P-Cug (Coimbra) Biblioteca Geral da Universidade MM 0033

Copied by Pedro de Cristo in the 1580s (autograph manuscript). Original ink foliation, with several irregularities (see details in Rees 1995, p. 229). Manuscript prepared in advance of copying, with margins and staves ruled throughout the book. This manuscript was used later by the copyists of P-Cug MM 44 and MM 53, who recopied much of the music. Motets in this manuscript reflect music for high-ranking feasts ('of four cantors'), as represented in the printed 1531 Breviary (Breuiarium secundum usum insignis monasterii sanctae crucis colimbriensis) and other books pertaining to the monastery. These feasts include the Exaltation and the Invention of the Holy Cross, and the Nativity of St John Baptist. Also represented are the feasts of St Martin of Tours and St (Queen) Isabel, two saints of particular devotion in Portugal (cf Rees 1995, p. 235). [NOTE: from 'Asperges me', fols 118v-119r onwards, the numbering of the images does not correspond with the manuscript inventory owing to the loss of two folios in the manuscript]