| Abstrakt: |
Additions to the medieval liturgical repertory provide a rich source for analysis of shifts in medieval human thought and the linked geo-political terrain which gives rise to their occasion. Especially important resources can be found in the Victorine sequences, long poetic pieces with texts adapted to venerable melodies, intended for singing immediately before the lection from the Gospel. Laureata plebs fidelis, analyzed here, provides a significant exemplar because of its source in a composite manuscript that contains the original office of the Feast of Corpus Christi. The new feast, initiated in Liège in 1246, venerates the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ during the sacrament of the Eucharist, as mandated in 1215. Juliana Mont-Cornillon, an Augustinian nun, led the movement to establish the feast in Liège and has long been credited as its promotrice. The analysis points to Juliana as the generative source, the "composer" of the new sequence, and highlights her function as a charismatic leader in the geo-political terrain especially perilous for women. Musical gifts are here added to the analytic elements of a pattern that defines her charismatic authority. The composition of Laureata plebs fidelis precedes the more famous sequence composition on the same theme, Lauda Syon, attributed to Saint Thomas Aquinas. Comparison of the two compositions illustrates Jameson's understanding of langue and parole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
