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<p>Free Library of Philadelphia, Lewis E 211. France, Beginning of the sixteenth century. This well-used manuscript on paper contains an anthology of lyrics for Christmas Carols, or Noels, written principally in French and dating to the beginning of the sixteenth century. The carols appear to be a combination of well-known songs published elsewhere or existing in other manuscript anthologies, such as Paris, BnF Rothschild ms. 2982, and unique or unrecorded texts. One carol, Il fault mourir à ce coup cy is attributed by an inscription to its author Olivier Maillard (fol. 41v). Most of the carols are introduced by lively inhabited penwork initials that have been tinted. Many of the carols are accompanied by pen-and-ink drawings of pastoral scenes in a rustic style, added after the transcription of the text and in the margins. The use of the regional Angevin term nau for Noël, as well as the notarial document re-used as a wrapper mentioning Nantes, point to the Western Loire Valley as a region of production and use. The manuscript can be dated to circa 1520-1530 on the basis of the style of the marginal images and costume, with later sixteenth-century additions to the text.
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<br>Subjects: Hymnal; 16th century; France</div>
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Free Library of Philadelphia</div>
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