The WellsMusical Slates JudithBlezzard

Amongthe exhibits at Wells Museum in Somer- slates' originalprovenance or musicalfunction, set are items of musical interest,the so-called since the musicmust have been inscribedbefore 'Wells musical slates'.' These two slates, both the slates were used for buildingor repair.The of which have music scratchedon them, are house was the home of successive deans of roughlyhewn fragmentsof grey roofingslate Wells Cathedral from before 1255 until the in which there is evidence of shaling. It is mid-16thcentury. Hervey concluded fromthis likelythat both have suffereddamage since the that the music was probablysung in the cathe- musicwas scratchedon them,because breakage dral, but that does not necessarilyfollow. The points are visible at the edges of the music. In descriptionidentifies the music on the larger the case of the larger slate, it is possible to slate as a Kyrie,in accordancewith the appear- reconstructsome of the music that is missing ance of this word as an incipitunder the first because of breakage. The largerslate measures staff.However, the subsequentcontention that about 6" x 5" and has four staves; the smaller this Kyrie 'has characteristicssimilar to the measuresabout 4" x 3?" and has two. Each of Agincourtsong' is misleadingand seemsto have the staves has fivelines. There is an inscription no foundation. on thereverse of thesmaller slate and a drawing As to the music on the smaller slate, a on the reverseof the larger.The musicon both detailed commentary2suggests that it is has been deeply scored with a hard, pointed 'apparentlysimilar to Vaterunser in a Gesang- instrument,but the scoringis shalloweron the buch of 1539', but the author had not made a smallerand on the finalstaff of the largerone. first-handcomparison. The Vaterunser melody This shows that the slates were either to be fromSchumann's 1539 Gesangbuch3bears only added to or discarded as they stood after an extremelyvague resemblanceto eitherof the inscription;there is no possibilityof erasureor two fragmentsconcerned, and thereis unlikely re-usein themanner of some tabletsor slates. to be any connection. Anyattempt at precisedating or identification Subsequent commentarieshave tended to based on note shapes is hazardous. In contrast reproduce the above conclusions,and similar with the normal process of music copying,it vagaries have surrounded the non-musical would have been difficultfor any scribe to materialon the slates. The word 'Kyrie' on the achieve neat, consistentnote shapes on slate. It largerslate is fairlyclear, but Bate4 also found is clear that the staff-lineson both slates were an 'X' (for 'Christe'?) which my examination scratchedfreehand and not ruled. The music fails to reveal. There is a drawingof a dog's appears to be in a differenthand on each slate, head on the reverseof the largerslate, but no and it is unlikelythat the two slates originally drawing of a human hand, as suggested by formed part of the same whole. For display Bate. On the reverseof the smallerslate there purposes they have been dusted with a white are severalscribbles which could be referredto powder so that the music shows more clearly; as pen-trialsif the medium were different. unfortunately,this has also clarifiedall the There is an attemptat drawinganother staff, cracks and other extraneousmarks, so it was and two inscriptions.Hervey5 read these as necessaryto remove the powder in order to 'Wllman Anno', pointing out that Richard examinethe music in detail. Wolman was Dean of Wells from 1529 until The descriptionaccompanying the exhibit 1537, and thus tentativelyassigning the writing mentionsthat the slates were presented to Wells to thisperiod. His alternativesuggestion for the Museum in 1898 by the Rev. S. Hervey,vicar of firstinscription was 'Wllmus', but the mystery the nearbyvillage of Wedmore; he discovered behind 'Anno' remained. My investigation themwhile excavating the site of the old manor suggeststhat a contractedform of 'Willelmus'is house at Mudgley, near Wedmore. The sup- the most convincingreading, and that 'Anno' position that the slates were once part of the is wrong.This word begins not with a capital roof of thishouse is of limitedrelevance to the 'A' but with 'ff', a frequent substitutefor 'F'. Littlemore is thereseems to be II am indebted to my colleague Dr Robert Orledge for drawing capital clear; my attention to the slates, to the staff of Wells Museum for me to examine them, and to Mr Robert 2R. S. Bate, in Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries, ed. permitting Dunning, G. W. Saunders editor of the Victoria History of Somerset, for some initial and J. Fowler. xxii (Sherborne, 1958), n.50 references; the Wells slates are unrelated to other musical 3P. Dearmer and others, ed.: The English Hymnal (London, slates such as those at Keswick Museum in Cumbria which 1906), no.539 form a musical instrument are described James (these by cit Blades, Percussion Instruments and their History (London, 4op 1970), pp.82-4). Sibid, additional note 26

This content downloaded from 157.193.166.69 on Tue, 11 Aug 2015 12:58:07 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions occasionally with a differenttext from either of the two Pater cuncta Kyrie tropes.7 The melodyas it appears on the slate agreesfor the most part with the standard Liber usualis F. g 00o I0 0 o o 0 o 0 o 0 o 0o " Kyrie; clearly the portion missing from the firststaff on the slate would have been a con- tinuationbeyond the firstnine notes. The second staff a The 0 ?6 0'O u, Il ' I I I I I I ( I presents problem. Kyrie melodyis repeatedand continuedin full after the firstfour notes, but the opening is different,misplacing the first note and addingan [ unclear- unclear extra one between the third and fourth.The ,,.. -;jn,jS.P additional notes at the beginningof the staff x F could form the end of the Christe melody, resultingin a curiousand erraticmerger between this and the Kyrie opening. Alternatively,this variantof the KyriePater cunctamelody could K,6 occur because of some unknownmodification of the originaltrope text.8Verification of any hypothesis is hampered by the apparent breakage of a large proportionof the music S o ot- ^ta., <=|L?Ijo< c originallyon the slate. The thirdstaff contains the cadence of the a superscriptbar indicatingscribal contraction, penultimaterather than the final Kyrie. It is but the occurrenceof 'n' as the nextletter is no followedby the openingof the Kyrie in simple more obvious than that of any other letter stroke notation;9 this may indicate some made up of typographicalminims. didacticpurpose, perhaps to show by compari- Mudgley, where the slates were found, to- son how the mensuralnotation worked. The getherwith the nearby villages of Wedmoreand fourthstaff has the appearance of having been Mark, was part of the endowmentof the dean- added, as an afterthought,in limitedspace; it ery of Wells. However, certainproperty in the has sustainedmuch damage and the remaining area belongedto the nearbyabbey of Glaston- fragmentof music is unclear at each end. Un- bury,which was an extremelywealthy house up like the previous three staves, which bear the to its dissolutionand may well have maintained tenor C clef, no clef surviveson the fourth. schools in the area. The possibilitycannot be There is a furtherchange in notation,with a ruled out that the slates had a monasticrather predominanceof note shapes resemblingvoid than a secular origin, although there is no semiminims.The music,for all its imprecision, directevidence for that. The officeof Dean of is strikinglysimilar to the tropedIte, cunctipo- Wells in the 15th and 16th centuriesseems to tens, missa est, though less so to the corres- have been the subject of a certainamount of ponding Kyrie, and these appear among the dispute and controversy.Thomas Cromwell, tropesin the Sarum use.10 who was executed in 1540, was succeeded as It is not unreasonable to suppose that the dean by William Fitzwilliam(also known as writingoriginates from the period when the Fitzjames),and althoughthe evidenceis by no Sarum use was currentin the Wells area. It is means conclusive,it could well be Dean Fitz- unlikelyto date frombefore 1400. However,the williamwhose name is abbreviatedas 'Wllmus appearance of a Sarum Ite, missa est trope (if ff.. .' on one of the slates. In 1547 Fitzwilliam thisis its trueidentity) is not in itselfproof that resignedas dean and surrenderedthe Wedmore the writingwas done in the area where the propertyto the king, who granted it almost slates were found. Indeed, Kyrie Pater cuncta immediatelyto the Duke of Somerset. does not appear among the Sarum troped The musicon thelarger slate can be identified Kyries but among the Kyries for the Hereford withcertainty as KyriePater cuncta,in use until 7M. Melnicki: Das einstimmige Kyrie des Lateinischen Mittel- fairlyrecently as part of Mass XII forfeasts of alters (diss., Erlangen U., 1954), 97ff; no English sources are the rank of semidouble.6There are two Kyrie cited for this Kyrie. 8I am indebted to Messrs Stephen Ryle and Bruno Turner and Pater cuncta text tropes (Pater cuncta/sede Dr Mary Berry for background material on plainsong in this sedens and Pater cuncta/summaservans), but section. insufficient survives on the slate to 9similar to that described by Margaret Bent in 'New and melody Little-known Fragments of English Medieval Polyphony', determinefrom which of themthis Kyrie grew. Journal of the American Musicological Society, xxi (1968), 137 The tune appears in numerousforeign sources, 10forexample in Missale ad usum insignis ecclesiae Sarisburien- sis (Antwerp, 1528) and Graduale ad usum ecclesiae Saris- 6Liber usualis (Tournai, 1961), p.48 buriensis (Paris, 1532), both in the British Library 27

This content downloaded from 157.193.166.69 on Tue, 11 Aug 2015 12:58:07 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions use, whereit shows the sede sedenstext variant. song, perhaps in the manner of faburdensor As faras can be traced,the only memberof the squares. This could explain the presence of Wells clergywho had connectionswith Here- mensural rather than plainsong notation on fordduring the period in questionwas Nicholas both slates, the plainsong having been turned Carent. He was Dean of Wells from 1446 to into cantusfractus.14 Faburden was sometimes 1467 and held a prebend in the Hereford used in processionalmusic, and it is just possible diocese simultaneouslywith his deanship until that small, portable slates fulfilledsuch a 1453.11His residencein Wells would have been purpose.The faburdenswere sometimes written the manor house where the slates were found. down as a basis for furtherimprovisation. The The Kyrie Pater cuncta may have been used techniqueof using squares was in use at Wells around Wells alongside the Sarum repertory. until comparatively late, for in 1538 the This may even explain the appearance of this choirmasterwas required to provide himself Kyrie on the slate-precisely because it is not with'square books and prickesong books' for writtendown in the normal repertoryof the the choir, for the Lady Chapel, and for pro- area. cessions and principalfeasts.15 Comparison of The juxtapositionon the slate of KyriePater the slate tunes with Kyrie squares16fails to cuncta with Ite, cunctipotens,missa est, if identifythe slate music. Perhapscoincidentally, correct, raises an interestingpossibility. The thefirst fragment on the smallerslate (including Hereforduse had fiveclasses of feast,and for the deleted material) works contrapuntally some of the relativelyminor ones Pater cuncta with part of the Christe of the 14th Kyrie and Cunctipotensare given as alternative square, while Kyrie Pater cuncta is itselfvery tropes.12 These minor feasts at Hereford similarto the 11thKyrie square. included St Andrew,more importantat Wells Comparison with other examples of music as the dedicatee of the cathedral; and the carved on slate or stone shows the Wells slates deposition of St Thomas of Hereford,Con- to be unique in many respects. Of several fessor,in the cathedralchurch only (August 25). musical graffitidescribed by Violet Pritchard17 St Thomas was also celebratedon two principal the Wells slates stand apart as showingsacred feast-daysin theHereford diocese: his particular music,not in code or cipher,on five-linestaves. day (October 2) and his translation(October Further,they were found in a house ratherthan 25). He was apparentlyaccorded a minorfeast- a church,apparently having been part of a roof day (October 2) at Wells,and it is possible that rather than, for example, a more accessible musicalitems were borrowed from the Hereford pillar.They are functionalnot decorative. repertory,among themhis deposition.Mention A far more strikingcomparison is possible of this and several other feasts peculiar to between the Wells slates and the only other Wells occurs in a 15th-centurybreviary which example of inscribed musical slates from a probablyformed a local Wells appendix to the similarperiod in the Britishisles: those from Sarum breviarythen in use.13 Although this Smarmore,Co. Louth (now in the National apparentHereford influence could cast doubt on Museum of Ireland, Dublin). There are 49 of the Wells originof the slates,it is also possible these slates, and as well as music theycontain that the slate music could have been used for medical or veterinaryprescriptions in English, particularWells feastssuch as this. and ecclesiastical and other inscriptionsin The notation and clefs on the smaller slate Latin. They may be dated fromthe firsthalf of are substantiallydifferent from those on the the 15th century,and the musical materialon larger. A deletion of four separate notes and four of them apparentlyfits with this dating. the substitutionof a ligature at higherpitch Some of the Latin subjectmatter suggests that occurs on the firststaff. The stavesappear to be theywere used in a school, for pupils' writing unrelatedin contentsince theclefs are different, exercises or by the schoolmaster.The music, and onlythe first staff bears the Bb keysignature. much of whichis similarin appearanceto some They do not formpart of a score. Both bear of the Wells music, is mensural and thus superficialresemblance to severalchants but in deemed part of polyphony;no plainsong has neithercase to one in particular.It is possible been identified,and the music has more of a thatthe fragmentsshow the middlerather than dance-tunecharacter. This led Bliss18to believe the openingof a chant. that the musical fragmentswere not for school A furtherpossibility is that these fragments formsome kind of counterpointto plain- 14B. Trowell: 'Fa-burden and fauxbourdon', Musica disciplina, may no.13 (1959), 54 l5H. Baillie: 'Squares', Acta xxxii 180 11J. le Neve and T. Duffus Hardy: Fasti ecclesiae anglicanae musicologica, (1960), (Oxford, 1854), ii, 24; viii, 5 16ibid 12W. G. Hendetson, ed.: Missale ad usum percelebris ecclesiae 17V. Pritchard: English Medieval Graffiti(Cambridge, 1967), Herfordensis (Leeds, 1874), p.xxxviii 170-71 13B. Schofield: 'Muchelney Memoranda, Edited from a Bre- 18A. J. Bliss: 'The Inscribed Slates at Smarmore', Proceedings of viary of the Abbey', Somerset Record Society, xlii (1927), 181 the Royal Irish Academy, Ixiv, C/2 (1965), 33 29

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