The Old Hall Manuscript: a choir book compiled and written for the Chapel Royal

Item date: 1399-1413
Grant Value: 1,815
Item cost: Not recorded
Item date acquired: 1973
Item institution: British Library
Town/City: London

This manuscript is the most important source for the music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance in England. It comprises the oldest collection of English harmony which has survived; 147 compositions, 121 being settings of the Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei of the Mass; the remainder being antiphons and motets. 93 pieces have the names of their composers. Add MS 57950; illustrated as frontispiece in AR

Item Provenance
From 1893 to 1973 the property of St Edmunds College, Old Hall Green Ware; sold at Sothebys July 1973 for 68,000; purchased privately by BL