Before Burgundy: Contexts and Cantus firmi in the Early L’homme armé Mass Tradition

Abstract

The origins of the L’homme armé mass tradition have fascinated musicologists since the early twentieth century. After identifying an epistemologically rigorous ‘early L’homme armé’, this paper interrogates two aspects of the tradition’s origins as they have been sketched in recent literature. First, I argue that attempts to connect L’homme armé with the ceremonial of the Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece cannot be sustained in light of recent findings on related manuscripts and documents, especially Sean Gallagher’s exposition on the Missa L’homme armé of Johannes Regis. Second, I revisit the compositional question of ‘strict’ and ‘free’ cantus firmi, demonstrating how a heretofore unexplored aspect of Regis’s cantus firmus challenges this familiar distinction-within the L’homme armé tradition and beyond.