.21.11, p. 205.
Chronica latina, p. 84; Crónica latina, p. 73.
âEt aquel Arzobispo de Sanctiago, que llamaban Don Joan de Limia delos de Batasella et Pandecenteno, dixo la Misa, et oficiaronla las Monjas del monesterioâ. Cayetano Rosell, ed., Crónicas de los Reyes de Castilla (Madrid, 1875), 1, p. 235.
The ceremonial, however, prescribed that Alfonso XIâs coronation was to be held in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. What actually occurred was that the ceremony was divided into two parts held in two different places. Alfonso XI finally decided that, after being knighted in Santiago Cathedral, the coronation itself would take place at the abbey church of Las Huelgas. The chronicles suggest that much of the ceremonial prescribed in the Libro de la coronación was adapted at Las Huelgas, with the nuns replacing the cathedral cantors. The manuscript is preserved at the Biblioteca de El Escorial (MS &.III.3) and was published in Claudio Sánchez-Albornoz, âUn ceremonial inédito de coronación de los Reyes de Castilla,â in Viejos y nuevos estudios sobre instituciones medievales españolas (Madrid, 1976â80), 2, pp. 1209â236. For further insights and a bibliography on the Libro de la coronación, see Rosa M. RodrÃguez Porto, âMÃstica regia y ambiciones compostelanas: la Catedral de Santiago como espacio ceremonial para las monarquÃas castellana y portuguesa (1319â1332),â Codex Aquilarensis 30 (2014), 133â58.
Sánchez-Albornoz, âUn ceremonial,â p. 1245.
The first fascicle of Hu 11 includes five Kyries and three Alleluyas, all of them polyphonic. See the manuscriptâs inventory in Bell, The Las Huelgas Music Codex, pp. 43â61.
âE después que fuere dicha la âGloria in excelssis deoâ, e los Kyrios, e la oraçioÌn, e la pistola e la alleluya, vengan donçellas que sepan bien cantar, et canten una cantiga, et fagan sus trebeios. E entonce leuante se el Rey con sus Ricos omes e uayase para ante el altar de Santiago para seer cauallero. Aquà pintado es e figurado como cantan las donçellas, e como trebeian los otros, e como se ua el Rey para al altar de Santiago para seer cauallero.â Sánchez-Albornoz, âUn ceremonial,â p. 1246 (translation by author).
The names of all of these noblemen are given in the chronicle. See Rosell, ed., Crónicas, Chapter 40, pp. 235â36.
The main body of the manuscript originally consisted of 84 folios arranged into seven senions (that is, gatherings of six bifolios). The first senion (original folios iâxii) has been lost. The codex has an original foliation (added by a secondary scribe) in roman numerals on the right side of the upper margin of each recto. Written above it is a modern foliation in Arabic numerals, in pencil. In this essay, I will cite folios from the manuscript by referring to its modern foliation.
The Castilian kings mentioned in the customary start with from Alfonso VIII (d.1214), founder of the monastery, and end with Juan I (d.1390). The latter is the latest datable personage mentioned in the customary. The fact that his successor, Enrique III (d.1406), is not mentioned, suggests that the customary was written between 1390 and 1406.
At this point, I must emphasize that the books of the best material and scribal quality at Las Huelgas were not produced at the monastic scriptorium; instead, they were donations or were commissioned to other scriptoria. See Sonsoles Herrero González and JoaquÃn Cortés Santi, Códices miniados en el Real Monasterio de Las Huelgas (Barcelona, 1988), pp. 121â22. See also Manuel Pedro Ferreira, âEarly Cistercian Polyphony: A Newly-Discovered Source,â Lusitania Sacra 13â14 (2002), 267â313, at 269, fn. 8.
Les âEcclesiastica Officiaâ cisterciens du XIIe siècle: texte Latin selon les manuscrits édités de Trente 1711, Ljubljana 31 et Dijon 114. Version française, annexe liturgique, notes, index et tables, ed. Danièle Choisselet and Placide Vernet, Documentation cisterciene 22 (Reiningue, 1989). See also Berman, The Cistercian Evolution.
Hu 6, Chapter 134; Catalunya, âThe Customary,â p. 148. Ecclesiastica Officia, Chapter 88; ed. Choisselet and Vernet, p. 249.
Hu 6, Chapter 111. Catalunya, âThe Customary,â p. 141.
This is evident from the fact that the headings quite often do not reflect the full content of the chapter. Occasionally, the rubricator even seems to have understood the content incorrectly, perhaps due to having read it too fast. For an analysis of the rubrication process, see Catalunya, âThe Customary,â p. 95.
The masculine form would be somos tenudos.
Hu 6, Chapter 79. Catalunya, âThe Customary,â p. 129.
âE ssaliendo de cabillo digan la missa dela vigilia. E acabada la misa tusten la tabla e, sy non, prediquen, e después tangan a terçia e digan la misa del ochauario [â¦] a missa de cuerpo presente, la que ofiçiare la missa comiençe los Quirios.â Hu 6, Chapter 106. Catalunya, âThe Customary,â p. 137â38.
âE quando missa en conuento es çelebrada e después alguna missa acaesçiere de desir, la cantora comiençe los Quirios de amas missas.â Hu 6, Chapter 102. Catalunya, âThe Customary,â p. 135.
âQuando la abbadesa ffuere en camino o viniere en verano antes de terçia e en ynuierno, después de terçia ffasta la nona puede oyr missa o puede la desir.â Hu 6, Chapter 134. Catalunya, âThe Customary,â p. 134â35.
âOtrosÃ, sy alguna comulgare en casa dela abbadesa, por la puerta dela cama lyeuen el Cuerpo de Dios.â Hu 6, Chapter 123. Catalunya, âThe Customary,â p. 144.
William Durand, Rationale IV: On the Mass and Each Action Pertaining to It, trans. Timothy M. Thibodeau (Turnhout, 2013), 4.1.23, p. 62. For the Latin text, see Guillelmi Duranti, Rationale divinorum officiorum, 2 vols., ed. Anselme Davril and Timothy N. Thibodeau, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Medievalis 140 and 140A (Turnhout, 1995 and 1998).
Jean Leclercq, âEucharistic Celebrations Without Priests in the Middle Ages,â Worship 55 (1981), 160â68, reprinted in Living Bread, Saving Cup, ed. R. Kevin Seasoltz (Collegeville, 1987), pp. 221â30. Celilia Chazelle, âThe Eucharist in Early Medieval Europe,â in A Companion to the Eucharist in the Middle Ages, ed. Christopher Levy, Gary Macy, and Kristen Van Ausdall (London, 2012), pp. 205â49, at pp. 223â24.
At Las Huelgas, only the masses that were performed by or in collaboration with the clerics bear the indication âsay it as is ordered in the booksâ (âdigan la como está ordenado en los librosâ), implying that the masses held by the nuns followed different, unwritten orders.
Katie Ann-Marie Bugyis, âFemale Monastic Cantors and Sacristans in Central Medieval England: Four Sketches,â in Medieval Cantors and their Craft: Music, Liturgy and the Shaping of History, 800â1500, ed. K. A.-M. Bugyis, A. B. Kraebel, and M. E. Fassler (York, 2017), pp. 151â69, at pp. 156â58. See also Katie Ann-Marie Bugyis, The Care of Nuns: The Ministries of Benedictine Women in England during the Central Middle Ages (Oxford, 2019).
Here the term conuento refers to the community of nuns exclusively (excluding the clerics and chaplains of the monastery).
âVistan se las cogullas e tangan dela missa e oficien la.â Hu 6, Chapter 108. Catalunya, âThe Customary,â pp. 139â40. âE tangan a misa los clérigos, e vaya el conuento al coro e comiençe la, mas pora la prefeçia primera, e digan las segund está ordenado enlos libros. E des que fueren acabadas digan la ledanÃa, mas non digan Ut gente a ninguna ledanÃa, e luego digan los Quirios e la Gloria [e des]que dixeren Et in terra pax, tangan las canpanas fasta que sea acabado Domine deus res. Después digan Dominus uobiscum e la collecta Praesta [domine] quaesumus.â Hu 6, Chapter 94. Catalunya, âThe Customary,â p. 135.
âEn la vigilia de Ãinquagesma, des que ssalieren de cabillo, tusten la tabla e fagan signo de tercia e pedriquen; e acabada la pedricación, tangan tercia, oyan misa de Santa MarÃaâ (Chap. 108); âacabado cabillo tustan la tabla e tannen al signo de terçia e van a oyr misa,â Hu 6, Chapter 94. Catalunya, âThe Customary,â p. 135.
âsi el ssábado ouiere missa de vn ministro, digan la los clérigos.â Hu 6, Chapter 113. Catalunya, âThe Customary,â p. 142.
âE sy ouiere comemoraçión que aya ofiçio enel gradal, digan la los clérigos.â Hu 6, Chapter 123. Catalunya, âThe Customary,â p. 144.
âEste dÃa [vigilia de Ãinquagesma], acabado cabillo tustan la tabla e tannen al signo de terçia e van [a] oyr misa, e digan los clérigos la missa de Ssanta MarÃa e esté el conuento enel coro fasta que sea acabada.â Hu 6, Chapter 94. Catalunya, âThe Customary,â p. 135.
âla misa dela fiesta digan la los clérigos e la de la dominica diga la el conuento.â Hu 6, Chapter 84.
âdigan en conuento missa de Sant Iohan.â Hu 6, Chapter 112. Catalunya, âThe Customary,â pp. 141â142. Hu 11 contains various pieces for St. John the Baptist; see Agnieszka BudziÅskaâBennett, âInter natos mulierum. Pieces for St. John the Baptist from the Cistercian Convent of Las Huelgas.â Polski Rocznik Muzykologiczny 14 (2016), 17â58.
âtangan a misa e digan la ssolepne e non sy no vna collecta.â Hu 6, Chapter. 88. Catalunya, âThe Customary,â p. 133â34.
See Catalunya, âThe Customary,â pp. 133â34 and 120â21, Table 4.
See Catalunya, âThe Customary,â pp. 122â23, Table 5.
See Catalunya, âThe Customary,â pp. 118â19, Table 3.
Hu 6, however, offers details of great interest regarding the interaction between nuns and clerics. After the Blessing of Ashes (by a priest on the High Altar in the presbytery, we might suppose), the cantrix begins the introit of the Mass (Exaudi nos domine), and when she sings the versicle, âthey open the doorâ (âabran la puertaâ). Since the opening of the âdoorâ occurs just before the Imposition of Ashes, we might suppose that it refers to the grill door that gives access to the presbytery from the choir of the nuns. In turn, this would suggest that the nuns received the ashes, not in the choir of the nuns, but in the presbytery.
âE la primera dominica del Abiento cantan en tres boses e non disen la oraçión del rey, nin sueltan al Rey Bueno, nin ffablan en cabillo, e entran todas al agua bendita e arden quatro lanparas.â Hu 6, Chapter 108. Catalunya, âThe Customary,â pp. 139â40.
Gerona, Arxiu Capitular, MS 9, fols. 111r and 116r. See Higini Anglès, La música a Catalunya fins al segle XIII (Barcelona, 1935), p. 287. For further bibliography on this customary, see Marc Sureda i Jubany, âLa Catedral de Girona,â in Arquitectura y liturgia. El contexto artÃstico de las consuetas catedralicias en la Corona de Aragón, ed. Eduardo Carrero SantamarÃa (Mallorca, 2014), pp. 43â55, at pp. 43â44.
The frequent changes of pen and ink are in keeping with the lifestyle of monastery staff members, who were busy with many other activities. Perhaps the scribe had had to interrupt his work to pray at established hours or copy other documents.
Latin errors committed by the main scribe of Hu 11 are reported and commented in Anglès, El Còdex, 2, pp. xixâxxii, and Bell, The Las Huelgas Music Codex, pp. 38â39.
See, for example, the thirteenth-century constitutions of the Augustinian convent of San Pedro de Ribas in Pamplona. Ricardo Ciérbide Martinena and Emiliana Ramos (eds.), Documentación medieval del monasterio de San Pedro de Ribas de Pamplona (Siglos XIIIâXVI) (San Sebastián, 1998), pp. viâviii and 71â82.