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Ivrea Codex

parchment manuscript containing a significant body of 14th century French polyphonic music

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 25, 2025
Entity authorityQ6099738
Source-derived summary

The Ivrea Codex (Ivrea, Biblioteca Capitolare, 115) is a parchment manuscript containing a significant body of 14th century French polyphonic music.

The codex contains motets, Mass movements, and a handful of virelais, chaces, and ballades, composed in the middle of the 14th century. The notation is characteristic of the Ars Nova period. The manuscript is missing at least one gathering of Mass movements.

The provenance of the codex is disputed. It was long thought to have been compiled in Avignon, the seat of the French Papacy, around 1370. However, the musically important court of Gaston Fébus has also been suggested. Most recently, however, Karl Kügle has asserted that the source was made in Ivrea itself, by musicians connected to the Savoyard court (possibly Jehan Pellicier), in the 1380s or 1390s. None of these three interpretations has become universally accepted.

All of the music in the codex is anonymous, but attributions have been made on the basis of concordances to Philippe de Vitry, Guillaume de Machaut, Magister Heinricus, Bararipton, Depansis, Matheus de Sancto Johanne, Orles, Sortes, and Loys.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Ivrea Codex” as parchment manuscript containing a significant body of 14th century French polyphonic music. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Ivrea, Codex and parchment.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1370—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Ivrea, Codex and parchment providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Ivrea Codex”, the useful work is to connect “parchment manuscript containing a significant body of 14th century French polyphonic music” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 25, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q6099738. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1370.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Ivrea Codex”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Ivrea Codex primary sources, Ivrea Codex archive and Ivrea research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ivrea Codex”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Ivrea Codex” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.