Historia Sancti Ludgeri edited by Morné Bezuidenhout: a new contribution to chant scholarship

Abstract

The Historia Sancti Ludgeri, edited by Morné Bezuidenhout, appeared recently as part of the Historia series of the Cantus Planus Group of the International Musicological Society. Manuscript Grey 4.b.5, a composite breviary and antiphonal that is at present in the Grey Collection in Cape Town, contains the complete rhymed office for the feast of St Liudger, who was bishop of Münster in Westphalia from 805 to 809, making it possible to determine the provenance of the manuscript as Münster. With Ms Grey 4.b.5 as a starting point, Bezuidenhout edits the full Historia Sancti Ludgeri with reference to a wide array of manuscripts and prints that include the entire corpus of chants. The comparison of many sources containing the Historia Sancti Ludgeri contributes towards an understanding of the transmission and dating of chant and office style.