Closing Formulae of Central European Cantiones : Witnesses to Tradition and Functional Fluidity in Fifteenth-Century Bohemia

Abstract

This study focuses on the liturgical function of sacred songs preserved in 15th-century manuscripts of Bohemian provenance. The final parts of the songs usually reveal the occasions on which they were sung. Moreover, in the Bohemian manuscript tradition it is possible to compare the differences between the Catholic and the Utraquist use. The liturgical function is best seen in the genres of strophic Benedicamus and strophic introduction to lessons. A comparison of the copies of selected songs from different periods and stages in the development of the Utraquist liturgy shows a surprisingly high degree of preservation of pre-Hussite liturgical use in the period after 1430 to c.1500. The abandonment of the Benedicamus function, as illustrated by the removal of the formula "Benedicamus Domino", manifests itself first in the Czech texts and only after a period of conservatism also in the Latin texts. The manuscript tradition of around 1500 also documents an effort to preserve popular hymns for which there was no room in the newer conception of liturgy.