seem to have embraced wholeheartedly. Indeed, Matteo,
along with Antonello da Caserta, was a leader of this
imported stylistic movement.
Beyond his own authenticated compositions, there
survive a number of substitute contratenor parts written
for music by other composers. If these parts are indeed
by Matteo, as is generally believed, they show him at-
tempting, through these substitute voices, to update or
enhance the work of earlier or contemporaneous masters
(such as Machaut, Bartolino da Padova, and Antonello).
It has been proposed that Matteo’s supposedly “modern”
style made him an important shaper of new musical
directions for the Quattrocento; but there is also an
argument against this idea, buttressed by the fact that
Matteo’s music survives in only a few manuscripts and
apparently did not circulate widely. For all his fascina-
tion as a bold compositional personality, Matteo seems
to have played a less signifi cant role than the more fo-
cused and disciplined Johannes Ciconia in the transition
from the age of Machaut to the age of Dufay.
See also Ciconia, Johannes
Further Reading
Apel, Willi. French Secular Vocal Music of the Late Fourteenth
Century. Cambridge, Mass.: Mediaeval Academy of America,
1950.
——, ed. French Secular Compositions of the Fourteenth Century,
3 vols. Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae, 53. Rome: American
Institute of Musicology, 1970–1972.
Besseler, Heinrich. “Hat Matheus de Perusio Epoche gemacht?”
Die Musikforschung, 8, 1955, 19–23.
Fano, Fabio. “Origini della cappella musicale del Duomo di
Milano.” Rivista Musicale Italiana, 55, 1953, pp. 1ff.
——. La cappella musicale del Duomo di Milano, Vol. 1, Le
origini e il primo maestro di cappelia: Matteo da Perugia.
Milan: Ricordi, 1956.
Gombosi, Otto. “French Secular Music of the Fourteenth Cen-
tury.” Musical Quarterly, 36, 1950, pp. 603–610.
Günther, Ursula. “Das Manuskript Modena, Biblioteca Estense,
a M.5.24.” Musica Disciplina, 24, 1970, pp. 17–67.
Korte, Werner. Studien zur Geschichte der Musik in Italien im er-
sten Viertel des 15. Jahrhunderts. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1933.
Marrocco, William Thomas, ed. “Italian Secular Music”. In Poly-
phonic Music of the Fourteenth Century, Vol. 10. Monaco:
Éditions de Oiseau-Lyre, 1977.
Pirrotta, Nino. Il Codice Estense lat. 568 e la musica francese
in Italia al principio del 1400. Palermo: Reale Accademia di
Scienze, Lettere, e Arti, 1946.
Reese, Gustav. Music in the Middle Ages. New York: Norton, 1940.
Sartori, Claudio. “Matteo da Perugia e Bertrand Feragut.” Acta,
28, 1956, pp. 12–27.
John W. Barker
MATTHEW PARIS (ca. 1199–1259)
A monk at St. Albans from 1217 until his death in
1259, Matthew inherited the duties of historian from
his predecessor in that capacity, Roger of Wendover,
and continued work on Rogers Chronica majora, to
some extent rewriting but primarily extending and il-
lustrating the text (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College
26 and 16, and BL Royal 14.C.vii, fols. 157–218). He
also produced other Latin historical texts generally as-
sociated with the Chronicles (Historia Anglorum, BL
Royal l4.C.vii, fols. 1–156; Liber additamentorum, BL
Cotton Nero D.i; Abbreviatio chronicorum, BL Cotton
Claudius D.vi) among others, and four saints’ lives in
Anglo-Norman.
The great bulk of Matthew’s illustrative work in the
historical texts may be characterized as signa, abbrevi-
ated symbols that help readers fi nd their way in the
text and signal important events. In addition Matthew
included itineraries, maps, illustrated genealogies, and
the oldest preserved record of heraldic arms. Narrative
illustrations are added to the histories but tend to take a
minor part and assume a telegraphic, hurried, yet also
vividly dramatic aspect. A few full-page iconic illustra-
tions (the Virgin and Child, the Veronica head of Christ)
appended to the Chronicles are the only miniatures that
could be considered polished works of art.
It is in his illustrated saints’ lives that Matthew fully
explores the possibilities of narrative and, in the Vie de
seint Auban in Dublin, produces his most artistically
complex work. The Dublin manuscript has been dated
in the 1240s as Matthew’s fi rst attempt to illustrate the
life of a saint and contains Latin versions of the lives,
liturgical offi ces, and charters in addition to Matthew’s
Anglo-Norman text. The romance text is illustrated by
framed miniatures across the top of the three-column
page, and these continue above the Latin texts, after the
romance text has ended, to detail the foundation of the
monastery through the efforts of King Offa. Matthew
worked in an accomplished but late version of the “Style
1200.” His illustrations for the Dublin manuscript are
done in line with some touches of color, primarily green,
but also vermilion, blue, and ocher. Notes at the bottom
of the pages in Matthew’s hand give evidence that the
iconography of the miniatures was carefully planned.
It would seem that similar planning would explain
Matthew’s involvement in the illustration of two other
manuscripts of lives of saints. The Life of St. Thomas
of Canterbury in Anglo-Norman (BL Loan 88) and
the Estoire de seint Aedward le rei (CUL Ee.3.59) are
executed in a different style from the Dublin manu-
script but retain many of the features associated with
Matthew, even compositions and the drawing of such
details as ships and horses. All three manuscripts show
an involvement with contemporary political concerns
and were intended for an aristocratic audience: the life
of Edward is dedicated to Queen Eleanor, and notes
on the fl yleaf of the Dublin manuscript detail its loan
and that of other manuscripts of the lives of saints to
aristocratic ladies.MATTEO DA PERUGIA