Example 1. MS Pluteo 29, I, fol. 471–
471v. Courtesy of the Biblioteca
Mediceo-Laurenziana, Florence.
Nicholaus pontifex Nostrum est refugium;
Sit semper remedium; Clericorum est
amator, Clericis ac aicis Laicorum
consolator, Omniumque conformator, In
omni angustia, Nicholae, Nicholae,
Nicholae.I
Nicholas the pontiff Is our refuge; To clerics
and laity He is the patron of clerics, May he
always be a remedy; The consolation of the
laity, And the guiding light of all, In all our
trials; Nicholas, Nicholas, Nicholas.(^)
In sua infantia Celebrat ieiunium, Fons et
caput dicitur Hic in cunis abstinebat,
Confessorum omnium; Quod mamillas non
suggebat, Nisi semel nec edebat Quarta,
sexta feria. Nicholae, Nicholae, Nicholae.
II
While still an infant He kept strict fastings,
He who is said to be the fount And head of all
confessors; In his cradle he abstained from
food, For he sucked not his nurse’s breasts,
Nor did he eat except once only On
Wednesdays and Fridays. Nicholas, Nicholas,
Nicholas.
(^)
Suscitavit clericos Occisos invidia, Quos
occidit carnifex cum sua nequitia; Très
puellas maritavit, De peccatis observavit,
Paupertatem relaxavit Auri data copia.
Nicholae. Nicholae, Nicholae,
III
He raised up the clerics Killed in envy,
Whom the butcher killed In his wickedness;
And saved them from sin, He allowed three
maidens marriage, When he mitigated their
poverty By giving them bags of gold.
Nicholas. Nicholas, Nicholas,
Translation from Gordan A.Anderson, Notre-Dame and Related Conductus, Opera omnia,
vol. 8, p. xlii.
Secular dance music is frequently referred to in the troubadour literature as an important
part of the minstrel’s art. A poem by the late 12th-century troubadour Jaufre Rudel
mentions dances along with other poetic and musical forms performed at court:
“...minstrels who are in the palace play descorts and suns and lais and danses and
cansonz de gesta on the viula. No one will ever see such a celebration again.” It is
significant that the account relates that the minstrels perform all of these musical forms
on the vielle (or fiddle), a bowed string instrument similar in some ways to the later
The Encyclopedia 549