Sub Arturo plebs/Fons citharizancium/ In omnem terram and its Musicians

Abstract

Abstract The brilliant composition Sub Arturo plebs is the only English member of the musician motets group. It is attested in three sources (two Continental and one English), one as late as the 1430s. Its nearest comparands are datable after 1400, about thirty years later than other datings that have been proposed. It is an exuberant and complex piece, with exciting cross-rhythms and a mensurally accelerating tenor, celebrating fourteen English musicians. The composer appends his name, J. Alanus, to a potted history of musical greats in the motetus. Provisional documentation of the named musicians ranges over more than half a century, suggesting a retrospective roll-call, not a list of the living. Musicorum celebrated seven musicians: here twice seven, surely going one better not only than Musicorum, but than the bis sex (‘twice six’) of Apollinis, while also nodding at the seven taleae of Musicalis. Extensive links to the other musician motets are explored.