This collection of eight chapters brings together recent original research on historical and literary interactions between Britain and Italy in the medieval and late-medieval periods. The aim of the book is to illustrate the continuity and significance of these interactions throughout the Middle Ages and the variety of ways in which British and Italian cultures spoke to each other about commerce, politics, recording the past, living in the present, and the life of the mind.

The relationships between Italy and the British Isles may not appear to be a particularly new topic for medieval scholars. The field of medieval British–Italian relations has typically been dominated by discussions of humanism and literary borrowings and there is a long and strong tradition of studies in this field. This is exemplified by the works of such scholars as Piero Boitani, with important contributions such as English Medieval Narrative in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries, and his edited volumes, Chaucer and the Italian Trecento and The Cambridge Chaucer Companion. The work of Nick Havely has been similarly influential, including his Chaucer's Boccaccio: Sources for Troilus and the Knight's and Franklin's Tales and his more recent monograph, Dante's British Public: Texts and Readers from the Fourteenth Century to the Present, which extends the analysis well beyond the medieval period. Crucial also has been the contribution of David Wallace, whose ability to trace connections across languages and cultures is exemplifed in his Chaucer and the Early Writings of Boccaccio as well as his later works.

Despite the wealth of studies in this field, new and fresh approaches continue to be offered: we can think, for example, of Kenneth Clarke's Chaucer and Italian Textualities, which examines Chaucer's work through a focus on the Italian manuscripts which could have been available to him. The influence of Italian humanism on British culture, as we have said, has been the subject of a number of key studies: notable are Roberto Weiss's volume Humanism in England during the Fifteenth Century, Alessandra Petrina's Machiavelli in the British Isles, and more recently David Rundle's edited collection Humanism in Fifteenth-Century Europe.

The chapters of this book break new ground in presenting a series of case studies which illuminate in detail some of the ways in which modes of thought and cultural practice travelled between the two countries.

Salutem in Christo

My very good Lord.

I am glad the last Acts rested a night in Ireland, before the Parliament rose, and that they passed soe well as they did; God sent that Church, and the Bishopps of Ulster ioy of them.

Had I remembred that Clogher was one of the Bishops in Ulster, I should never have troubled you to have given me any accompt, whoe that Bishopp hath been, that was, and now is, carelesse of Succession. For I have knowne him of old, and had not I been att the Counsell-Table, when he came thether about his pretended Plantation, he would quite have swallowed upp that Bishopricke. And yet what with my want of knowledge of that Country, and the faire Pretentions which he made to other Lords, and the earnestnes of some of his Country men for him, he prevailed in more then was fitt to be graunted to a man of his disposition. ‘Tis true that his Brother hath robbed him, of all thinges that are worthy. And if you can keepe him in your mind of changing Clogher for another Bishopricke, it shall goe hard but I will doe it, and send a better into Ulster; but I feare this Statute of great improvement will keep him there.

I perceive when you writt last, my Letters were not come to you concerning the Impropriations, and therfore I shall write noe more of them att this time, till I heare, whether all be done according to your desires on that side, if it be, ther's an end, and God blesse the Church, if it be not, you shall have the Letters mended in what Forme you will. And I am heartily glad, I have soe farre overcome that busynesse. For the particular which you desire may be added in the Letters, I hope you will find it there, but if there it be not, ‘tis Secretaryes Cookes omission, for I gave him that branch of your Letters, in your owne hand to direct him.

It is very well gained by my Lord, if he hath gotten a confirmation for coercive power to the Clergy to take off the Commones of Excommunication, which was all Parliaments heere have complained of the one, and yet would never graunt the other.

Salutem in Christo

Mye verye good Lord

I thanke you hartelye for your Leters of September 22 and though a faire opportunitye be offered for Dr Morton, yett I am hartelye sorye for the death of your Sonne, and would rather have had anye other opportunitye then one soe Caused. But wee ar all in the hands of God, and since it hath pleased hime to take your sonne to himselfe, I doe with all love and kindnes accept your offer for Dr Morton, whoe I hope will shewe himselfe a dewtifull man to your Lordship and a Regular man in the Church. I have nowe sent hime your Lordships Leter, and required hime to attend you, and to be ruled bye you accordinge to these mye Leters, which I praye your Lordship to shewe hime, that he maye see howe carefull both of us ar for his good.

Mye Lord I am cleare of Opinion that it will be best for Dr Morton to take the prebend and the parsnedge of Barrowe. And to Exchainge the benefice he Nowe hath for Tatnall, though the lease of it Come not out these fower years. That soe his means maye lye round togeather, and then he maye the better Expect some thinge of better value, as it shall please God to give a faire opportunitye. And I hope I shall satisfye mye Lord Keeper that Mr Goad maye have that which Dr Morton leaves. If you goe on in thiss waye Dr Morton must have a dispensation which shall be granted hime for the holdinge of two livings soe soone as I heare which ar the two he pitches on.

That you pass bye your sonne in Oxford, for mye sake to accommodat Dr Morton, I must and doe take for a great obligation from you, and doe farther assure you that if God lend me life, your sonne shall be noe looser bye it. Soe in great hast I leave your Lordship to Gods blessed protection and rest

your Lordships verye lovinge frend and Brother

W: Cant:

Croyden. September 26. 1637.

If you had putt of Bangor Monachorum to your sonne as you desyred, whear had it nowe bine?

To the right Reverend Father in God my very good Lord and Brother the Lord Bishop of Chester. these.

Salutem in Christo.

I am informed That in the parish Church of Maidston which is a very populous place the Communion [sic] which cannot butt bee a Scandall to many devout and well minded people. These are therfore to require you [sic] upper end of the Chancell, and there to sett [sic] a decent raile to bee made before and att each side of the same that soe itt may bee kept from the abuses [sic] if you will distinctly putt in practice in all other places

Gods grace, and rest,

Your Loving freind

W. Cant.

Rigden February 9. 1635. [recte Croydon September 9 1635]

To my very loving freind Mr Nathaniel Brent

Mr Attorney,

His Majesties pleasure is that you prepare a Bill for his signature contayninge a Lycence to my Lord Bishop of Oxford now Patron and Comendatary of the Vicarage of Cuddesdon in the Countie of Oxford to appropriate the same and the Mansion howse he hath lately built thereon for the residence of the Bishops of that Sea with all lands tythes and proffitts belonginge to the same Vicarage to him and his successors for ever: With power to me to doe all further Acts necessary in this case and with such other Clauses and provisions as shalbe meete; Notwithstandinge the Statute of Mortmaine and those of 15 Richard 2di and 4 Henry 4ti. And for your soe doinge thiss shall be your sufficient Warrant.

W: Cant:

March. 25. 1637.

Working before 1815

John Brigg

Cut brass for a roving frame when Robert Heaton was building Ponden Mill, 1791–92. Brigg was then contracted for 12 months by Heaton's son as engineer at Royd House Mill, Oxenhope. Hattersley noted ‘John Brig clockmaker Keighley’. Nothing found after 1794; no known connection to textile manufacturers of that name.

WYAS Bradford, DB2/6/3, pp. 107, 123, 127; 32D83/5/1; Aspin, Water-Spinners, 108–9.

Lodge Calvert (1776–1859)

Trained as a joiner, probably arrived in Keighley from upper Wharfedale in the late 1790s. Bought Hattersley spindles, axles, plates, shafts, etc., from 1799, but Calvert was soon primarily a textile manufacturer. Partner of Thomas Smith (q.v.), 1801–04, converted Ing Row corn-mill for worsted- and cotton-spinning. Reportedly started in worsteds in 1801 with a hand-powered throstle built from Hattersley parts; bought a second machine from William Smith in 1805. Calvert used Hattersley components until c. 1808, then switched to mule spinning. Cotton-spinning enriched Calvert, who claimed to be worth £4,000 in 1818. He gave up cotton c. 1814, joining Samuel Blakey Clapham as worsted manufacturers at Aireworth mill. After 30 years, retired to Bradford. Remained close to Richard Hattersley and was an executor of his will.

WYAS Bradford, 32D83/5/1–2; Hodgson, Textile Manufacture, 19–21, 245–6; Ingle, Yorkshire Cotton, 165–6; Baumber, Revival to Regency, 52–3, 57–8; Keighley St Andrew registers and monumental inscriptions; Leeds St Peter registers; Borthwick, Kettlewell bishops’ transcripts, bap. 6 Oct. 1776; J. M. Potter, Kettlewell St Mary index to parish registers, c. 1698–1760, by Wharfedale F.H.S., bap. 1731; London Gazette, 20385, Sept. 1844, 3237.

William Carr (c. 1750–1834)

Born into a Catholic family in Scorton, north Lancashire (returning there after retirement c. 1820) Carr was apprenticed as a whitesmith. His sons Edward, John and Thomas trained as whitesmiths and machine-makers. Edward, who married Susannah Pearson, daughter of Adam (q.v.), carried on Carr's Low Street business, making throstles. His own sons continued in Keighley on a small scale as smiths and iron-moulders. John Carr made and repaired flyers and guides, and was a noted gunsmith.

Salutem in Christo

Sir:

I was forced to returne home lame and ill from the Court at Windsore the last weeke. Your letters found me in paine, and soe receaved noe answear: For whear the subiect of mye Leters is suche as mye last to you was, and thiss is, I like not to make mye secretarye partye. I hope the worst is past, but I am a little weake still.

I praye lett noe sower passages goe deepe with you. College factions in such tymes of elections ar strange things. And if anye sower ingredients wear infused bye others, have patience, and it will purge them out. And I doubt but thiss violence shall turne to your good.

I am glad you take mye free advise soe well. It was hartelye ment. I did not account your retyrednes a fault, but I ever thought, and thinke still, it made some daringe to committ more faults against you then otherwise they would. As for your dexterousnes in the change I doubt it not. And nowe I knowe your minde, I will gett some friends of myne to leade you forth without noice.

I did ever suspect that Morlyes case was made worss then it was; but the fowlest of it I am sure was layd on me. Yett I did not thinke it fitt to press his Majestye farther then the tenure of such leters beare, as I thinke bye thiss tyme you have receaved in that point. But the manner of obiectinge it to me is more then the thing, as you will see when I shall shewe it you, if we live to meet.

For the last clause of your Leters I praye assure your selfe, that the ill carridge of some men towards me in thiss busynes shall never alter me from your selfe, or anye of them that have bine soe forward for the publique honor and service of the university. Soe with love and thankes againe remembered I leave you to the Grace of God, and shall ever rest

Your verye lovinge frend

Guil: London

Fulham House. October 15 1630

I have at last brought Mr More and his Fellowes to bring theyr petition to me, for satisfying the King, whom before they declind by all means.

After my hearty Commendations etc.

There was a Command delivered by me from his Majestye to you the Deane and Chapter of Sarum, as well as to other Deanes and Chapters within the Province of Canterbury, Requiring you, so soone as by expiration of the Leases, or any Compositio[n] you might make to take downe all such howses, as are built upon Consecrated ground, or with any annoyance to that Church. And not to Lett out to Lay-men any Howses belonging to the Prebends Residentiaryes. And farther that Noe Prebend, which holdes a Howse there presume to Lett his howse to any out of his owne hands. By which meanes it may come in tyme, to be alienated wholly from its proper use.

Upon this Command you have made a humble Petition to mee, that I would move his Majestye for a Release of this Injunction in part namely that it may be lawfull for you to Renew the Leases of some few faire howses within your Precinct that is such as have bee[n] Lett to Lay-men of quality, tyme out of mynde; And now some of them made to big for any Prebend-Residentiaryes use, and much more to large for any other Prebend, and are howses where His Majestie, and his Royall Consort the Queene are lodg’d in tyme of Progresse, and are not built (as you say) upon Consecrated ground, nor to any other inconvenience of the Church.

I have upon these considerations suggested in your Petition, mov’d his Majestie accordingly. And He's gratiously pleasd, that I shall Dispense with you for so much of the Injunction as you in your Petition desire relaxation for, And hereby I doe dispense with you accordingly. Alwayes provided that noe Howse belonging to a Prebend Residentiary be ever Lett, but kept continually in the hands of the Residentiaryes for the tyme being, and their Successors. And that you do Demolish so soone as may bee all other Howses that are upon Consecrated ground, or with annoyance to the fabrick of the Cathedrall, if any such bee. And farther I doe hereby Require you, to Register a Copie of your Petition sent unto mee and this my Dispensation after it.

Salutem in Christo.

After my hearty Commendations etcetera.

I am informed that the Orders sete downe and appointed by Sir Edward Stanhope Knight and Doctor of Laws (a very worthy Benefactor to your House) for the Practice and reglement of the Library Keeper have not been observed by him, whereupon the disposing of that Place is devolved unto me as by the last will and Testament of the said Knight deceased you may plainly and fully perceive. These are therefore to pray and require you to give me a present acconpt of this Business, and if the Information here mentioned be true, I shall expect that you faile not likewise to send me the Names of some discreet and able younge men of your College whom you conceyve fittest for such an Employment, that thereupon I may make Choyce of some one of them, and see him presently settled accordingly. For having nothing else to trouble you at this tyme I leave you to God's blessed protection and rest

Your very loving Friend

W. Cant.

Lambeth November 28 1638

Mr. Atturney

His Maiesties pleasure is, That you prepare a Bill for his Royall signature, conteining a grant of the Rectorie of Thorp Mandeville, with all glebe lands, tithes of graine and hay, and other tithes and profitts whatsoever belonging to the said Rectory, unto Gabriel Bridges the present vicar and his successours vicars there, To hould the same in perpetuall Almes; And that the said Rectorie and Vicaridg shall be united, and the same to be from hencefourth a Rectory presentative for ever. And this shall be your warrant.

W: Cant:

31. October. 1638

STYLISTICALLY, Mo 8 foregrounds its heterogeneity. As discussed elsewhere in this volume, the compiler(s) of Mo 8 presented a collection of motets varied in their mise en page, their poems’ languages, the nature of their cantus firmi, and their rhythmic idioms. In terms of its rhythmic techniques, Mo 8 includes some motets in a style that must have been considered quite old-fashioned by the time that the fascicle was produced (possibly as late as the 1310s, as Alison Stones and Rebecca Baltzer both propose), copied alongside others that employ some of the most recent rhythmic innovations, in particular with respect to the subdivision of the breve into multiple semibreves. In this essay, I devise a typology to describe the rhythmic language and texture of Mo 8's motets, thereby contextualizing these rhythmic techniques within the repertorial landscape of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. This typology suggests that particular rhythmic profiles may have been associated with particular sorts of motets, and that composers probably instinctively reached for certain rhythmic techniques when composing certain types of motet. Grouping Mo 8's motets according to their rhythmic behaviour reaffirms certain other genre-based criteria used for grouping them: for example, all the motets based on French chanson tenors employ a similar rhythmic profile. In addition, grouping motets according to their rhythmic profile aligns particular subsets of motets with more innovative treatments of rhythm and texture (at least considered alongside the motets copied in the so-called old corpus of the codex), possibly establishing them as among the more recent compositions of Mo 8. Finally, a comparison of some of the rhythmic profiles in Mo 8 motets with those deployed in other fourteenth-century motet collections (namely Onc and Tours) reveals a stylistic continuity between these sources, suggesting that the compilers of these various collections had similar repertories to hand.

A TYPOLOGY OF RHYTHMIC BEHAVIOUR IN MO 8

MY analysis of rhythmic behaviour focuses on the treatment of semibreves in the Mo 8 motets. The desire to more accurately prescribe how long notes could be broken up into shorter ones was a preoccupation of Ars antiqua theorists, who were writing their treatises on rhythm in polyphonic music contemporaneously with the copying and compilation of large Ars antiqua motet collections such as Mo.

Salutem in Christo.

My very good Lord

I thanke your Lordship very heartily for your Letters, and all the paines you have been att concerning the Colledge of Manchester, which his Majestie is now goeing on with by way of a new Foundation. And I shall take care, God willing, to putt your Lordship and your Successors the Bishopps of Chester into your ancient right of Visitation. I hope your sonne is come well to you into those partes, and I assure my selfe he is very mindfull of my busynesse there concerning Whaley. I pray tell him, he may safely trust and conferre with this bearer Mr John Griffith about any thing that concernes it.

Att this present I heere send your Lordship Letters from his Majestie to command sequestration of soe much of the profitts of Whaley, as may enable the severall Curats to doe theire dutyes upon the Place. For I am enformed and that very credibly, that divers of the Chappells are lett runne to ruine, and put to base, and unworthy uses and the People altogether left destitute of all Christian instruction, and the very Prayers of the Church seldome, or never read unto them. Upon these Considerations, I desire you to sequester soe much of the Profitts into safe hands, as may pay the severall Curats respectively, according to such moderate proportions, as you in your wisedome shall thinke theire persons and services may deserve. When this is done (of which I desire you to make noe delay) I shall then advise with myself and Counsell what course I shall ho﹛l﹜d with my Tenant Sir Ralph Ashton, whose cariage towards the Church I conceive is noe way answerable, to the great Profitt which he hath reaped by it these many yeares. For any other particular Concerning that Rectory, or other busynesse of mine in those parts, I referre you to this bearer whome you may safely trust with those busynesses that Concerne me. Soe att this time, haveing not further to trouble you, I leave you to the Grace of God, and rest,

Your Lordships very loveinge Freinde and Brother.