The major sources of the Aquitanian repertory are nine versaria—collections of
versus—contained in four manuscripts, which embody a chronological history of the
genre. Texts for the versus, although sharply marked and sometimes strophic, were set to
both simple melodies with clear phrase structures and to melodies with lengthy melismas,
especially toward the ends of lines.
Margot Fassler
[See also: CONDUCTUS]
Gillingham, Brian, ed. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds latin 1139, fonds latin 3719, fonds latin
3549 and London, B.L Add. 36,881. 3 vols. Ottawa: Institute of Mediaeval Music, 1987.
Arlt, Wulf. “‘Nova cantica’: Grundsätzliches und Spezielles zur Interpretation musikalischer Texte
des Mittelalters.” Basler Jahrbuch fur historische Musikpraxis 10 (1986):13–62.
Fassler, Margot. “Accent, Meter, and Rhythm in Medieval Treatises ‘De rithmis.’” Journal of
Musicology 5(1987):164–90.
Grier, James. “Scribal Practices in the Aquitanian Versaria of the Twelfth Century: Towards a
Typology of Error and Variant.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 45(1992): 373–
427.
Spanke, Hans. “St. Martial-Studien: Ein Beitrag zur frühromanischen Metrik.” Zeitschrift far
französische Sprache und Literatur 54(1931):282–317, 385–422.
Treitler, Leo. The Aquitanian Repertories of Sacred Monody in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries.
3 vols. Diss. Princeton University, 1967.
VESTMENTS, ECCLESIASTICAL
. Ecclesiastical vestments and insignia originated for the most part as the customary
secular garb of Greco-Roman antiquity but were retained when standards of dress
changed during the centuries of barbarian ascendancy and took on symbolic significance
in the early Middle Ages.
The most important vestments are the six worn by the priest at Mass: the amice, alb,
cincture, maniple, stole, and chasuble. The amice is a white rectangular cloth draped over
the upper back and shoulders and secured in place by tapes around the waist; it is thought
by most to have originated as a sort of scarf, although some maintain it was a kerchief
protecting the head. The alb is a white floor-length garment with long sleeves; it appears
to be descended from the Roman undergarment called the tunica. The alb is belted in at
the waist by the cincture, a long white cord with tassels at each end. The maniple,
perhaps a handkerchief originally, is a narrow band of material draped over the left
forearm. The stole, of uncertain origin, is a similarly narrow, but much longer, band of
cloth draped about the neck of the priest with its ends hanging down his front to about
knee length. Worn also by the deacon, but over his left shoulder like a sash and secured
under his right arm, it came to be looked upon as the distinctive vestment of the deacon.
The chasuble, worn over the other vestments, owes its origins to a cloak called the
planeta, like a small tent with a hole in the middle for the head. Symbolic meaning was
attached to priestly vestments during the Carolingian period: for example, the cincture
standing as a bond of chastity and the alb as a sign of innocence. The alb was worn also
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