siege of Harfl eur and the Battle of the Seine.
For settings of liturgical texts outside the mass Ordi-
nary Dunstable principally draws upon processional and
offi ce antiphons for Mary, constructing compositions of
roughly the same dimensions as an isorhythmic motet
or mass movement that are destined for performance at
Marian devotions. These pieces are nearly all for three
voices, occasionally reducing to two, with a songlike
top part over a supporting tenor and contratenor; some
are based on chant but the majority are freely composed.
Though neither polytextual nor isorhythmtc, they were
apparently regarded as a species of motet by some
continental scribes, and they are called motets by many
modern authorities. It has been shown recently that care-
ful mathematical planning governs their proportions.
Most of Dunstable’s compositions for the Ordinary
of the mass (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus) are
single isolated movements; all but three of these pieces
are freely composed, without reference to plainsong.
In the 1420s and 1430s, however, Dunstable and his
English contemporaries, including Leonel Power and
John Benet, pioneered the musical integration of a
complete fi ve-movement mass cycle, achieving unifi -
cation by using the same “alien” cantus fi rmus as the
tenor in all movements. These early English cyclic tenor
masses were based on sacred plainsongs (antiphons
and responds); Dunstable’s cycles include Jesu Christi
fi lli Dei, Da gaudiorum premia, Rex seculorum (also
ascribed to Leonel), and a Missa “sine nomitte”(also
ascribed to Leonel and Benet). It may be the case that
a number of anonymous cycles of the 1440s are also of
Dunstable’s authorship. Continental composers, such as
Guillaume Dufay, began to imitate these English cycles
around 1450.
Few secular songs survive by members of Dunsta-
ble’s generation. Sources credit him with just three,
two of which are plausibly attributed elsewhere to a
younger contemporary, John Bedingham, leaving only
a French-texted rondeau, Puisque m’amour, to represent
the courtly side of his output. However, Dunstable’s
lifetime saw the great fl owering of the polyphonic carol,
and amid this anonymous repertoire are likely to be
works by the great English master.
See also Power, Leonel
Further Reading
Primary Sources
Bukofzer, Manfred, ed. John Dunstable: Complete Works. 2d rev.
ed., prepared by Margaret Bent, Ian Bent, and Brian Trowell.
Musica Britannica 8. London: Stainer & Bell, 1970.
Secondary Sources
Bent, Margaret. Dunstaple. London: Oxford University Press,
1981.
Bent, Margaret. “Dunstable.” NGD 5:720–25.
Stell, Judith, and Andrew Wathey. “New Light on the Biography
of John Dunstable?” Music and Letters 62 (1981): 60–63.
Trowell, Brian. “Proportion in the Music of Dunstable.” Pro-
ceedings of the Royal Musical Association 105 (1978–79):
100–41.
Wathey, Andrew. “Dunstable in France.” Music and Letters 67
(1986): 1–36.
Peter M. LeffertsDUNSTAN OF CANTERBURY
(ca. 910–988)
Monk and archbishop of Canterbury. The son of a
Somerset noble, he was educated at Glastonbury Abbey,
probably by Irish monks. Related to the royal line with
several kinsmen who held episcopal sees, in his youth
he was often at the court of King Æthelstan. The enmity
of other young nobles, however, led to his expulsion. He
stayed for a period with his uncle Ælfheah, bishop of
Winchester, under whose infl uence and in the wake of
a serious illness he committed himself to the monastic
life. Retiring to a hermitage near Glastonbury, he studied
sctiptures and served as a scribe, illuminator, composer,
and metalworker.
Recalled to court by Æthelstan’s brother and succes-
sor Edmund (939–46), he became one of his counselors,
only to be again banished. Soon afterward Edmund,
nearly killed in a riding accident, concluded that he had
wronged Dunstan; he named him abbot of Glastonbury
and promised to endow that institution as a regular
monastery. Under Dunstan’s guidance a monastery was
built with an organized community of monks adhering to
the Benedictine Rule. Its foundation is seen as marking
a long-enduring revival of English monasticism after
several generations of decay.
Under Edmund’s successor Eadred (946–55) Dunstan
and his monastery were the recipients of even greater
favors, but his fortunes waned with the accession of
Eadwig (955–59). In 956, having angered an infl uential
woman at court, he was forced into exile in Flanders.
Restored by Edgar (957–75), he became the king’s
chief adviser and treasurer. Named bishop of Worcester
(957) and London (959), in 960 he became archbishop
of Canterbury. On Edgar’s death he supported the royal
claim of Edward the Martyr and, after Edward’s murder
in 979, the claim of Æthelred II. Dunstan’s fi nal years
were spent at Canterbury, devoted to prayer, study, and
teaching. He died on 19 May 988, the “patron and father
of the monks of medieval England.”Further Reading
Knowles, David. The Monastic Order in England: A History of
Its Development from the Times of St. Dunstan to the Fourth
Lateran Council, 940–1216. 2d ed. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1963.DUNSTAN OF CANTERBURY